The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 14, 1934, Page 3

DAILY WORK: «, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 1934 Page Three Keport by Comrade Earl Browder for the Central Committee To the 8th National Convention, Communist Party, U. 5. A Comrades : Our Eighth Convention meets at a time when the capitalist world is ap- proaching a new explosion. Any day, any month, we may receive the first news of Japanese imperialism begin- ning its long-prepared invasion of the Soviet Union. At any time the mad- man who holds power in Germany may launch the wild adventure of anti-Soviet intervention which is the kr one of his policy, or mi set fire to the fuses of the whole system of ex-| plosive European relations. Who can say on what day the powers now engaged in a gigantic naval race may have their present navies thrown into action by one powers’ fear of being left behind in the race? Who can foretell when the tightening lines of class struggle in any one of a dozen countries may not, by some “small” incident like the expose of the Stavisky rruption, be ignited with the flames of a revolutionary civil war? The world stands on the brink of revolutions and wars. This is the fruits of more than four years of unprecedented capitalist crisis. crisis period is approximately the period between our Seventh and Eighth National Conventions. Through this period capitalist society has con- tinuously disintegrated. The crisis has pene- trated into and undermined the industry and agriculture of every capitalist and colonial coun- try; it has upset the currency and credit re- lationships of the entire world. United States, still the strongest fortress of world capitalism, has been stripped of its last shred of “exceptionalism,” stands fully exposed to the fury of the storms of crisis, and, rela- tively speaking is registering its deepest effects. The economic losses due to the crisis, in the United States alone begin to approach the figures of the tctal losses of the World War. A great upsurge of class struggles is sweeping the capitalist world. A wave of liberation strug- gl weeps the colonies and oppressed nations. thrown and the forces of a Soviet revolution are gather In Cuba a revolutionary up- heavai drove out the bloody tyrant, Machado. A general strike sweeps France, embracing the of the working class. In Germany ing wave of proletarian revolution is cd, but cnly temporarily, by loosening the ist mad-dogs, the foul refuse of the insane ‘iminal underworld, against the In Austria, the lightning flash man m: heroic Austrian wo’ , revealed for an instant the doom that is being prepared for capitalism be- heath the blanket of fascism with which the bourgeoisie seeks to smother the flames of revo- lution. Also in the United States the upsurge of mass resistance to the capitalist policy of driving the masses into starvation, a policy in- tensified behind the demagogic cloak of Roose- velt’s “New Deal,” has already been answered by the capitalists with machine-guns at Am- This | berricade fighting of the betrayed | | bridge; by increasing appropriations for police |and military; by fascist preparations of War Department occupation of the strategic points in the economic system; by incorporating the | A. F. L. leadership into the government mach- inery; by the “new course” of compulsory ar- bitration and legalization of company unions “charted” by Roosevelt in the automobile settle- ment and the Wagner “labor” bill. A wave of |chauvinism is being roused by capitalist press and statemen, without precedent in time of peace. Fascism is rearing its ugly head more | boldly every day in the U.S. A. The rape of China by Japanese imperialism; the wars in Latin-Ameriza in which America and British imperialisms begin to settle accounts —these were but the first links in the chain of imperialist wars being forged by the blows of the crisis. The rise of fascism in Germany and Austria further shattered the post-war |system of international relationships. The im- | perialist powers are arming to the teeth. They are desperately striving to come to an arrange- |ment that the next decisive step in the armed | redivision of the world shall be a counter-revo- lutionary invasion of the Soviet Union. War | budgets are shooting upward at a speed matched only by the speed of deterioration of the living standards of the masses. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union, the land where the victorious working class is building social- Jism, moves in a direction exactly opposite to |that of the capitalist world. While the capi- | talist world suffered economic paralysis, in the Soviet Union a historically backward land has Even the! jeaped forward to the first place in Europe, and | jin the whole world second only to the United | States. While living standards in the capitalist | world took a catastrophic drop of 40 to 60 per cent, in the Soviet Union they leaped upward |by more than 100 per cent. While capitalist | policy is directed with all energy to cut down | production in the face of growing millions of starving and poverty-stricken workers and farm- jers, in the Soviet Union the productive forces | have been multiplied manifold, a half continent of 52 nations, of 165,000,000 population is being n the Fascist dictatorship has been over- lifted out of poverty into material well-being | |and a rich cultural life. While the capitalist world drives feverishly toward war, the Soviet | union emerges more and more as the great | bulwark of world peace. Clearly the world is | divided into two systems, moving in opposite directions, | This is the world situation, described by the general staff of our World Party, the Executive Committee of the Communist International, as a situation “closely approaching a new round of revolutions and wars,” in which the Com- | munists of the United States meet in our Eighth | National Convention to chart our course for | the next period, to prepare our forces for the |mext great task, to win the majority of the American workers and their allies for the revo- lutionary way out of the crisis, for the uncom- promising fight for immediate economic and political needs, for the overthrow of capitalism, for the building of a new, socialist system by a revolutionary Workers’ Government, | I, The Growth of Hunger, Rasen, anal the Dances of Imperialist War The economic crisis is in its fifth year. It) 1933, the capitalist world increased its produc- | has lasted far longer than any previous crisis.| tion in all countriés, whereas previously the It has been more far-reaching and destructive. ; course had been downward from year to year. That is because it occurs in the midst of the| ‘This fact has been joyously hailed by capitalist general cr agricultural crisis, the absence of tendencies towards any serious renewal of basic capital which usually heralds the approach of a boom, etc., etc, “Apparently, what we are witnessing is the transition from the lowest point of decline of industry, from the lowest depth of the in- dustrial crisis to a depression, not an ordi- nary depression, but to a depression of a spe- cial kind which does not lead to a new boom and flourishing industry, but which, on the other hand, does not force it back to the lowest point of decline.” It would be a vulgar fatalism to think that no matter what measures the capitalist class undertakes, they have no effect upon capitalist economy. It would equally be wrong to think such effects are exclusively negative, to fail to see how capitalist industry has eased its posi- tion (even if only temporariiy) at the great ex- pense of the workers and toiling masses. We must avoid such mistakes, to be able to unmask the crude illusions propagated by the labor agents of capitalism, and prevent them from | sowing confusion in the working class ranks. | EARL BROWDER, | General Secretary, Communist Party U. S. A. s, the blows delivered by the world crisis to U. S. economy, are the first factors which make it impossible for American capitalism to return to boom and pri yed to impro ion, even though they helped | from crisis to depression, had of deepening the general crisis of over | capitalism Even the capitali in their confidential dis adopting the view that The dey l be a prolonged one, that a quick re- > the Kiplinger y letter of March 17, speaks gton feeling about the course of Most private discussions by the ies here reflect a resignation to the idea of slow and irregular recovery, not rapid recovery, Some, progress, then a set-back. Further progress, then a breathing spell. Talk of spring boom has disappeared. Talk of fall boom, under belated inflationary influences, has lessened.” | Yes, there is an improvement in business and | | | | | Characteristic of this fact are: (a) The crisis affected every capitalist and colonial country. (bd) It penetrated every phase of economy, industry, agriculture, trade, credit, currency, state finances. (c) The crisis itself resulted in intensifying the concentration and centralization of capital, with consequent intensification of labor, which was a basic cause for the unexampled depth of the crisis. (d) It has at the same time sharply degraded the technical level of agriculture, causing it to abandon machine labor for hand labor, mechanical power for horse and man power, further sharpening the contradiction between city and country. (e) The chief feature of overproduction is, that it is sharpest in the field of means of production, far exceeding the capacity of capi- talistically-limited society to use to the full, thus closing the doors to a revival by vast new capital investments. f) Existence of giant monopolies, further strengthened during the crisis (as by the N.R.A. codes, etc.) results in sustaining mo- nopoly profits at the cost of the rest of economy, reducing mass purchasing power, and hindering the absorption of accumulated stocks. g) The crisis comes in a period when the imperialist powers have already divided the world among themselves, when there are no further fields of expansion, except at the ex- pense of one another (or of the Soviet Union), and when the uneven development of the im- perialist powers makes imperative a redivi- sion of the world which is only possible through the arbitrament of war. h) Finally, this crisis comes after world cap- italism,has already suffered the fatal shat- tering blows of the last World War, as a result of which its world-system was broken at its weakest link, out of which emerged a new, a rival world economic system, the sys- tem of Socialism in the Soviet Union. The infiuence of the general crisis of capi- talism upon the course of the economic crisis can be seen in volume of industrial produc- tion during the past five years in the principal industrial countries. I quote the figures given by Comrade Stalin in his report to the 17th Con- gress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union: VOLUME OF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION (Percent of 1929) 1930 1931 1932 1933 U.S.S.R.. 129.7 161.9 184.7 201.6 U.S. A. 90.7 681 53.8 64.9 England . 92.4 838 83.8 86.1 Germany 883 71.7 59.8 66.8 France 100.7 89.2 69.1 77.4 These figures clearly reveal the division of the world into two systems which are travelling in opposite directions. While in the capitalist countries production declined between 1929 and 1933 by from 15 to 35 per cent, the socialist industry of the Soviet Union increased by more than 100 per cent. ‘ These figures aiso show thet from 1932 to is of the whole capitalist system. spokesmen as heralding the end of the crisis, | | the beginning of recovery, the promise of re- turning prosperity. This conclusion is also sup- | Ported by the Socialist Party leaders and the | reformist trade union bureaucrats. What is the true significance of this fact? | A clear answer was already given to this ques- ion by Comrade Stalin at the 17th Congress, supplementing and further developing the Thesis of the 13th Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International. Comrade Stalin said: | “It means that, apparently, industry in the principal capitalist countries had already passed the lowest point of deciine and did not return to it in the course of 1933. “Some people are inclined to ascribe the phenomenon to the influence of exclusively artificial factors, such as a war-inflation beom. There cannot be any doubt tiat the war-inflation boom plays not an unimportant rele here. It is particularly true in regard to Japan, where this artificial factor is the principal and decisive force in some revival, principally in the munition branches of in- dustry. But it would be a crude mistake to attempt to explain everything by the war- inflation boom. Such an explanation would be wrong, if only for the reason that the changes in industry which I have described are ob- served, not in separate and chance districts, but in all, or nearly all, industrial countries, including those countries which have a stable currency. Apparently, side by side with the war-inflation boom, the operation of the in- ternal economic forces of capitalism also has effect here, “Capitalism has succeeded in somewhat easing the position of industry at the expense of the workers—increasing their exploitation by increasing the intensity of their Jabor; AT THE EXPENSE OF THE FARMERS — by pursuing a policy of paying the lowest prices for the products of thelr labor, for foodstuffs and partly for raw materials; at the expense of the peasants in the colonies and in the economically weak countries—by still further forcing down the prices of the prod- ucts of their labor, principally raw materials, and also of foodstuffs. “Does this mean that we are witnessing a transition from a crisis to an ordinary de- Pression which brings in its train a new boom and flourishing industry? No, it does not mean that, At all events at the present time there are no data, direct or indirect, that indicates the approach of an industrial boom in capitalist countries. More than that, judg- ing by all things, there cannot be such data, at least in the near future. There cannot be, because all the unfavorable conditions which prevent industry in the capitalist countries from rising to any serious extent still continue to operate. I have in mind the continuing general crisis of capitalism in the midst of which the economic crisis is proceeding, the chronic working of the enterprises under ca- pacity, the chronic mass mnemployment, the interweaving of the industrial crisis with the Many facts lead to the conclusion that the economic crisis in the U. S. has already passed its lowest point. Furthermore, the various mea- sures undertaken by the capitalist class itself, and the operation of the internal economic forces of capitalism, facilitated the passing of the economic crisis into the stage of depression. In the course of the crisis, American capi- talism lowered production costs and increased its profits mainly through a more intensive ex- ploitation of the employed workers. In this | process, the productivity of labor was increased mainly through more intensive exploitation and speed-up. American capitalism has utilized the great standing army of the unemployed for this physically-fit, workers whom starvation forced to work under the worst conditions at lowest wages. ‘The improved situation for capitalist industry came as a result of the sharp reduction of the living standards of the workers and the further ruination of the poor and middle farmers. But this is not all. It is a fact that through the long duration of the crisis the index of overproduced commo- dities reserves declined. This decline in great degree proceeded through actual physical de- struction of commodities. It is very likely, also, that especially in the light industries where pro- duction sharply declined, there consumption at the existing low prices served to greatly dimin- ish the overproduction. Increasing profits also serve, even in small degree, to encourage new capital investments in production and building. Further, a large part of debts were wiped out through bankruptcy, further mergers; while confiscation of a huge portion of middle-class savings through the closing of banks, made a serious contribution to capitalist profits. This is the road travelled by American capi- talism in the crisis, It is not Uhe road to a new prosperity. At the same time, however, it would be absolutely stupid to refuse to see those im- provements in its economic situation that Amer- ican capitalism did make. But whatever im- provements took place, as a result of war-/ spending and inflation, and also from the fur- ther impoverishment of workers and farmers and the operation of the internal economic forces of capitalism, they all facititated the passing of the crisis into the stage of depression. The economic crisis in the United States, as in the rest of the capitalist wor, is interwoven with the general crisis of capitalism. The depth purpose where it could select the best, most | paeslesehen activity in the U. 8. There are also changes in the movement of the economic crisis. It is apparent that the crisis has passed its lowest point and entered the stage of de- | pression, This has been accomplished by mea- | sures which deepen the general crisis (war prep- |arations, inflation, ruination of farmers and | small business, impoverishment of the masses, eic.). That means, the depression is not the | prelude to new boom and prosperity, as the | minstrels of the “New Deal” are singing. It will | be prolonged. It will be a period of increase |misery for the toilers. Against this background of the perspective | of continued and prolonged depression, given us | so clearly in the analysis of Comrade Stalin, it |is more than ever clear that the policies being | followed by the capitalists, in their frantic ef- jforts to find a way out of the crisis, “in the | near future cannot but lead,” as the 13th E. C. | C. I, Plenum pointed out, “to the still greater | | disturbance of state finances and to a still fur- | ther intensification of the general crisis of cap- italism.” Thus the economic and political fac- tors at work determine that “the capitalist world is now passing from the end of capi- | talist stabilization to a revolutionary crisis.” This it is that determines the ‘‘perspectives of development of fascism and the world revolu- tionary movement of the toilers.” (Thirteenth Plenum.) Fascism and Social-Fascism What is Fascism? It is “the open, terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chau- vinist and most imperialist elements of finance capital.” What is its purpose? It is to enforce the policy of finance capital, which is to bolster up its profits at the cost of degrading the living standards of the toiling population, to violently smash the resistance of the working class, to behead the working class by the physical ex- termination of its leading cadres, the Com- munists. Where does it find its mass basis? Among | the petty-bourgeoisie, by demagogic promises to the desperate, impoverished farmers, shopkeep- Jers, artisans, office workers and c servants, | | and particularly the declassed and criminal ele- | ments in the big cities. It also tries to pene- | trate the more backward strata of the workers. How is it possible for Fascism to develop suf- ficient power to defeat the workers? This is only possible by obtaining help within the work- ing class, thus disrupting its unity and disarm- mass support ctly in the work ranks. It must find indirect suppo: finds in the Socialist Party lead reformist trade union officialdom ers, influencing the majority class, hold back the workers from of struggle which alone can defeat and roy Fascism, and under the slogan of defense democracy, and “choosing the lesser evil,” lea the workers to submit to and support the mediate steps to the introduction of Fascis: That is why we call these leaders fascists,” and their theories “social-fas In the United States, fascism is being pared along essentially the same lines that was prepared in Germany and Austria The Socialist and A. F. of L. leaders are tak- ing essentially the same course taken by their brothers in Europe. But the workers in the U. S. have the tremendous advantage of having before their eyes the living example of the events in Europe of being able to judge by re- sults the true meaning of policies which they are asked to follow here. That is the supreme importance of every worker in America studying and thoroughly understanding the experiences | of our brothers across the waters. What are the ideas, the misconceptions, with which the social-fascists confuse and disarm the workers? First, is the idea that fascism is the opposite of capitalist democracy, and this democrac: therefore the means of combatting and def: ing fascism. This false idea serves a double purpose. By means of counterposing “democ- racy against dictatorship,” it tries to hide the fact that the capitalist “democracy” is only a form of the capitalist dictatorship; it tries to identify in the worker's mind the fasci tatorship with the proletarian dictators the Soviet Union, and thus cause the worker to reject the road of revolution. At the same time, this slogan is used to hide the fact that capitalist democracy is not the enemy, but the mother of fascism; that it is not the destroyer. but the creator of fascism. It uses the truth that fascism destroys democracy, to propagate the falsehood that democracy will also destroy fascism. Thus does the Socialist Party and trade union officialdom, to the extent that the workers follow them, tie the working class to the chariot wheels of a capitalist democracy which is being transformed into fascism, para- lyze their resistance, deliver them over to fas- cism bound and helpless. In Germany this meant support to Hinden- burg, Bruening, Von Papen, Schleicher; and their “emergency decrees” directed against the workers. In the United States, it is support to Roosevelt, LaGuardia, the N.R.A, and the “emergency decrees” of the strikebreaking labor boards, arbitration boards, “code authorities,” etc. In each case, the slogan is “choose the lesser evil’; in each, the workers are asked to “fight against fascism” by supporting the men and measures that are introducing fascism. Second, is the idea that fascism represents, | not finance capital, but rather a “revolutionary movement” directed against both finance capi- tal and against the working class by the im- poverished middle classes. This idea helps finance capital to get and keep control over these middle classes, strengthens their illusions, divides the workers from them and prevents the workers from setting themselves the task of winning over the middle classes to support of | the proletarian revolution, causes the workers to support their misleaders in their alliance “against fascism.” In Germany, this idea was, concretely, alliance with Hindenburg against Hitler; in Austria, with Dollfuss against the Nazis; in the United States with Roosevelt “against Wall Street.” Third, with the victory of fascism in Ger- many and Austria, the Socialist and trade union s forth the idea that t the re beginning o Thi the ba them al ic problem. he moral base for ca tr bou 1 n the eyes of hastens he masse! he exposure of all ¢ especially ogic support- in support wor and trade It ha uti ation of the workers, destroys their democratic illu- sions, and thereby prep: the ma for the revolutionary ‘uggle for power. Through fascism, the capitalist c: ers of capita among the union leaders sm hopes to destroy the threat of revolution at home. Through imperialist war, it hopes to destroy the ion in the Union, and by armed rediv n of the to find the way out of the crisis. What are the prospects for success of this capitalist program? Such prospects are very bad indeed. The revolutionary movement of the working class and poor farmer allies cannot be destroyed. This was proved by the fall of the bloody Czarist autocracy in old Russ It was proved again by the failure of the ferocious terror of Chiang Kai-Shek in China to halt the rise of the vic- torious Chinese Soviet Republic. It was proved on our own doorstep, last August, by the rev- olutionary overthrow of the Butcher Machado and his fascist dictatorship in Cuba. It is be- ing proved every day by the heroic work of the Communist Party of Germany. It is proved by the crisis in the Second International, and the mass turning of European workers toward the Bolshevik path. It was proved by the destruc- tion of the fascist dictatorship in Spain. Terror cannot destroy the proletarian revolution. Neither is there hope for world capitalism that it can solve its problems though war. It tried this way in 1914-1918. But instead of solving problems, this only reproduced them on a larger scale and in sharper form, That effort lost for capitalism the largest country, one-sixth of the world, to the victorious working class of the Soviet Union. Now they speculate on recover-_ ing this lost territory for capitalism, through another war But this time they will face a working class infinitely better prepared than in 1914-1918. The working class in the Soviet Union is now fully armed with the weapons of modern warfare, based upon a modernized industry and solid socialist economy. The work- ing class in the capitalist countries is no longer under the undisputed sway of the Socialist and trade union leaders. In every country there is a growing mass which has already begun to learn the lessons of the victory in the Soviet Union, which has already grouped itself around the Communist Party, which is arming them with the weapons of revolution—the theory and practice of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin— of Bolshevism. If the imperialists venture upon another war, they will receive a crushing defeat worse than the last war. On the borders of the Soviet Union they will meet military defeat at the hands of an invincible Red Army. At the rear, the working class will be transforming the im- perialist war into a civil war of the oppressed masses for the overthrow of capitalism. Such | @ war will surely end in the birth of a few more | Soviet Republics, II. The Upsurge of the Mass Sirauelee and the Work of the| Communist Party The United States, stronghold of world cap- italism, exhibits at the same time its deepest contradictions. The blows of the economic crisis struck heaviest, relatively, here. The contrast between mass hopes and illusions in 1929, and bitter reality in 1934, is greater than almost anywhere else. The greatest accumulated wealth and productive forces, side by side with the largest mass unemployment and starvation of any industrial country, stares every observer in the face. Revolutionary forces in the U. S., developing more slowly than elsewhere, are yet of enormously greater potentiality and depth. Ail capitalist contradictions are embodied in Roosevelt's “New Deal” policies. Roosevelt pro- mises to feed the hungry, by reducing the pro- duction of food. He promises to redistribute wealth, by billions of subsidies to the banks and corporations. He gives help to the “forgotten” man, by speeding up the process of monopoly and trustification. He would increase the pur- chasing power of the masses, through inflation which gives them a dollar worth only 60 cents. He drives the Wall Street money changers out of the temple of government, by giving them complete power in the administration of the governmental machinery of the industrial codes. He gives the workers the right of organization by legalizing the company unions. He inaugur- ates a regime of economy, by shifting the tax burden to the consuming masses, by cutting ap- propriations for wages, veterans, and social services, while increasing the war budget a billion dollars, and giving ten billions to those who already own everything. He restores the faith of the masses in democracy, by beginning the introduction of fascism. He works for in- ternational peace, by launching the sharpest trade and currency war in history. Roosevelt’s program is the same as that of finance capital the world over. It is a program of hunger, fascization and imperialist war, It differs chiefly in the forms of its unprecedented | ballyhoo, of demagogic promises, for the crea- tion of mass illusions of a saviour who has found the way out. The New Deal is not developed fascism. But in political essence and direc- tion it is the same as Hitler's program. Under cover of these mass illusions, Roosevelt Jaunched the sharpest, most deep-going attack against the living standards of the masses. Even though the workers were still under the influence of illusions about Roosevelt (these illusions continue to stand up under repeated plows!) they could not but recognize what was happening to them. They answered with a wave of strikes. More than a million work- : | ers struck in 1933 in resistance to the New Deal polici: Over 750,000 joined the trade unions, During this period the unemployed movement also deepened and consolidated itself, in spite of a serious lag. Especially important, it re- acted to the new forms of governmental relief, the C. W. A. and forced labor camps, and began a movement on those jobs to protect living standards. The movement for the Workers’ Un- employment Insurance Bill began to take on a broad mass character, Radicalization among the masses of impover- ished farmers, veterans, students, professionals, stimulated by the strike wave, gathered about the rising working class movement, and to a@ greater degree than ever before in political con- tact with the workers. This first wave of struggle against the Roose- velt “new deal” was stimulated and clarified by the fact that the Communist Party, from the beginning, gave a bold and correct analysis of the “new deal,” and a clear directive for strug- gle against it. Events since last July confirmed entirely the analysis then given. Every serious effort to apply that program of struggle has brought gains for the workers. There is no need to re our analysis, Now we can sum up the results of nine months’ experience, : Results of the New Deal What has happened with the “new deal”? Has it failed? Many workers, in the first stages = of disillusionment, come to that conclusion... , They are disillusioned with the result, but still’. | believe in the intention, The S. P, and A. F, | of L. leaders try to keep them in this stage, | But this conclusion is entirely too simple. The! “new deal” has not improved conditions for the'~ . workers and exploited masses. But that was ~ | never its real aim; that was one ballyhoo; that = | was only bait with which to catch suckers. In; | its first and chief aim, the “new deal” succeeded; }= that aim was, to bridge over the most difficult situation for the capitalists, and to launch a new attack upon the workers with the help of their leaders, to keep the workers from general resist~’ ance, to begin to restore the profits of finance capital. At the recent code hearings in Washington, this purpose was stated frankly by General Hugh Johnson, in an effort to overcome the resistance of the more backward capitalists to ter Continued on Page Fows)