The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 15, 1934, Page 5

CHANGE | —THE— ‘WORLD! By MICHAEL GOLD OME 500-Austrian Socialists who fought on the Vienna barricades and managed to escape with their lives are now safe with their families in Moscow. They did not go for safety to the “democratic” coun- ‘ies that are so often praised by Socialist leaders. For even Masaryk, that great “liberal” president of democratic Czecho- Slovakia, is now deporting Socialists back to Austria and Germany. And the other “democratic” countries, like England and America, would not receive such fighting Socialists. Every honest and class-conscious socialist in the world today, how- ver misled and prejudiced, knows deep in his bones that the Soviet Jnion is his own socialist fatherland, and that he can find aid and refuge there in trouble. * * . Enemies of the United Front HEN will the battle im Vienna be repeated in London, or Paris, or New York? Nobody can say; the time is such that it may hap- pen anywhere tomorrow. And it becomes more apparent every day, in the face of a growing Fascism, that it is sheer suicide for the working-class not to create an effective fighting united front against Fascism while there is still time. What holds it back? Who are the criminals and traitors who stand in the way of a real united front? More and more American Socialists are learning that it is not the Communists who stand in the way of this life-and-death consum- mation. The recent Socialist convention proved that there was a powerful rank-and-file sentiment against such jingo Socialist leaders as Sharts of Ohio, who declared frankly that he put his patriotism above his Socialism. Such leaders were to be found in Germany, too, and hun- dreds of them have since gone over to Hitler. There are many of them in your ranks still, Socialist comrades; and it is they that Communists fight, and not you who work in the factory, fields and mines. Can one compromise with such people? Are they Socialists, or are they enemies of Socialism? Let us speak plainly; if war comes to- morrow they will turn your names in to the Department of Justice, as some of them did in the last war. You cannot trust spies; and you cannot trust such “leaders.” * . * The American Kerensky » Socialist convention showed that some of this {s becoming ap- parent to the rank and file, and they turned left, as they believed, and chose Norman Thomas and the so-called militants to lead the party. The American Socialists, it seems, have still to go through their Kerensky period. For this is what Mr. Thomas is—without malice, without slander, but as a cool historical judgment, the most accurate thing one can say of him is that he has all the lineaments of a Kerensky. He will make the same leftist speeches, filled with fire and nobility, and off-stage go through the same compromises with the enemy. Nor- man Thomas is as sincere as Kerensky; both men, in a time of capital- ist stabilization, would have lived and died with the honor of a Bebel. But in a crucial and revolutionary time, their fatal weakness re- veals itself. It is simply this; they are Socialists who do not believe that the working class alone can create a new world. They are in- capable of thinking in class terms, and following a fundamental class line. They do not trust the workers! Do not listen to words, Socialist comrades; watch the deeds of Norman Thomas from now on. See where he leads your party on such issues as United Front, war danger, the fight against fascism, the fight against the traitors in the trade unions, many of them, nominally, still Socialist; the Scottsboro case and other Negro issues; the N.R.A., the defense of the Soviet Union, and other fundamental class issues. Here is a little letter from a young Socialist girl for the incoming leadership and Norman Thomas to answer. It is written so honestly, simply, and directly, that I wonder if any leader can dare to ignore it: . * * EAR MICHAEL GOLD: . On May 21 I sent the following letter to the editor of the New Leader: Dear Sir: A short time ago I was sympathetic to the Socialist Party. Being just 21, I voted for the first time during the last election and I voted a straight Socialist ticket. Since then I have become disillusioned in the aims and methods of your party. I wish to ask one pertinent question. Why do you not say a single word in the pages of the New leader about the strike of iron ore miners in Alabama against the Morgan- controlled Tennessee Coal and Iron Co., and similar trusts? Why do you not mention the fact that five pickets, Negro and white, have been massacred in that bloody state? A newspaper lies as much by what it doesn’t say as by what it says. The strike has *een on for over a week, but although I searched conscientiously through the last two issues of the New Leader I saw no word of information about it. Sir, why do you help the capitalist press maintain its conspiracy of silence against the outraged miners of Alabama? Do you not consider this to be news of the first importance, vital to the working class? Of course you do! You cannot be such bad newspaper men and “Marxists” as that. I demand that you print this letter in the next issue of the New Leader with an answer below it. If you do not print it and if I do not receive an answer, I shall know what to think and I shall not fail to popularize the fact. Sincerely yours, 2 . * aes did not print the letter, but I received the following answer in the column called “The Editor Comments”: “Every now and then we get letters asking us why we persist in criminally ignoring some particular strike situation (the letter usually from someone who resents our not publivizirig the partictilar situation the Communist Party is currently interested in exploiting). “The answer is there are dozens of strike situations developing throughout the country. We'd like to handle them all—they’re all important. But we have to worry about time and space, and we pre- fer where possible to get stories from people on the spot. We're likely time and again to miss something vital, but we try not to. We ask correspondents to help us by calling our attention to omissions and errors. Furthermore, we ask the few who write that way not to believe that our failure now and then is part of a deep, dark con- spiracy of silence. (Remember, too, that when the Communists have Squeezed the last bit of publicity and dramatization out of a given situation, they'll toss it aside and plunge on to the next, as they've often done in the past. There will be silence enough then.)” That's the answer. I might have known they would plead lack of space. That's an excellent alibi. Notice the demagogy in referring to strikes “they're all important,” as if to say that there are not some strike situations more widespread, containing more vicious government brutality, more fraught with prophecy of fascism and significance to the working class than others. So according to the New Leader, when the Communist Party lays “bare the ghastly oppression and heroic struggles of the workers, it is “exploiting” them. This is a novel view. Evidently the Socialist Party is not guilty of such “exploitation.” The New Leader accuses the Communist Patty of “tossing aside” the workers’ struggles “after it has squeezed the last bit of publicity from them.” What do you say to this infamous accusation, Michael Gold? I have not been in the radical movement long and am not pre- pared to answer it, as I feel the Communist Party should be able to answer it. But I do.know that although all the publicity has been “squeezed” from the recent taxi strike, the Communist Party has not “tossed aside” the workers who participated in it, but are continuing to organize and work with them. And T know that although the Communist Party has fought for the lives of the Scottsboro boys for three years and although the So- clalist Party calls this a “Communist racket,” the Communist Party still continues to keep their cause alive and vital in the eyes of the public. If this is a racket, then I am for more such “rackets,” and if is a fur- _ ther condemnation of the 5. P, that it has not helped in this struggle. Comradely yours, BERTHA LOWENTHAL | Mural Showing Hammer jand Sickle Refused by DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, FRIDAY, JUNE 15. 1994 Philadelphia P. W. A. PHILADELPHIA.—The Board of Education has refused to accept a mural by Leon Kelly, because a hammer and sickle is an ingredient in the composition, entitled “Edu-| cation and Industry.” | Kelly is one of the artists on a| P. W. A. project to decorate the board's building at 1st St. and the Parkway. He submitted sketches to! the board’s architect, and they were | approved. When the work was completed} last week, the board held a closed | me¢ting and rejected the mural be- | cause it contained the “Soviet Na-| tional Emblem.” Objections by} Kelly brought the answer that the real objection of the board was| raised by a physician who found the anatomical details in one of the figures false. Kelly was then in- formed that a committee of three artists woWid pass finally on the| work, “on purely artistic merits.” Kelly, young Philadelphia artist, recently returned from a long stay in Paris, has won considerable rec- ognition ky his work in several re- cent exhibitions, including the John Reed Club's exhibition in May. Plans are being prepared by the John Reed Club to organize a broad committee of artists in the city to protest the board’s action and de- mand that Kelly’s mural be ac- cepted. Los Angeles Has Two New Shop Bulletins LOS ANGELES.—Two new work- ers’ bulletins made their initial ap- Ppearances in Los Angeles this week. They are the Furniture Spark, pub- lished by the Furniture Workers’ Industrial Union, and the Packing House Workers’ Industrial Union. Both bulletins have a clear cut approach on the basis of the class struggle. Both show concretely the sellout tactics of the bosses and the A. F. of L. leadership, through dis- closing their roles in the industries involved. The Packing House Worker shows the inside of the sell- out of the strike at Wilsons and the way in which the labor board tricked the workers and completely betrayed their strike by smooth talk. | The Furniture Spark is especiaily attractive technically. Although it lacks illustrations on the first page, its masthead is neatly arranged and inserted and it makes good use of | hand-lettering and cartoons on the | inside pages. TUNING 1:00-WEAF—Baseball Resume WOR—Sports Resume—Ford Prick WJZ—Amos 'n’ Andy—Sketch WABC—Theodore Ernwood, Baritone 1:15-WEAF—Gene and Glenn—Sketch WOR—Front-Page Drama Wd%—Domestic Problems in Foreign Affairs—Willard L. Thorp WABC—Just Plain Bill—Sketeh 1:30-WEAF—Trappers Music WOR—Tex Fletcher, Songs WJZ—Arlens Jackson, Songs WABC—Armbruster Orch., Kemper, Songs 1:48-WEAF—The Goldbergs—Sketch WOR—Jack Arthur, Baritone ‘WJZ—Sport Stories Of the Record— Thornton Fisher, Writer WABC—Boake Carter, Commentator 8:00-WEAP—-Bourdon Orch.; Olga Albani, Soprano; Reyelers Quartet WOR—Jones and Hare, Songs WidZ—Walter O'Keefe, Comedian; Ethel Shutta, Songs; Dolan Orch. ‘ABC—Mary Eastman, Soprano; Evan Evans, Baritone 8:15-WABC—Easy Aces—tixetch 8:30-WOR—Novelty Orch.; Slim Timblin, Comedian; Cavaliers Quartet WJZ—Commodores Quartet WABC—Court of Human Relations 8:45-WJZ—Baseball Comment—Babe Ruth 9:00-WEAF—Lyman Orch.; Frank Munn, Tenor; Vivienne Segal, Soprano WOR—Brokenshire Orch. WiZ—Harris Orch.; Leah Ray, Songs 9:15-WABC—Little Orch. 9:30-WEAF—Bonime Orch.; Pio and Pat, Comedians WOR—Dance Orch. WJZ—Phil Baker, WABC—Green Orch. 10:00-WEAF—The Pink Pussy Cat-—Sketch WOR—Dorothy Miller, Songs WiZ—Stories That Should Be Told— Fulton Oursier, Author WABC--Variety Musicale 10:15-WOR—Ourrent Events—H. E. Read Wis%—Mario Cozzi, Baritone; Lucille Manners, Soprano 10:30-WEAF—Jack Benny, Comedian; Grier Orch.; Frank Parker, Tenor WOR—Walter Ahrens,” Baritone; Marie Gerard, Soprano WZ—String Symphony WABC—Emery Deutsch, Violin IN| Jimmy Stage and Screen Theatre Guild To Present Geddes’ “Native Ground” Virgil Geddes’s play, “Native Ground,” will be presented here next season by the Theatre Guild. Geddes is the author of “The Earth Between,” produced here some! years back. Mae Murray, the film actress, has taken over the role of Anne in “The Milky Way,” the comedy at the Cort Theatre. This is Miss Mur- ray’s first legitimate stage role. “Men In White,” Sidney Kings- ley's drama produced by the Group Theatre, celebrated its 300th per- formance at the Broadhurst The- atre on Monday night. The Irving-Berlin-Moss Hart re- vue, “As Thousands Cheer,” played its 300th performance last night at the Music Box, Maxim Gorki’s “Mother” In Third Week at Acme “Mother”-"1905,"” a film version of Maxim Gorki’s famous novel, directed by the noted Soviet pro- ducer, Pudovkin, who created “The End of St. Petersburg” and “Storm The first instalment published yesterday described the treatment accorded by the Nazis to Carl von Ossietaki, German journalist and Ludwig Renn, outstanding revolu- tionary novelist. This series is from a collective report by the Association of Proletarian Writers of Germany.—EDITOR’S NOTE. u. Wili Bredel With a group of his new friends, the young Association of Proletarian-Revolutionary Writers of Germany (Bund proletarisch- revolutionaerer Schriftsteller Deutschlands, which has prepared this study) Renn began to pub- lish the magazine Linkskurve (Curve to the Left), which aimed to call into life a revolutionary workers’ literature and to direct it critically. Not a sentimental “poor people” literature; not mere social problem literature which only describes existing conditions ~-but a revolutionary fight on the side of the Communist Party; such was the aim and the con- tent of the literature of these young men who, for the most part, were themselyes workers. Their literary activity had often begun with the writing of factory reports for the revolutionary press which had organized them and spurred them on to further writing. Among the promising beginnings of this species of literature, one book had justly excited particu- lar interest: the novel “N. & K. Machine Works” by Willi Bredel. Here, for the first time in the history of German literature, a factory was used not merely as a technical phenomena, nor, so to Speak, as a bit of landscape scen- ery exploited and misrepresented —rather the social function of the factory was shown and, from a new point of view, the role of the laborers at their daily work, in political fights, and in society as a whole. The situation of the worker presented in this book may be illustrated most aptly by the fact that the worker-author, Willi Bredel, wrote his novel while in prison! On the basis of the grotesque, judicial fiction of “lit- erary high treason,” to which dozens of editors, journalists, and even lyric poets were sacrificed, ‘Willi Bredel was sentenced in 1927 to two years of detention in a fortress. He had begun to occupy himself with literary work for the first time as he was sentenced to imprisonment on acount of, his political activity. Though continually threatened by the anti-worker decisions of the German court and by the Noiseless operation of police cen- sorship, this literature grew up and spread. It is understandable that in it a new and harder note is sounded; understandable, too, that these militant books lack some of the qualities which make the great work of bourgeois lit- erature seem so harmonious and iridescent. The life of the proletarian rev- olutionary author, Willi Bredel, makes clear the origin and atmos- phere of such literature more than on Jong academic study could lo: Son of a socialist cigar worker in Hamburg, he was thrust dur- ing the war into a munitions fac- tory as apprentice at the lathes, Grown up in the tradition of the old Social-Democratic Party, the young man soon took part in po- litical life. He worked on the docks, went to jail, worked again in a machine shop, became worker-correspondent, wrote ar- ticles, was sentenced, went to jail, worked again—in short he led the life of those hundreds of thou- sands of nameless fighters who all over the world risk freedom and life to work for the realiza- tion of socialism. A short time after the burning of the Reichstag, Willi Bredel was arrested and thrust into a con- centration camp. No news of his fate has reached the outside world. Klaus Neukrantz In fascist Germany the truth cannot be told. Could it ever be told at any time in the lest 14 years? Complacent courts, the shamefully biased verdicts of the Supreme Court in all matters af- fecting the press, the nimble fin- gered skill of the police system of prohibiting publication, spread- ing desired news—all this, even during the 14 years of the Ger- man Republic, made the utterance of truth a precarious undertaking to be paid for with freedom or livelihood. And the “freedom of press” guaranteed by the Weimar Con- stitution very soon showed tre- mendous holes. It was an option- al, not an obligatory, freedom. Brains Behind Barbed |A Collective Report on Persecution in Nazi Germany these alleged Communist attacks not one single policeman sus- tained even a tiny scratch. Yet women and old people standing at the windows of their homes in the fourth and fifth stories were killed by well-aimed shots. The enormous embitterment brought into being an impartial court before which, by means of testimony of witnesses in public proceedings the events of the ist of May were probed. The findings were: the police had in no case been attacked; and the official report that they fired in self-defense was an mm- qualified lie. In a Nazi Concentration Camp For example, on the ist of May, 1929, the following occurred: The Social Democrat (Socialist) Zoer- giebel, at that time police presi- dent (commissioner of police) of Berlin, determined not to permit the traditional May Day demon- stration of Berlin workers. As justification of this measure he announced that a disturbance of peace and order was to be feared from the demonstration. (Since 1918 the May Day demonstrations had taken place without any dis- turbance.) All to no effect, were the solemn pledges of the revolu- tionary representatives of the Berlin workers, who guaranteed that no disturbances would take place. All without effect were the warnings of discerning people that the Berlin proletariat would take this ban as a completely unjustified provocation. The po- lice were ordered ready for riot duty, inexperienced 19-year-old- police recruits were ordered to Berlin in great masses. Rifles and cartridges were given out, and by means of full utilization of the official news apparatus, an atmos- phere of nervous tension and an- tagonistic passion was provoked. tice tigen 9 HE acts of a social democratic police president by the name of Zoergiebel cost the population of Berlin 33 dead, 88 severely wounded, and several hundred slightly wounded. For three days in succession the workers’ dis- tricts in Wedding and Neukoelln were like besieged cities. The at- tempted demonstration on the Ist. of May was crushed by abundant use of firearms. In all districts, after the coming of darkness, the police shot at every person who dared to show himself in the neighborhood. The police report told of snipers on the roofs, of at- tacks with firearms on police of- ficers—but these reports did not explain the fact why, in spite of “WHAT ‘S$ ON. Friday HARLEM SECTION 4—Spring Festival. Minnish Hall, 15 W. 126th St. Celebrating che growth of the C. P. in Harlem. HOUSEWARMING PARTY and Dedica~ tion of the Potamkin Children’s Center. 311 E. 12th St., 8 p.m. Carl Brodsky, Master of Ceermonies; Pioneer Plays; wW. L” staff cartoonist, Daily Worker, gives a chalk talk on the “Capitalist Press and the Daily Worker." Rugby Youth Club, 84 F, 52nd St., Brooklyn. Adm, 10¢. OLARENCE HATHAWAY, Editor Daily Worker, Ruth Alexander, famous pacifist from South Africa, Rose Wortis, T.U.U.L., and others will speak at the Anti-War Mass Rally at Irving Plaza, Irving Pl. & 15th St., 7:30 p.m. Adm, 15c. LECTURE on “Movies and Drama in Soviet Russia and in the U. 8.," 1401 Jerome Ave., Bronx, cor. 170th St., 8:30 Pm. Adm. 10c. Speaker; Theodore Baer. Auspices: Mt. Eden Br. F.8.U. POSIUM on “‘Stevedore.”” Speakers Paul Peters, Geo. Sklar and James Ford. Opening of National Convention Office Workers Union, 114 W. 14th St., 8 p.m. DR. B. M. SAKIN lectures on "How to Over Asia,” has been doing quite well at the Acme Theatre and the management decided to hold over the film for a third week. The picture, which has been highly praised in Europe, has received the same reception here from the crit- ics and public. The Morning Frei- heit in its review stated: “Gorki’s work is a masterpiece! No other words can be found for this film except Wonderful! Inspiring! A Masterpiece!” The Daily Worker called the pic- ture “A stirring drama. ... It is a story of the struggle of the Rus- sian workers under Czarism,” while the New Masses called the film “One of the gréat Soviet pictures, which means that it belongs with the greatest of all times.” Prevent Stomach Diseases,” 2440 Bronx Park East.. 9 p.m. Auspices House Comm. LECTURE “Soviet Appeals for Peace as World Moves Toward War,” by Bonch! Freedman at Brooklyn Labor Lyceum, 947 Willoughby Ave., Brooklyn. Auspices: Wil- Mamsburg Br. F.8.U, Adm. free. DR. S. GINSBERG speaks on “Workers Health and Prevention of Contagious Di- seases.”” Chinese Workers Center, 22 W. 17th St., 8:30 p.m. Adm. free, PACKAGE PARTY and Entertainment at Mosholu Workers’ Club, 3320 Bainbridge Ave., 8:30 p.m. Auspices Amalgamated Unit, ©. P. Adm. 15¢. THREE - POINT LECTURE, Speakers: Norman Tellentire. Winifred Chappell and ftanley Kriegel. Premier Palace, 505 Sut- ter Ave.. Brooklyn, 8 p.m. Auspices United Youth Club. Adm. 1c. OPEN FORUM on ‘“Bugenics and the Class Nature of Disease," by two speakers of Science Group of Pen & Hammer. Mag- net Youth Club, 198% Bergen St., Bklyn., 8:30 p.m. OPEN FORUM 2nd slides at Mt. Eden Workers Center, 282 B 174th St. Comrade Komorofsky will speak on "Nazis of Ger- many and the Thaelmann Case.” 8:30 p.m. Adm. 10c. Saturday REFRESHMENTS and Entertainment — Proceeds to the Workers School, Auspices Unit 38. Shop Nucleus. Take West End Train to 20th Ave. Station, 9 p.m. RED THEATRE NIGHT and Dance. Boro Park Cultural Club, 1280 56th St., Bklyn. Wrestling exhibition, hot jazz band. 8:30 p.m. CONCERT AND DANCE given by ©. P. Fraction of the Fur Workers. Brighton Workers Center, 3200 Coney Island Ave., Brooklyn. Ben Gold, speaker. Interesting program, refreshments. Adm. for member- ship ec. sink Aas SUMMER MUSIC Festival and Dance. Irving Plaga, Irving Pl. a 15th St., Bun. day, June 17th, 8 p.m. Auspices Workers Music League, JUNE 2ard—Ambassador Hall, 3875 Third Ave, Banquet celebrating the Ninth An- niversary of the LL.D. Leon Blum, guest of honor. Speakers: R. B. Moore, Allen Taub and others. Varied entertainment— hot supper. Adm, 50c. Auspices Bronx Bection TLD. SERIES of two recitals, Group, 11 E. 14th Bt., 8:30 p.m., on Bun- day, June 17th and 24th. Group and solo dances, Guest, Dancers Jane Dudley and Miriam Bleecker of N.D.G. to perform. Adm. 35c. COMMEMORATION of First Anniversary of Death of Rose Pastor Stokes, June 20th, 8:31 Irving Plaza, Irving Place & 15th St. Speakers: Carl Brodsky, Rose Wortis, Richard Moore, Adolf Wolff, Pierre Degeyter Quintette, Freiheit Chorus, New Dance Soloists. Auspices Rose Pastor Stokes Br. LL.D. JUNE SALE ON SPECIALS NOW ON AT WORKERS BOOK SHOP é& CIRCULATING LIBRARY. 50 E. 13th St. fi Peekskill, N. Y. SENDER GARLIN speaks on "Do You Believe What You Read?" with. illus- trations. Saturday, June 16th. Auspices Br. 600, Followers of the Trail. Newark, N. J, THEATRE SECTION of the Jack London Club, 239 Court St., presents musical and diramatic evening on FPridar, June 18th, 8:30 p.m, Program: Isidore Jenattes Quar- tette and dramatic solos. Adm. 206. New Dance Dancing and refreshments. A few months later appeared a novel with the title “Barricades in Berlin.” The writer, a young journalist, Klaus Neukrantz by name, offered to prove that his documented presentation coin- cided in all points with the real- ity. It was not necessary to give proof of proof since even with- out it everyone was convinced of the historical fidelity of Neu- krantz’ novel. The frightful charges of “Bar- ricades in Berlin” have never been refuted. The social con- science of Germany was choked by the web of lies spun by the official police news-dispensing machine. On the basis of some emergency decree or other, the Police President of Berlin pro- htbited the book. Hundreda of protest meetings called together by the workers and intellectuals in all cities of Germany could not alter this. Long before Hitler’s regime of violence it was dangerous or im- possible to tell the truth in Ger- many! The writer, Klaus Neukrantz, is one of the hundred thousand prep school students who, nearly 20 years ago, enthusiastically marched off to war. From the cradle, they had been brought up to see in “a hero’s death for the Fatherland” the highest honor and the greatest happiness which could come to a man. For years he was in the trenches, did his service, became officer, lay in the hospital with gas-rotten lungs. Like Ludwig Renn he could not find himself after the war had ended and the Republic had be- gun. Burst was the gaudy bubble of his nationalistic thinking; there remained only chaos, stum- bling, groping. Only after five years did he find in the ideology of revolutionary Marxism, in the companionship of workers, the solid ground on which it was worthwhile to go forward for a lifetime. For years on end he worked on newspapers which the workers themselves had estab- lished. As critic, as reporter, as novelist, he organized his fellow- writers; as chairman of the in- dependent radio writers and edi- tors of the “Workers’ Broadcast” (Arbeitersender) he stood in the front ranks of those who have fought for years against the most modern means of stupefying the people. With sick lungs, which reminded him daily that he was a lifelong cripple, which ever so often forced him down on his sick bed, he nevertheless performed, regardless of consequences, the work of a whole and healthy man, Among the first arrests after the burning of the Reichstag was that of Klaus Neukrantz. The man who had fought with great heart and pure courage for the dwellers in most miserable dis- tricts of Berlin, was punished by the tyranny of the fascists for his battle against the tyranny under the Republic. Since the beginning of March, 1933, Klaus Neukrantz, with his gas-rotted lungs, languished in jail. His friends doubt whether he, who has made his sacrifice of blood and health “on the altar of the Fatherland,” will survive jail and concentration camp. (To Be Continued) By educating the workers’ party, Marxism educates the vanguard of the proletariat, thns fitting it to seize power and to lead the whole people towards socialism, to carry on and to organize the new order, to become the teacher, the guide, the leader of all who labor and are exploited—their teacher, guide and leader in the work of organizing their social life withont the bourgeoisie and against the bourgecisie—Lenin, Wire!|Sidelights on the By A. B. MAGH. 'HE had come hundreds of miles to attend the Socialist Party convention. She had come hoping against hope—perhaps there would be some delegates who would really | take a militant stand. I saw her | the last day of the convention, dis- | gust and indignation in her eyes. “I thought the Policy Committee was the real thing,” she said. “At their caucus last night they said they wouldn't compromise on any principles; and today they've made a deal with the Militants for a joint slate for the National Executive Committee.” Her eyes flashed “The Militants talk radical in order to make the Party members Revolutionary what do they do here? mediate questions they either dodge T've had talke with Krueger (Prof. Maynard Krueger of the University of Chicago, one of the leaders of the so-called Militant group), and you should hear how radical he talks. But when it comes to a showdown at the convention, he Pussyfoots. “These are nearly all middle- class people. The rank and file isn’t represented here at all. They're going to be very dissatisfied with this convention. Why, they haven't at all such as stopping evictions | and unemployment insurance. What have they got to offer the work- ers?” In her home town there had been a strike that was led by Commu- nists. She ignored the official S. P. ban on united front activities with | Communists, went to Communist | services. Day after day she went | out on the picketline and fought | shoulder to shoulder with the mem- bers of the Communist Party and Young Communist League. She knew what the united front meant. And she knew it was time to go a | step farther. “What are you going to do now?” T asked. “Well, it’s kind of a bitter pill, but I have no illusions any more. There are a few people in my local that I think I still can win over and Ill remain in the Socialist Party until I ean do that. But when that’s over, out I go. I don’t want to join any of these groups like the Lovestoneites and Trotzky- ites. I'll go into the Communist Party. It has the only program for the workers,” ae TALKED to some of the rank and file delegates — they were few enough—at the Socialist Party con- vention. They were confused, they still had illusions about the Mili- tants and the Revolutionary Policy Committee, but there welled up out of them a torrent of disgust at the reactionary leadership and a gen- uine desire for united front action with the Communist Party. While the resolution on the united front presented by the Militant-controlled resolutions committee (it was buried, incidentally, and never came before the convention) attacks the Communist Party and continues the S. P. policy of sabotaging the united front, the sentiment of these rank and file delegates was quite the reverse. One delegate, who spoke in favor of the united front, was eager to see a copy of the ap- peal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party to the Socialist Party members. Another, who comes from a state where it is decidedly tough to have been born with a black skin, told me he thought the program of the Militants neglected the Negro ques- tion. ‘They were the lost voices at the convention, Unorganized, confused, without a clearcut program, the steamroller of the machine worked smoothly whenever they tried to get the floor. In the helplessness of these rank and file delegates was revealed the complete bankruptcy of the leadership of the Revolution- ray Policy Committee, working under the direction of Lovestoneite renegades from Communism. While believe they really want action, but | On all im- | or line up with the reactionaries. | taken up any really vital questions | Party headquarters and offered her | _ Recent Convention of | the Socialist Party | these “revolutionary” leaders mouthed pretentious phrases about proletarian dictatorship and “Worke ers’ Councils,” they failed to present an independent program on any of the questions that confronted the convention They became simply the tame and submissive appendage to the Militants, the group that won cantrol of the convention and charted the new course of the Soe cialist Party, the course of radical phrase-mongering, left maneuvers, designed to achieve the same old goal: defense of capitalism against the proletarian revolution HE we for the best jockey af | the convention was won by Norman Thomas; he mde more horses at the same time than any other three delegates put together. He was both for and against the dictatorship of the proletariat, for and against violent revolution, for and against bourgeois democracy, Thomas richly deserved the tribute paid him by Matthew Levy, law partner of the reactionary Judge | Jacob Panken, who, in nominating | Thomas for the office of national chairman (it was a dummy nomi- nation as it had already been ar ranged for Thomas to decline), gave as one of his outstanding qualifica- tions his ability to “pacify ail | Broups’—in other words, be with all sides at the same time. Which only goes to show that when a man | makes up his mind to it, he can | defy not only the laws of logic and | physies, but those of plain old- fashioned honesty as well 'HE most stirring moment of the convention was when the talk- jies were made. It was arranged |that Thomas was to make a set |speech for a couple of minutes and the delegates were to applaud and |sing the International. And did |they applaud? They nearly tore the roof off while the camera ground away, they sang themselves hoarse and indulged in such a display of jenthusiasm aa was conspicnousty absent at the convention itself, | Undoubtedly the film has been jshown all over the country and |palmed off as living proof of the wonderful spirit that prevailed at |the Socialist Party convention. In the tempestuous discussion om |the Declaration of Principles, ag at other times in the convention, both the reactionary Old Guard and the pseudo-radical Militants repeatedly quoted the late leader of the Old Guard, Morris Hill- | quit, to prove their points. It |that Morris wasn’t such a | jockey himself, Sie tH Pat us be as milttant as necessity demands.” This, the theme-song of the So- cialist Party convention, came from the lips of that “practical” Social< ist, Dan Hoan, whom 18 years of loyal service as mayor of Milwau- |kee have made eminently fitted to know what the necessities of the capitalist class are. | This theme-song was echoed in {one form or another by delegate |after delegate. Tt 1s embodied in the |final Declaration of Prineiples, which talks as militant as the So- cialist Party thinks it to snare the workers and fermers and prevent them from fighting for their demands. But there was a speech of a dif- ferent character at the Socialist Party convention, in fact, two of them. Both were made by a man dead these eight years, by the man who represents the best revolu- tionary traditions of the pre-war Socialist Party, Eugene Victor Debs. The first time at the opens ing mass meeting in Cass Tech= nical High School, when a film of Debs was shown with quotations from his speeches. The second time when one of the delegates, in op- Posing the abandonment of any criticism of the corrupt A. F. of L. officialdom, quoted something Debs |had written, flaying with that ex- jalted fervor of his the reactionary union leaders. Both speeches fell on deaf ears, But the workers, both inside and outside the Socialist Party, will hear and learn and act. <' AMUSE MAXIM GORKT’S ACME THE |—— “GORKTS WORK A MASTERPIECE!” with BATALOV (of “Road to Life”) MORNING FRETHEIT. “MOTHER” (1905) Directed by PUDOVKIN Mth ST. and UNION §Q. |* RD BIG WEEK | ATRE ——RADIO CITY MUSIC HAL 50th St. & 6th Ave.—Show Place of the Nation—Opens 11:30 A. M. ANN HARDING JOHN BOLES in LOUIS BROMFIELD'S “LIFE OF VERGIE WINTERS” AND A GREAT STAGE SHOW E THE THEATRE UNION Presents —— CIVIC REPERTORY THEA, 195 W 14 St. | 45. Mats. Tues. & Sat, 2:45 $1.00 a $1.50, No Tax Eves. 806-400-600 THE THEATRE GUILD presents—— MAXWELL ANDERSON’S New Play “MARY OF SCOTLAND” with MARGALO STANLAY HELEN GILLMORE RIDGES MENKEN 52d St, W. of 8: A DRAMATIC THUNDERBOLT? ARE WE 9 CIVILIZED * With WM. FARNUM, ANITA LOUISE GLADYS ADRIENNE RAYMOND WALTER HUSTON in Sinclair Lewis’ DODSWORTH Dramatized by SIDNEY HOWARD SHUBERT, W. 44th Bt. Fes. 8:40 Sharp Matinees Wednesday and Saturday 2:30 PERA Tonight, 8:18 Masked Ball Sat, Rye, __CAVALLERIA & PAGLIACCT Pasquale Amato, Director 25° 35° 55° 83° 80" ae HIPPODROME, 6th Ave. & 43 St. VA. 3-4268 Dencing to Spanish TONIGHT! Celebration of Harlem Section Four $2,500 Drive! SPRING FESTIVAL Finnish Workers Club—Roof Garden 15 West 126th Street — at 8 P.M. Entire Cast of “STEVEDORE,” "NEWSBOY,” ete. Jazz Band till dawn. Auspices Section 4, C.P.U.B.A.