The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 27, 1934, Page 2

Page 2 DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1934 LOS ANGELES TRANSIT SCABS INJURE 25 IN CAR ACCIDENTS 2,150 of 2,500 Soviet Charges Japan |A rmed Str Workers Are Out On Strike 1,600 Interurban Men Are Also Expected To Walk Out LOS ANGELES, Noy. 26.—With the strike of the street car workers on- the Los Angeles Railway lines taking full effect, the first day was marked by numerous battles be- tween strikers and scabs, and crashes of scab-driven cars result- ing in injuries to passengers. Today, the first working day since ke was called, will demon- strate the full effects of the strike. esti 25 were injured when perienced scab motorman | crashed his car into two which had been stalled by a mass of strike sym- pathizers at Vermont and Florence Avenues. Thirteen of the passen- gers had to get hospital treatment, two women passengers for serious injuries. During the entire day police cars flew in all directions in an effort to protect the few scabs which the company had thus far managed to maintain from the angry popula- tion. Mayor Shaw announced that) moves to arbitrate the strike are being made and a meeting today| with leaders of the union will con- sider an arbitration committee. The strike is under the control of three officials of the Amalgamated Asso- ciation of Street Car and Motor | Coach Employees, H. A. Feather-| stone, the local’s president; J. J. Morgan, financial secretary; and| Patrick J. O’Brien, international | vice-president. The workers thus far have not been given either free- dom of expression at meetings or representatives on committees con- ducting the work of the strike. Councils Urge Unity of Jobless. (Continued from Page 1) that it is not possible to work to- gether have been attempting to! prevent the unity of the workers and that their claims are absolutely false. Organized Unity Lacking “A regrettable feature of the demonstration is the fact that the leadership of the demonstration (from which the Unemployment Council was excluded) did not take the necessary steps to make it a real united front. This prevented the movilization of all the forces that it was possible to mobilize in this situation. This was proven by the number that turned cut in Chi- Cago on the same day—25,000- workers’ organization: were allowed a place in the ar. rangements. “Knowing that our needs are the same and that there is no good reason why we cannot get together and knowing that it is absolutely necessary to unite our forces in de- termined strugg!e against inadequate relief and against the sales, wage and transit taxes and for the Workers Unemployment and Social Insurance Bill, we propose: Proposals “1) That a joint committee com- Posed of an equal number from the | Workers Unemployed Union and| from the Unemployment Council | shall be set up immediately, | “2) That this Arrangement Com- mittee shall immediately begin the} Otganization of local joint mobili- zation meetings, open-air meetings, distribution of leaflets—tfor: “3) United picketing of the homes of the aldermen, united demon- strations at the local Home Relief Bureaus by all local organizations. “4) All these activities to pre- pare for a citywide demonstration at City Hall on Jan. 7, when the cemand for the Workers Unemploy- ment and Social Insurance Bill will | be presented to the United States | Congress by the National Congress |} for Unemployment and Social In- surance. We propose that the above Joint Arrangements Committee shall take steps to secure repre-| sentation from all unemployed or- | ganizations to the National Con-| gress for Unemployment and Social | Insurance to be held in Washing-| ton on January 5, 6 and 7. “Continue and Strengthen the| Unity That Was Begun on Nov. 24! “Forward to One United Unem- Ployment Movement. “Richard Sullivan, Secretary, “Unemployment Council Greater Greater New York.” Copies of the letter, the Council announced, will be mailed to all locals of the Workers Unemployed Union in New York City, with the additional request that they in- struct their delegates to the City Central Committee of the Workers Unemployed Union to vote for es- teblishing the united front. Call Detroit Relief Rally | DETROIT, Nov. 26—A call for a great country-wide mass meeting | Sunday, Dec. 2, to protest the new/ slashes in relief has béen issued by | the Detroit Conference for Unem- | ployment Relief and Insurance. The | mass meeting will be held at 2 p.m. in Aréna Gardens, Woodward | Avenue and Hendrie. | The Detroit Conference for Un-| employment Relief and Insurance, which represents 38 trade unions, ten unemployed locals, and 46 fra- ternal and other organizations, is| also calling a second conference | Sunday, Dec. 9, at 11 a.m. in Dan-| ish Brotherhood Temple, 1775 W.| Forest Avenue, to decide on the next! steps in the fight for relief. This| conference will also make plans for the Michigan delegation to the Na-| tional Congress for Unemployment | and Social Insurance in Washington | Military Beat Citizen On Siberian Express MOSCOW, Nov. 26.—Two wo- men, one a Soviet citizen and the other a Swiss, were beaten by j Japanese military guards when they tried to pass into a restau- rant car on the trans-Siberian express through a car occupied by guards, reports from Khaba- rovsk declared today. Enumerating a long list of ‘continuing mistreatment of So- viet employes and property on the Chinese Eastern by the Jap- anese military command,” the Soviet manager of the railway addressed a letter of protest to the head of the Japanese mili- tary mission. The letter announced that all damage caused by the Japanese command would be charged to it. The letter also charged that Japanese soldiers raided a Soviet leather factory on territory of the Chinese Eastern, removing all material and property in spite of protests. The Chicago Pen and Hammer, not only voluntarily doubled its quota from $25 to $50, but fulfilled its pledge 100 per cent, They intend to continue their efforts among pro- fessional and white collar workers for more support, | Of Marx of six articles on the Situation in Spain.) By Harry Gannes Article IV. The full lessons of the Spanish armed uprising have not been drawn yet, the movement having been too vast, information too scat- tered and general with the fascist censorship clamped down. But the main, decisive lessons, the chief causes for failure, those responsible and definite. Let us hear from a Socialist together with Largo Cabellero, par- took in the leadership of the gen- eral strike and the armed struggles in Madrid. Cabellero was arrested and is now in prison. Prieto, after the failure of the fighting, was able to escape to Paris. In Paris he was interviewed by “Le Petit Journal,” on Oct. 31: “To what do you attribute the check of the revolutionary movement, if it truly represents the opinion of the ae (This is the fourth of a series | for betrayal and treachery, and the | outstanding shortcomings are clear | leader first, Andelicio Prieto, who, | uggle in Spain Proved Thesis Correct On Role of Reformists majority?” he was asked. His an- ond, to the weakness of the agra- | rian reinforcements, influenced by | general strike. Third, to the ob- stinacy of the syndicalist and an- | archist elements.” | Not Whole Truth While all of this is true, it is not | the whole truth. No one can deny | that the execrable treachery and betrayal of the anarchist leaders | Stabbed the armed uprising in the back. Prieto’s first reason for failure conceals not the weakness of the proletariat in the face of the fer- ocity of fascism, but the failure of the Socialist leaders to prepare suf- ficiently for the armed insurrection beforehand, their resistance to the united front until shortly before the armed uprising, their reliance on small bands instead of mass armed attacks, and chiefly their vacilla- tions in putting the question of So- viets as organs of power before the masses. In the second reason, Prieto also swer was: “First, to the rapidity | and violence of the repression. Sec- | due to the bad leadership of the conceals a lot. Failure of the agra- ! rian strike, which weakened the peasant forces in the struggle, was Socialists. Above all, they did not | put forward the question of the |the defeat suffered during their | seizure of the land by the peasants jin order, not only to draw them | into the general uprising, but to in- fluence the army, composed mainly of the sons of the peasants. Criticism Confirmed We will quote Prieto again in an- swer to another question, because it is here that he enters into some self-criticism, and fully confirms the Communist criticism of the So- cialist Party leaders since the estab- lishment of the Republic in 1931, in which the Socialists played a leading role, filling the masses with democratic illusions on the solution of their problems by collaboration with the bourgeoisie. “How do you explain,” Prieto was asked, “the discontent in Spain, and the success of Gil Robles (leading fascist) in the last elections?” Prieto answered: “Precisely be- cause of the Right policy of the Left regime. This government born with the republic and created by the republic became the rampart of forces adverse to the republic. It is true that the Left government of Spain carried out the policy of the Right before Lerroux and Samper. In this period of perishing capital- | ism, the Spanish bourgeoisie could not even carry through the bour- geois democratic revolution. “It is this disillusionment of the masses with the republic they so much desired which explains the victory of Gil Robles.” The Left regtne referred to, which carried out a Right policy, is, of course, the regime of the So- cialist leaders with the left repub- licans. Communist Analysis Soon after the defeat of the revo- lutionary struggles in Spain the Communist Party analyzed the reasons and causes for its failure. We list the basic points of this analysis: (1) The political and organiza- tional preparations for the revolu- tion were insufficient. Its program was not made known to the whole of the working masses. The fact Jim-Crow CCC Camp Formed After Strike Of Negro and White PADUCAH, Ky., Nov. 26,— Sixty-four Negro youths now in the three C.C.C. camps in the Paducah district are to be trans- ferred to the Mammoth Cave CC.C, camp, according to an order issued last week by the Paducah C.C.C, district office here. A similar number of white youths are to be transferred from the Mammoth Cave camp in order to convert that camp into @ completely jim-crow outfit. The pretext given by C.C.C. officials for the jim-crow ruling is a recent strike of Negro and white youths against conditions at the camps. A number of the youths, white and colored, were discharged from the camps after the strike, FORUM BACKS STUDENT GLENDALE, Cal., Nov. 26— A resolution demanding the reinstate- ment of Celeste Strack, University of California student suspended for anti-Fascist activity, was adopted at an open meeting of the United Forum at Chevy Chase hall last (Continued on Page 6) week, - Browder Shows Conditions for Social Planning in U. S. at Conference (Continuea from Page 1) operate in drawing up a plan for the full utilization of the resources | of the United States, and declared: | “Speaking for the revolutionary workers, I issue this challenge to the technicians: Answer these ques- tions for us, and we, the workers, will find the answer as to how to carry this plan into life.” The full text of Browder’s speech | follows: Paper By Browder “Economic plan” has become the current magic phrase. It is invoked as the answer to all current diffi- culties. It sanctifies all sorts of policies, no matter how insane. Of | all the current talk about planning, posals for planned destruction, that | is, a form of economic sucide. Roosevelt’s New Deal policies give the type of current “economic plan” which requires our evaluation. Mr. H. G. Wells, in his recent auto- biography, expresses the current idea when he places the New Deal alongside the Five-Year Plan of the Soviet Union, as the two outstanding examples of “planning.” How such \a phantasy could gain mass cur- |rency is a tribute to the capacity for myth-making and uncritical faith that still exists. The slightest | examination of the New Deal re- veals such depth and sharpness of inner contradiction; such studied nrelatedness of its parts, to one | another and to the whole; such | complete absence of any unifying principle, or even viewpoint and ap- proach, as to secure for the New Deal the rightful position, not as an example of social-economic plan- ning, but rather of its antithesis. “Planned” Destruction by New Deal This is true whether we approach the question from the point of view of production, that is, with a de- mand for the fullest possible utilization of the productive forces; or from the angle of distribution, that is, with a demand for a guar- anteed minimum standard of de- cent living for the masses. The New Deal moves not a step toward either demand, but rather in the opposite direction. The outstanding characteristic of the New Deal is its planned de- struction of accumulated stocks, planned limitation of production, while simultaneously a big section of the population, from one-fourth to one-third, is excluded from eco- nomic life, continues to live only by grace of charity doles, which reduce living standards to a point hitherto associated only with Asiatic coolie labor. Thus, the New Deal “planning” does not overcome the crisis, but only intensifies it. Where the spon- taneous forces of the crisis destroy blindly, the New Deal tries to sub- stitute planned destruction; that is a difference, but it is not a differ- ence in direction or of fundamental quality. Along with this necessarily |goes a systematic reduction, abso- lute and relative, of living stand- ards of the masses. The New Deal does not plan to overcome the crisis, | but tries only to give the crisis it- self an organized character. Contradictions in New Deal The New Deal is shot through and through with controdictions. Roosevelt’s right hand must not know what his left hand doeth. The N. R. A. cancels the results promised by the A. A. A. The R. F.C., P. W. A, C. W. A, etc., cancel the “economy program.” The in- flation cancels the promised in- crease of mass purchasing power. Out of the conflicting policies emerges the net result of greater monopoly of riches at one pole, deeper poverty at the other; stronger organization of predatory finance capital, with deepening chaos and disintegration of econ- omy as a whole; mounting volume of talk about co-operation of classes, of civil peace, but in life more and sharper class struggles. Are these contradictions avoid- able, or are they inevitable? They are inevitable—so long as the premise is taken that the capi- talist system must be maintained. They are avoidable—when the premise is taken of the full utiliza- tion of all productive forces, and the removal of all influences and controls which hinder this full utilization, that is, the removal of capitalist private property in the means of production. Not Roose- Jan, 5-5 velt, nor any other, can overcome about 99 per cent can be Classified | as either (1) idle chatter, or (2) pro- | the contradictions while he remains within the limitations of capitalist property relations. Capitalist econ- omy and planned economy are fun- damentally in contradiction and mutually exclusive. This explains why all the furore about planning, all the Brain Trusts, all the State Planning Com- missions at work throughout the United States, all the books about planning, all the research of the higher institutions of learning—are all so singularly barren of results. It is not because all these brains are of inferior quality, but because they have been given the impos- sible task of reconciling the irre- concilable. In contrast with this barren chat- ter about a planned economy in the United States, stands the experi- ence of scientific planning and the execution of these plans, in the So- viet Union. The first Five-Year Plan was really carried out; not only that, it was exceeded. The sec- ond Five-Year Plan is already bringing “backward” Russia up to the front ranks of all industrial na- tions. There, alone of all countries, there is no crisis. There alone all productive forces are fully utilized; there alone, therefore, do these pro- ductive forces grow—and at a rate never before seen in the world. The planned economy of the So- viet Union is not some accidental discovery nor is it the result of na- tional peculiarities, of a momentary situation. It is the direct outcome of the best, most scientific thought of mankind. It was clearly projected as long ago as 1848. It is in the direct line of development from the Communist Manifesto, written by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. It was further developed by V. I. Lenin and the modern Communist Party (Bolsheviks), and realized it- self in the planned economy of the Soviet Union. Ie demonstrated its independence and virility by pro- gressing even more repidly, under the guiding hand of Joseph Stalin, during the period when the capi- talist world fell into deepest crisis. Marxist Analysis of Crises Surely it would seem that a seri- ous approach to the problems of a planned economy would require mastery of those scientific theories which have actually produced the only example known to history. Marx and Engels, as far back as 1848, foresaw the whole course of capitalism. The Communist Mani- festo, written then, reads like a con- temporary description of the present crisis. Allow me to quote: “Society suddenly finds itself put back into a state of elementary barbarism; it appears as if a fam- ine, a universal war of devasta- tion, had cut off the supply of every means of subsisitence; in- dustry and commerce seem to be destroyed; and why? Because there is too much civilization, too much means of subsistence, too much industry, too much com- merce. The productive forces at the disposal of society no longer tend to further the development of bourgeois property; on the con- trary, they have become too powerful for these conditions by which théy are confined, and as soon as they overcome these limi- tations, they bring disorder into the whole of bourgeois society, endanger the existence of bour- geois property. The conditions of bourgeois society are too narrow to comprise the wealth created by them.” Exemplified Today Capitalist crisis, thus described in 1848 by Marx and Engei;, finds its supreme example in the present condition of the capitalist world. It can be solved only by destruction and violence. If the conditions of bourgeois property are to be main- tained, this can only be accom- plished by the destruction of the excess wealth and productive forces, and the most violent suppression of the suffering masses who have no interest in such property. If the productive forces and accumulated wealth of society are to be preserved and further developed, this can only be accomplished by the destruction of bourgeois property rights, and of the institutions by which they are maintained, with the necessary ac- companiment of suppression of the exploiting minority and their agents, Thus, some form of violence and destruction are unavoidable. This is not something to be chosen or re- jected. The only choice is between the two sides of the struggle. If bourgeois property wins the immediate fight, at the expense of the masses of the population and by destroying vast wealth and pro- ductive forces, this by no means represents any permanent solution of the problem. It only reproduces the contradictions on a higher scale, with a more violent crisis ensuing. That is why the more successful are the immediate policies of Roose- velt, for example, the deeper grow the general difficulties, contradic- tions and antagonisms. But if the progressive forces in society overcome bourgeois property, then history leaps forward to a new and higher stage. Then a planned utilization of the full productive possibilities once and for all releases humanity from the tyranny of man over man and of nature and things over man; mankind emerges into the era of freedom. This is possible because today, as distinct from past revolutionary periods of history, the revolutionary class is the working class, which is itself the greatest productive force, which is the foundation of society, and. which cannot free itself with- out freeing the whole human race. As Marx and Engels said: “Of all the classes that stand face to face with the bourgeoisie today, the proletariat alone is a really revolutionary class. The other classes decay and finally disappear in the face of modern industry; the proletariat is its special and essential product .. .” “All previous historical move- ments were riovements of minori- ties, or in the interest of minori- ties. The proletarian movement is the self-conscious, independent movement of the advanced major- ity. The proletariat, #he lowest stratum of our present society, cannot stir, cannot raise itself up, without the whole superincumbent Strata of official society being sprung into the air...” “The modern laborer . . . instead of rising with the progress of in- dustry, sinks deeper and deeper below the existence of his own class, He becomes a pauper, and pauperism develops more rapidly than population and wealth. And here it becomes clear that the bourgeoisié is unfit any longer to be the ruling class in society, and to impose its conditions of exist- ence upon society as an overrid- ing law. It is unfit to rule, be- cause it is incompetent to insure an existence to its slave within his slavery, because it cannot help Jetting him sink into such a state that it has to feed him, instead of being fed by him. Society can no longer live under this bour- geoisie: in other words, its exis- tence is no longer compatible with society... . The development of modern industry therefore, cuts from under its feet the very foun- dation on which the bourgeoisie produces and appropriates prod- ucts. What the bourgeoisie, there- fore, produces above all, are its own grave-diggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equaliy inevitable.” Engels on Planning What is the effect upon the pro- main and in a constantly growing measure, the results intended by him. It is the ascent of man from the kingdom of necessity to the kingdom of freedom.” (From Socialism, Utopian and Scientific). Role of Technicians Shortly after Russian Czarism had been overthrown, and while the working class was preparing to take political power in its own hands, Lenin already indicated the road toward a planned economy which would be taken by the workers: “The proletariat, when victori- ous, will act thus: It will set the economists, engineers, agricultural experts and so on to work out a ‘plan’ under the control of the workers’ organizations, to test it, to seek means of saving labor by means of centralism, and of secur- ing the most simple, cheap, con- venient, general control. We shall pay the economists, statisticians, technicians, good money, but—but we shall not give them anything to eat unless they carry out this work honestly and entirely in the interests of the workers. “We are in favor of centralism and of a ‘plan,’ but it must be the centralism and the plan of the proletarian state,—the proletarian regulation of production and dis- tribution in the interest of the poor, the laboring, the exploited, against the exploiters.” (Lenin, Toward the Seizure of Power, Bo ok II.) p. 40. As soon as the Bolsheviks had secured political power, they turned to planned economy as their major interest. In the words of Lenin, uttered at the moment of the end of the civil war: “At the present time we are exercising our main influence on the international revolution by our economic polity. . . . The struggle on this field is now being waged on a world scale, If we solve this problem, then we shall have won on an_ international scale for certain and finally. That is why questions of economic con- struction assume absolutely excep- tional significance for us. On this front we must win victory, by slow, gradual—it cannot be fast— but steadily increasing progress.” Five Year Plans Lenin’s policy was continued and developed under the leadership of Stalin. It came to its great victory in the first Five Year Plan, which covered approximately the first pe- riod of the world crisis in the capi- talist lands. At a moment when the economically most advanced counjries were falling into chaos, the Bolsheviks adopted a plan de- signed to transform their country, backward and in some _ respects medieval economically, into a coun- try of the most advanced technique to accomplish the task set by Lenin, to “overtake the advanced countries and surpass them also economically.” While “plans” were crashing, in all capitalist countries, and being changed every few months only to crash again, the Bolshevik plan was fulfilled nine months ahead of schedule. Stalin was able to report: “We have done more than we expected. . .. ductive forces of the overthrow of capitalist power, and the establish- ment of a working class govern- ment? Let us take the answer from the words of Engels, written in 1883, showing for how long have the lead- ers of the working class been study- ing the problem of social-economic planning: “With the seizing of the means of production by society, prodtuc- tion of commodities is done away with and. simultaneously, the mas- tery of the product over the pro- ducer. Anarchy in social produc- tion is revlaced by systematic, definite organization. The strugzle for individual existence disap- pears. Then for the first time, man, in a certain sense, is finally marked off from the rest of the animal kingdom and emerges from mere animal conditions of exis- tence into really human ones. . . . Man’s own social organization, hitherto confronting him as a necessity imposed by nature and history, now becomes the result of his own free action. ... Only from that time will man himself, miore and more consciously, make his own history—only from that time will the social causes set in movement by him have in the “While the index number of the volume of industrial production in the U.S.SR., at the end of 1932, rose to 334, taking the pre-war output at 100; the index number of the volume of industrial out- put in the U.S.A. dropped in the same period to 84, that of England to 75, that of Germany to 62. While the index number of the volume of industrial output in the U.S.S.R. at the end of 1932 rose to 219, taking 1928 at 100, the index number of the volume of industrial output in the U.S.A. during the same period dropped to 56, that in England to 80, Ger- any to 55, Poland to 54, “What do these figures show if not that the capitalist system of industry has not stood the test in contest with the Soviet system, that the Soviet system has all the advantages over the capitalist sys- tem.” a False Theories It is clear that if a social-eco- nomic plan is to be discussed, that this immediately takes us beyond the boundaries of capitalism. But it is still necessary to estimate those theories which, apparently, accept this fundamental truth, and which a planned society. For example, the theory of George Soule, which is essentially that if the international Social-Democratic parties, holds that the development of engineering, of rationalization, the Taylor system, ete., will automatically carry over capitalism, step by step, to a social- ist basis. This theory ignores the central fact, that the faster produc- tion and productivity increase, so much deeper becomes the crisis of capitalism, the more inextricable its contradictions, Crisis arises, not from lack of productivity, but from its excess above what can be con- tained within the relations of capi- talist property, Any policy which leaves intact capitalist property, maintains thereby the cause of in- evitable crisis. ‘Technocracy, a peculiar American product in social thought, rejects in words both capitalism and commu- nism. But its criticism of capitalism is directed toward surface questions, problems of distribution, not of pro- duction. capitalism in “the price system,” and thinks that a different super- structure can be built without touch- ing the foundation of private prop- erty and production for profit. It further supplements the old fetish- ism of commodities with a new fet- ishism of mechanical energy, which it envisions as displacing the work- ing class as the moving force in production. Its peculiar barrenness in the field of practical policy is only the necessary consequence of cutting itself off from the source of all life, the working class, the pro- ducers. Technocracy contributes nothing toward a solution of the problem of a planned society, it only exhibits another example of decay of capitalism and capitalist thought. Fascist Plans Upton Sinclair, with his EPIC plan, envisages the growth of a self- contained use economy within the general limitations of a profit econ- lomy, by putting the unemployed to work producing a subsistence for themselves, The same thought, less developed, is contained in the Roose- velt project for subsistence farming. But even Jess than it was possible for a slave economy and a modern capitalist economy to live side by side, is it now possible for a use- economy to grow up within the de- cayed profit system. ‘ Such proposals, in practice, in- evitably degenerate into schemes for lifting the burdens of unemploy- ment relief off of the profits of the capitalists, by throwing the surplus population (the unemployed) back several centuries into pre-capitalist economic forms, into a sort of serf- dom, of forced labor, as an auxiliary, unpaid, of the profit production. It is an anticipation of Fascist e¢on- omic policy. Proletarian Dictatorship ‘We have insisted upon the estab- lishment of a working class govern- ment, as the essential pre-condition to a planned economy. Does this mean, however, as many think, that we exclude other classes from parti- cipation in such socialist economy, or from the tasks of its con- struction? Not at all. On the contrary, the Communist program from its first enunciation has foreseen the enormous importance of allies of the working class, first of all the impoverished farmers (and oppressed colonial peoples), and ‘second, sections of the middle classes and even of the ruling class, which desert their class and go over to the revolutionary working class. In the Communist Manifesto, of 1848, it is stated on this question: “Entire sections of the ruling class are, by the advance of in- dustry, precipitated into the pro- letariat, or are at least threatened in their conditioms of existence. These also supply the proletariat with fresh elements of enlighten- ment and progress. ‘The process of dissolution going on within the ruling class ... as- sumes such a violent, glaring character that a small section of the ruling class cuts itself adrift and joins the revolutionary ¢lass, the class that holds the future in its hands . . . and in particular, a Portion of the bourgeois ideolo- gists, who have raised themsélves to the level of comprehending theoretically the historical move- ment as a whole.” It finds all the evils of; stressed the need of winning the middle class: “In order to bring socialism in- to being, and afterwards to main- tain it, the proletariat has a two- fold task to perform. It must, by its heroism in the revolutionary fight gainst capitalism, carry with it the whole mass of the working and exploited people, organize them, and lead them to the over- throw of the bourgeoisie and the complete destruction of every kind of resistance. It must also lead the entire body of workers, as well as all the petit bourgeois strata of society, in breaking the ground for the enonomic reconstruction of society, while it creates a new bond of social union, a new dis- cipline of labor, a new organiza~ tion of work, which will avail itself of the latest discoveries of science and of the advantages of cap- italist technique. In this way the masses of conscious workers, welded closely together, -will carry through the work of socialist pro- duction on a large scale.” (Lenin, the Great Initiative, pp. 18-19). Unemployment of Technicians Today, these words apply with special force to the technicians, the scientists, the engineers, the econ- omists, etc, In these groups we have those who know most thoroughly the enormous productive capacities which are kept out of use from considerations of capitalist profit. In these groups we also witness the greatest devastation from the crisis, the proportion of unemployment being higher than in any category of workers except perhaps in the building trades. These highly-skilled technicians see the capitalist sys- tem discarding them and their skill as superfious; they see their capac- ities being destroyed through non- use over many years. It is typical of this condition, to take a current local example, that engineers who designed and constructed the Eighth Avenue Subway are today work- ing in the change-booths, exchang- ing nickels for dimes and quarters, for a wage of about $20 for a 60 |to 70 hour week, and glad to get | the job, On the other hand, our unem- ployed technicians, or those unpro- ductively employed on a charity basis, have constantly before their eyes the spectacle of gigantic con- struction going on in the Soviet Union, with a largely new, relatively unskilled, cadre of technicians, who Perform miracles because the chains of private property have been moved from their hands. It is impossible for our American technicians not to dream about what marvels they could accomplish in the United States, if they were simply called upon to bring into full exercise all the productive forces already exist- ing without regard to profit and private-property considerations. A Plan for U. S. Workers There is not the slightest reason why our technicians should not con- tinue to dream about this subject. Certainly, they have little else to occupy their minds of a construc- tive character. This should even be encouraged, all the more since a growing mass of workers, already looking upon themselves as repre- senting the future masters of so- ciety, are looking about for the ini- tial cadres to help in the coming tasks of transforming American economy on a planned socialist basis. What could be better than to or- ganize our , the best that can be found (and the very best are available), for the purpose of giving a scientific and detailed an- swer to the question, what could be done with the full employment of all workers and technicians, in the fullest possible exploitation of existing machinery and natural re- tions removed, toward raising the standards of life of the whole popu- lation at a progressively accelerated rate. Certainly there would be a tre- mendous value in such a Workers’ and Technicians’ Plan for the United States, without regard to any differ- ences of opinion that may exist among us on the questions as to how eventually such a plan will be brought into successful operation. Speaking for the revolutionary work- ers, I wolud issue this challenge to the technicians: Answer these ques- tions for us, and we, the workers, Lenin also, while emphasizing the will find the answer as to how to yet reject the revolutionary road to!leading role of the working class,|carry out this plan in life. sources, with all capitalist limita-| C. P. Group to Call On Socialist NELC. | (Continued from Page 1) movement as a whole, should any crisis come, one state should not act without the knowledge of the other.” Special significance is seen in this last statement, as it is be- Coming obvious that the recent vote approving the Declaration of Prin- ciples has brought about organized activity on the part of the “Old Guard” looking toward a renewed open fight with the “left” groups within the S. P. against the rank psy file moves toward unified ac- lon. Communist Party Proposal The Communist. Party, on the other hand, has dispatched a let- ter to the N. E. C. of the Socialist Party again declaring its willing- ness to meet at any time or place with a committee from the 8. P. for establishing a basis for a united front. Pointing out the vital need for | United action at this time, and the { persistent efforts of the Communist | Party to arrange such action, the; Central Committee letter points * out that all previous efforts of the C. P. have been met with the argu- ment that only the Second Inter- national could engage in discussions with the Communist Parties. The letter continues that this argument against the United Front can no longer stand in the way since the Second International has just in- formed all its parties that joint ac- tion with the Communist Parties depends on their individual actions alone. Dispatches Unity Committee Referring to the Spanish situa- tion where Socialist and Commu- nist workers have welded the united front in action, the Central Com- mittee’s letter urges that the in- terests of the working class de- mands joint aid to the Spanish working class. The recent exposure of fascist plots in this country, continues the » Communist Party letter to the N.} E. C. of the Socialist Party, em-+ phasizes that the whole labor move- U ment is in danger of fascist attacks, and that united action of Socialist and Communist workers can strengthen the fight against fascism greatly. The letter concludes urging that the N E. C. agree to meet the spe- cial committee sent to Boston by the Communist Party. The letter of the Socialist Party “Old Guard,” on the other hand, sounds a warning against the grow- ing movement toward united front and urges the formation of a group within the Socialist Party to fight it. The letter states: “The issues that are rising are the following: (1) Oregon has def- initely withdrawn from the Party because of the adoption of the De- troit Declaration. Details: should be known to your state. (2) In- diana charges that the state organ- ization is the victim of a frame-up and will demand the removal of the national secretary, Senior, (3) The United Front. (4) The pro- Posal to admit the Gitlow-Commu- nists to the party. (5) The Revo- lutionary Policy Committee organ- ized with a national committee in the party-Lovestone Communism, (6) The peril facing New York from the drift toward Communism, a peril that is becoming ever more menacing every week. (7) The con- tinued membership of Shadid in the N. E. C. after telegraphing Sin- clair his approval. (8) Charges against the American Guardian to be presented by Oneal at the Bos- ton meeting of the N. E. C. (9) Accusations against Senior that he interfered in a number of states and used the national office for factional purposes. Coordinated Action May Face State tions “It is therefore essential to spend a day or two in conference to con- sider all problems that face the party as a whole as well as the par- ticular sitution that may face any jocal or state. “It has been suggested that sub- stantial delegations may be obtained from states as far west as Michigan and Indiana, some of them making the journey by automobiles. Each state should have one or more members remain in New York un- til the results of thé Boston N. E. /) C. meeting have been reported. In|) any events, we would like to have | not less than two reliable com- rades from each state attend the conference on Thursday, Nov. 29, in New York City, hour and place to be given you later. “We shall be glad to hear from you at a very early date. Address replies to James Oneal, 7 East 15th Street, New York City. “Fraternally yours, (Signed) “JAMES O'NEAL, Silk Workers Back Amalgamation (Continued from Page 1) their service will rate election on the Board. - The closest vote in the conven- tion came on the resolutions intro- duced by the rank and file del-- gates calling for repudiation of Green’s letter ordering the expul- sion of Communists, and one call- ing for rank and file control and democracy within the union. The first was defeated by 37 votes against 35, the second by 38 against 35. One of the most constructive resolutions unanimously adopted at the convention was the plan for organizing Pennsylvania, which has the largest number of silk workers, with 45,000 workers, but only 6000 claimed in the union. This resolution chiefly through pressure from the most active un- ion workers in Pennsylvania was embodied in the report of the Fed- eration President Woods. icici wae Ro