The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 17, 1934, Page 5

DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MARCH 17, 1934 Page Five The Heroic Paris Commune and the Fig Paris Commune Was First Step in Fight For Soviet Power Present Task Is to Carry Forward Work of the Commune by Applying Leninist Lessons in Fight for Soviet Power > By V, J. JEROME “Soviet Power’ is the secon world-historical step or stage in the development of the proleta- rian dictatorship. The first step was the Paris Commune.” 6.425% IN THESE words, addressed to the workers of Europe and America in January, 1919, Lenin summarized, with the iron precision hammered out by his great analytic powers, the historie significance of the first pro- letarian revolution: its significance as the first phase in the develop- ment of the proletarian State and as the point of departure for every working-class revolution in the im- Perialist epoch the revolution which can find its realization only in Soviet power, The fundamental lesson offered by the experiences of the Paris Com- mune to the world proletariat is the necessity for making central in its program the objective of seizing and utterly destroying the bourgeois State power, of setting up in its place the dictatorship of the prole- tariat. Marxism-Leninism has em- blazoned this teaching as a guide to revolutionary action on the banner of the international proletariat. In commenting on the Manifesto issued by the Central Committee of the National Guard on March 18, 1871, to the effect that the Parisian work- ers had recognized it as their right and duty to seize governmental power, Marx declared in his War in France: “But the working elass cannot simply lay hold of the ready-made State machinery and wield it for its own purposes.” It is neresse as he put it in his letter to Mugelmann (April 12,| 1871), “not, as hitherto, to transfer the bureaucratic-military machinery | to the first stage in the development was enabled to rally the forces of reaction throughout France and to make an alliance with Bismarck against the Commune. Treacheroys- ly forsaken by the petty-bourgeoisie, | the working class of Paris went! down in bloody defeat—30,000 Com-) munards massacred in an orgy of terror!—went down in defeat, with a! heroism that flames on through the) generations in the hearts of the class-conscious workers over the five continents of the earth. | ENIN reduced the weaknesses of the Commune to two main errors: undue magnanimity towards the | enemy and half-way steps towards its own objectives ., instead of proceeding with the ‘expropriation of the expropriators,’ it was carried away by dreams of establishing su- preme justice in the country, based on the common national task ... instead of annihilating its enemies, it endeavored to exercise moral in- fluence on them...” These were the errors inevitable of the dictatorship of the prole- tariat; to ayoid these errors was to be the strategy of the international proletariat in the second stage, the stage of Soviet power, “The Comes mune has taught the Eurcpean pro- letariat to deal concretely with the problems of the socialist reyolution.” Under this slogan Leninism led the proletariat of Russia in alliance with the peasantry to victory in Oc- tober. 1917. Under this slogan the dictatorship of the proletariat in the Soviet Union led by the Communist Party under the guidance of Lenin and Stalin has smashed the coun- ter-revolutionary efforts at bour- | geois restoration. Under this slogan, the Soviet Union, Socialist father- land of the world proletariat, stands International ties be- tween the working class of the U.S.S.R. and the work- ers of the capitalist coun- tries, the fraternal alliance between the workers of the U.S.S.R, and the workers of all countries —this is one of the corner-stones of the strength and might of the Republic of the Soviets. The workers in the West say that the working class of the U,S.S,R. is the shock brigade of the world pro- letariat. That is very good. It shows that the world proletariat is prepared to continue to support the working class of the U.S. S.R, with all the means at its disposal. But this im- poses a very serious duty upon us. It means that we must prove worthy of the honorable title of shock brigade of the pro- letarians of all countries. It imposes upon us the duty to work better, and to fight better, for the final victory of socialism in our country, for the vietory of socialism in all countries Hence, the third conclu- sion: to remain loyal to the end to the cause of proletarian international- ism, to the cause of the fraternal alliance of the proletarians of all coun- tries. (Applause). Long live the great and invincible banner of Marx, Engels and Lenin! (Loud and prolonged applause). (From Comrade Stalin's re- port to the 17th Party Congress) into social-fascism, has naturally spurned the lessons of the Paris Cony, UNE LX piney (7) i t re rMibh It is necessary with all insistence to raise the question of power in the mass work of the Commu- nist Parties. The chief slogan of the Communist International is: Soviet Power. The example of the U.S S.R. is the example of Bol- shevism, Only this ex- ample shows the way out, and the way to save the exploited and oppressed in A seene during the Paris Commune of 1871 when the workers of Paris set up, for the first time in history, what Lenin called “a new type of State—the Worker's State.” The Communards seized power from the | hands of the bourgeoisie, capitalists, bankers, etc., and set up their own | government, the Commune, which began at once to do away with many of the forms of capitalist oppression. With the sublimest heroism they defended their new State against the combined forces of the French and Prussian ‘mercenary troops which drowned the Commune in a sea of blood, stage to the classless society—this;a fascist government by the hands} lesson which the Commune teaches | of “Secialist’ leaders. Sensing the} us, this central principle in the! left-radicalization of the rank and teachings of Marx, Engels, Lenin) file, they played up to it with “Left” and Stalin are minimized, distorted, | phrases, even to the extent of ad-| falsified — in essence, rejected — by| mitting the idea of the dictatorship | the “Marxian” leadets of the Second| of the proletariat—on certain occa-| International. Rejected, because, in| sions. The revolutionary uprising, the words of Lenin, “The Paris| which was early willed as an offen- Commune represents the first at-| sive by the workers—reduced to a tempt of the proletarian revolution | last-moment defensive by the lead- all the imperialist and co- lonial countries. The example of Bolshe- vism is the example of proletarian international- ism, The victory of the so- cialist revolution is pos- sible only by strengthen- ing the international ties of the revolutionary prole- tariat. The way of Bol- shevism is the way of unit- ing the proletarian forces of all nationalities and races, it is the way of their joint struggle hand in hand with the proletariat against the oppressors and exploiters. The Plenum of the E.C. C.I. obliges all Sections of the Communist Interna- tional to be on their guard at every turn of events, and to exert every effort without losing a moment for the revolutionary prep- aration of the proletariat for the impending decisive battles for power. —From the Resolution of the 13th E. C, C, I, Plenum, with vietory. It is plain that with- ht for Soviet Power! ontmarte rs fra and mize le. Government tary and high officials flee Paris to Versailles. Revolutio: Central Committee of the Nat: Guard seizes Paris. March 19, 1871: New government proclaimed. Elections set for March 22nd. Martial law declared, March 23, 1871: Commune pro- claimed in Marseilles. March 24, 1871: claimed at Lyons. Central Com- mittee decides to set aside one m lion frances for the poor. Pos ponement of rent payments until Commune pro-| Day by Day History of Paris Commune red that “the banner [) the banner of the April 1, highest bis 1871: salary of any Decision that the functionary the Commune be the normal wages of a worker and in no case exceed 6,000 francs a year. April 2, 1871: The church is separ- ated from the state April 7, 1871: Versaillese organize resistance and seize one of the bridges over the Seine. April 11, 1871: Communards de- feat the Versaillese. April 16, 1871: All factories and | workshops abandoned by their own- ers ordered registered and turned | over to the workers who formerly worked there, Oct, Ist April 20, 1871: The Labor Ex- March 26: change is abolished. Night work | elected. | in bakeries forbidden. System of March 28, 1871: The Commune is; fines abolished. Pawnshops abol- | proclaimed in the square before the! ished as incompatible with the Hotel de Ville. The Central Com-| rights of workmen to their tools | mittee hands over its power to the! and credit The Commune is| Commune. 86 delegates elected. May 9, 1871: Fort of Issy reduced March 30, 187 The Commune) to ashes by the Versaillese. abolishes conscription and May 14, 1871: West side forts | Standing army and all milit aken by the Versaillese forces except the National Guard— | the armed people. All rents from October 1870 to October 1871 are! May 22, 1871: The Committee for |remitted; any rent paid during| Public Welfare appeals to the olti- this time would be credited towards| zens of the Commune to take up | the future. All pledges and articles} arms in their own defense. Build- |in the public pawn shops are re-| ing of barricades begins. | turned gratis. Election of foreign-| May 28, 1871: Paris Commune is jers to the Commune is endorsed.| drowned in blood on the last bar- Their right to function is endorsed! ricade. May 21, 1871: Versailles army en- ters Paris. AFL Organizer Tells Why | Officials Break Strikes (Continued from Page 4) “The N.R has shortened the jhours for printers, cleaners and crimes of the New Deal against the | pressers, hotel ri urant employees | workers that overwhelming evidence | and barbers, but in so doing has also jof them wells up in places most |iowered wage earner incomes.”. v. favorable to Roosevelt. |S. Herring, St. Petersberg, Florida. | Under title “From the At-| How the N. R. A. drives all wages lantic to the Pacific,” we find that|down to actual coolie minimums is |the majority of the A. F. of L. re-|shown by the following report of | ports show that the N. R. A. codes | the A, F. of L. organizer, J. H. Gore, |have actually cut money wages—to|in Helena, Arkansas |say nothing of real wages. Even| «ynder the N. R. A. the common before the toilers of the world—the out a Party capable of mustering|the number of dollars paid under | | 4 | from one hand to the other, but to) break it...” This great universal lessan was wrung from the strength and the the high attainments and the fatal errors, from the heroic advances end the halting half-measures, in their tragie interplay during those seventy immortal days. ne Revolution of the 18th of Mayeh was an event historically still on the threshold of the epoch of proletarian revolutions, the achieve- ment of a working class that had/ not vet emerged from immaturity. By 1871 the Marxian teachings had not made significant advance among the French masses. The working class of France had no solidified proletarian Party to lead it; the Revolution was a spon- taneous act. The First International, | although contributing ideological leadership and participating forces, was represented in the Commune largely by members of the Proud- honist wing. The Utopian teachings of Blanqui and, to a lesser extent, of Proudhon still exerted a pre- dominant influence among the Pa- risian workers. Blanquism, although favoring the seizure of power, did not envisage in its program a prole- tarian base for the dictatorship, but, instead, conceived the mainstay to be a minority of organized profes- sional revolutionaries. Such a con- ception, arising from the failure to see the proletariat in its clear class delineation and to sense the revolu- tionary might with which it was charged, led. of course, to conspira- tive and sectarian taeties, to an avowed impatience with the day-to- day economic struggles of the work- ers, and to costly adventurism and putsehism (as in the premature in- surrections of October 31, 1870, and January 22, 1871). On the other hand, Proudhonism, @ petty-bourgeois anarcho-reformist theory, seeking to substitute for class struggle and insurrection a small-owners’ and artisans’ mutual- ism surrounded with the illusion of diminishing State authority, ruled out completely the necessity for political conflict, that is, for wrest- ing political power from the bour- geoisie and for establishing the dic- tatorship of the proletariat. eee ats E influences inevitably re- flected themselves in the errors of the Commune. They showed themselves in the unreadiness of the Commune to destroy completely the economic basis and the State ap- paratus of the bourgoisie. Thus, the Commune failed to confiscate the Rank of France with its five bil- lion francs—an omission indicative that private property was still held in respect. It foiled to take over the railways. In transferring the abandoned workshops to the workers’ associa- tions—-an act of great historic sig- nifieance—it fixed, indemnities for the former proprietors, in the event of their return from Versailles where they had fled. Remnants of democratic illusions expressed them- selves with regard to the proclama- tion of universal suffrage. In the surveillance over spies and traitors there was a deplorable looseness, Furthermore, not until it was too late did the Commune make efforts to win over the peasantry. This colossal error led to the isolaton of ‘he Paris proletariat. Finally, the fatal mistake of hay- amg allowed Thiers with his 20,000 men to leave Paris, subjected the Comraune from the outset to the position of the defensive, while the enemy, with Versailles as the base, cnesses of the Commune, from) | | | realization of the aim for which the Communards died, the lighthouse of Leninism showing to the workers of | all lands the path to Soviet power. UT the epoch of imperialism, | whieh is the epoch of proletarian revolutions, has produced a phenom- enon in the ranks of the workers, which acts as a brake upon the locomotive of the revolution. The labor aristocracy, brought into being and sustained by a small part of the super-profits of finance capital, becomes a strategic base for bour- geois operations within the workers’ ranks. The instrumentality of these operations is social-democracy. The social-democracy which de- livered the working class to the im- perialist war-mongers in 1914, which has since betrayed and thwarted every revolutionary act and inclina- tion of the masses that have fallen under its leadership, which has de- generated from social-chauvinism, Commune, As far back as 1898, Vollmar, one of the forebears of social-fascism, declared at a congress of the Ger- man Party that “the French work- ers would not have served their cause worse if they had slept during this time.” This cynical utterance represents in essence the attitude of present- |day social-democracy to the Paris Commune. In a tone of utter be- littlement, Kautsky, the dean of social-democracy, sees in the Com- mune a “brief local episode” — this, against Marx’ high tribute: “Before the eyes of the Prussian army that had annexed two provinces of France to Germany, the Commune annexed the workers of the whole world to France.” The revolutionary overthrow of capitalism, the seizure and destruc- tion of bourgeois State power, the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat as the transition to smash the bourgeois State appa- ratus and to place a proletarian State form in its place.” Social-dem- ocracy is opposed to a proletarian State; it is opposed to a proletarian revolution. Coalition with bourgeois ministries, headship of bourgeois governments, endorsement of im- perialist war budgets, prevention of proletarian revolutions — these are the tasks of the social-democratic leaders, How deep-grained the social-fas- cist treachery showed itself in the Austrian situation! An impoy- erished, crisis-burdened, radicalized proletariat surging forward for rev- olutionary action — held back by “socialist” leaders that have entered alliances with a Olerical-Fascist government in a common front for “democracy.” The workers—social- democrats and Communists in spon- taneous united fronts of struggle against fascism, against capitalism— Party as its general staff if the| the sundered, disarmed, bound over to ers—was doomed to bloody defeat, The deeds of the Austrian workers are already part of the magnificent tradition of the revolutionary work- ing class—the tradition of the “June Days” of 1848! of the Paris Com- mune, of 1905, of the Victorious Oc- | tober, of the Canton Commune. The Austrian. workers rose up | against capitalism, rose up for So- |cialism, rose up to take | power. It -was an_ insurrection | againt the paralyzing sway of the | Social-fascist leaders. The revolt | marks the collapse of Austro-Marx- | ism and the unification of the Aus- | trian working-class ranks, from be- low. Though still small, the Com- munist Party of Austria played a | Vital role. The belated, betrayed revolt, has a specific lesson for the | world proletariat. It is the lesson | embodied in the teaching of Stalin: | “The proletariat has need of the around it the mass organizations of the proletariat and centralizing the management of the movement dur- | of goods they buy is being still more | ing the course of the struggle, the Russian proletariat could not have establized its revolutionary dictator- ship.” Today, with the ripening of the revolutionary crisis, this lesson be- comes a slogan of action for the world. Onward under Communist leadership to the struggle for Soviet Power! * The Austrian revolt, which came but two months after the XIII Plenum of the E. C. C, I, confirmed its declaration: “The chief slogan of the Communist International is: Soviet power, The example of the U. S. 8. R. is the example of Bol- shevism. Only this example shows the way out, and the way to save the exploited snd oppressed in all imperialist and colonial coun- | struggle for power is to be crowned tries,” | the codes are being cut, while the | value of these dollars in the amount drastically shortened. No wonder the A. F. of L. leaders | jhave such great difficulty in keep- jing the rank and file back! We will quo jexamples, illu ; conceivable means by which the N. just a few of the many Soviet | proletariat of the entire capitalist} R. A. lowers the workers living standards as forecast by the Com- munist Party when the N. R. A. was passed, From Torringion, Connecticut, we | get the following from A. F. of L. organizer, Max Wyssenbach: “Under the N, R. A, workers in the brass industry received a 5 per cent wage increase, but due to the shortening of hours, the average | pay amounts to about $12 a week.” | In other words, wages are form- |ally “increased,” but the actual | Weekly wage is lower than it was before, By WILLI MUENZENBERG | After the outlawing of the Com-) munist Party of Germany by the Hitler government about a year! ago, the National-Socialist leaders: declared pathetically “Communism in Germany has been destroyed.” | Today one does not hear this opin-| jon any more. The Nazi leaders have in the meantime been forced to) understand that neither the out-| lawing of the legal Communist Party, nor the destruction of its newspapers and the confiscation of its buildings, nor the most cruel suppression and unexampled mass terror can destroy the Communist movement which is part of the working class, and its vanguard. Despite the arrest and jailing of almost 200,000 Communists and anti-fascists, despite the terrible tortures of defenseless prisoners, despite 70 death sentences against anti-fascists, despite the cowardly murdering of 3,000 workers, despite the execution of 27 anti-fascists, the ulegal Communist Party of Germany is living, fighting and growing. Cc. P, Only Real Force Against Fascism - The Communist Party of Ger- many is the only serious, real and daily growing revolutionary force against the hated bloody fascist regime of the National Socialists in Germany. The soeial-imperialiy and social-fascist party of socich democracy, with its 300,000 officials in the state apparatus, which boasted of its strength and power, broke down under the first attacks of the fascist coup d'etat. Its leaders, like Paul Loebe, loudly aim the “socialist blessings” of National-Socialist “Winter Aid” leception and of the fascist dic- tatorsn. What is the Boal ff our Neige historic struggle’ le event the last year in Germany and the events in Austria have again con- firmed in blood and fire the cor- rectness of the Marxist-Leninist theory on the strategy of the pro- letarian class-struggle. The masses of German and Austrian workers who trusted the demagogic phrases and empty promises of the social- democratic leaders and expected from them the realization of so- cialism on the “quiet, safe and NAZIS THINK TO CRUSH GERMAN C. P. BY STRIKING AT DAUNTLESS LEADER OF THE GERMAN / YORKING CLASS | reliable road” of their policies had to pay for this belief with unspeak- able sacrifices and an ocean of blood. Social Democratic Support of Capitalism The rejection of the possibility of developing the revolt of 1918 into ‘@ real, proletarian revolution, of completely disarming the officers and counter-revolutionary forces, of arming the workers, of forming a Red Army, and the rejection of the possibility of establishing the pro- letarian dictatorship—all this was an inevitable consequence of the policies of the second International and led social-democracy into its shameful role as the main social support of the bourgeoisie, ever deeper into the opportunist morass and filth. In the German and in the Austrian republic the carrying out of this policy led to the growth of the reactionary and fascist forces, and finally made possible Hitler’s coup d'etat in Berlin and the Heim- wehr coup d’etat in Austria. The heroic struggle of the workers of Vienna, Linz, Graz and other Aus- trian cities could not any more avert the terrible results for the toiling masses of the policies of the Aus- trian social-democratie Party. History Confirms Communist Party The history of the Austrian republic and as part of it, the role of social-democracy, confirms with dramatic vehemence that the de- cisive factor in the proletarian ciass struggle is and remains the seizure of political power and its complete use, without compromise, for the interests of the proletarian class by the establishment of a Soviet Re- public, Tt is a great historical merit of the Communist Interna- tional and its parties that for over 15 years they have consistently taken a stand for this principle and have tly without vacilla- dr and carried out their policies on this basis. The Thaelmann Trial What is planned in the Thael- mann trial? y The next blow, planned for a long time by the Hitler government, is directed immediately at the head and heart of the Communist Party of Germany: the leader of this Party and the leader of the broad anti-fascist united front, Comrade Ernst Thaelmann, On March 3 it was exactly one year since Comrade Thaelmann fell into the hands of the fascist thugs, through cowardly, dastardly treason. Under particularly severe and ennervating guard, Comrade Thaelmann has for one year been dragged from one dungeon to an- other, from one prison to another. The fascist government is afraid of the defenseless prisoner and is anxiously trying always to keep the place of his detention secret. Just how it became known that Comrade Thaelmann was forced to spend Several weeks in the cellar of the prisons of the Secret State Police, which is well known for the bestial tortures that are carried on there, In a specially prepared trial for high treason Comrade Thaelmann is now to be brought into court, and according to fascist newspaper re- ports this trial is to be made a “great and decisive reckoning with Commuism.” “Trial” of Communism What they were unable to get in the Reichstag fire trial, the Nazis now want to get in the Thaelmann trial; the political and ideological “reckoning” of national-socialism with Communism. The Hitler government again cal- culates wrongly, just as it calculated wrongly in. the Reichstag fire trial, The Reichstag fire trial which was to bring a shattering defeat to the Communist Party of Germany, did in fact lead to a defeat; but to a defeat of the Hitler government. The courageous stand which the Communist defendants took and particularly Comrade Dimitroff, be- came in this trial a great and immortal victory of Communism. Buenger, justice of the German Supreme Court, who is said to be one of the most intelligent of this clan, after the trial, said to one of his acquaintances: If I had known who that Dimi- troff is, I would rather have taken sick leave than conduct the trial.” There can be no doubt that the Hitler government has decided to conduct the Thaelmann trial be- hind closed doors because it has learned from the Reichstag fire trial.” National-Socialism, despite all its “victorious” phrases, still feels too weak to conduct a trial against the leader of the said-to-be destroyed Communist Party, in public, Hitler wants the so-called reckoning between National-Social- ism and Commynism in this trial, to be conducted in such a manner, that Comrade Thaelmann, cut off from the public, robbed of all de- fense, is faced with the whole fas-| cist state apparatus and machinery, The first, urgent and unpost- ponable task in the great inter- national action for the liberation of Thaelmann, Torgiey and all the other imprisoned Anti-fascists is therefore the fight for free and unlimited defenss of Comrade Thaelmann and the conduct of the trial in public, before a broad international forum. This fight must be conducted by utilizing all means and carrying out the broadest and deepest mass mobi- lization of the world public. Goebbels’ “Weapon”: Lies But just as in the Reichstag trial stnol-pigeons, provocators, ordinary criminals, were brought and mobi- lized as witnesses against George Dimitroff, about whom the court knew nothing, just as an attempt at the lowest kind of defamation against Dimitroff was made, so from plain fear of a second defeat despite the unequal division of forces in their favor, the Nazis are already today trying to use the same means, only in a still more shame- less and baser ‘yanner, They in- tend to make the personal defama- tion of the defendant the center of the trial. For months the Hitler govern- ment and especially Propaganada Minister Goebbels, who is in charge of the preparation for the trial, has been trying to create the “ideolog- ical basis” for the Thaelmann trial, This is done by having bought traitors, who had heen expelled from the Communist Party for stealing money or acting as stool- pigeons, like George Schwarz, write pamphlets against Comrade Thael- mann that are filled with the dirtiest and stupidest lies. The Personality of Thaelmann, Workers’ Leader In this atmosphere of the lowest kind of lying campaign; with a mass mobilization of stool-pigeons and criminals, in this atmosphere of secret murders, the Hitler govern- ment is preparing the pompously | advertised great “political and ideological reckoning” with Commu- nism in the Thaelmann trial. But this road, too, will not lead the Hit- ler government to its goal. The op- posite of what they expect, what they hope to reach by their cam- paign of lies, will happen, Just as the court did not know Dimitroff and underestimated him, so the Nazi leaders, in their maniacal de- lusion of grandeur, underestimate the personality of the defendant Ernst Thaelmann. Ernst Thaelmann, as the leaflet of the illegal Social Democratic Party of Hamburg correctly em- phasizes, is bigh above the morass of National Socialist lies; and what the social-democratie workers of Hamburg say, many millions of workers all over Germany and in the whole world are feeling: “Thaelmann is a son of the proletarian class, He is a dock worker, he has never lost contact with the transport workers; deck workers and the workers of the public utilities. He founded the first trade union youth groups in Hamburg and already before the war we saw him as a delegate at the congresses of the transport workers’ trade union.” Yes, Ernst Thaeimann is one of the strongest, purest and most prominent leaders of the prole- tarian-revolutionary, of the Com- munist movement in the world. He is a child of a worker's family in Hamburg and has since his earliest youth been indissolubly connected with the proletarian cless move- ment in Germany, Since his earl- jest youth he has been in the youth and trade union movement; during the world war he was actiye in sharp struggles against imperialist Kaiserdom and its war. Ernst Thaelmann is an integral part of the great stream of workers who, through their experience in the world war and the dastardly treason of the social democratic leaders, turned away from these leaders and through the Indepen- dent Social Democratic Party, came to the Communist Party of Ger- many. The German and the interna- | Thaelmann as a proletarian reyolu- tionist and as a leader firmly and faithfully devoted to the Commu- nist movement to the last drop of blood. The rise of the Communist move- ment and the rapid growth of thi United Anti-Fascist Action under | the leadership of Ernst Thaelmann | Was one of the deci: reasons for German finance capital to support the coup d'etat plans of Hitler. The Communists ih Germa: | know Ernst Theelmann as the co! |rede who for over ten the Communist Party of Germany, and who is mainly responsible for the fact that this Communist Par-y acquired its Bolshevik character in the struggle against right-eppor- tunist and left-sectarien doviations, on which today the grea‘ fame of the heroically fighting Communist Party of Germany is founded. The social-democratic workers know Ernst Thaelmann as the one who, in the name of the Comm | nist Party, first offered them a | brotherly hand for joint struggle | against the common enemic The German easants i Emst Thaelmann as the savior from misery who, in the nome cf |the Communist Party, announced | to them the Program for Aid to the Peesants. The workers of Germany and of the whole world know Ernst Thael- | mann as one of the foremost lead- ers of the Communis! International, as a passionate defender of the So- viet Union, as one of the strongest fighters for proletarian interna- tionclism against imperialist war, who in Berlin and in Paris called tens of thousands of workers to joint struggle against ‘he common j enemy. * | This firm connection with the | working class, this deap love and unlimited tryst of millions of toil- ers and oppressed for Ernst Thael- mann must kecome a powerful weapon agains® the base plans of the Hitler and Goebbels bandits, International Action ‘ating almost every | labor in the lumber industries has |benefited through the increased |wages, while skilled and semi- | skilled were cut to code rates for |the South and in some instances leven below the code,” | The lumber code for the South, jone of the lowest in the whole country, as it applies to Negro workers, provide for 20 cent an hour. Now even skilled workers are driven to or below this level. The same organizer in Des Moines who deliberately admits his | strikebreaking, when the rank and | file are ready for action. reports the following facts about lowering workers’ living standards: “The N. R. A. has raised wages of |workers in the meat packing in- dustry, retail stores. garment fac- | tories, bakeries, cap and hat manu- | facturing concerns, ete., but the in- creases apply only to those receiving less than the minimum before the N. R. A. became effective. Hours of work have been shortened for |these industries. but this has re- sulted in lower worker-earner in- comes. . .” From Hamilton Ohio, organizer | Utrecht bluntly reports the follow- ing: fhe N. R, A. has not helped conditions here... What factories are doing anything are still oper- ating at small wages and long hours.” And the A. F. of L, leaders de- jclare: “We are determined to as- the government in the new deal,” by having no striixes. What the workers in the A. F. of L. actually think of their strike- breaking leadership, how ready they are to struggle. would make a siz- zling record. The A. F. of L, officials admit the j auto industry is a powder magazine. | They plead with the bosses to help them keep the men from striking. In every city and hamlet where {there is an A. F of L. in every in- | dustry. eur work is plain. We must | mobilize these workers in rank and |fle .oppesitions to ride over the |heads of their leaders and into | struggle for better conditions and |seeinst the New Deal program of hunger, fascism and war. jand to their leader, Ernst Thael- mann. It is our task to expose the plans of the Hitler government be- fore the broad masses in all coun- |tries, in broadest daylight, We must completely shatter the crim- inal cons vy of the Nazi leaders | who do no: stoop before the basest }and most criminal deed, who only |a few weeks ago ordered the bestial | butchering of four defenseless polit- iezl prisoners, cur unforgettable | friends and comrades, John Scheer, ;Bugen Schoenhaar, Erich Stein- |furth and Rudolf Schwarz. | ‘This great and immediate danger of murder also exists for Comrade Ernst Thaelmann and for many thousands of arersted anti-fascists | Who are now in the hands of the | Storm Trop bandits and of Goer- |ing’s murderers. | Therefore we must mobilize thou- sands of shops and millions of workers in all countries, to demand ; the immediate release of Thael- | mai Torgier and of all anti- ! fas: fighters who are suffering in | Hitler's prisons, dunzeons and con- centration camps, who are con- |stantly threatened by the bullets It is up to us, who can speak and | and daggers of cowardly murderers, write, it is up to us who can move }and who can he wrested from the and fight, to give a maximum of murderous Hitler regime by the support to the German Communist | powerful development of interna- tional working class knows Ernst Party, to the German Anti-Fascists, | tional proletarian solidarity! iu 4