The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 7, 1934, Page 4

Zine Stachel in Convention ~ Speech Tells of n weep of Strike Struggles 1,000,000 Involved in Struggles During 1933; | “Strikes Took Form of (Continued from Page 1) valuable in developing these impor- | tant phases of our trade union work. | Stresses Economic Struggles Stachel’s speech was frequently interrupted with approving applau: and sharp and rapid cross-fire his polemic with some comrades. “Why do we stress winning the leadership of the economic strug- gles?” he asked. “Why do we em-| Fight Against N.R.A.” miss for their special demands |which arise out of inequality of wages and conditions. We will not be able to build the revolutionary trade movement unless we earnestly win the Negro workers for these unions. Youth: “We have been guilty of social-democra underestimation of the young wo) This. requires greater attention espeially with the entrance of the young workers into the important industries (mine, auto anion phasize the plunging of the whole| and s and especially in view of Party into trade union work, the/fascization and attempts of the building of revolutionary trade! bourges to win the youth. We unions, the winning of the workers | in the independent trade unions, | building trade union oppositions in | the reformist unions? Because the economic struggles particularly at this moment are the links through which me can arouse the masses to struggle, and guide them in the de- velopment of these struggles towards revolutionary struggles. “We are able thus to subject to criticism and the fire of actual struggle of the masses the policies and deeds of their enemies, the fas- cist and social-fascist leaders. The morkers are able to see our policies, | our tactics, our deeds, and learn revolutionary lessons. “The relationship of economic de- mands to the struggle for power ha. been excellently developed by Com- rade Browder.” Traces History of Struggle Comrade Stachel then went out} to trace the history of the workers’ economic struggles during the Hoover regime, up through the New Deal, pointing out that Roosevelt and developing the g e alliance made by Green & Co with Hoover. “The main cause for the weak role we play in the economic strug- gl he said, “lies in the fact that we have not yet fully and with suf-| | struggles must raise special demands and spe- ci forms of their self-activity through youth committees, youth sections. Never for a moment must we give the excuso ‘We have no ex- perience.’ (Applause). Women: “We have tried more than ever to emphasize work among women in resolutions at this conven- tion. We must not take this as so many words. We must take it in the spirit written into the 13th C.I. plenum resolution in view of the drive towards fascism and war.” Growth of Company Unions Company Unions: “Since the NRA there has been a growth of company unions especially in the basi¢ indus- tries. The bosses see the workers ruggle as never before. They know in the present period economic quickly develop political features They realize that the struggles of the workers will be- come more and more revolutionary. That is why the capitalists are | feverishly building the company junions. We can term the whole | development we have to meet and | fight against somewhat as follows: The capitalists have formulated the policy of winning for the company unions the A. F. of L. officials, and “A. F. of L.-izing” unions. They are faced with the fact that the workers hate the com- ficient energy and understanding | pany unions, despite “democratiza- carried through the Open Letter; tion” schemes and sanctions of and the cont tasks we set our-| Roosevelt and the N. R. A. selves. We w especially weak in} Comrade Stachel covered work carrying through our concentration | among the railroad workers, sharply tasks, and they have told against us| ¢! ‘ing the politicy of under all in the course of the huge strike wave of a growing political character. We | have not succeeded in mobilizing more than part of our members for this fundamental task of facing the factories, of working within the frade unions, and winning the masses for struggle. We must espe- cially be alarmed over developments in mining, auto, mine and textile, where we play a decreasing role in many instances in relation to the past Masses Moving to Left | He pointed out that the masses | were moving to the left, to struggle, | over the heads of the A. F. of L.} and Socialist Party leaders. After| detailing the course of the strike| cumstances confining work only to the brotherhoods and not organ- izing unorganized railroad workers and those in company unions. Building Revolutionary Opposition A great portion of the report dwelt with work within the A. F. of L., and the building of revolutionary oppositions. There are opportunist | dangers. We must see both the growth of the A. F. of L. and the radicalization of the masses. Some ee only one of these. It is yeces- ‘ary to combat any weakening and neglect in the reformist unions, of late tendencies have also developed of liquidating T.U.U.L. unions. These | are dangerous. We must fight both tendencies. Dealing with the ques- DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 1934 NRA Codes Gear Whole, Economy for War | Production | By MILTON HOWARD | HE heart and soul of the Roosevelt “New Deal” war—imperialist war for the redivision of the markets of the world. Today the Roosevelt gov- arnment conducts a bitter, persistent and secret trade warfare against its imperialist rivals, Britain | and Japan. Today Roosevelt is armed with the unprecedented | power to negotiate secretly for re-| ciprocal trade agreements with the| world colonial markets, with the| dependencies of Great Britain, and is the countries of Europe. Today the weapon of the world struggle for markets is the weapon of inflation, of sharpening the market power of the American dollar through in-| flationary devaluation. Now the in- tense imperialist struggle for mar- kets is waged mostly by peaceful means. But soon the peaceful means will pass over, will explode, into military | means, and the era of the second | world imperialist war will be upon us, an era which will also be an era of proletarian revolutions. That is the event for which the Roosevelt has appropriated, or than one and a half billion dollars. | The 1917 “war to end war” has} resulted in the following situation: In 1914 the United States had six military aeroplanes on active serv- ice; in 1918 it had 750; in 1932 it had 10,000. Since 1932, Roosevelt has authorized the building of more military planes than were built in the previous five years, bringing the total military aviation strength of American imperialism to an all-time entire Roosevelt government is peck straini s y ara- ae a haa ictaheg iio bdeinte ahi During this period, however, “our British cousins,” have not been idle. In 1914 they had ninety military | planes, in 1918 they had 1,500, today | The Roosevelt government is del- iberately and consciously the gov- ernment set up by the monopolist Deal” finds expression. Actually, of the N. R. A. codes, in the Roose- velt program for the railroads and transportation systems, and in the political utterances of leading Cab- inet members, a rapid process of the militarization of the whole American economy. It is not only that Roose- velt is spending enormous millions for bombing planes and warships.) These are only the result of the fact that the essence of his entire| program, political and economic, is directed toward imperialist war for expansion, for markets and in de- fense of Wall Street investments abroad. The N. R. A. officials, for ex- ample, have already co-operated finance capital rulers of Wall Street to be the government that will ex- |ecute its war drive for markets. The Roosevelt government is & government set up by the American capitalist class in a period of the | they have over 6,000. j with the Department of War in a at its service 280 military tanks /the factories of the United States ready for action. Today, as evidence | for the purpose of ascertaining the of the pacific intentions of the/ part that each individual plant can Roosevelt government, the American | psy in a program of war produc- In 1918, American imperialism had | comprehensive economic survey of| the company | most profound economic crisis the| 2*™y has 8,000 military tanks ready world has even seen. | for immediate use. ae | | The most characteristic develop-| But it 1s not only in the building ment of the crisis is the extreme| Up of a huge war machine that the | ruthlesness, the relentless necessity, | | which drives the capitalist class of | every imperialist country to seize upon foreign markets in which to| extend its exploitation, and pour the! immense mountain of unsold goods which are strangling the bourgeoisie | in every country. The basic cause of the capitalist crisis is the shrink- | ing of the world market, the inexor- able shrinking of the buying power of the exploited masses who are plundered throreh capitalist wage slavery. | Therefore, as the shrinking of the | world market is the basic cause of | the world crisis, so the drive for) increased markets becomes the sole | path by which the bourgeoisie in every imperialist country hopes to} clamber out of the swamp of eco-| nomic crisis. | And in the present period, this) struggle for markets inevitably takes | on the character of armed struggle for the redivision of the world. | half of the “missing” can be children. Some Facts on the First World War Nearly 10,000,000 aliens ae killed. = Over 20,000,000 more were wounded. Prisoners or “missing”—nearly 6,000,000. tion. In addition, the whole etfect of the N. R. A. codes is to concentrate and centralize production in the (About counted as dead.) Famine, disease and pestilence took a total of over 28,000,000 people “among the civil population alone,” ac- cording te the Swedish statistician, Hersch. alone took over 15,000,000 lives. Left fatherless as a result of the war were 9.000.000 Influenza War widows numbered about 5,000,000. wave involying over 1,000,000 work-| tion of independent unions, Com- ers in 1933, Comrade Stachel said: “These strikes showed a stubborn and militant character. They took on the form of struggles against the N.R.A. They also showed the grow- ing attacks of the Roosevelt govern- ment against the workers. Before | the N.R.A. came into existence, the | jing for the building of a real class, | |independent trade union center. | Otherwise, an independent labor) | federation will be a reformist one.| ; Our resolution says we must build an independent central organization of labor along with revolutionary In this fight for the redivision of rade Stachel said: “We must build! the world markets American imper- | | foremost the T. U. U. L., while work-| ialism, with Roosevelt at the head, | Direct net money cost of the war for all belligerent moves forward with increasing ag- gressiveness and ruthlessness. Taken in its entirety, the Roose- velt program is the preperation war. countries amounted to over of the ruling class of America for | the solution of the economic crisis | by the path of imperialist war. over $22,000,000,000. Some 10,000,000 were rendered homeless due to the $200,000,000,000. For the United States alone, during two years, the direct cost was Total indirect costs (property damage, etc.) amounted strikes were mainly won. This em-! oppositions within the A. F. of L. phasized our explanation that the| we must have a flexible tactic, NR.A. itself was passed as a weapon leading toward the greatest speed in to prevent strikes and increase the winning the masses in the trade exploitation of the masses with the | union for class organizations, for a help of the A. F. of L. leadership. | revolutionary trade union policy.” His report next detailed the tre-| mendous strike wave and sentiment in 1934 in Alabama coal fields, in| FIVE BULGARIAN WORKERS SENTENCED TO 30 YEARS Aluminum, marine. auto, taxi, etc. ‘Two issues, mainly, we raised in these strikes. 1. Increased wages. the right to organize, against. the eompany unions. 2. They are being conducted over the heads of the A. F. of L. bureaucrats, and the re strike movement showing the tenacity of the workers’ fighting spirit. The N. R. A. is not solving these problems, but brings to the fore the company union. Cites Three Eastern Strikes Comrade Stachel dealt in detail with the marine strike, the New York taxi strike, and the role played by the Communist Party, the Haver- hill shoe strike. “Were we prepared and did we meet the strike situation?” asked “We were not. The bourgeoisie was able—though through some conces- sions in wages in auto, steel and coal, through fostering new illusions in the N. R. A., through the pressure of the reformists, and through our in- ability as yet to lead in the face of obstacles and through terror — to stop the outbreak of important strikes {in decisive industries. ‘These opportunities faced us and we were not able to grasp them. We were not able to make the strikes of the coal miners, steel and auto workers, and longshoremen, tremen- dous battles against capitalism.” Comrade Stachel showed these failures were due to the lag in con- . centration. “What could we have done in Detroit, for example, if we hed one shop organized. That is why the Comintern has hammered into our heads the importance of concentration. If we only had one hammer, one factory in auto, to break the bosses chains on the strike movement! The central committee sent Comrade Weinstone to Detroit to help in concentration, to help remedy these defects. Stresses Unemployed Work Dealing with work among unem- ployed he stressed the need of ex- tending and stabilizing the unem- ployed movement as a permanent organization fighting for relief and unemployment insurance laying the greatest stress on making the unity of employed in the struggle a reality. ‘We can deal here only briefly with points discussed at great detail by Domrade Stachel. Negro work: “We must stress this as the central, not special question fighting for the economic demands of the Negro workers, against dis- | SOFTA, Bulgaria. — Five workers, framed on a charge of preparing a ‘secret printing office, have been | given sentences totaling 30 years {eight months’ imprisonment, and 58.000 levas fines. They are being held in solitary |confinement in dark cells because they shouted “Murderer” when the | police spy came into court who had | extorted statements on which they | were convicted, even though the makers repudiated them openly in court during the trial. | velt American imperialism, consci- ously embodied in the person of Roosevelt, prepares to hack its way with sword and fire to an un- disputed leading position in the world capitalist economy. Huge Armaments The social promises of the Roose- | are “New Deal,” therefore, merely the cloak for the greatest imperialist war program in the his- tory of the American ruling class. It is this, for example, which ex- plains why it is that the Roosevelt government has been able to con- struct the most gigantic war mach- ine in the history of the country to about $150,000,000,000 for all countries. The daily cost of the war in 1918 was $224.000,000. For every casualty in the World War a profit of 50.000 marks (roughly $12.000) was made by the capitalist class, according to Lehmann-Russbuldt, German expert on war. Profits of leading American corporations ranged from 25 per cent to 3,000 per cent and more during the war years. Kighteen leading United States companies increased their net profits of $74,650,000 for the period 1912-1914 to $337,000,000 for the period 1916-1918, or almost four and a half times the pre-war The number of known under the cloak of “public works,” ete. | | Tt ts a fact that the “radical” phrases of Roosevelt have been the sugar-coating for a record-break- 'ing program of military and naval in 1918. Mid iy 8) BAUER practices “self - criticism.” He as- 0 events, for the tactics of the Social-Democracy upon him-) self precisely because to the masses | he is supposed to be the theoreti-| cian and political leader of the “left,” he takes the responsibility | | upon himself in order to prove that, his colleagues, Renner, Seitz (Dan-| neberg, etc, who are suvposed to) be “rights,” wanted to carry out & correct policy and that it was) only he, the “left,” who forced an! incorrect tactic upon them. This artful maneuver is the attempt to explain to the social-democratic workers, “I, Otto Bauer, as a leftist, ‘embodied your impatience toward; Renner, Seitz and the other mem- bers of the leadership. Through me you have forced a left tactic upon them. Your aversion to the policy | of the coalition with the Christian- Socialists has led to catastrophe.” Of the three “tactical” mistakes which Otto Bauer confesses in his pamphlet, “The Revolt of the Aus- trian Workers, he calls two “leftist” deviations. These, two “leftist” mistakes, ac- cording to Otto Bauer, consist in the Austrian Gocial-Democracy not wanting to tolerate the Christian-| average. millionaires in the United States increased from about 7,500 in 1914 to about 25,000 interests, not only of purpose of the N. R. A. codes has been made clear in a number of ut- | terances of leading monopolst pro- | Washington where the ne: 3 protecting essential war industries through government price-fixing was emphasized again and again. The extremely rapid process ot concentrating and cent: dustrial production, regu strictly in the interest of the mono- polies, has been accelerated to a re- markable degree by the entire eco- nomic program of Roosevelt as em- y for agrarian program, his program of R. F. C. sunsidies, etc., ete. The N. entire struccure of American pro- duction for war use. Government Munitions “Planning” A particularly illuminating phase |of the Roosevelt “social planning” is the way Roosevelt has managed to conceal the intense war prepara- and Tennessee Valley River elec- trical projects. The government “planning” of these projects has been proclaimed as a boon to the farmers who will use the nitrates manufactures at these plants for fertilizer. Socialist leaders, like Nor- man Thomas, have hailed the “plan- ning” of Roosevelt in these projects |as confirming the socially progres- | Sive character of the Roosevelt gov- | ernment. But is it not remarkable that the Roosevelt government should manifest a sudden enthusiasm for increasing the supply of agricul- tural fertilizer when it is at the same time engaging in the most wholesale destruction of agricul- tural crops ever undertaken by a “civilized” government? It_is not to increase agricultural | Productivity that Roosevelt is pour- trical projects. To the Roosevelt productivity, increased production of food, is a curse. It is, rather, for the manufacture of nitrates so in- dispensable for the war munitions ning” to develop huge government power stations, Money War Side by side with the concentra- tion of monopoly capital through the N. R. A. codes, Roosevelt has pur- sued in his financial policies a path that leads to imperialist. war. of the huge billion dollar “stabiliza- tion fund,” are all the actions of} an imperialist power driving out-| ward in imperialist expansion| against its imperfalist rivals in the! Struggle for world markets. | | Roosevelt slashes the buying power of the American dollar at home, thus reducing the real wages of | every worker and the entire Amer- |1can working class, in order that American monopoly producers shall have the advantage of lowered costs of production in the battle for world | trade. Roosevelt's money policies, it| | dodied in the N. R, A. codes, his! R. A. codes, the Roosevelt “plan-| ning” are rapidly polishing up the appropriations. In little over a year) war character of the Roosevelt “New .bands of monopoly capital, in the| America’s entrance into the last increasing| world imperialist war, the poison of authorized the expediture of more| Wwe are witnessing in the application | profits, but of war efficiency. This | ducers at the N. R. A. hearings at} | ganda agencies. The Entire Roosevelt “New Deal” Is A War Deut : The N.R.A. Prepares for New Slaughter of Toilers Gov't Builds Record War Machine to Carry Out Wall Street Plans living standards of the entire toil- ing population, so that Wall Street monopoly can preserve its profits in the international markets, War and Class Struggle Official pacifism, of course, is now more prominent than ever as one of the screens behind which Roosevelt | builds his enormous war machine} and masks his war policies. But in the speeches of such men as Assist- ant Secretary of War Woodring, Wallace, Ickes, General McArthur, and others the war objectives of Roosevelt are not concealed. As part of the war preparations, jingoism, slowly but surely is being fostered by the Government propa- Today on the anniversary of jingoism flows thickly over the country as “patriotic parades’ march down the main streets of the cities. Already, the air is filled with | vague talk of “menaces” from for- eign countries. Already there is| talk of “defending our institutions,” ete., ete. These are the certain har- binger of approaching war. The war preparations of the Roosevelt government are, of course, only the development of its class war against the toiling and exploited masses. It is in the capitalist exploitation of the masses, in the plundering of the masses by the employers that arises the necessity for imperialist xpansion, for markets to dump “surplus” goods. The fight against the Roosevelt war program thus became basic- ally a fight against capitalist ex- ploitation, against the entire ca- tions going on around Muscle Shoals | | pitalist system, against the dic- tatorship of Wall Street. The fight against Roosevelt’s war plans cannot be separated from the fight against exploitation, from the class struggle against the Roosevelt class rule, | That is why the daily fight |against the economic offensive of |the employers is also part of the | fight against imperialist war. And |it is this which makes the A. F, |of L. burocracy, the Socialist lead- ership which attempts to lead the |masses into retreat before the of- | Roosevelt war machine. | fensive of the employers part of the! of the French general ‘Fight’ Has Articles on World War League Against War and Fascism Publishes Effective Expose American League Against War and Fascism, 112 E. 19th St, New York. April, 1934, Price 5 cents. ee ee N THE 17th anniversary of the U, S. entrance into the World War, FIGHT, illustrated monthly published by the American League Against War and Fascism, comes out with its April number appro- priately designed to counteract im- perialist propaganda. The maga- zine contains articles by Henri Bar- busse, Harry F. Ward, John Wexley, author of “They Shall Not Die,” Robert Whitaker, and an article by an auto worker. One of the stimulating articles in this number is written by a former pacifist, Robert Whitaker, who was very active in the People’s Council (anti-war organization in 1917-18), On the basis of his past experiences, Whitaker is of the opinion now that “Opposition to war will avail us much until war power is out of the hands of the profit-takers, and their henchmen, and in the hands of a revolutionary proletariat. It is not by abolishing force that we shall lessen its use, but by transferring the control of force to the side of those who speak the common in- terest. . . . War will cease to be war only when the power to make war is in the hands of a society that knows no owning class as against a class of the disinherited, » . .” The writer urges an im- mediate, organized opposition to imperialist war. Henri Barbusse writes a special article for FIGHT on the present “pre-Fascist stage in France,” and on the Paris uprising. The dis- tinguished French writer and anti- war fighter who was in the U.S.A. last October to attend the U. S. Congress Against War writes that a large section of the middle class and other sections of the popula- tion, “the Taxpayer’s League, the conformist Veterans’ League, the Young Patriots—that is the most clearly defined of the peasant and middle class elements—are stirred by nationalist and Fascist agitation.” He points out that these elements are “exploited in order to consoli- date the capitalist system itself by @ means of violence.” In talking strike of February 12th, Barbusse writes that ing millions into government elec-| government, increased agricultural) The going off the gold standard, the de-| slaughter our class brothers of valuation of the dollar, the creation | Japan, Britain, if they send us to But imperialist war is the womb | it was finally declared on the ini- | of proletarian revolution. If the last | tiative of M. Jouhaux of the re- imperialist war gave birth to the | formist C.G.T. only “after conversa- Soviet Government of the U. S. s. | tions and dealings between Jouhaux R., then it is a certainty that the | 8nd the government, and this lent next imperialist war will give birth | to more than one new Soviet power. And it is dread of this that haunts | and restrains the imperialist rulers | from leaping at one anothers throats | at once. | The example of the Soviet Union pervades the consciousness of the world masses. Its unswerving peace policy, which is not a pacifist policy, but an extension of its revolution~ ary struggle againsct world impe- Yialism, is a formidable obstacle to industry, that Roosevelt is “plan-| the imperialist war plans, Our answer to the imperialist war-makers is civil war, class war against the capitalist class that hurls millions to hideous death in defense of capitalist slavery and Profits, If the Roosevelt war-makers place guns in our hands to attack the Workers’ Fatherland, then we will know how take the road that can lead back to peace, the road of revolution against the war-makers, the road of trans- forming the imperialist war into a civil war. Today, while the bugles ring their call to another world slaughter, we jsend forth our pledge of interna- | tional solidarity with the toilers of the whole world. We take our | Pledge that in the furnace of war Shall be forged the weapons of pro- therefore, are driving down the slavery and imperialist Slaughter. letarian revolution against wage Otto Bauer Practices “Self-Criticism” Comrade Stachel of the delegates. | By Bela Kun ® Socialists, and on the advire of Otto | Bauer, had laid down his position | of president in parliament in order He writes: “At that time, per- haps, we could have been victorious. pressed uprising, this is a political conception with an ideological basis But we shrank back from struggle|—a conception whose basis is the] sumes responsibility for the) to give the Social-Democrats the! then. . : We avoided struggle be-| thesis that capitalism is continuing, | one vote lacking against the govern-| cause we wanted to spare the coun- ment majority for the protection of| try the catastrophe of a bloody civil! | the reprimanded railwaymen. It follows from this, therefore, that the two tactical mistakes of the Social-Democracy that led to catastrophe consisted in the So- clal-Democracy not having “tol- erated the Buresch and then the Dolifuss-Fey government, What Otto Bauer really possesses should not be taken from him— he has a dose of parliamentary eretinism from which he may waste away his whole life long. In spite of this, it must be said that he does not have so much parliamentary cretinism as not to know that tol- eration does not consist of such bar- gains, as he would like to have us believe. Toleration consists, above all, in holding back the working class mass action. The Austrian Social-Democracy has practiced this form of toleration with no less suc- cess than its German brother party, @ party entirely worthy of it. Could Have Won But where there is “left” there is also “right.” Otto Bauer also had to have rightist deviations. Other- wise you don’t get the “on the one hand—on the other hand,” that | War. In spite of this, the civil war | broke out eleven months later, but. | under conditions, assentially more | unfavorable for us.” If the confession of the “left” mistakes by Otto Bauer serves to make the workers responsible for| | the catastrophe on account of their, | will to fight, Otto Bauer confesses) | the “right” deviation for the pur-| | Pose of drubbing it into the work- | ers that they really were blockheads | because they forced a general strike |mot at the correct time, but at a false one. This is also meant to be a blow against those opposition ele- ments within the defeated Social- Democracy who refuse to recognize the bankrupt party leaders, both right and left. It used to be said in Austria of the Hapsburgs that they could for- get nothing and learn nothing. The leaders of the Austrian Social-De- mocracy, who long attended this Hapsburg school, have retained this fine quality. All hopes based on “{mprovement” are vain. One way or the other, the defeat of the work- ing class is, according to the con- ception of Otto Bauer, inevitable. !He tells in his pamphlet that the) German Social-Democracy led the! April, 1932, The result of this “pol-| geois. So he writes that his rightist Socialist Buresch government in| virtue of every first-rate petty-bour-| icy of non-toleration” was that the| mistake consisted in the fact that, Christian-Socialists allied themselves | with the Heimwehr and Dollfuss formed his government with Fey. Further, in that Renner, on account after the elimination of the parlia- ment and the prevention of its as- sembling by Dollfuss, this attack was not replied to by a general of @ conflict with the Thristian- | strike, 2 working class to defeat because it) had pursued a rightist policy. In, Hungary and Italy, the policy of the) “left” Social-Democrats, “analagous | to Communism,” ended in a catas- trophe.” This is ne hangover after a sup- is on the way to new recovery, to overcoming its general crisis, “The Causes of the Working Class’ Defeat Lie Deeper than in the Tactics” But to console the Austrian work- ers Otto Bauer further says that the deeper causes of the defeat are not the tactical mistakes of the Social- Democracy, but lie rather in a basic “natural” development, so to speak, the turning away of the petty bour- geoisie of city and country, from So- cials-Democracy to fascism. The leftist and rightist mistakes still could have been avoided. But the turning of the middle classes to fas- cism was an inevitable result of the entry into the “epoch of fascism.” Thus, not Otto Bauer and not the leadership of the social-democratic party are responsible, but perhaps the Lord in heaven, who has not hearkened to the prayers of the so popular religious socialists in the Austrian Social-Democracy. cael ities turning of the city and rural petty bourgeoisie toward fascism is an indication of the bankruptcy of democratic socialism, The Austrian Social-Democracy proclaimed the necessity for a democratic policy, in- stead of struggle for the dictator- ship of the proletariat, on the basis that democratic socialism would win the middle layers for the working ¢ of the working class. They pursued a petty bourgeois policy in the working class, and by this petty bourgeois policy, which {really served only big capital, they led the petty bourgeoisie against the j Working class, This was expressed in the whole municipal policy of | Vienna, especially in the tax policy | of Breitner, the famous financial ge- nius of the Viennese local adminis- tration. Democratic socialism could not, of course, get at the sources of capitalist exploitation, it could not attack unearned income. The fam- ous sliding seale of taxation was nothing but a swindel. Rothschild, who was put on his feet financially, at the expense of the taxpayers, was Jess affected by the tax policy of ,Breitner than the little man, the jandlord, the retail dealer, the small manufacturer and independent. The big capitalist did not suffer from the competition of the municipal enterprises. This policy, which was a petty bourgeois policy, since it could not and would not touch capitalist Private property, was the real cause for the turning of the petty bourgeoisie in the cities to fas- ciem, Protected Rich Peasants The agrarian policy of the Aus- trian Social-Democracy, which was programmatically supported by Otto Bauer, was directed toward the pro- tection of the rich peasant without & decisive course toward expropria- class and thus prevent the isolation | tion of the big landowner. This po- liey could not but repel all the work- ing strata of the village who de- it a quasi-official character which ought to give us pause.” Finally Barbusse points out that the ex- treme precarious situation makes it “extremely urgent for us to ex- pand the working class front by a defensive and offensive alliance with the middle classes, the peasants, and the war veterans and for this pur- Pose we must forcefully work upon the great undirected masses, to show the similarity of their interests with those of the working class.” The article by an auto worker in a Detroit plant shows how that in- dustry is turning itself into a war machine through the manufacture of Diesel engines for war planes, and how many of the companies like Chevrolet, Chrysler and Dodge meet the requirements of the War Department. An interesting and im- portant point is made that Henry Ford who publicly denounces the munitions makers turns his own Plants “into producing gun car- riages, grappling iron for tanks and khaki colored U. S. Medical Corps ambulances.” “There is always a 1917,” is a fruitful review of the soldier rebellions during the last World War. John Wexley, whose Scottsboro play is now running on Broadway, writes on white su- premacy, describing how the ruling Class divides the workers, Negro and white, in their efforts to retain their supremacy, Hariv F. Ward, the new National Chairman of the ieague, writes on Churches and Fascism. Adam Lapin, editor of the “Student Review” swings into Ralph Easley (a pal of Matthew Woll), of the National Civic Federation, for his attack on the students’ anti-war movement, in the Hearst newspapers. Many other articles and photographs turn the April number of FIGHT into a most excellent medium to combat war and fascism during the 17th anniversary of the U. 8. entrance invo the World War, manded a land tax, and credit policy directed against the big peas- ants and big landowners. If this did not happen to the degree, how- ever, which Otto Bauer would have us believe, it is only to be ascribed to the fact that a part of the smali peasants nevertheless put its hope in the working class and in the strug- gle against great landed property. The example of the Bolsheviks, the example of the Soviet Union, shows that the gaining of the broad- est masses of the small peasants and petty bourgeoisie for the working class can be successful only if the workers’ party pursues a truly rev- olutionary proletarian policy and completely strangles finance capital, the banks, the trusts, the large land- owners. The safeguarding of these great reserves of the proletarian revolution, the overcoming of their vacillations is possible only if the proletarian party by a really revolu- tiqnary policy cuts the bonds con- necting these middle strata to big capital—in which case the bourge- oisie is destroyed. The swinging of the middle classes to fascism is no act of nature. It is the consequence |of the social-democratie policy, of |reformism, of petty bourgeois prin- (ciples in the ranks of the working | class, Let the secial-democratic work- | ers decide what a practical policy for the proletariat is: social-dem- Celebrate Amalgamation of 70,000 SHOE and LEATHER WORKERS AMAGAMATION CONCERT and BALL CENTRAL OPERA HOUSE 6th and Third Ave, TONIGHT NEW YORK DISTRICT United Shoe and Leather Workers Union |