The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 18, 1934, Page 5

CHANGE | eo | | WORLD! By MICHAEL GOLD ARL BROWDER, in his masterly keynote speech to the recent Communist Convention in Cleveland, pointed out that the American Communists have seriously underesti- mated the importance of the Communist press. His chief proof was the fact that the Daily Worker has not yet attained by half what should be, under present social conditions, its normal circulation of 100,000. I think we may add another example of this failure to understand the nécessity for a powerful press. The weekly New Masses, now printing its sixteenth issue, has also been badly neglected. It is true that in four months it has built itself to a circulation of 16,000 copies, of which over five thousand are subscriptions. It is also true that it has demonstrated a remarkable quality, and has published consistently as fine a collection of strike reporting, short stories, economical and critical essays, and other revo- lutionary journalism as we have had in this country. The American Communist movement may well be proud of this magazine. Tt un- doubtedly has become, as the editors of the Mosoow “International rature” call it, one of the best three or four revolutionary maga- zines in the world today. But its circulation is as yet only 16,000, This means that the Magazine cannot become self-supporting, and leads a precarious finan- cial existence. This means, also, that our comrades have not realized that here is a weekly teacher, debater, champion and guide of Commu- nism that should be in the hands of at least 25,000 more readers. The great house of Communism is being built in America. New, well-tempered modern tools are ready for the builders, chief among them being such newspapers as the Daily Worker, such magazines as the New Masses, But the workers, for some reason, let these tools rust unused, and work with ancient hammers of stone. Isn’t there something dangerous in such technical backwardness? Without a press you Cannot have a mass movement. In Nazi Germany the workers know this, and make the most terrible sacrifices to maintain their underground press. But in America, one can say definitely, the revolutionary press is still underestimated by those to whom it is so vitally important. . * The Significance of the Daily Worker : 'HERE are many well-edited revolutionary journals throughout Amer- ica. There should be more. It is a pity that éven a better local press hasn't been developed—mass organs to reach every miner, every steel worker, sailor and farmer. Enough technical thought and skill hasn’t been givén to a study of this local press, and how to make it more €ffective. The fact remains, however, that there must be also one national organ of Communism that speaks with political authority, and that unites all the industrial regions of America into a living relationship with the international working class. This organ, of course, is the Daily Worker, which has first claim on all our loyalty. It is more than a newspaper; it is the national co-ordinator and organizer, and a bulletin of the genéral staff of the militant working class of the world, and the foundation head of the general line of proletarian struggle and victory. On the cuitural field, and in the troubled world of the bankrupt middle-class of the white-collar workers, the New Masses is now per- forming the same function. It is the Daily Worker of thousands of school teachers, engineers, authors, artists, and other professionals. This class is the reservoir out-of whieh the Hitlers and Mussolinis find their troops. Ruined and proletarianized by the crisis, this class has become desperate all over the capitalist world. The fascist dema- gogues promise them a new prosperity and a new world. Every kind of bait is dangled before their eyes—‘national socialism,” and “social credit,” the “corporative state,” and. other such bright baubles that eee with fine rhetoric on the surface but are hollow and gassy within. } In America we can still stop fascism. There are over 100 organized WU) groups of these victims of the great fascist lie. It is necessary to reach these victims, and the bankrupt class that has produced them. And this is the function of the New Masses, and a job that it has begun to do with courage, clarity and skill. Week after week, it exposes patiently every new and puzzling manifestation of the great fascist swindle. It can be, and is becoming, the gathering point and actual organizer of the hosts of honest intellectuals who are already aligned against fascism, and who begin to understand that only in alliance with the working class can they crush the Nazi snaké, * Not Oniy for Intellectuals | PUT the New Masses doesn’t only find its way into the library of the | intellectual. Sailors buy to read in the bunks at sea; taxi drivers V in New York are seen riding with copies of the magazine in their pockets; Southern mill workers and share croppers" buy it at the rare newsstands in Dixie that will carry the “only revolutionary weekly in America.” It is passed from hand to hand, and each copy consumed by ten or twenty eager proletarian minds. The reason is not far to seek. The New Masses happens to be intensely interesting from the revolutionary viewpoint, and is written with a high literary skill, besides. | CLOSE-UPS By LENS To George S. Kaufman: Thanks for that swell announcement of the forthcoming Film and Foto League Movie Costume Ball over radio station WOR last Wednesday... . I think our own Jimmy Cagney will be there... . And that a nick- elodeon show will be one of the many surprise features... . May First will witness the initiation of | what is described as “a war-time | propaganda drive to familiarize |the American public with what the | National Recovery Administration |has accomplished thus far.” .. . | Hugh 8. Johnson’s idea is to pro- duce a series of shorts in co-opera- tion with Hollywood. . Now, |don’t say you weren't warned... . Variety’s own sweet way of com- menting on this “war-time drive.” | . .. “Washington’s savants are dis- cussing the modus operandi for propagandizing and it’s generally | agreed that the screen becomes the | most effectual means for visual) education along these lines.” .. . Now dope this one out... . Under) |the N. R. A. code the 17,000 extras |listed in the Hollywood Central | Casting Bureau have been reduced |to a mere 1,500, “in order to guar-| |antee steady work.” . ., The well-| known proposal that snow be shoveléd with teaspoons to put the | jobless to work was a sound solu- | you think? . . . Wallace Thurman | |is the only Negro writer allowed to work under contract in Hollywood. |... The Hays organization is par- | ticipating in the International | Visual _ Educational held in Rome and under Mussolini's 1 Bem interests of the imperialists . . And don’t miss the newsreel in |from Welfare Island is told that | someone élse is cutting into her $17 |per month salary ... There’s a |littlé documentary sidelight on a system in the last stages of putre- we permit it to... shots of strike scenes throughout newsreel editions? . . . |M’s press release informs me that Norma Shearer is bringing back |the days of Irene Castle by wear- movement” . . . Buster Crabbe | claims that he quit the business of life-saving because he earned “léss than ten cents per person rescued” . .. A fourth of those saved were millionaires, he claims ... The prize for the most unnecessary re- mark of the week goes to Mitchell Leisen, director of Paramount's “Murder at the Vanities,’ who statetl that “There is no such thing as a perfect motion picture”... And I've been asked to see “Viva | Villa!” because Edgcomb Pinchon, its author, claims the longest name in Hollywood . . . Ernest Wylfred Pierre Mount Edgcomb Pinchon . . . when she fails to find chicken a la | king on the menu . . . And atten- dance figures continue to drop throughout the U. 8S... . And |the free-dish racket has been re- vived in your neighborhood dump .., And the Film and Foto League will supply speakers on all aspects of the movie for your organization. WHAT’S ON Wednesday DR. REUBENS 8. YOUNG lectures on “A Doctor Looks at the Soviet Union’ at Labor Temple, 247 E. 84th St., 8:30 p.m. Auspices Yorkville Br, F.8.U. “DIALECTICS AND MUSIC,” lecture by M. M, Agranov at F.8.U. Midtown Br., 186 W. 28rd 8t., 8:30 Convention | This is America’s first | ; participation in one of these little | gradually developed into a cultural parties thrown by the Butcher! Boy | > : |to dope out bigger and better ways | shevsky, formerly associate of Diego of using the movie to further the | Rivera, Charlot, and Montenegro, LR. 0. which an 80-year-old seruubwoman | Milwaukee J. R. C. member who 4. continuing only because | ; faction ane in) Ha you notice | Payers’ leagues; these leaflets are ployed convention held in Sante Fe the painful abruptness with which | and. spicy. the country were cut in last week's | And don't | fail to see “Riptide” because M. G. | ing “a floor-length skirt slashed al- | most to the knee for freedom in| And Jean Harlow loses her ternper | @*? Y WORKER, NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, APRHL FLASHES and) What's Doing in the John Reed Clubs of the U. By ALAN CALMER 'HE John Reed Club of New York. the first revolutionary cultural group in this country, was formed at the beginning of the present economic crisis. Since then the revolutionary cultural movement has penetrated into numerous sections of the U. S. Many of the John Reed Clubs were started as general cultural as- sociations and discussion sociéties. In addition to acting as auxiliary organizations in mass work, the John Reed Clubs are building cen- ters of revolutionary literature and art around magazines in Hollywood, Chicago, Philadelphia, as well as New York. New poets and fiction- ists are developing within the ranks of the Communist movement. Through their work in these maga- zines, and through the medium of plays and art exhibits, the revolu- tionary cultural movement in this country is driving home lessons of the class struggle to a rapidly ex- panding audience. News of the work of these clubs will appear as a regular feature on this page. How the Club Started In Indianapolis BOUT two years ago a group of professional and white-collar Indianapolis, “cross roads of the na- tion.” In this more or less typical American city, with its large middie class and preponderately bourgeois ideology, these people served first as a forum for revolutionary sub- jects and a distributing agency for revolutionary literature. The clubs ody sponsoring lectures by M. Top- and a member of the Chicago R. and by Paul Romaine, a studied in Europe with Pitoeff, Craig, and Reinhardt. The writers’ gtoup of the In- for all local revolutionary organi- zations including farmers’ and tax- models of mimeograph work, neat Rebecca Pitts, whose unusual approach to the problems of Communism in a recent article in the New Masses has aroused wide comment, is a member of the group. , Phila. Club Nears Third Anniversary iE Philadelphia club is approach- ing its third anniversary. It in- cludes groups of writers, artists, and theatre workers who are all seri- ously engaged in creating revolu- tionary culture. Last August the club held an Anti-War Night, in- cluding original writings, chalk- talks, and mass recitations, all on anti-war themes. Numerous critics, E. 12th 8t., Sth floor, 8 p.m. Every mem- ber is asked to come. OPEN FORUM, Paul Miller spenks on ‘Social and Economie Conditions in the Soviet Union and in the U.S.A." at Tom Mooney Br. LL.D., 323 F. 13th St., 8:15 p.m. HIGHLIGHTS of the Week's News Dis- cussion Group at 1401 Macombs Road, near 170th St., Bronx. Adm. free; 8:30 p.m. Auspices Mt. Eden Br, F.8.U. LECTURE on Miniature Photography by Karl A Barleben at Film and Photo League, 12 5, 17th St., 9 p.m. Film and Photo Sections meet 8:30 and 8 respec- tively. SACCO-VANZETTI Br. ILD, 792 E. ‘Tremont Ave. Special meeting 8 p.m. to arrange for Bronx Scottsboro Mass Dem- onstration Friday night “Two Thieves” will be shown at the Washington Heights Workers Center, 4046 Broadway, corner 170th St. Also newsreels, 8:30 p.m. FORDHAM Prog. Club, 7 West Burnside Ave., 8:30 p.m. Discussion “Role of the Club as a Mass Organization.” First meeting at new club rooms. Thursday CORLISS LAMONT lectures on “Under- Standing Soviet Russia” at De Witt Clin- ton High School, Mosholu Parkway Sub- way Station, 8:30 p.m. Auspices, Bronx Boro Branches F.5.U, Adm, 25¢. Balalatka mg We including Joshua Kunitz, Louis Lo- zowick, Malcolm Cowley and Meyer Schapiro, have spoken on prole- tarian art and literature for the club, An important symposium, on ters and the Crisis, was given a number of authors, including Josephine Herbst and John Wexley. as well as the Philadelphia critic, Albert Mordell. Sender Garlin will Speak in Philadelphia on “John Reed—His Life and Work,” early in May. One of the artists in the Phila- deiphia J. R. C. was instructor at the Workers International Relief camp at Lumberville, Pa., last Sum- mer. Later the club held a public exhibition of the drawings of the children in this class. On invitation these drawings were entered in the Spirit of Youth exhibition, held by bourgeois philanthropic and educa- tional organizations, where they won first prize as well as four indi- vidual prizes. In January, Red Pen (later changed to Left Review) was issued; the aim of the magazine is to in- terpret. the local scene from the revolutionary viewpoint. Early this year a photo group, including pro- fessional photographers, was formed. The second annual exhibition of the artists group opened on April 7 Activity in the tion compared to that one, don’t | workers formed a discussion circle in Southwest IARRY CARLISLE, one of the charter members of the Holly- wood Club, came to Sante Fe, New Mexico, last year to complete his Second novel. There he met Philip Stevenson, another novelist. They organized a local J. R.C. At their first meeting, Boardman Robinson presented a colorful, first-hand ac-+ | count of John Reed, with whom he| had worked in Central Europe dur-| ing the war. | Sante Fe Is a village of no more than ten thousand, of which a large part is composed’ of Spanish natives and Mexicans. The mein- bers of the club distribute literature |dianapolis J. R. C, compose leaflets} among the workers in the Madrid coal mines. The club played a Prominent part in the state unem- early in February. “Year in and out, Santa Fe is a veritable foreign legion of painters, Poets, writers, musicians, dilettantes, aesthetes, socialists, polo-players, ultra-moderns, and bourgeois eclec- ties,” writes the secretary of the| club. A few of these people are now! |attending a class in Marxism- | Leninism conducted by the J. R. C. A sketch class is given by Jim Morris, who has exhibited in various cities, and a fresco-class is con- ducted by a non-member of the | club, Several of Philip Stevenson's one-act plays on social and economic themes have been produced by the Atalaya Players, a local theatre group. | |For additional ‘ews’ of the acti- | vities of the Clubs, together with notes on contemporary revolution-| | culture, read the national J, R. ©. Bulletin, obtainable at 430 Sixth | Avenue (3c), sae De |New work by J. R. ©. membe John Wexley'’s “They Shall Not Die,” and Maltz and Sklar's “Peace on Earth” have just been published in | book form. Mordecai Gorelik, who | designed the sets for several cur-| jtent plays, is represented in the | International Theatre Art Exhibi- tion which was held at the Museum |of Modern Art and which is now | touring the country . . . Melvin P.| | Levy's new novel, “The Last Pio-| neer,” is about to be released by a) New York publisher. Edward New-| | house is working on a revolutionary | | novel which has just been accepted | | by a New York publisher. Leon | Dennen’s book on “The Jews in the} | Soviet Union,” will be published in| | the fall by King . . .. Hugo Gellert’s | “Karl Marx: In Lithograp! is to | 9:00—Meyton Orch.; | be published in a Soviet edition by 10 18, 1984 On Saturday’s Feature Page The owing outstanding books will be reviewed on this feature page of the Daily Worker next Saturday, April 21 “The Hour of Decision, waid Spengler Harry Gannes. “Labor and Steel.” by Horace B Davis. Reviewed by Joseph Dallet, organizer of the Steel and Metal Workers’ Industrial Union “The Shadow Before strike novel by Wi lins, Jr. Rolfe, “Such Is My Beloved.” a novel by Morley Callaghan. Re- viewed by George Lewis. Also—a review of “The New Quarterly,” by Nathan Adler, by Os- Reviewed by a textile lam Rol- Reviewed by Edwin Be sure to get a copy of next Saturday's “Daily” for a Commu- nist evaluation of these books! Anti-War and Soviet Cycles are Features at Recital on Friday NEW YORK The anti-war cycle by the Theatre Union Dance Group will be one of the features at the dance recital of the Workers’ Dance League to be presented this Friday evening at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn. On the same program will be presented the Soviet Cycle by the New Duncan Dancers; Both groups of dances were received enthusias- tically at the last Workers Dance League recital held before an au- dience of 1,600 at City College Au- ditorium last January. Fe Alf, noted German dancer, will present “Summer Witchery” and two numbers from her cycle, “The City”; “Slavery” and “Fille de Joie.” In addition there will be the fol- lowing dances: “Uprising” and “Van der Lubbe’s Head,” by the New Dance Group; “Life and Death” and “Black Feet, Black Hands,” by the Modern Negro Dance Group: “Scottsboro” and ‘Black and White,” by the Red Dancers; and “March of the Pion- eers,” by the Theatre Union Dance Group. | TUNING IN| WEAF—660 Ke. 7:00 : Baseball . Resume 7:15—Billy Batchelor—Sketch | 7:30—Shirley Howard, Songs; Jesters Trio 7:45—The Goldbergs—Sketch 8:00—Jack Pearl, Comedian | 8:30—Wayne King Orth. | Pred_ Allen, Come- | dian; Theodore Webb, Baritone | 10;00-—HUiNbilly, Music | 10:30—Ghost Stories—Sketch 11:00—Ferdinando Orch. WOR—710 Ke. | 7:00 P, M.—BSpotts Resume | 15—Harry Hershfield 30—Al and Lee Reiser, Piano Duo 7:45—Stories of the Sea | 8:00—To Be Announced 8:30—Concert Orch. 00—Italics—H. 8. Lott Jf Success—Harry Baikin 5—Robison Orch 10:18—Currént Events 10:30—Dorothy Miller and Garfield switt, Songs 11:00—Moonbeams Trio WJZ—760 Ke. 7:00 P. M.—Amos 'n’ Andy 7:15—Public Works and National Recovery —Mayor Frank Couzens of Detroit ‘7:30—Ramona, Songs 7:45—Second +Honeymoon—Skétch 8:00—The Terrible Dark—Sketch 8:30—Dangerous Paradise 8:45—Baseball—Babe Ruth 9:00—Raymond Knight's Cuckoos 9:30—John Charles Thomas, Baritone: Daly Orch | 10:09—Lopes Orch.; Male Trio; Talk—Ed Sullivan | followed almost immediately by Page Five Fascist Groups Out to Save U.S. from “Red By JOHN L. SPIVAK LOS ANGELES organizational activit Cal.—The of the es Communist-led Cannery and Agricultural Workers Union among the migratory workers has brought to life a n growth of fascist, organi more than in any ed so far, Cor vities have not spread, but have been tive in winning strikes growth of Commun very effec- ity t act fascist intensive development of | activity. Open fascist organizations like the Silver Shirts are, so far as I have been able to ascertain, weak and impotent as directors of fascism The Silver Shirts is simply a racket- eering organization trying to get as much money as possible from the “suckers,” Capt. Eugene R. Case, leader of the Silver Shirts in Cali- fornia, frankly admitted to me This organization, Friends of New Germany, and the Crusader White Shirts which are active in and around Los Angeles are all weak in numbers and have incompetent leadership. They are scarcely ac- tive at all in other sections of the State. Uniess I am very much mis- taken these groups, with the pos- sible exception of the Friends of New Germany, will eventually go | the way of the Klan, with the mem- bership being absorbed by some other, as yet unborn, fascist or- ganization. Nevertheless, these groups are an | interesting phenoména, capable of doing considerable damage to the labor movement at the present time, and their very existence shows a trend which cannot be overlooked and T shall touch upon them more fully in subsequent articles. The real fascist organizations here—organizations which are not rackets in the strict sense of the word—are the vigilante committees and these are increasing at a rapid pace not only in numbers, but in activities and effectiveness. In 1932, when the Cannery and Agricultural Workers Union became active among the migratory work- ers, the employing class were caught, unawares, but soon rallied to fight union inrdads. Today vigilante committees are being organized months in advance in some regions in preparation for the harvesting season and possible organizational activity. Up until last week, though these committees were active in suppress- ing organizing activities, the various vigilantes groups were comparatively weak because they were confined to their own counties. They did not cross county boundary lines. But this is now changed. During the period when I was in Los An- geles the scattered. vigilante com- mittees in the Imperial Valley took the first step towards the moulding of a strong fascist organization | with no county boundaty lines to disturb their work. The four vigi- |lante committees which had been | the ‘most active combined to form} the Imperial Valley Anti-Communist Association, with headquarters in Brawley. Their initial membership was announced as 3,000 and with 7:30—Armbruster Orch.; Songs 7:45—News—Boake Carter 8:00—Men About Town Trio; Vivien Ruth, Songs 8:15—News—Edwin C. Hill 8:30—albert Spalding, Violin; Conrad Thibault, Baritone: Voorhees Orch. 9:00—Nino “Martini, Metropolitan Opera Tenor 9:30—Lombardo Oreh Comedy Jimmy Kemper, Burns and Allen. 22 of doubling # is the real is no’ from and the state THIS type of f which 500 too! oasis (To he continued) Stage and Screen “Stevedore” Opens At C Repertory Theatre Tonight “Stevedore.” by Paul Peters and George Sklar, a gripping drama of Negro and white workers on the docks of New Orleans, will be pre- sented by the Theatre Union this evening at the Civic Repertory Theatre as its second production of the season. The cast, which includes a large group of Negro and white players, is headed by Millicent Green, Jack Hartley, Dodson Mitchell, Neill ley, Edna Thomas, Al F. Watts “Broadwa} ie,” by William Almon Wolff and Achmed Abdullah, dramatized from the novel by Faith Baldwin and Mr. Abdullah, will open on Thursday evening at the Forrest Theatre. Robert Emmett Keane, Suzanne Caubaye, Claire Whitney and Sal Starr are in the cast, “Are You Decent?,” a new play by Crane Wilbur will be presented at the Ambassador Theatre on Thurs- day evening with Eric Dressler, Les- ter Vail, Zamah Cunningham and Beatrice Hendricks in the leading roles. Sophie Braslau Soloist With Philharmonic Thursday Sophie Braslau, contralto, will be the soloist on Thursday evening and Friday afternoon with the PI monic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, under the direction of Arturo Tosc: nini. The program: “Tragic” Over- ture, Brahms; “Le Festin de l’Araic- nee,” Roussel; “El Amor Brujo,” De Falla and Franck’s Symphony in D minor. On Saturday evenng Toscanini will offer the Brahms Overture, the Roussel composition, the Franck Symphony and Wagner's Siegfri Idyl. Sunday afternoon program. the second Wagner concert—will in- clude Hans Clemens, Richard Bonelli and Emanuel Lst. The Metropol- itan Opera Chorus will assist in the program. “Broken Shoes” Coming To Acme Theatre Saturday Following the run of “Chalut- zim” (Pioneers of Palestine), the Hebrew talkie with the Habima Players now current at the Acme Theatre, the management will offer on Saturday morning “Broken Shoes,” a new Soviet: talkie produced in the U. 8. S. R. by Mejrabpomfilm and directed by Margarita Barskaya. The same program will include the latest Soviet News for its premiere showing. Highlights of the film in- clude scenes of George Dimitroff, Popoff and Tanev, the Bulgarian prisoners acquitted in the Leipsig trial, on their arrival in Moscow; :30 p.m. Adm, 180. of all delegates to Festival and Bazaar Committee, N. Y. District, at 7:30 pm. $0 B. 13th 8t., 205. REHEARSAL Daily Worker Chorus, 35 Orchestra. th M: Ei 1s«Leni: Institut | 30—Denny Orch.; Franklyn Baur, ‘Tenor ; |the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute.| 11:00—Pickens Sisters, Songs 1 ieiiecanorite-Orsh::: pick Baw S6Nki path pga oe cyl SHoistag | William Siegel and Anton Refregier | WABC—860 Ke. 10:80 The Republicin Renetion — Repre- and Jobs” by Leonard Gross of Economies; have an exhibit of their work at M.—Myrt afd Marge sentative D. A. Reed of New Yor! 7 Loe ‘ | 10:45—Columbians Orch Comm. Adm. 15¢. the New School fot Social Research.’ 7:15—Just Plain Bill—Sketch | 11:00—Wick Leas, Sones | Dimitroff’s meeting with the hero of the first stratosphere flight, Pro- kofev; The Red Army on parade in Red Square, ete., ete. The New Masses is a continuation of the old Masses and Liberator, and carries on a brilliant tradition of revolutionary journalism that is over twenty years old. I have been connected editorially with this "responsible and fighting national Pat journal, in one or afother of its reincarnations, for over ten years; and I will testify here and now, that the current weekly New Masses ts the sturdiest of the whole family line, . . # Is Doing Vital Work EING a weekly, and not a monthly, as heretofore, it has been able to keep up with political events as they happen. the events of the week, and commented from the Communist view- point on such recent events as the air-mail scandals, the Nazi night- mares of old Dr. Wirt, the automobile strikes, It has printed some of the best reporting I have ever read, John bL. Spivak's surveys of proletarian America under the N.R.A. There have been notable features like Bill Dunne's piercing and authoritative analysis of the first year of the N.R.A.; and the bi-weekly letters from London of the gifted Johh Strachey, who ts the British correspondent of the magazine. The literary criticism is under the direction of Granville Hicks, and has néver, in my experience, been more solid and constructive. ‘Tt marks the consolidation of Marxist criticism in America; what has gone hitherto, has been the rather rough-and-ready pioneer work, . ' . A Sample Issue JERE © .* sample of one issue. In the April 3 number there was the usual brilliant editorial comment on the political events of the Week; a page cartoon by Gropper on the N.R.A. “ho bread and bad circus;” a story on Soviet bonds; a stirring report of the New York taxi strike by Joseph North; a report of the Detroit strike situation by Jeremiah Kelly; a letter from England by John Strachey; corres- pondence; a theatrical review by the writer of this column; the first half of a remarkable new play on the Kentucky miners, by Samuel Ornitz (and it is remarkable); a study of Revolution and the Novel, by Granville Hicks; an article, which for the first time analyzes the Irish genius James Joyce, from a Marxist viewpoint by the former, ; Prince Mirsky, who is now a Communist; a summary of the best books published thus far in 1934; a literary. note by Earl Browder; a review of recent Soviet literature by that best-informed of all critics on Soviet literature, Joshua, Kunitz; a poem by Maxwell Bodenheim; reviews by Robert Simmons, Louis Hacker, and Genevieve Taggard; Ben Field on various books of the farmers’ struggle; a movie criticism by Ken- “neth Burke; and a most valuable reading list for beginners in Marxism, Oakley Johnson; many ptetures and cartoons. * ‘This magazine, like everything that genuinely lives and breathes, = has its defects. It tends, I believe, and many will disagree with me, too often in the direction of a Commitnist academicism, and some- times the mouldy smell of the New Republic and the Nation rises from its pages. Perhaps this is a better fault than some of the former erudeness; though I for one believe that a revolutionary journal should never be placid, tight-minded, or over-tefined. But this weekly is one which the revolutionary workers of America can well be proud of, They must throw their weight behind it, and push it over the top along with the Daily Worker. It is their serious, organ. And I would close with a 4). Word to some of those in the John Reed Clubs and other cultural 2 groups; your local papers are important for developing young writers, but if you neglect building a national cultural organ, if you fail to View the New Masses in its broader aspect as the voice of the whole he | ent, you are still afflicted with what Lenin called the “infantile | ‘kness of left Communist. It has covered | b te Eagle Oil Works sprawled over so much earth along the Bay that the Company had to di- vide it into districts. Somewhere in away the careful structure that Joe Gorny and a few others had built up. Stool-pigeons were gumming up the works for the department com- mittees in the Crude Stills and in the Grease Plant. There could be no further doubt of it. Locker inspection wasn't due for six weeks, yet it came on the day when a leaflet distribution in the lockers of the men. Ahd the Crude Stills i Pucketnouth Sweenéy and another Company dick parked in front of Joe Gorny’s house. The Executive Committees of i held a joint meeting about the Problem. They locked themselves in at the farm owned by Joe’s cousin three miles out of Oilport. Bach man had come alone, so as not to attract undue attention. They wouldn't even let Joe’s cousin’s wife leave the farmhouse, and she grum~ bled plenty. For Wee poe hours scheme after scheme posed and discarded. They had looked to Joe for a sure solution, whose built cousin’s wife could be heard mut- tering about the lateness of the hour, and the voice of Joe’s cousin quieting her down. Suddenly Joe snapped off the ra- dio. “I got it,” he said. each tomorrow night, see? We give each one a different address. The places where the dicks show up, well, that. tells us who the rats are. Get it? It’s a process of ee-limination, like the detective guy says.” “Tt listens good,” said Peté Mo- lochoko, “But where do we get enough guys to watch all the ad- dresses?” “Easy. We need thirty fellas. We got twelve right here, and we got at least eighteen more we kin trust , {in the other departments.” They drew up a list of all the members of the Grease and Crude Stille Department Committees. Op- posite each nate an address was placed. S Joe Gorny’s “process of ee-limi- nation” thrilled the men on the two executive committees, Real de- tective work. The next morning the addresses were passed out in the two depart- ments, and eighteen reliable men Picked out to watch that evening. Dicks showed up at four of the Places: 1853 Bay Head—this was the address given to Shad Patton; 1022 Sycamore— Mike Schube; 3303 North Ninth—Gus Flagen. These were two men who always talked about mysterious bombings they had participa’ ted in in A And finaily, 1904 eeiiatioen § where three dicks gathered and nodded to Frank Roczo, who noseti around, rang the bell, and walked away in disgust. The rats had been smoked out. The men in the two departments soe ne ahs Be ‘ore. Promised them, “You'll find out #hy we did it.” | | | was composed of a man from cach | department—a delegate body whose The men paid attention. “ | member of both depargmen | were all tried men, who had. lost| committees,” Joe said, “that there's | goin’ to be an important meeting | Scamper Away -== By Nathaniel Honig d bard whole Shop Committee met) that night. The Shop Committee members were elected each six) months by the members of the de- partment committees, Its members | their impetuosity in the steady grind of building up their commit- tees, Joe Gorny told them the behind the strategem of the night | before, and told them who the stool | Pigeons were. The men swore, and their knckles itched. Joe said, “You, know, we could beat the livin’ lights outa these rats. That's one way, and they got it comin’, too. I’m_all for it, teachin’ them a lesson, But it ain't enough. We got to make them rats so sick of themselves they'll feel like bumpin’ themselves off. Now, here’s an idea for you. “Some of you guys been com- | plainin’, we don’t get the women interested in our work. Some say their old women is raisin’ hell be-| cause they spend so much time away from home, at meetings, “Well, our women is O.K. Only they don't understand like we do why we got to do what we're doin’. care of them rats. And here's how. The rats have wives, too. Our wives | will make it so tough for their wives, they'll come ‘in’ for mercy. In the market place, on the blocks, they'll give ‘em damn little peace.” A grease man had another plan. “What about the kids in school? We'll have our kids torment the hell outa the rats’ kids.” The two plans were adopted. The wives of the oil workers might raise hell about their men staying out late at meetings, but when it came to a question of driv- ing out stool-pigeons, that was a different matter. They entered into the plan with enthusiasm. Rats took bread out of their mouths. The children were all eager for a grand lark, | “Well, we'll let the women take | pei good | with his troubles. He asked the Su- | 'HE wife of Shad Patton walked | through the market place, with | a full shopping bag in her arms. Two women followed her, They seized the market bag and spilled its contents. “Rats don’t deserve to eat,” they | said. “Tell that to your rat hus- band.” Shad Patton's wife began to seream, but a smack closed her) mouth, The same thing happened to the wives of the other stdol- | pigeons. { When Shad Patton’s wife, or Mike Schube’s, or Flagen’s, or Rockzo's | women went into the grocery store, they could no longer buy anything. The grocers had been told they | would be boycotted, and more than | likely, their places wrecked, if they | dealt with the stool-pigeons’ wives. | The only way the latter could get) food was to go to one of the other | towns for it. | In school the children of the seabs had theit arms twisted, their noses rubbed in mud-pies, their books stolen and torn, and their necks stung with pea-shooters. They could find no one to play with them. | Shad Patton's wife cried bitterly | at home. She gave Shad no rest; he couldn't sit down to read a paper | in peace; he couldn't eat in peace, | and finally, he couldn't sleep in ace. Shad came to Joe Gorny and | blustered and fumed. But the oil workers were adamant, and the lives | of the stool-pigeons and their | women and children grew more | miserable each day. Shad went to the Superintendent oo to fire Gorny and vee “I assure you, Shad, I'm more anxious than you are to fire those trouble-makers. But I'd have a strike on my hands in no time, and we_can't afford a strike right now.” | One fine day, the oil workers and their wivés and children stood by and jentea ae sre Patton, Gus) Flagen, Mike Schube and Frank | Roczo moved their baggage and their breed. The rats were scutry- ing out of Oilport, | j AMUSE MENTS Opens Tonight 8:45 THEATRE UNION PRESENTS stevedore A NEW PLAY RY PAUL PETERS AND GEORGE SKLAR JAMES W. FORD says: see this vivid drama of the struggles and life of Negro and white workers on the wharves of New Orleans.” CIVIC REPERTORY THEATRE “By all means both Negro and white workers should 1dth St. a 6th Ave. Wat, 9-7450 Eves. 8:45, Mats. Wed. & Sat. 2:45 PRICES 30c¢ — 45 — 60c — $1.00 and $1.50 — No Tax = For special rates to organizations call WAT, 7-2451 —THE THEATRE GUILD EUGENE O'NEILL’ Comedy AH, WILDERNESS! with GEORGE M. COHAN ‘Thea.. 52d St. W. of B’way GUILDevs etnias thoresats2) MAXWELL ANDERSON’S New Play “MARY OF SCOTLAND” with HELEN PHILIP HELEN SS MERIVALE | MENKEN 52d St., W. of B’ TEGFELD FOLLIES | with FANNIE BRICE Willie & Engene HOWARD, Bartlett StM- MONS, Jane FROMAN, Patricia BOWMAN. WINTER GARDEN, B'way & 50th. Evs. 8.30 Mats, Monday, Thursday & Saturday 2:30 GILBERT& SULLIVAN $48 CAST This Week | “H. M. S PINAFORE” Double Bill | and “TRIAL BY JURY” Next Week “The Mikado” By Popular Demand MAJESTIC THEA., W. 44th St., evgs. 8:30. | 50c to $2.00. Mats. Wed & Sat. 0c to $1.50 GLADYS ADRIENNE RAYMOND COOPER ALLEN MASSEY THE SHINING HOUR BOOTH THEATRE, W. 45th St. Eves. 8:40 Matinees: Thursday & Saturday %:40 *KO Jefferson MS. ®| Now | SPENCER TRACY & MADGE RVANS in “THE SHOW-OFF” also:—"MOULIN ROBGE” with Rennétt & Franchot Tone Constance <a nee RESIN tno ES en REESE TT UREA IR presents——// ———-RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL— 50 St & 6 Ave—Show Place of the Nation Opens 11:30 A. M. “THIS MAN IS MINE” Trene Dunne Constance Cummings—Ralph Bellamy and a Springtime Music Hall Stage Show 's Great Satire On Dast 2 Days «“e + o Let’s Have Peace Prod in the U.S.S.R. also “CHALUTZIM” \Pioheers of Palestine) Hebrew Talkie of the Workers fm Palestine (English Titles) I4th Btreet, & Union 84. f Sin. " G Doorsopen’ Hy Ree : By ALL NEW THIS YEAR } BIGGER THAN EVER! 1000 NEW FOREIGN FEATURES Tickets Admit ix Fything (inclu n under oon except Saturdars 4 “ace > at Garden, Macy's and Ag pcte