The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 4, 1934, Page 4

P:O8:7T TSis UP! DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 1934 CALL TO THE SECOND “eae POST THIS UP! Li.$. CONGRESS AGAINST WAR AND FASCISM SEPTEMBER 28, 29 AND 30, 1934 -- CHICAGO, ILLINOIS MANIFESTO OF THE AMERICAN LEAGUE AGAINST WAR AND FASCISM Adopted at U. S. Congress Against War New York City, Sept. 29-Oct. 1, 1933 APPEAL TO THE WORKING MEN AND WOMEN OF AMERICA: TO ALL VICTIMS OF WAR: The black cloud of imperialist war hangs over the world. The peoples must arouse themselves and take immediate action against the wars now going on in the Far East and Latin America against intervention in Cuba, against the increasing preparations for war, and against the growing danger of a new world war. After ten years of futility, the World Disarmament Confer- ence is meeting to perform once more the grim comedy of prom- ises, to screen the actions of the imperialist governments which are preparing, more intensively than ever before in history, for a new war. The Four Power Pact is already exposed as nothing but a new manoeuver for position in the coming war between the imperialist rivals, and an attempt to establish a united imperialist front against the Soviet Union. The rise of Fascism in Europe and especially in Germany, and the sharpened aggressive policy of Japanese militarism, bave brought all the imperialist an- tagonisms to the breaking point and greatly increased the danger of a war of intervention against the Soviet Union. The greatest naval race in history is now on among the United States, England and Japan. The British-American antagonism is being fought out in Latin-America already by open war—the so-called local wars being in reality struggles between these imperialist powers. The presence of thirty American warships in Cuban waters is itself an act of war against the Cuban revolution. The collapse of the World Economic Conference revealed only too clearly that the great powers are unable and unwilling to solve the basic inter- national problems by peaceful means and that they will resort to a new imperialist war in an attempt to divert the attention of the masses from their misery and as the only capitalist way out of caalbaacies Fascism Breeds War The rapid rise of fascism is closely related to the increasing war danger. Fascism means forced labor, militarization, lower standards of living and the accentuation of national hatreds and chauvinist incitements as instruments for the “moral” preparations for war. It sets the people of one country against the people of another, and exploits the internal racial and national groups within each country in order to prevent them from uniting in joint action to solve their common problems. The War System The war danger arises inevitably oul of the very nature of monopolistic capitalism—the ownership of the means of produc- tion by a small capitalist class and the complete domination of government by this class. The imminent war danger is only an- other expression of the fundamental crisis of the capitalist system, which continues its existence only at the cost of intensification of exploitation and oppression of the masses at home and in the colonies, and of struggle among the imperialist powers for a redivi- sion of markets and sources of raw materials. Only in the Soviet Union has this basic cause of war been removed, There are no classes or groups which can benefit from war or war preparations. Therefore the Soviet Union pursues a positive and vigorous peace policy and alone among the govern- ments proposes total disarmament. Serious struggle against war involves rallying all forces around this peace policy and opposing all attempts to weaken or destroy the Soviet Union. The United States Prepares for War The government of the United States in spite of peaceful pro- fessions is more aggressively than ever following policies whose only logical result is war. The whole program of the Roosevelt administration is permeated by preparedness for war, expressed in the extraordinary military and naval budget, mobilization of industry and man power, naval concentration in the Pacific Ocean, intervention in Cuba, the continued maintenance of armed forces in China, the loans to Chiang Kai-shek, the initiation of currency and tariff wars—all of which give the lie to the peaceful declara- tions of the United States government. Under the guise of public works, the N. R. A. has diverted im- mense funds from the care of starving millions to the building of a vastly larger navy and to mechanization of {he army. The wide- spread unemployment has been utilized to concentrate young men in so-called reforestation camps, which the War Department is using for trial military mobilizations. The military training of youth in the schools and colleges is being further developed. More and more, nationai holidays and specially prepared demonstrations are being used to glorify the armed forces and to stimulate the war spirit among the masses. Hundreds of factories are working over- time to produce munitions and basic war materials for shipment to the warring countries in South America and the Far East. A centralized war control of industry, along the lines of the War In- dustries Board of 1917, is bemg established. As in 1917, it is draw- ing the upper leadership of many trade unions into active col- laboration in the war machine. Smoke Screens for War This Congress against War warns the masses against reliance upon the League of Nations and the Kellogg Pacts as effective instruments of peace. The Congress declares that this illusion becomes particularly dangerous at the present movement, espe- cially when it is put forth as in the recent Congress of the Labor and Socialist International and the International Federation of ‘Trade Unions as a method of combatting the war danger, For Mass Resistance We can effectively combat war only by arousing and organiz- ing the masses within each country for active struggle against the war policies of their own imperialist governments, whether these governments are working individually or through the League of Nations. The Congress declares that the basic force in the imperiailst countries for struggle against the war danger is the working class, organizing around it in close alliance all of the exploited sections of the population, working farmers, intellectuals, the oppressed Negro people and all toiling masses and all organizations and groups which are generally opposed to war on any basis. The anti-war movement allies itself with the masses in the colonial and semi-colonial countries against imperialist domination, and gives full support to their immediate and unconditional inde- pendence. To All Opponents of War and Fascism: War and Fascism are menacing the United States and the entire world. Events of the past year have fully confirmed the estimate of the issue voiced by the great U. S. CONGRESS AGAINST WAR AND FASCISM held in New York City on September 30—October 1, 2, 1933, at which a broad united front was unanimously created. This unanimous Congress, consisting of 2,616 delegates from 35 states, rep- resenting a cross-section of anti-War and peace organizations in the United States, initi- ‘ated the first American mass movement against War which has already struck root in all sections of the country. Now more than ever before, gathering War clouds cast their shadows over the earth. In every capitalist country the menacing rise of the forces of Fascism threatens to de- stroy the last remnants of democratic rights, as the prelude to unloosing the horrors of a new world slaughter! Our own country is ever more deeply involved in the world drift toward War and Fascism. The judgment was expressed by the U. S. CONGRESS AGAINST WAR that the Roosevelt military and naval policies inevitably lead to imperialist War, and his economic policies to Fascism in America. That judgment is confirmed by the billion- dollar naval program, the increased funds for military training, the currency and trade wars, the growth of monopoly business, restriction of the right to strike and the govern- ment’s support of company-controlled unions. Only a conscious and militant mass movement organized from below, on the basis of the program adopted last year at the U.S. CONGRESS AGAINST WAR, can check this steady drift toward War and Fascism. Only the power of the aroused masses in taking these issues into their own hands will halt the War Makers and budding American Fascism. Already the work of the AMERICAN LEAGUE AGAINST WAR AND FASCISM, small as it is, in less than a year, proves the wide response to this fight. Our delegation to Congress to oppose War appropriations, the students’ anti-War strike which stirred the entire country, the hundreds of local and regional conferences, the enthusiastic sup- port that has developed for the magazine FIGHT—all demonstrate that hundreds of thousands are awakening to the imminent menace of War and Fascism, and will follow a clear lead for united struggle. The National Committee of the League, elected at the Congress Against War last October, therefore heartily carries out the decision then made to hold, in a year, a SEC- OND UNITED STATES CONGRESS AGAINST WAR AND FASCISM. The Congress is hereby called to take place in CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ON SEPTEMBER 28, 29 and 30, 1934 The basis of representation will be the same as that adopted by the first Congress, namely: Delegates should be elected from all local groups and organizations opposed to War and Fascism. Every organized group is entitled to one delegate for every 250 members or major fraction thereof. National, state, county and city bodies shall each be entitled to two delegates. The program adopted by the First Congress will be subject to such amendments and additions as the Second Congress shall deem necessary in the light of the year’s experience. The National Committee will invite outstanding international leaders of the strug- gle against War and Fascism in other countries to attend. An Arrangements Committee will be set up to act in consultation with the National Committee in planning the program of Congress activities, to gain the broadest possible participation. We call upon all supporting organizations and local committees to begin system- atic and energetic work, to secure the building of more and stronger local committees, so that the Congress will comprise at least 5,000 delegates representing every section of the country and every element joining in our struggle. Forward to the defeat of the War-makers and Fascists in America! NATIONAL COMMITTEE, AMERICAN LEAGUE AGAINST WAR AND FASCISM Dr. Harry F. Ward, Chairman H. W. L. Dana Rabbi Edward L. Israel Robert Morse Lovett, Vice-Chairman Dorothy Detzer James Lerner Lincoln Steffens, Vice-Chairman Margaret Forsyth E. C. Lindeman Earl Browder, Vice-Chairman Maurice Gates Rey. R. Lester Mondale Anna N. Davis, Treasurer Rabbi Benjamin Goldstein William L. Patterson Israel Amter Dr. Israel Goldstein Rey. A. Clayton Powell, Jr. Roger Baldwin Annie E. Gray Henry Shepard Max Bedacht Gilbert Green William Spofford Ella Reeve Bloor A. A. Heller Maxwell S. Stewart Winifred L. Chappell Donald Henderson Alfred Wagenknecht George A. Coe Francis A. Henson Professor Colston E. Warne Barnett Cooper Harold Hickerson Louis Weinstock Professor George S. Counts Roy Hudson Elia Winter Malcolm Cowley Langston Hughes Charles Zimmerman me rer A registration fee of 50 cents per delegate, payable on arrival, will be charged to help meet expenses of the Congress, Ad- dress all inquiries to American League Against War and Fascism, 112 E, 19th St., Room 605, New York, N. Y. PROGRAM OF THE AMERICAN LEAGUE AGAINST WAR AND FASCISM Adopted at U.S. Congress Against War New York City, Sept. 29-Oct. 1, 1933 The Congress pledges itself to do all in its power to effect a nation-wide agitation and organization against war preparations and war. To this end we join together in carrying out the following immedi- ate objectives :— 1 To work towards the stopping of the manu- faeture and transport of munitions and all other materials essential to the conduct of war, through mass demonstrations, picketing and strikes. 2 To expose everywhere the extensive prepara- tions for war being carried on under the guise of aiding National Recovery. 3 To demand the transfer of all war funds to relief of the unemployed and the replacement of all such devices as the Civilian Conservation Camps, by a federal system of social insurance paid for by the government and employers. 4 To oppose the policies of American Imperi- alism in the Far East, in Latin America, especially now in Cuba, and throughout the world; to sup- port the struggles of all colonial peoples against the imperialist policies of exploitation and armed suppression. 5 To support the peace policies of the Soviet Union, for total and universal disarmament, which today with the support of masses in all countries constitute the clearest and most effective opposi- tion to war throughout the world; to oppose all attempts to weaken the Soviet Union, whether these take the form of misrepresentation and false propaganda, diplomatic maneuvering or in- tervention by imperialist governments. 6 To oppose all developments leading to Fas- cism in this country and abroad, and especially in Germany; to oppose the increasingly widespread use of the armed forces against the workers, farm- ers and the special terrorizing and suppression of Negroes in their attempts to maintain a decent standard of living; to oppose the growing en- croachments upon the civil liberties of these groups as a growing fascization of our so-called “democratic” government. £6 To win the armed forces te the support of this program. 8 To enlist for our program the women in in- dustry and in the home; and to enlist the youth, especially those who, by the crisis, have been de- prived of training in the industries and are there- fore more susceptible to fascist and war propa- ganda. 9 To give effective international support to all workers and anti-war fighters agaifst their own imperialist governments. 10 To form committees of action against war and fascism in every important center and in- dustry, particularly in the basic war industries; to secure the support for this program of all or- ganizations seeking to prevent war, paying special attention to labor, veteran, unemployed and farmer organizations. By virtue of the mandate granted by the thou- sands of delegates from all sections of this country and groups of the population which bear the burden of imperialist war who, though they differ in poli- tical opinions, trade union affiliations, religious be- liefs, and the.methods of carrying on the struggle against war, are bound together by their desire for peace, and on the strength of its unshakable convic- tion that the struggle against imperialist war is use- ful only to the extent to which it effectively inter- feres with and checkmates imperialist war plans, this Congress calls upon the working class, the ruined and exploited farmers, the oppressed Negro people, the sections of the middle class bankrupted by the crisis, the groups of intellectuals of all occupations, men, women and youth, together, to organize their invin- cible force in disciplined battalions for the decisive struggle to defeat imperialist war.