The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 16, 1934, Page 3

DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 1934 Page Three Striking Seamen In Phila. Join Picket Line Of Unemployed « Jobless Throughout the | Country in Action | for Relief PHILADELPHIA, Pa., May 15.—| Seamen from the 8.8. Almar, strik- ing in sympathy with the crew of} another ship who were fired in Bal-| timore, joined the picket line which the unemployed seamen have set up| around the Federal Emergency Re- lief Bureau at 1433 Vine St. here.| Police yesterday attacked the pickets, breaking up the line. The pickets are demanding worker | control of the federal seamen’s re- lief project and an end to the con- ditions at the Seamen’s Institute where the food is inadequate and unwholesome, and the bedding dirty and no lockers are provided for the men, who are forced to sleep in crowded dormitories. * dicalism if the strike leaders would plead guilty to charges of “inciting to riot.” All leaders were sentenced | to terms on the prison farm. Bree Strike in Des Moines DES MOINES, Iowa, May 7.—Des- pite continued badgering the local police and provocations by company stools and thugs, the Un- employment Council of Des Moines Picket line on the Euclid avenue bridge strike called two weeks ago. The strike was called against the | State Highway Commission and the Milwaukee Bridge and Iron Co., when it was discovered that the State-let P. W. A. contract called for a 40 and 60 cent wage scale. The prevailing wage scale in the state is 55 cents and 1.20. Workers throughout the city, on virtually all work projects are striking against the deliberate at- Win Wage Increase NEW YORK—Approximately 150 workers on the Fordham Hospital | relief project, 80 per cent of whom are organized into the Relief Work- | ers League, won an increase in pay from $12 to $15 a week. A meeting of Central Park work- ers will be held on Wednesday, May 16, at 4:30 p.m., at Clarte Hall, 304 West 58th St. All members of the Relief Workers League and non-members are urged to be pres- ent. In addition to forming plans for demands for increased pay, the special problems of the skilled work- ers on relief projects, who singe the close of the C.W.A. have been handed a 55 per cent pay cut, will be taken up. A mass meeting to protest the arrest of four unemployed workers at the Home Relief Bureau will be held Wednesday, May 16, at 8:30 pm., at the IW.O. Center, 1373 48rd St., Brooklyn. N. Stevens, dis- trict LL.D. secretary, will be the main speaker. All workers are urged to pack the court room on Thurs- day, May 17, at 9 a.m., at the Mag- istrate Court, Flatbush and Snyder Ave., when the workers come up dr trial, ahi ok J Jail Strike Leaders WICHITA, Kan., May 15.—After “a reign of terror following which 11 strike leaders in the relief strike here were sentenced to jail for periods of 30 to 90 days each, the four companies of National Guard were withdrawn. = The frame-up of the strike lead- ’rs was put through by promises of dropping charges of criminal syn- tempts to drive down wages and direct relief. entree | Stop Evictions DECATUR, Ill, May 14.— Three families, members of the Unemploy- | ment Councils, were moved into vacant houses by the Council here following their eviction by the police and constables. Immediately the heads of the families were jailed and charged with trespass. Finding that trespass was only a misde- meanor with $100 bail, the police charged the three with “conspiracy,” carrying bail of $2,000 each. Four times the workers packed the court when the jailed workers came up for trial. Finally, a complete victory was won. The cases against the workers were dismissed, and the relief bureau moved the families into homes of the workers own choice, freee Slash Relief JOPLIN, Mo—Relief here has been cut to one dollar per person per month—$12 a year. On the re- lief projects, workers are preparing for a strike against forced labor, de- manding cash payment for all work at the minimum rate of 50 cents an hour for a 30 hour week, and enact- ment of the Workers Unemployment Insurance Bill (H. R. 7598). pote, as | One in Seven on Relief DALLAS, Texas, May 8.—One per- son in seven in Dallas county is now on direct relief, 53,000 persons in 13,925 families drawing rations. This is only 1,000 less than the 15,000 on relief just before C. W. A. began last year, has continued to maintain a strong} | and jailed. Labor Rouses the Waterfront Today, in the seventh of a series of articles by Marguerite Young on the struggles of the Baltimore seamen in their fight for work- ers’ control of relief, the rise of rank and file seamen to a posi- tion of leadership in the union, im the Waterfront Unemployed Council, and in charge of the Sea- men’s Relief Project is presented. By MARGUERITE YOUNG When the S. S. City of| Hamburg paid off in Balti-| more in 1932, Anton Becker, | a young Wisconsin-born Scan- dinavian seaman, strolled off} with his shipmates and) walked along Lower Broad- way, main street of the waterfront. As they passed a crowded corner, they saw a young man walk up to an old seaman and pick a fight. Cops came. The old seaman was arrested, the other man went free. A few days later, on the same corner, Becker heard a speaker de- seribing the incident to a small street meeting. In the name of the Waterfront Unemployed Council | the speaker declared the young man | was a shipowners’ provocateur, and | urged anyone who had witnessed the fight to go and testify at the! old seaman’s trial, Becker and 16) others volunteered. When they ar- rived at court, all were arrested, charged with “disorderly conduct,” “All we heard inside was cops cursing the W. U. C. and the Ma- rine Workers’ Industrial Union,” Becker relates, “They said they were just a bunch of damn Com- munists stirring up trouble. I saw that this was not true, but that they fought hard in the in- terests of the workers. I said, ‘By Jesus, if this is the way that union works, I’m gonna join it, too.” He went straight from jail to the M. W. I. U. hall and joined. He had been a seaman all his life and once a dues-payer to the Wobblies, but now for the first time he be- came active in a labor struggle. By the time the fight for seamen-con- trolled relief became intense, he was and still is secretary of the Baltimore Branch of the M.W.I.U. Such are the stories of hundreds of marine workers in the waterfront struggle. They were drawn into this militant fight through their ex- periences as working men. All Nationalities, All Ratings Negro and white, Hawaiian, Filip- pino, Spanish and Italian in de- scent, but most of them native born, | from able-bodied seamen to deep- they speak with almost every accent, the English language knows—but VIIL—WHO’S WHO AMONG THE SEAMEN they talk the common tongue of the true proletarians they are. You can| find among them former Fascist | sympathizers and some who voted! the Democratic and Republican} tickets a few years ago. Soldiers) and sailors of the World War are| here. The majority never were in a labor organization before, though perhaps almost as many either have been or still are members of the I. W. W. and the I. S. U. Skilled and unskilled—coal passer, fireman, bos'un, stoker, oiler, scowman, light- erman, bargeman, messboy, stew- ard, chef, stoker, wiper, longshore- man—they embrace the ratings sea diver. Sons of sailors and of factory workers and farmers, most of them have worked for wages from childhood. Once in contact with the revo- lutionary class struggle, they be- come its natural leaders. For the marine worker for years has been among the most underpaid and hard driven of laborers, and, in addition, the conditions of his labor isolate him even from his fellow workers. The same indus- try that exploits him sends him forth to be self-educated by read- ing and observation—to be edu- cated particularly to the vital facts that the seaman is op- pressed by the same conditions in | every port from Baltimore to Shanghai, and both before and after he has fought somebody else’s war. Rank and File Leaders Tommy Boyce, once a Cincinnati factory worker, a seaman five years, joined the International Seamen’s Club in Odessa, in the Soviet Union, in 1929. He represented the M. W. LU. at the big anti-war congress held in Paris. Paid off a Bull Line ship in Baltimore, last winter he joined the waterfront movement immediately and soon was elected secretary of the Unemployment Council. Walter Stack, Detroit- born seaman, chosen by the men on the waterfront to lead their march to Washington, was kept off the relief rolls by officials who said he wasn’t a seaman; but he's been| shipping out of Baltimore for years. Here in 1928, before he joined the union, he was elected by his ship- mates on the Oriole Line’s S. S. Winona County to present griev- ances of the crew to the Shipping Commissioner, and for this was ar- rested and charged with “verbal assault” on the Commissioner, Seamen Emerge As Leaders Even newer to militant unionism, the rank and file seamen emerged as leaders in the Seamen’s Project. February; he was elected by all the The first Sub-committee in charge included Leslie Jones, active in the W. U. ©. since 1932,, but who came forward in the relief struggle only last December; Tim- othy Patterson, navy veteran, Amer- ican-born son of Welsh parents, who joined the union 12 months ago, because, after ten years in the I. 8. U., “I got out because it was/} so openly a racketeering outfit, its delegates were too busy playing pinochle to visit ships. Then I seen this union was leading activities) that weren’t a lot of doggone talk”; | Lloyd Stroud, ex-soldier, ex-Wob-| bly and ex-Socialist Party member, | who shipped into Baltimore from| the Gulf of Mexico last October; | and Roy Howell, who lives in Balti- | more with his wife and has been| shipping out of the port since 1922. He was a member of the I. S, U. until 1928,.and came into the M.| W. I. U. thus: “The I, 8. U, never} did anything but collect dues, but once in Philadelphia they an- nounced we'd have to vote on rais- ing the dues from $1 to $1.50 a month. All my crew and most of the fellows in the meeting voted against it, but those dirty bums an- nounced the vote was for the raise. I tore up my book. I dabbled in all} kinds of labor literature, until I) found some M. W. I. U. literature | on board, and recognized its pro-| gram met the need for real class; struggle that I had felt ever since I was a steel worker in an unor- ganized mill.” | Going to sea since 1918, James| Kennedy, who ran the clothing de-| partment of the Seamen's Project, | also lives in Baltimore. He began} to work with the W. U. C. for pub-| lic relief to unemployed seamen here three years ago. His first par-| ticipation in labor action was mis- directed: “I was on a ship in New York. They were going to cut our wages, The crew decided to strike. Before we walked off they had an- other crew on board, and we beat them up for taking our jobs.” To- day, however, Kennedy is the first to put down any provocative sug- gestion of such tactics. Hugh McCurdy, placed on the Sub-committee soon after he shipped down from the Great Lakes | last October, was not a member of the union at the time. The first United Front Commit- tee in charge of the Centralized Shipping Bureau included an Hawaiian, a Negro, a Filippino, a Spaniard. Young Negroes, too, came forward. Robert Minor, who served the U. S. Coast Guard in Honolulu, joined the Young Com- munist League’s Waterfront Unit in seamen on the beach to represent them at the May 1 celebration in the Soviet Union. Fellow Worker | Peoples, a seaman in Nicaragua | who had been| while American Marines were shoot-! | ing down natives, joined the Union in Baltimore and became one of the leading Port Organizing Commit- tee members. It was he and & young white worker who led the preparations for 10 strikes in sym- pathy with the seamen’s relief de-| mands. The rank and file stand forth in the discussion following a meeting} on the attack on seamen’s control of relief in the recreation hall Fellow Worker James, one of the most active in the agitation to! smash religious racketeering, one} who would go into gospel mission meetings and call upon the speakers | to tell the seamen what was hap-| pening to donations to the missions, | says: “The shipowners are trying to| break us up because they know| when we get relief we're not going | to scab. Well, we'll stick with 'em,{ cause we remember how the re- ligious racketeers tried to feed us spiritual calories on Sunday to| make up for what we didn’t get in chow.” SBos'un on fishing vessels| for 24 years, James was an I. W. W. for 12 years. Then, “I saw they wasn’t fighting right, that they had a lot of stool-pigeons instead of militant workers, so I quit—and I} just joined the M. W. I. U, four| months ago.” “There's pioneers in Nevada and there's got to be pioneers here,”| contributes Fellow Worker O'Brian, | seaman and soldier. “Let's stick together, fellows.” And John Stichel, Negro seaman who's been shipping out of Balti- more since 1914, says: “This is the| first time in my life I’ve been in a labor organization—and I'm going to stick with you fellows if it means bloodshed.” CORRECTION In the Daily Worker of Saturday, May 12, the news story headed} “Long Hours Are Disregarded By U. T. W. Officials,” contained an error. The néws item, dated New Bedford, Mass., contains. the sen-} tence, “At the last meéting of the Textile Council (United Textile Workers) it was brought out by some of the members that the loom fixers and changer-overs in the Butler mill are working 11 hours a day and 51 hours a week, with the knowledge and approval of the Tex- tile Council and of Batty, secretary of the loom fixers’ union.” The last portion of this sentence should have read . “with the knowledge and approval of Batty, secretary of the Textile Council and (secretary) of the loom fixers’ union.” The Daily Worker gives you full news about the struggle for un- employment insurance, Subscribe San Francisco Lathers } Strike for Higher Pay SAN PRANCISCO—Lathers work- on the new San Francisco post fice building have gone on strike hour for a six-hour) d been receiving $1 an r an eight-hour day. hor Brewery Workers Reject A.F. of L. Plea CINCINNATI, (F. P.)—The Brew- ery Workers Union has rejected the proposal of the American Federa- tion of Labor that it turn over its drivers, engineers, oilers and fire- men. to their respective craft unions, by a vote of 24,1 to 170. The referendum vote was announced May 14. Whether the Brewery Workers will be expelled from the A. F. of L. re- mains to be seen and may furnish one of the exciting fights at the San Francisco convention in the fall, Drivers Strike In Minneapolis Street Car Men Take Strike Vote (Special to the Daily Worker) MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., May 15— The militancy of over one thousand truck di rs and gas station at- tendants forced the American Fed- eration of Labor leadership of their union to support their unanimous vote to strike today. -Among the leadership are several Trotskyite renegades, including Skoglund and Dunne, who are at- tempting to bolster up faith in the N.R.A. by telling the workers that “Section 7a gives the right to or- ganize and strike. The only trouble is that the employers disregard the wishes of the N.R.A.” The ice drivers, who are of great} importance for the winning of the| strike, are being kept out by the leaders, The only demand raised is union| recognition; wages and improve- ment of conditions are sidetracked, | even though some drivers get as} low as nine dollars a week. A Communist leaflet issued to the workers urged them to demand rank and file control of the strike | through a broad strike committee. The leaflet warned the strikers against Labor Board conciliation, against the renegades in control and urged the workers to raise demands for higher wages. The Communist Party is rallying the workers of | mass organizations to support the} strike. Street car workers will strike vote tonight. Rank and file} committees demand a strike be called. However, the stated policy }of the A. F. of L. heads to stall] take a to the Daily Worker, any strike move may succeed, tem- | porarily, Spread Strike Of St. Louis Meat Packers Walkout in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids for More Pay BULLETIN Nearly one thousand packing- house workers went on strike in Des Moines, Iowa, it is reported today. Cedar Rapids packing- house workers are already oF strike. (Special to the Daily Worker) ST. LOUIS, Mo., May 15—Twa thousand, five hundred packing« house workers are on strike here to= day, following the decision of the meeting of 1,000 workers yesterday at the A. F. of L. Amalgamated Meat Cutters’ and Butchers’ Union for a general strike in St packing plants. Mass picketing around some plant being carried on by the strikers. Hundreds of po- lice have been mobilized around the plan Armour & Co., Swifts, Krey Packing Co., Laclede Packing Co, are affected by the strike. The strikers demand increased wages and a guaranteed minimum work- ing week. The strike is spreading. Although at the strike meeting mainly workers from the small plants were represented, the strike is now being spread to the major plants. The A. F. of L, union offi- cials delayed the strike call as long as they could. They did not call the strike at the time when 90 per cent of the workers were organized, but gave the employers six months time to stocl: r coolers, to lay | off militants, and to lower the union membership. During this time they maneuvered with the Labor Board to prevent a strike. The militant rank and file work- ers urge immediate steps to organize the workers in the Independent, the | biggest plant here, which is Swift- controlied. They point out that the A. F. of L. officials are driv’ wedge betwen the workers ing the workers of the American Packing Co. not to strike, since they are getting a little better wages than the rest and “it is against the law to break a contract in a closed shop and strike for higher wages.” The Food Workers’ Industrial Union has issued leaflets to the strikers, pledging support of their strike and calling for the election of broad strike committees in every plant, with all departments repre- sented. The leaflet raises the de- mand against discrimination against Negro workers on the jobs, and for equal pay for youth workers, It calls for the 36-hour minimum guarantee, and a minimum wage of $25 for laborers; $35 for semi-skilled workers, with $1.25 an hour for skilled workers. Revolutionary Way Out Is Only Road For American Working Youth DRAFT RESOLUTION OF THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE The Daily Worker publishes to- uf day the first half of the Draft Resolution prepared by the Na- tional Executive Committee of the Young Communist League for the Rational Convention of the ¥.C.L., which opens June 22 in Detroit, Mich, The second half of the Draft Resolution, defining the concrete tasks and perspectives of the Y.C.L., will be published in tomorrow's Daily Worker.—Editor. Ctl Dake The publication of this draft resolution should initiate the widest discussion in all the units of the Young Communist League and Communist Party on the tasks of winning the working youth. Every unit of the Young Communist League, after discus- sing this resolution, should adopt a short resolution of its own stating its position on the resolu- ton of the National Committee I. YOUNG GENERATION CAPITALISM—ALL 'HE three years that have passed since the last con- vention of our Young Com- munist League have been years marked by a continuous deepening of the crisis of the capitalist system on the one hand, and on the other hand, by tremendous growth and achieve- ments in the Socialist system—the Soviet Union. The capitalist class in its attempt to get out of the crisis has increased all the forces of terror and oppres- sion in order to further worsen the conditions of the toiling masses and to prepare for a new armed re- division of the world. It has in all countries intensified the struggle for the masses of youth, working to poison their minds with national and racial hatred, trying to pre- pare them for fascism and war. In the United States, when Roose- velt. came to office more than a year ago, masses of youth expec- tantly waited, hoping that the “New Deal” would end the crisis, would give them jobs and higher stand- ards of living, and would in all other ways drive the ae changers out of the temple’ e interests of the “forgotten man.” But this has not come to pass. The Roosevelt government, under the cloak of Le te 5 tind really placed a great én on the backs of the working people. ‘What does the “New Deal” mean for the sons and daughters, the young men and women of the work- class? ao the five million jobless youth, YOUNG COMMUNIST LEAGUE, U. S. A., FOR PRE-CONVENTION DISCUSSION and making any additions or pro- posals it deems necessary. Copies of same should be sent to the Na- tional Committee, Young Commu- nist League, Box 28, Station D, New York City, Besides this main resolution, special resolutions are also heing prepared on Economic Trade Union Work, on the building of the children’s movement and on control tasks for the coming period, The National Committee calls upon all Party and League mem- bers and all readers of the DAILY WORKER to carefully study the above resolution and to participate in the Y.C.L. pre-convention dis- cussion through the columns of the DAILY WORKER, NATIONAL COMMITTEE, YOUNG COMMUNIST LEAGUE, U.S. A. * * HAS NO FUTURE UNDER UNDER SOCIALISM army control. To the others, dis- crimination in public work jobs and relief. The closing of schools has only thrown more youth into the ranks of the unemployed. To the unemployed youth, the “New Deal” means exemption from the minimum wage agreements through “learner” and “helper” clauses, and for all it means in ac- tuality lower wages due to higher prices. It means increased speed- up, which has already resulted in a growing toll of industrial accidents and diseases among youth, especial- ly girls. To the Negro youth, the “New Deal” means the worsening of con- ditions already nigh unbearable. While 85 per cent of Negro youth in U. S. cities are unemployed, they are discriminated against in receiv- ing relief or jobs. Those working face wage differentials in the South. In the schools it means increased discrimination and segregation, and in sections of the South no schools whatsoever. In the Black Belt it means conditions of actual slavery for the young sharecroppers, who face increasing lynch terror. ‘The “New Deal” has placed before the farm youth the alternatives of increasing pauperization at home or unemployment and starvation away from home in the industrial cen- ters. The rise of industrial prices has only widened the difference be- tween the low price the farmer re- ceives for his products and what he must pay for high monopoly priced factory goods. This, together with the forced cutting of sowed acreage, means increasing burden of debts, foreclosures, evictions and tenant farming. To the student youth, the “New many of whom have never worked, te New Deal” has not given jobs er relief. It has given to 300,000 of them forced labor camps under Deal” means more “economy bud- gets,” more closing of schools, less academic freedom, and the bright’ ing buying prospect of enforced idleness after graduation. To all the youth, the “New Deal” means growing militarization and feverish preparations for a new im- perialist war. More than a billion dollars have been appropriated this session of Congress to create “a navy second to none.” At the same time millions of dollars have been given for airplanes, for mechanizing and motorizing the army, for the C.C. Camps, for the National Guard, CMTC., etc, “Thus,” in the words of the 8th Convention of the Communist Party, “a whole generation of American youth are growing to maturity with no prospects of jobs or future un- der capitalism. Driven from pillar to post, refused relief, a million youth have been forced to leave home to become migrant waifs, taking food or shelter as best they can get it. Those working are con- stantly haunted with the possibility of unemployment, are speeded-up, are placed at the most monotonous jobs, with no prospect of ever im- proving their status. Even those youth of middle-class parentage who are going to college and uni- versity, and are studying to become professionals, find themselves cast | government arbitration more and more into the ranks of the unemployed youth. The present young generation is in the main a product of crisis conditions, is truly a@ generation which brutally feels the degeneration and decay of capi- talist society.” Soviet Union Main Stronghold of the World Working Class While the capitalist world has been sinking deeper and deeper into the mire of crisis, the Soviet Union, where the workers are in power, has strengthened itself industrially, has already laid the foundations for a classless society, and has constantly improved the material well-being and cultural level of its people. The rivalry between young, robust So- cialism, and old, decaying capital- ism, is the main contradiction in the world today. The Soviet Union has become the stronghold of the world working class. It is a source of inspiration to the millions of exploited youth the world over, who recognize the Soviet, Union as the livirg example of the working class way out of the crisis and the proven superiority of the socialist economic and social system over the capitalist system. II. CRISIS OF CAPITALIST SYSTEM DEEPENS WHE revolutionary wave is rising 1 in the capitalist world. More and more masses see the need for deci- sively smashing the capitalist sys- tem as the only way of ending hun- ger, fascism and war. Although unevenly, the elements of revolu- tionary crisis are growing the world over. This was proven by the events in China, where the Soviet Republic has won tremendous victories; by the barricades in Austria and France; by the revolutionary de- velopments in Spain and Cuba; and in the United States by the growing wave of strike struggles. The masses are beginning to take the revolutionary counter-offensive against the growth of fascism and American imperialism under the “New Deal” has increased its ag- gressive struggle for world markets. This has especially expressed itself in a sharpening of the contradic- tions between Great Britain and the United States (currency war, South American struggles, and between the U. S. and Japan in the Far East. U. S. recognition of the U.S. S. R. was not due to the peace loving na- ture of American Imperialism, but to the growth of the Soviet Union into a foremost world power, to the successful building of socialism, to the revolutionary peace policy of the Soviet Union, and to the desires of the American capitalists for Soviet trade. the danger of a new imperialist war. The increase of production in the past year, while indicating that the economic crisis has in all probability Passed its lowest point, does not sig- nify a return to “prosperity” or better days for the young genera- tion. The “pick-up,” far from showing @ way out of the general crisis of the capitalist system, only helps to deepen this crisis. This very “pick- up” was brought about at the ex- pense of the toiling masses, This was done by lowering real wages; by increasing speed-up; by turning millions of farmers into paupers; by the government granting of huge Joans and subsidies to the banks and trusts; by inflation and speculation; by pouring of billions of dollars into While. posing as pacifist, the American government continues to supply ammunition, money, and military and financial advisers to Chiang Kai-Shek, the hangman of the Chinese people. It has increased its supplies of ammunition to both Japan and Germany, who today are the spearheads of world imperialism for counter-revolutionary war against the Soviet Union. It must be understood by every Y. C. Ler and young worker, that as the crisis of capitalism deepens, so much more danger is there of a united capitalist attack upon the only fatherland of the working class youth—the Soviet Union. As more and more of the masses see through the phrases and prom- ises of the “New Deal,” the capi- armaments and the creation of a pre-war boom (production for new wars). By lowering the standards of the masses it widens the already great gap between the huge pro- ductive forces and the ever narrow- power of the masses, talist class increases its use of fas- cist terror against the working masses and accelerates the develop- ment of fascism. This is being done first of all through the “New Deal” government. Strikes are being out- jawed and workers forced to accept (Labor Board); company unions are being forced upon the workers and the right to organize taken from them; workers are shot down on picket lines (Alabama, Ambridge, Utah); vigilante committees are formed to terrorize struggling workers and farmers (California); and lynch terror increases against the Negro people. Youth Enter Path of Revolutionary Struggle The growing radicalization of the working and student youth of the United States has been expressed in hundreds of struggles in the past year. Approximately 25 per cent of the one million strikers in the year 1933. were young workers. The youth were in the forefront of the demonstrations and actions of the unemployed masses and made up a large percentage of the marchers in the national and state hunger marchers. Hundreds of strikes and revolts have taken place in the newly formed C.C.C. camps. Thou- sands of farm youth fought evic- tions and foreclosures. Broader masses of Negro youth united with their white brothers, were drawn into the struggle, and the beginnings of a large mass movement was created among the young share- croppers in the South. For the first time since the war, large masses of student youth have entered the path of revolutionary struggle, realizing that only through the victory of the working class can they find pros- pects of a useful future and happi- ness, Thousands of working, stu- dent, and farm youth have been brought together in a united front anti-war movement. Hundreds of militant anti-war youth actions have been organized. These, to- gether with the tens of thousands of youth demonstrators on May Ist show the readiness of the youth to struggle against war and fascism. It is this growth of militant struggle on the part of the working class and its youth, that has forced certain concessions from the ruling class. It was the gigantic strike wave and the fear of even a greater one which forced the employers to give wage increases to numbers of workers. Although these increases have to a great extent been nullified by shorter hours, speed-up and higher prices, they show neverthe- less the power of the working people once they organize and fight. All of the above sharpens the contradictions of the capitalist sys- tem and intensifies the struggle between classes and states to their breaking points—bearing out the correctness of the estimation of the Communist International that the world is on the brink of “a new round of revolutions and wars.” Ill. RULING CLASS WITH AID OF LABOR-MISLEADERS STRIVES TO WIN YOUTH FOR WAR AND FASCISM The ruling class has increased its activities among the young genera- tion, hoping to turn their discon- tent into reactionary channels; striving to make them believe that other nations and people, and not the capitalist class, are responsible for their present conditions. New organizations such as the Silver Shirts, Friends of New Germany, New, Youth Movement, American Legion Juniors, New Deal clubs, etc., have been organized and concen- trate their work among youth. The Citizens Conservation Corps have been built by the government with the aim of creating a military and fascist reserve and a source of cheap labor. At the same time the older, more stable capitalist-controlled organiza- tions have increased their activities —especially the Settlement Houses and industrial Y’s. These are par- ticularly dangerous as they pose as “liberal” organizations, spread paci- fism, carry on social welfare work, and in other ways attempt to hide their capitalist control. These or- ganizations ate being centralized directly and indirectly under gov- ernment supervision and can be transferred into fascist organizations if we do not conduct work to win these youth for revolutionary class struggle. The Socialist Party, the Young Peoples Socialist League, and Amer- ican Federation of Labor, through the use of radical phrases, through creating illusions as to capitalist democracy, through their theory of |gradualism, help pave the way for fascism. These reformists at vari- ous moments increase their use of radical phrases, but only to cover up the brazen fact that they have become merged with the N. R. A. and government apparatus and are doing all in their power to keep back the struggle of the masses. In order to check the growing militancy of the Negro youth, and the even firmer unity of the white and Negro masses, the Negro re- formists and nationalists are work- ing to turn the revolutionary hatred of the Negro youth against the white ruling class, into reactionary hatred aaginst the white toilers. Especially dangerous is the “Japanese move- ment” which has as its aim to win the Negro youth for support of Japanese imperialist policy in the Far East and away from support of the Soviet Union. IV. SITUATION AND TASKS OF THE YOUNG COMMUNIST LEAGUE Since the Sixth Convention the League has grown (3,000 to 6,000), and become strengthened both or- ganizationally and politically. It has increased its shop nuclei (8 to 50). It has improved its social and national composition. The Y. C. L. participated in a number of important strike strug- |gles and in a few of these played | leading and important parts (Tren- | ton, Utah and New Mexico mining, | Ambridge, Pittsburgh Hotel, Balti- more ship, New York radio, Phila- delphia Knitgoods, ete.). Under the leadership of the Y. C. L. struggles for unemployed youth relief were developed, and in a num-| ber of cities the system of youth discrimination was broken (Balti- more, Minneapolis), It alone raised demands for the youth in the C. C. C. and gave leadership to the strikes and revolts in these camps. The Y.C.L. conducted a struggle for the rights.of the Negro people,| and organized actions of white and| Negro youth against discrimination | and for the freedom of the Scotts-| boro boys. Through the application of the} united front the Y.C.L. in the last year helped to develop an anti-war youth movement, has organized a whole series of anti-war confer- ences and actions and has in the past three years succeeded in trans- forming Memorial Day into a tradi- tional day of struggle against war and fascism. It has won considerable members from the ranks of the Y. P.S. L. It has helped to build a broad stu- dents’ movement, devéloped the be- ginnings of a mass farm youth| movement, built a number of cul- tural youth auxiliaries, and more than tripled the size of the revolu- tionary children’s movement (4,000 to 12,000). In_ spite of these improvements our League continues to lag behind not alone in the radicalization of progress of our Party. The main reason for this con-| tinued lagging of our League is to be found in its sectarianism, which, despite all progress, has not yet been broken. The sectarianism is a result of the existence in our ranks of open opportunism (right), and opportunism covered with “radical” phrases (“left”). Both kinds of op- portunism flow from the lack of faith in the young workers and their readiness to struggle. The open opportunism is expressed in a failure to react to the grievances of the young workers; neglect of eco- nomic struggle; a hiding of the face of the League; a desire to change the character of the League from a disciplined Communist youth or- ganization into a formless culture organization. Errors in this direc- tion were made by the National Committee in 1932 and the first part of 1933 and corrected with the aid of the Young Communist Interna- tional. Especially stubborn to root out has been the opportunism which is | covered with radical phrases. There | are_“young Communists” who hide their fear of the young workers by loudly shouting about radicalization the young workers, but also in the | sistance to doing the hard day to day work without which successful revolution is impossible. These com- rades would sooner stay in their narrow sects than go among the youth still under the influence of the enemy. They talk revolution, but resist entering and working within the trade unions under re- actionary leadership. They resist going into the C.C.C. camps. They think that because they live in a revolutionary period that it is un- important, unnecessary for them to work within the Y's and Settlement Houses, to organize sport and cule tural activity, ete. It must be clear to every Y. CG. Ler, to every young worker who wants to become a tried and trie Communist—a young Bolshevik— that without working in the trade unions and capitalist-controlled or- ganizations, without leading the every-day struggle for the economic needs of the young workers, with- out learning to utilize a variety of forms and methods (cultural, social, | sports) for organizing the youth, all talk of transforming our League into a broad mass organization,the leader of the majority of the work- ing-class youth, remains only talk. And loud talk, without action, is one of our greatest enemies, be- cause it covers up the opportunists, those who deviate from Communist principles—those who in practice hold our organization back. The ones responsible for this sit- uation are not the new young work- ers who enter the League with en- thusiasm and make up the bulk of our membership, but a part of the leading cadres who have not turned the entire League out among the uth, and have not activized every ingle Y. C. Ler on the basis of par- ticipation in the daily class struggle “The Y. C. L. must mobilize all its forces, energy and initiative for the struggle against the chauvinist and nationalist propa- ganda of the capitalist class, This requires from the Y. C. L, that it should increasingly propagate Leninist revolutionary teachings among the broadest strata of the youth as well as intensify the struggle for the smallest economic demands of the youth and against. their compulsory fascization and militarization.” (Resolution of January Plenum of Young Com- munist International.) This means that every Y. C. Ler must work among the young work- ers first of all in the shops. This means that Y. C. Lers must not shirk work in the unions under re- actionary leadership (A. F. of L.), in the forced labor camps and in the mass youth organizations con- trolled by the capitalist class. This means that the whole League, and first of all every unit, must conduct @ policy of concentration for win- ning the young workers in the de cisive war industries (steel, marine, and revolution. But these phrases are merely used to cover up a re- ) coal and auto) as our major task, (To Be Continue?» »* veo