The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 22, 1934, Page 5

© mittee Segond United States DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1934 Page Five SCORES OF CITIES ELECT DELEGATES TO ANTI-WAR CONGRESS eo | Gathering to Mark Growing Opposition | To War and Fascism 4 Committee Flooded with Credentials from Tex-| tile, Munitions, Steel and Mining Ceniers from Workers’ Organizations Thruout Nation CHICAGO, Sept. 21. — Reports \\,_ from scores of cities in every section of the country pouring in to the ces of the arrangements Com- here indicate that the Congress Agpinst War and Fascism which op ns on Friday will be an historic ezspression of the opposition of merican workers, farmers, profes- ionals and intellectuals against hese two major threats to world py Sivilization, According to present indications the arrangements expects from 3,000 to 3,600 delegates to attend the Congress. No accurate estimate is Possible of how many millions of workers in various organizations these delegates will represent. Credentials are flowing in daily from American Federation of Labor organizations, veterans’ groups, church societies, student organiza- tions as well as from the active revolutionary organizations, the Communist Party, the Young Com- munist League and outspoken work- ing class trade unions and fraternal groups. ‘ “There is vitality and interest in every organization where the ques- tion of the conference has been brought up,” the arrangements committee said. When the Congress opens on viday with a mass parade of dele- ates and Chicago workers through he streets of the city, there will be in the line of march more than 250 delegates from New York, an almost. similar number from Chicago, 75 from Milwaukee, 50 from Pittsburgh, 30 from Detroit, 20 from Massa- chusetts, 10 from Newark, 25 from Cleveland, and’ smaller delegations from scores of textile, shipping, mu- niticns, steel, coal and farming centers. A mass meeting at the Ashland Auditorium will mark the official opening of the Congress fol- lowing the parade. In all these localities preparations are now under way for getting the already elected delegates to the Con- gress, mass meetings, lectures, ancesd open air mectings, movie showings and other activities are in progress to raise transportation jfunds and to popularize the Con- gress and its purposes. An analysis of the composition of the Congress would reveal barriers of trade union, religious, political and social affiliation being swept away in this unprecedented wave of unity against the twin menace of war and fascism. Socialist, Communist, American Federation of Labor, Trade Union Unity League, Railroad Brother- hood, Negro, white, native-born and | foreign born, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Workers’ Ex-Servicemen’s League organizations are all sending delegates. The magnitude of the gathering | and the seriousness of its purpose indicate fully the tremendous im- portance to the American masses of the decisions which will be made at the Congress, Youth Groups Send Credentiais CHICAGO, Sept, 21—The Youth Arrangements Committee for the Second United States Congress Against War and Fascism has re- ceived credentials for delegates from the Gillespie, Ill, circle of the Young People’s Socialist League. The circle is in the heart of the Southern Illinois mining region, which has been the scene of bitter strife between miners and the local and State government in the past two years, during which the young Socialists have come to know the value of unity in the struggle against Fascist terror. Your delegates have also been elected from a number of shops, from the Negro Young Women’s Christian Association of Chicago, from the Socialist Workers Sport and Gymnast Association, from sev- eral fraternities and from fifteen Negro clubs, The current week will be devoted to the election of youth delegates from the stockyards. Three Meth- odist youth groups have also de- cided to send representatives. An example of effective work for the U. S. Congress Against War and Fascism was reported here in Roseland, a small industrial suburb south of Chicago. The following Distributed by D. & B, Products Corp., Jersey City, N. J. mow you can iry— GENUINE DMIPORTED RUSSIAN VoDKA A warming and invigorating “straight” drink (made from selected pure wheat); also in delicious “different” cocktails, Be SURE you ask at your favorite bar or dealer for the ONLY genuine imported RUSSIAN VODKA, label marked “Made in Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.)."" Leaflet on request, SEND-OFF and DANCE For New York Rank and File Delegates to the 54th A. F. of L. Convention at San Francisco SATURDAY, SEPT. 23rd, 8 P. M. at IRVING PLAZA HALL Jazz Band Irving Place Cor. 15th St. Good Entertainment Admission 35 Cents 15th Anniversary Concert Celebration of the COMMUNIST PARTY WEDNESDAY EVE., SEPT. 26th, 8 p.m. at the Y. M. and Y. M. H. A. AUDITORIUM High and West Kinney Sts., Newark, N. J. Hear James Casey, Managing Editor of the Daily Worker, formerly City Editor of the N, ¥. Times. Moe Brown, Communist Candidate for Governor. Chairman, H. Sazer, N. J. Organizer of the Communist Party. Concert Program: Sccialist Liedertafel Chorus; Workers Laboratory Theatre, cf New York; Mendelsohn String Trio; Freiheit Ge- sangs Ferein, and others, ADMISSION, AT DOOR—35 Cents Women’s Section espe LEAGUE AGAINST WAR AND FASCISM HOUSING BLANKS For Delegates to the Second U. S. Congress Against Wer and Fascism SEPTEMBER 28, 29, 30 6 North Wabash j | NAME 4 Room 1500 | HOW MANY DELEGATES CAN BE HOUSED ..........sccccceceesseee | TELEPHONE OW FAR—NORTH... SOUTH. .....(;BABT......05. WEST Seed Please Turn Bienks in at Headquarters as Soon as Filled Out Arkansas AFL Backs Move State Convention En- dorses Anti-War Con- gress; Sends Greetings LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Sept 21.— The Arkansas State Federation of Labor has gone on record as en- dorsing the Second United States Congress Against War and Fascism to be held in Chicago. The resolu- tion is attested by H. M. Thackrey, Secretary-Treasurer of the Federa- tion, after having been submitted to the convention and adopted. The resolution reads: “Whereas, the United States and the world are confronted by the possibility of another war as in- dicated by the armament race, “Whereas, the United States and the world are confronted with the likelihood of spreading Fascism, as indicated by Fascist developments both in Europe and America, “Whereas, banking interests, in- the benefits growing from war and fascism, “Whereas, workers and farmers pay the full cost of the war both in life and economic returns, “Therefore be it resolved, that the Arkansas State Federation of Labor in convention assembled endorse and send greetings to the Second United States Congress inst War and Fascism convening in Chicago, September 28 to 30, to mobilize public opinion against war and Fascism.” widely differing organizations have elected delegates: Socialist Party, Italian Branch, Workers Center of Roseland, Build- ing Trades Industzial Union, and the Mount Greenwood Benefit Asso- ciation, Pittsburgh to Send 50 PITTSBURGH, Pa., Sept. 21— Over 50 delegates from this city and the surrounding territory will be present in Chicago for the opening of the Second U. S. Congress Against War and Fascism if present support and activity may be used as a barometer. At least ten of these delegates, it is expected, will represent mine union locals, While as many as fif- teen is indicated from unemployed worker’s organizations. Youth or- ganizations, it is almost certain, will be able to muster a like number, if not many more, while the number representing language groups, work- ers’ clubs, unions, churches, and professional groups cannot as yet be estimated with any pretense at ac- curacy. Fifty delegates, however, are al- most assured. The first organiza- j tion to send in credentials for its delegate was a bakers’ union local. Henderson to Talk at Harrysburg HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 21.— Donald Henderson will be the prin- cipal speaker at a mass meeting to prepare the sending of delegates to the Second U. S .Congress Against War and Fascism. The meeting will be held here on Sunday, at 2 p,m, at Redman’s Hall, Third and Broad Streets. Detroit Youth to Hold Dance DETROIT, Sept. 21. — A mass | send-off will be given to the dele- gates from the city next Thursday night at a dance in the Finnish Hall, 5969 Fourteenth Street, near McGraw Avenue, before they leave for Chicago to attend the Second United States Congress Against War and Fascism. The dance is being arranged by the Youth Com- Against War) dustrialists and war profiteers reap | mittee of the American League, Jew-Baiting Part of Fas Congress, Says By Benjamin A regular devil’s cauldron war. Even the denials of an i going on; the occasion for conflict will also be manufac- tured when the time arrives. But even before the international conflict breaks out, an internal war is being waged within individual countries. This internal war is called Fascism and it is directed against’ the working masses, the liberals, the intellectuals and against minority groups, Camouflage is resorted to in the form of demagogy; suppr sion and cersorship silence all criti- cigm and opposition; brutality and terror are entrenched in the streets; spying is raised to the dignity of a national occupation. And all the time behind the scenes and along the sidelines the people are being prepared for that larger conflict) which will involve many nations and turn the world into one huge blood bath. In any attempt to promote inter- national war, or its brother, Fas- cism, special group divisions, racial or religious, play an important role. Names, with stigma attached, are grist for the demagogic mill. Jew! Negro! Red! Hun! All these categories have been used by wartime orators to create frenzy and to incite to murder. They are being used today by hundreds of petty fascist adventurers, the paid |hirelings of capital. Many people.} untutored in realistic economic adj political thinking, desperate in the| struggle for a livelihood, accept these phantom demons as plausible explanations for the despair that | afflicts it. Action is wanted and ac- | tion in plenty is promised by these orators. Wipe out the Jew! Lynch the Negroes! Destroy the Reds! | Conauer the Huns! | Among all these, the Jewish masses have long been singled out} as a group particularly vulnerable for attack. They are classic mate- rial for Fascist pogroms. Scattered throughout the world, traditionally living on sufferance, caricatured in a thousand ridiculous poses, the butt of constant jokes, they easily a focal point for aroused re- sentment. They can be charged with anything, and anything that is Said about them can be believed. Not the Sole Victim But while it is apparent that the | Jew is one of the victims, and per- | haps the handiest victim, he is not by any means the only one. Other minority groups and the lower eco- nomic classes suffer equally. Nor is the Jew without defenders, Every one who is opposed to war and Fas- cism is to that degree a friend of the Jews and deserving of their support and encouragement. If the Jew would eseape his plight he must choose his friends. Even more, he must bear his share of the burden in the fight against war and Fascism. Mere lament will not suf- fice; indifference at a time like this is criminal. On the 28, 29, and 30 of Septem- solace. War preparations are® 'War-Mongers Utilize | Race Hatred to Stir Up Wartime Frenzy cist Methods To Divide | Masres—Jews Should Support Anti-War Ben Goldstein B. Goldstein HE clouds of war are gathering rapidly on every horizon. of poison gas, disease germs, bombing planes, liquid fire and submarines is being brewed. No issue of the press is without its warning of impending mmediate outbreak brings no ber a Congress is to be held in Chi- cago—the United States Congress Against War and Fascism. The American League Against War and Fascism has issued the call for this Congress. As victims of Fascism in Ger- many; as those against whom Fas- cist anti-semitic attacks are being made elsewhere; as the subject of pogroms before, during and after war, the Jews ought to be repre- sented in large numbers at this Congress. If their experience means anything to them at all they ought to support it unanimously. Not to elect delegates would mean what Jobless Fight Against War, Amter States Jobless Tonle Aid Workers’ Opposition to | Imperialist Menace | By I. Amter (Secretary of the National Unem- ployment Councils) The unemployed of this country | are opposed to another imperialist war. |distrust the U. 8. which talks and carries out the | strictest economy in connection with relief; which finds all kinds of reasons to deny them unemploy- ment insurance, but at the same funds to build up a navy none, How can a government, which |talks much about the needs of the | working population allow millions second to on the most meagre relief—and at | the same time take out of the pub- |lic works fund, which was to pro- |vide work for the millions, hun- dreds of millions for the building jof war vessels, barracks, for mili- tary Civilian Conservation Camps and other camps? | Thus the unemployed have be- gun to question the whole aim of |the New Deal, which was to re- lieve the crisis. They have begun time is able to find all necessary | |to go without relief, millions to live | some are suspecting is true, that all/to question the whole motive of half of peace and justice are mere words. Absence is opportunism and sycophancy of the lowest order. Pearcy Opens Meet With Red Baiting (Continued from page 4) has already im its customary un- derkand manner begun to circu- late its insidious literature, call- ing for the taking over of the conyention by the reds, removing the officers, striking the mines which are now under contract with the P. M. A. and putting the general program of the Commu- nist Party in motion in the Iili- nois coal fields.” There are 120 resolutions subd- mitted, of which more than 50 wing forces, including the resolu- |gotten man.” They are beginning |to understand the bi of the whole war situation—wars for mar- |kets, wars for conquest, wars for the protection of investments. | Workers Gain Nothing by War | Furthermore, they see that when they are forced to go into struggle against hunger, they face the same war machine of which they will be- |come a part when war is declared. The same National Guard, the same Federal troops, the same gasses, bombs and airplanes will be used, as are used in imperialist war. Many of the unemployed were in th last World War. They are now in the breadline. Many of them re- ceived gold medals for heroic ac- tions. Now they are in the pawn- shop. What have they to except from another world war except bit- terer suffering than from the last | one! Hence under the leadership of the militant unemployed organ: | have been introduced by the left-|tion, the National Unemployment | |; Council, they are carrying on a Special Train to Take Delegates to Chicago From TwoOQhio Cities Many Steel and Metal Factories in Cleveland Elect Delegates to Anti-War Congress; | “Response to Call Is Excellent’ | CLEVELAND, Ohio, Sept. 21.—The | They have every reason to |Special train carrying delegates to| the Second United States Coni government, |the Second United States Congress/ Against War. Against War and Fascism will lea’ | Cleveland at 9:30 p.m. on Thursd |to meet the special anti-war t jin Youngstown going to Chic: |from New York. in | ee The response to the call for the| | election of delegates to the Cougress | indicates the existence of the basis| for a broad united front anti-war and snii-fascist movement here. | munity have elected a delegate to ess 20 From Hamtranck HAMTRANCK, Mich., Sept. 21. — Twenty delegates will go to Chicago from here for the Second U. S. Congress Against War and Fascism. This city sent but one delegate to last year’s Congress New York A successful conference in prep- aration for the Congress was held pings: have already been with representatives from 17 local electe y the Brotherhood of} organizatio resent. A send-off |Painters and Decorators, Local 867, | ©. ae | Carmen's Union Local 268, the Sieel | |and Metal Workers Industrial Union | |Locals at Chandler and Price, Na- tional Copper, Corrigan-McKinney, | American Steel and Wire, Eaton Azle, etc. Committees have been set up with prominent individuals in the labor and cuitural fields in Youngstown, kron, Columbus, Toledo, and other 550 cesegates to the Congress fr e ‘ | cities, with the goal of sending some | eee the Jew’s fine protestations in be-| those who talked about the “for-| was held yesterday at the Russian Workers Club, 2934 Yemans Avenue, What Are Issues Before AFL. Meet? (Continued from page 4) | class collaboration policies of Mr. Ohio. |Green and other leaders of the A. To spur preparations and to give|F. of L. | last minute instructions to delegates, ht |a send-off banquet will be given at | Perna the Moose Hall, 1000 Walnut Street,| tocced on |in the grill room on Sunday. | vention by three different groups. On the one hand we have the Lewis gang, the leaders of the Brewery Workers’ Union and Hillman who will give lip service to the estab- lishment of industrial unionism, but who will stick to the old class col- |made to include in the GMMR one a OHO: | Tepresentatives of the striking tex-| On the other hand there will be. tile workers in and around Union-| the militant rank and file delgates town. | of the Federal local unions and of | An Anti-War Conference was Some Internationals who willl fight held here last Sunday at Max Hall,| for industrial unionism as against Main St. and Pittsburgh Rd. Many| craft unionism based on a class | organization will be represented, in- | Struggle policy, for the right to | cluding United Mine Workers of | strike and for the right to carry out America locals, religious bodies, | Sympathy strikes. women’s clubs, language groups, tn-| tocal unions and rank and file employed associations, etc. | groups must act immediately to en- dorse the resolutions worked out by the rank and file members and by for industrial unionism craft unions will be the floor of the con- Uniontown Delegates Picked UNIONTOWN, Pa., Sept. 21—Two | carloads of delegates are expected to go to the Second United States | Congress Against War and Fascism |from here. Every effort is being Massachusetts to Send 12 tions against criminal syndicalism,| struggle against war and fascism. | unemployment insurance, against|'They are on the picket lines with war and fascism, unity movement,| the workers in the shops when they endorsement of the U. S. Congress | 0 out against the New Deal. They | Against War and Fascism, for the release of the Scottsboro boys, Herndon, Hillsboro boys, for the unity movement against the N. R. A. and deportation. In the joint report for the ex- ecutive board by Pearcy and Keck, attempt was made to cover up the betrayal of the 13,000 miners and make excuses for the wage-cut agreement. In spite of this dema- gogy, the officialdom could not show any improvement under the collaboration policy follpwed since the first convention. It was dis- close that more than 550,000 was spent for lawyers, a large deficit for the printing of the Paper. The convention sent a wire of greeting to the textile workers and a@ resolution is being introduced by Laverne Pruitt, in support of the textile strike, The credentials committee has not reported as yet, but discussion has already begun in which it was disclosed that neither Keck nor Pearcy are delegates, union | are in the picket lines with the | farmers, when they go out against | | the Agricultural Adjustment Act. tant demonstrations against terror. | They are in the struggles against | imperialist. war. Not Mtek Lambs The unemployed are not docile. They know that without daily | struggle they will be allowed to starve. Their struggles have proven that they can force the authorities to grant them better and more re- lef. Now it is a question of lining up all sections of the population willing to fight in one mighty | united front against war and fas- cism. This United Front is the Amer- ican League Against War and Fas- cism. Its Second Congress will be held in Chicago from Friday to |Sunday. This Congress comes at a time of the sharpest war danger— in the Far East, with the provoca- tion of Japan against the Soviet Union; in Central Europe, with Germany arming and preparing for war against the Soviet Union on ithe west; with southeastern Europe | They are to be found in the mili- | BOSTON, Mass., Sept. 21.—Twelve | already been elected from Massa- | 7 z | of the “A, F. of L. Rank and File chusetts and many others will be Federationist” and in the “Daily | Worker.” Demand Officers Back Resolutions Local unions with no direct rep- resentation at the convention should send letters or telegrams to their respective International officials at- tending the 54th A. F. of L. conven- tion demanding that these officials support the resolutions of the rank and file, resolutions which call for. unemployment insurance, for de: mocracy in the trade unions, for equal rights for Negro workers, etc, The rank and file conference to be held in San Francisco simultane- ously with the A. F. of L. conven= tion, and the National Conference to be held in Pittsburg, following the convention, on October 27th and 28th will be a step further in’ the development of an ever larger rank and file movement in the A. F. of L, which will fight for the unity of all trade unions organizations, for the organization of the unorganized, and which will drive out the allies of the employers from the trade union movement. elected at coming meetings of the League throughout the State. A Boston Anti-War Conference took| |place on Friday, Sept. 14th, at 8| pm. at the Hotel Bradford. | Textile Workers Send Delegates | TELFORD, Pa. Sept. 21.—The | Wool Pullers Local of the National | Textile Workers Union in this com- seething with war plots; with war going on in South America. It oc- curs at a time when the League of Nations more and more shows its impotence. | This is the mood of the unem- | | ployed—that is why they are sup-| porting the American League} Against War and Fascism and its | Second Congress. All unomployed | | organizations should without fail | send delegates to this Congress, to | unite the strength of the organized | unemployed with that of the shop | | Workers, the farmers, the trade | unionists, professionals and all) other sincere anti-war fighters in} this country, i many local unions affiliated with the A. F. of L,, all of which have been printed in the September issue Were Wall Street’s Recruiting Agents in 1917 By Si Gerson ILLIONS of people, read- ing of the arms investi- gation in Washington, are no doubt seized by a chill of hor- ror. It is not necessarily the cesspool of intrigue and brib- ery that scandalizes people but the revelation of the express- train speed at which the capitalist powers are arming for a new war. Not that the work of the Nye committee will bring out the basic causes of war—the titanic, irre- concilable conflict between the capitalist ruling classes for the world’s markets. But it will, of necessity, bring to many workers the realization of the closeness of a new world slaughter. It is in such a setting that the Second U. S. Congress Against War and Fascism will begin its sessions at Chicago, in a meeting which will work to unify broad masses in the struggle against war. One should think that among these most interested in this great essembly of anti-war forces would be the official leadership of the labo> movement. But such is not the case. An examination of the war position of the officialdom of the American Federation of Labor —which claims to speak for all of American labor—will reveal not only that the chieftains of the A. F. of L. are not part of the in the last war and are today among the mosi fervid of war- mongers within the ranks of the working class. anti-war forces but that they were | The Position of the A. An examination of the most recent statements of the heads of the Federation and their declara- tions and actions in the last war will prove this to the very hilt. Pro-War Then—And Now Recently William Green, presi- dent of the A. F. of L., delivered j himself of an opmion on the question of war and the attitude ef the official American labor movement. Answering the query of the Federal Council of Churches on what the position of labor was on a new war, he declared that the position of the A. F. of L. hier- archy was in 1934 the same as it was in 1917 and referred them to the statement issued by the Ex- ecutive Council of the A. F. cf L. on March 12, 1917, in a document entitled “American Labor's P. tion in Peace or in War.” Fur thermore, says the August 29th issue of the “Christian Century,” Green “went out of his way to read the Federal Council of Churches a lecture on the present need for military preparedness!” The 1917 document to which Mr. Green hearkens back should be ex- amined carefully, especially by these unionists, who, through no fault of their own, must suffer Mr. Green—for the present, at least, as leader of their organization. This document was drawn up at a meeting of the leaders of the af- filiated unions and the railroad brotherhoods on March 12, 1917, only about three weeks before the declaration of war. The report—un- doubtedly drafted in coliaboration with members of the Wilson ad-| ministration, was submitted by the | Executive Council, which had met | three days prior. Classic A. F. of L. Policy In phrases which we can now | Tecognize as the classic expression of the class-collaboration policy of the A. F. of L. leadership, the re- port says: “We speak for millions of Americans. We are not a sect. We are not a party. We repre- sent the organizations held to- gether by the pressure of our common needs. We represent the part of the nafion closest to the fundamentals of life... “Whether we approve it or not, we must recognize that war is a situation with which we must | reckon... “Industrial justice is the right of those living within our coun- try. With this right there is associated obligations. In war time, obligation takes the form of service in defense of the Re- public against enemies . .. “We, the officers of the Na- tional and International Trade Unions of America in national conference assembled in the capital of our nation, hereby pledge ourselves in peace or in war, in stfess or in storm, to stand unreservedly by the stand- ards of liberty and the preserva- tion of the institutions and ideals of our Republic... “'. . . Wwe call upon our fellow workezs and fellow citizens in the holy name of Labor, Justice, Free- dom and Humanity to devotedly and patriotically give like service.” The Recruiting Sergeants Here you have it in its baldest form: the open recruiting within the tanks of labor for the armies of Wall Street. The war is a war for democracy. “The present war,” says the report, “discleses the struggle between the institutions of democracy and those of autocracy.” Here are the hypocritical phrases of Wi'son introduced into the body corporate of labor. And this is the attitude of the A. F. of L. leadership today, seven- teen years afterward! Nay even further, as Green so kindly ampli- fied in his answer to the Federal Council of Churches, theorizing his support of the Vinson Navy bill and like measures: “Present internation=| condi- tions convince me that we should be prepared ... self-preservation is the first law of nature and for that reason we believe in pre- paredness.” ye tee This, then, is the position of the A. F. of L. official leadership. But can it be the position of the rank it correspond with the interests and néeds of the A. F. of L. rank and file? To ask the question is to answer it. What did the A. F. of L. members, gain in the war? Tens of thousands of them were sent across, many of them to die. Thousands of A. F. of L. members who went across re- turned to find their officials fat and patriotic in Washington jobs, Sam Gompers setting the pace by be- coming a member of the War Labor Board, along with the mil- Hionaire Bernard Baruch. The post- war period found hundreds of thousands unemployed, millions with wages cut as the unemployers unleashed a _ vicious offensive against the labor movement. Many unicn members who fought for their country and demanded their back pay, their bonus, received a taste of democzacy in Anacosta Flats in 1932, but in a fashion they did not as yet learn to recognize—at the end of Federal bayonets. These union members discoy- ered in the seventeen years since the war that the democracy fer which the A. F. of L. Executive Council so easily pledged the lives of the A, F. of L. membership was brought them wage cuts, union smashing and unemployment, while it brought untold wealth to a tiny handful of millionaires, and file of the A. F. of L.? Does} a capitalist democracy, one that _ A. F. of L. members who were stampeded into the last World War | }on the basis of the patriotic har- jangues of the official leadership may well reflect today on the evi- | dence of the du Pont brothers in the arms inquiry. These gentlemen ad- mitted having war contracts for tho | staggering sum of $1,245,685,000, a gain in business of 1,130 percent over that done before the war. they said, was 100 percent in 1916! The great bankers, particularly | J. P. Morgan and his associates, for the protection of whose loans | the United Stetas entered the World War, did a billion dollar business lending money to the warring pow- ers. It is for these people that the American workers, including tens of thousands of A. F. of L. members, went through hell in France! Let every A. F. of L. member draw his own conclusion on the question: In whose behalf the A. F. of L. offi- Cials spcke in 1917 and speak now. The Situation Today Today the leadership of the A. F of L., becoming ever more a part) of the reactionary machinery of the | capitalist government, through the NRA apparatus, the Department of Labor, is treading the path so care- fully charted by Sam Gompers. | But there is this difference today— there is a Communist Party and a growing anti-war movement, the living soul of which is the Com- munist Party. This anti-war move- ment will be expressed in the 2nd | U. S. Congress Against War and | Fascism on September 28, 29 and 30. | Dozens of A. F. of L. local unions |have already declared their ad-} | herence, But it is by no means sufficient. | Within every local union the mili- tants must make clear to the mem- bership, on the basis of the con- crete facts, the jingo character oR ! | Dividends paid on common stock, | F. of L. Leadership on War Must Expose Past and Present Role of Executive | Militants |the A. F. of L. leaders. The ex- | perience of the last World War and |the position of the A. F. of L. offi- |cialdom musi be given the widest exposure in the unions. Specific action against the ship- | ment of munitions to Japan and | Nazi Germany should be pro- | posed. It should be demanded that all the evidence in the arms investigation—names of govern- ment officials invclyed, etc.—be | brought forth and made public. Waterfront and transport strikes against the shipment of muni- tions should be proposed. The heavy tax on the profits of the arms mamufacturers chould he demanded. That all war funds go to the unemployed should meet with no little support even at the A. F. of L. convention. Last, but by no means least, militant dele- gates should demand that the convention officially condemn the support of the jingo preparedness campaign by those who claim to speak in the name of labor— William Green, Matthew Woll, etc. The Woll anti-Soviet attacks should be condemned and the question of the defense of the Soviet Union, the workers’ father- land, should be sharply raised. Only by the most energetic ac- tivity today in the unions will it be possible to defeat the war plans of the American ruling class and its lieutenants in the ranks of labor—_ the Greens and Wolls. This activity should go forward at top speed and should find more> than one reflection at the October convention of the A. F. of ‘L. at San Francisco. To raise this’ ques- tion on the floor of that body is the sacred duty of militants to whom the cause of labor — ee