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

Page3 , DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1924 jtrong Unity| n Scottsboro ase Is Urged jjall for United Front "Is Sent to American 7 Committee "NEW YORK — Citing the emer- ney need for immediate unity of t forces ready to work for the ‘beration of the Scottsboro boys, nother call for united action was fddressed to the American Scotts- loro Committee, by the National \cottsboro-Herndon Action Com- jittee. b The full statement follows: ikmetican Scottsboro Committee, '89 Fourth Avenue, New York City. ‘Jentlemen: On November 24th, we addressed f letter to your Committee, pro- sing “that a cofiference be ar- fins during the week of Novem- t 26th at which representatives of the American Scottsboro Coim- “mittee will meet with representa- tives of the National Scottsboro- Herndon Action Committee to dis- cuss how steps can be taken to pre- iseht a solid front in the fight for jthé unconditional freedom of the {Scottsboro boys.” In reply we received your letter of December 3rd which stated, “Our Committee does not see the way clear for a conference at this time.” Most seriously, we must state, that if ever there was a time when united action is imperative on the jpart of all true friends of the Scottsboro boys, of all who sincereiy wish to win their freedom and to achieve justice in this momentous casé which involves the rights, lives and liberties of the thirteen million bitterly oppressed Negro people and of all the masses of the people, white as well as black—that time is now! Crucial Stage Again we point to the crucial stage of the case, with the appeals once more pending béfore the U. 8. Supreme Court—the lives of these nine innocent boys and all that they symbolize hanging desperately in the balance. Surely at such a crucial montent, it is clear that any divi- sion of the defense forces seriously imperils the lives of these boys and the vital issues involved, and ob- jectively aids the forces of fascist lynch reaction which drive ruthless- ly to the murder of these innocent boys. Yet such division exists. And we are compelled by the very urgency of the situation which now menaces the lives of these boys, to call upon every member of your Committee seriously to consider the grave re- sponsibility which you have assumed in this crucial and fateful situation. Whatever thoughts may have been ermertained of providing “a better defense,” it is now clear that the ac- tivities, unsupported charges, and widespread propaganda of attorney Leibowitz, Dr. George E. Haynes, Mr. William H. Davis and certain others of your Committee, have had the result of creating the confusion and division which now exists to the injury of the defense, the peril of the boys, and the endangering Of the vital issues involved. Moreover, when your Committee refuses to meet with us to consider the means of achieving united ac- tion, you block the way towards overcoming this deadly division and establishing the united front of de- fense action which alone can save and free these innocent, tortured boys. We must again request you to consider these important facts. The defense conducted by the Interna- tional Labor Defense has kept these boys alive for over three and a half years, winning most important par- tial victories in the face of the most ruthless efforts to lynch these boys both legally and by open mob violence. LL.D. Saved Them Haywood Pattezson ard Clarence Norris were saved from electrocu- tion on December 7th by the ILD. which secured the stay of execution, through attorney Fraenkel, from the Alabama Supreme Oourt. The petitions and briefs in the appeals for these boys are now before the U. S. Supreme Court—filed by the outstanding constitutional lawyers, Osmond K. Fraenkel and Walter H. Pollak. Mr. Pollak successfully made the first appeal to the U. S. Su- preme Court. These are concrete achiévemenis in the vital defense of the Scotts- boro boys which prove that the ILD. is in full charge of the de- fense and is carrying it forward successfully. The decision of the conference of many impoztant or- gan'zations, recently held in Wash- ington under the auspices of the Civil Libertiés Union, to “endorse and support the legal and mass de- fense of the ILL.D. in the Scottsboro casé,” along with other similar ac- tions particularly in the South, show the growing realization of the im- perative need for immediate united action. We are, therefore, bound to urge again that your Committee will im- mediately remove the one serious hindrance in the way of this es- sential unity. This Committee (Na- tionel Sesttsboro-Herndon Action Committee, elected by numerous organizations, works solely for the One of the phases of the recent N. E. C. meeting of the Socialist Party at which the question of the united front with the Communist Party was taken up, is not yet gen- erally known to the readers. It concerns the role of the Lovestone group. Lovestone personally headed a delegation of his group at this meeting for the purpose of putting forward his proposal for a united front of his gré6up with the Socialist Party. We wish here to bring for- ward some facts in this onnection. We are making these comments on the basis of the declaration of the Lovestone group to the N. E. C. of the Socialist Party. = Lovestone in this document does not once mention the proposals for united front made by the Commu- nist Party to the N. E. C. of the Socialist Party. He does not state if he is for such a umited front or not. But what he does say is very enlightening. He gives every con- ceivable argument to the Walcinan group and for that matter to Nor- man Thomas why they should re- ject the united front with the Com- munist Party. He makes a vicious attack on the League Against War and Fascism, on the International Labor Defense, etc. lLovestone crawls before the N. E, C, of the Socialist Party espe- cially before its openly right wing section when he points to the al- ready existence of such “coopera- tion . . . in a number of fields,” referring to the trade unions. Cer- tainly such cooperation exists in the I. L. G. W. U. where the Love- stonite Zimmerman fully supports the reactionary policies of the “So- cialist” Dubinsky. Such cooperation is already mutual as can be seen from the fact that Zimmerman was elected to office only because he received the full support of the For- ward, and the whole of the so- called “labor committee” of the So- cialist Party in New York, consist- ing of the most outspoken right wing and reactionary elements, Appeals to “Old Guard” Finally Lovestone tries to show his real credentials which he be- lieves ought to give him admission to the special consideration for united front with the Socialist Party, and even with Waldman and Co., even tho he can sympathize with These gentlemen in their rejection of the united front with the Com- munist Party. He says in his state- ment: “It is well known that one of the issues leading to our separation from the official Communist Party |i was our outright rejection of the false and vicious theory of ‘social fascism’ with all that it implies. We have always striven to establish comradely relations of cooperation between our organizations, such as should properly exist between two working class organizations both op- posed to capitalism, though differ- ing on the ultimate political objec- tives and on the most effective pol- icies to be pursued. We have never slackened our agitation in favor of the united labor front, and espe- cially in favor of the closest pos- sible cooperation between the Coth- niunist and Socialist movements in the class struggle.” Is it not clear that Lovestone gives here every argument to Waid- man, Oneal and Company on how | to fight against the untted front? Is it not clear that Lovestone is try- ing to lend a helping hand to Nor- man Thomas who admits that he agrees with Waldman in his oppo- sition to the united front but who differs with him “on the way our position should be stated’? We are not going to enter into a disctission here with Lovestone on how Hilquitt, Waldman, Oneal, Abe Cahan and Co., or even Thomas have always fought “against capi- talism,” and whether the differences between social democracy and Com- munism are merely on the “ultimate political objectives” after capitalism is abolished as Lovestone implies and on the “most effective policies to be pursued” by those who agree in their “opposition to capitalism.” The whole history of the class strug- gle and of the period especially since and after the World War makes ridiculous such an assertion. By JACK What we wish to expose is the falsification of history on the part of Lovestone, so that every worker, and éspecially every honest Socialist worker will understand the methods and the Tammany trickery of Love- stone and his group. Lovestone states that he was expelled from the Communist Party because he was! opposed to the Party policies on the see if Lovestone cares anyth the truth. Let us have Lovestone himself tell us his stand on these questions when he was still a mem- ber of the Party: “We emphasize that the increased preparations for the coming strug- gles mean an intensified fight by us against the Socialists. The more | the imperialist aspirations rise, the quicker the social democrats will come to the bourgeoisie. The more acute the imperialist rivalries be- come, the more aute will the class antagonisms become at home and therefore more friendly and inti-} mate will the relations between the capitalists and the Socialist Parts be. How else do you explain the acres of publicity given to the de-| crepit Socialist Party in the New{ York Times by the Associated Press, by the entire bourgeois press, through various schemes?” “The social democrats under the | mask of pacifism are simply the advance agents of the imperialists in the colonies. Who has forgotten the role of MacDonald in the Simon | Commission? Who can forget the | shameful attitude of the American Socialist Party on Nicaragua? No one can overlook the dastardly role of the American Socialist Party as just emphasized in Hiquitt's article in the October issue of Current History in which he defends the League of Nations and attacks the Soviet Union. The Socialist Party is everywhere working overtime to at- tune the masses, to develop the masses for war against the Soviet Union. . . . The social democracy has become fused with the capital- ist state. It has been discarding all barriers between itself and fas- STACHE cism. The Hungarian, Bulgarian, Italian, and American social de- mocracies are working hand in glove with fascist organizations. ... Here- in lies the reason for the energetic efforts of the Socialist Parties to split the labor movement, to expel the Communists from the trade unions, (Emphasis mine, J. S.) “It is obvious that under such conditions our tactics of the united |front must be changed in certain respects. Only the united front from below remains and it would be ridiculous today to propose a | united front to the Soialist Party leadership which is becoming more fascist and serves as a dynamic force for the splitting of the labor movement, Our tactics today are to wage a relentless fight against the social democratic leadership and and energetic effort to win the so- cial democratic workers.” (From Jay Lovestone’s article in the Nov., 1928 “Communist,” un- der the title “The Sixth World Congtess of the Communist In- ternat 1 669-670.) This is what Lovestone wrote only a few months before he was ex- | pelled from the Communist Party. Every worker who reads this and compares this with Lovestone’s tes- timony before the N. E. C. meeting against the Communist Party will see that Lovestone is trying to pull @ trick in order to win the favor of the N. E. C, of the Socialist Party. However, even this did not bring the hoped for result. But we are sure that Lovestone will not be discour- aged. He will find still more and better lies and slander against the Communist Party. He will still mote denounce his past publicly- professed views, He will still more openly come to the rescue of Wald- man, Oneal, Cahan, Dubinsky, Vla- deck and Co. Reason for Expulsion Thus we see that Lovestone was not expelled because of his views on the united front. Nor was he expelled because of any difference as to the relation to or the char- ON THE ROLE OF LOVESTONE GROUP isc AT N.E.C. MEETING OF SOCIALIST PARTY 2" lune And finally, he was not expelled as we already had occasion to point |out because of any differences on the building of the T.U.U.L. unions which we organized while Lovestone jwas still in the Party leadership. | These are the reasons Lovestone | gives today for two reasons. First, to win the favor in the eyes of | those with whom he is working and | whose favor he is courting further. And secondly because he wishes to cover up the real reasons for his expulsion. Lovestone was expelled because he denied the developing crisis, saw only the growing strength of Amerian capitalism, and because of the theory of “American excep- tionalism” that he developed. And furthermore, because of his unprin- cipled methods of factional strug- gle in the Party of which the above quotations are but one small and mild sample. We do not intend in this article to go into any analysis of whether Lovestone was correct in his posi- tion at that time, or as to the sin- |cerity of tine opinions expressed by him. Of course his basic character- | ization of the S, P. at that time was correct. He did, however, misrep- resent the position of the Comintern on at least two points. The first is that he speaks of the social-dem- ocracy discarding all barriers be- tween itself and fascism. This the Comintern never formulated in this manner. Certainly Zorgiebel and Co. who shot down the German workers on May Day were social tascists as they were properly called by the Comintern and by our Party, But social-democracy acting as the main prop of the dying capitalism in the period of growing fascization is not fascism. Secondly, the Com- intern never stated that under no conditions can there be united front with the leadership of socialist parties (from above). Sixth World Congress of the Com- intern stated that there existed the possibility of such united fronts | despite the fact that the main tactic \acterization of the Socialist Party. | had to be the united front with the In fact, the | masses of the social-democratic | workers, | Communist Strategy The Comintern and our Party| have already made clear that on the! basis of the changed situation in the recent period, the victories of fas- cism in a number of countries, the growing desire for united action on |the part of the social-democratic workers, the new position of the so- | cialist parties in some countries, the | united front is today much more/ realizable, and must be fought for by the Cotnmunists with greater! boldness and flexibility. Many doc- uments have been published and| many of the issues cleared up. We do not intend to go into these ques- | tions here. The basic tasks that confront every member of the Socialist Party and of the Communist Party is to! exert all possible energy to develop | the united front of struggle against | | war and fascism. The N.E.C. of ; the Socialist Party places obstacles | | for the realization of this unity of | jaction. What then can the Com-| | munist Party do now than to app: | to the “below” to the rank and f: jof the Socialist Party, to the sta and local organizations? Shall we | give up the united front until 1936 | when the 8. P. convention will again | act on this quéstion? Of course not. | We are being attacked now, Lae must organize the united defense now. By such united actions we| Shall force Thomas é& Co,, to “think over” their N.E.C. decision before 1936. By a waiting policy the open “old guard” line of Waldman is| | strengthened. As for Lovestone every worker and every Socialist worker especially will | now see that his role is to try to| prevent the broadest possible united front. And he will not shrink from | | stooping to the most shameful and | lying methods to achieve his aim. In| our next article we shall deal with | Lovestone’s efforts to block the | united front between Socialists and | | Communists being established de-| spite the actions of the N.E.C. | By V. J. Jerome Article I. If you can’t lick ’em, jine ‘em. This age-old maxim in time of adversity. has become of late the main strategic line of social-democ- racy. Unable any longer to set themselves in open opposition to the Left-radicalization of the social- democratic workers, the leaders of the Socialist Parties now deem it the better part of valor to put on a “Left” disposition. And as the pressure of the rank and file ad- vances with increasing articulate- ness under the slogan Power, the leaders, finding it dangerous to de- nounce, turn their tongues to loud talk of “power.” But the word which the Com- munist International released as the chief slogan in the battle for proletarian victory became in the mouths of these sovial-democratic demagogues a shibboleth of decep- tion. Hear, for example, the follow- ing plea for “power” made at last year’s Congress of the Second In- ternational. Delegate Vougt of Sweden thus exhorted the Con- gress: “Let us discuss the conquest of Power, but let us talk less about how to go about making revolu- tions. When the International will appeal to the League of Na- tions for peace and freedom, for the struggle against war, and for the defense of democracy, its pur- pose Will be Clearly understood and its power will be manifest.” Resort to Chicanery Social-democracy is compelled to resort to this chicanery by the crisis in which it finds itself. Along with the development of the capitalist crisis, there has taken place a con- stant narrowing of the social base upon which social-democracy rests. Significant sections of the better paid workers tending to comprise the labor aristocracy have slid down to the present-day economic level of the broad proletariat; many have joined the ranks of the unemployed and the destitute; the remainder are shaken by a growing sense of insecurity. Simultaneously with the lessening influence of the labor aristocracy—the transmission belt of bourgeois ideas to the working class—there has been taking place a mass disillusionment in bourgeois democracy and in the various moral abstractions with which brutal cap- italist class rule is pleased to deck itself. As the opén class conflicts rise in frequency and magnitude, as the workers’ demand for unemploy- ment and social insurance becomes more pressing and militant, as strike struggles increasingly take on the proportions of general strikes, broadest united action of all organi- zations and individuals, regardless of religious, political or any other differences, on the basis of uncom- promising struggle for the uncon- ditional and safe release of the Scottsboro boys. We urge that representatives of your Committee meet with repre- sentatives of this Committee as quickly as possible before the end of this week, to consider how this vital united defense action can be realized. We earnestly say that we ‘are ready to do everything possible to achieve this necessary end, We also request that Mrs. Ida Norris, mother of Clarence Norris and a reptesentative of this Com- mittee, be placed on the program to speak at the benefit performance to be held under the auspices of your Committee at Mecca Temple on December 30th. The urgent necessity for funds, still needed to defray the casts of the appeals and other plans of the vital Scottsboro defense, compels us to call upon you to-turn over to this Committee or the I.L.D. funds rais- ed by your Committee for the de- fense of these boys. Every moment counts with the lives of these innocent persecuted boys hanging in the balance! Now is the time for united action! Will you not join now in the united front—the only means whereby the Scottsboro boys can be freed? Sincerely SAMUEL C. PATTERSON In the So Movement of Masses Towards Communism Speeds the Breakdown of Social Democracy—De- velopment of Capitalist Crisis Constantly Narrows Its Social Base as the struggle against fascism and war preparations develops into a vast, nation-wide movement, the bourgeois State exposes itself to wider and wider sections of still un- class-conscious workers as an in- strument of repression in the hands of monopoly capital. Such colossal events as the San Francisco and the textile general strikes, as the strike struggles in Toledo and Minneapolis, inevitably heighten the mood of the embat- tled workers with elemental force to thoughts of power. As the work- ers confront the strike-breaking State apparatus of the N. R. A, as they are thrown into collision with the State power of the ex- ploiters, the struggle begins to take on in their consciousness some- thing of the nature of the struggle for power. The masses in revolu- tionary upsurge tend naturally to- ward the banner of Communism. The barrier of libels and prejudices begins to crumble. The sabotage role of the reformists and the vari- ous renégades, their strike-breaking and accommodation to the bour- geoisie, stands out more starkly. The authority of the Communist Party grows visibly among the masses. The victory of Socialism in the Soviet Union stands out as a bright contrast to capitalism, sinking daily deeper in the slough of its crisis. The Soviet way out— the slogan Soviet Power—strikes deeper chords in the hearts of all the toilers. Leadership Losing Caste The movement toward Commu- nism means, of necessity, the break- down of social-democracy. In every party of the Second International, the leadership has definitely lost caste with the proletarian rank and file. Especially since the capitula- tion of German social-democracy to fascism, and since the February events in Austria, when the ad- vanced social-democratic workers, defying the compromising policy of Austro-Marxism, rose shoulder to shoulder with the Communists in armed struggle against fascism, the Second International has bared its political bankruptcy, corroborating the contention of the Communists that its parties have long ceased to be even democratic parties. To- day, the crack patty of the Second International, the old Social-Demo- cratic Party of Germany, and the party of Austro-Marxism, which Served at crucial moments as a “revolutionary” fig-leaf, are wrecks on the shoals of history. They have lost their existence as centralized Social-Democratic parties. Prague and Bruenn have now become emigre centres of the Welses and the Bauers, who are waiting with their entourage (though not in idle- ness) for that bright day which may summon them back to resume their ministerial service in behalf of capitalism, whether again in an outright reformist or in a mixed reformist-fascist capacity. But in Germany, and especially in Austria, groups of Social-Demo- cratic workers are carrying on reso- lute anti-fascist activity, increas- | oja} ingly in conjunction with the Com- munists, many from their midst en- tering the ranks of the Communist Party, Two-thirds of the delegates to the recent Congress of the illegal Austrian Communist Party, for ex- | ample, had come over to the Party since the February rising. At the end of July of this year, the Revo- lutionary Socialists and the Schutz- bund formed with the Communist Party a central Committee of Ac- tion, whose first act was the issu- ance of a joint appeal for anti-war demonstrations on August 1. The platform adopted for the campaign by the Committee of Action was al- most completely Leninist. The growing unification of the Socialist and Communist workers everywhere, the establishment of the United Front in a number of countries, the drive for united struggle against fascism and im- perialist war in every country of capitalism, attest to the increasing sympathy of the social-democratic workers for the Party of Commu- nism. The accession on the part of the Socialist Parties to the United Front urgings of the Com- munist Parties in France, Italy, the Saar and Spain, registers the irre- pressible drive of the social-demo- cratic workers for common action with the Communists, in whom they recognize their class brothers, in whose Party they see the fearless, militant leader. In other countries, as in the United States, where the decisive sections of the top leadership of the Socialist Party are still able to Prevent the acceptance on a national scale of the repeated United Front proposals of the Communist Party, the Socialist workers and local functionaries are in many places forming from below united cam- Paigns of struggle with the Com- munists. notably the efforts of the Commit- tee for Socialist Action for the United Front; the agreement for united anti-fascist action between the Italian Section of the Commu- nist Party and the Italian Federa- tion of the Socialist Party; the wide United Front built around the No- vember 24th demonstration of the Chicago unemployed; the united election campaigns in Trumbull County, Ohio; the United Front formations in Massachusetts, Maine, Southern Illinois, sections of Louisi- ana, Pennsylvania and New York State—on issues of affiliation with the American League Against War and Fascism, of endorsing the Workers’ Unempioyment and Social Insurance Bill (H. R. 17598), of unemployment relief struggles, etc. Southern United Front Significant Most significant are the united front agreements signed last week with the Southern District of the Communist Party by fhe Socialist Party state organizations of North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Ken- tucky, and Alabama, which called on other S. P. state organizations to! follow their exemple, and the de- | cision of the New Jersey State Con- vention of the S. P. to endorse the. Workers’ Unemployment Insurance | Bill and to support the National Congress for Unemployment and So- Insurance. This splendid So- cialist-Communist fighting alliance, coming immediately after the re- fusal of almost the entire “Left” , ‘ Such, in this country, are | | N.E.C. to sanction the united front on a national scale, is the clearest indication that the top leaders of the Socialist Pariy are reckoning without their membership. The Southern Region United Front is a declaration that the rank and file of the Socialist Party is determined not to wait until the 1936 Conven- | tion of the Party for permission to | enter into solidarity actions with the Communist workers against the onslaughts of the New Deal regime upon the workers’ conditions and democratic rights, but is resolved to confront that Convention with the | United Front as an accomplished fact. In the face of this visible process of revolutionization that is taking place in the ranks of social-dem- ocracy, the Second International heads, as well as the leadership of the Socialist parties, find them- selves compelled to resort to various | Subterfuges designed to decoy their | followers from the Leftward road. Not quite so crudely stated as the plea of delegate Vougt of Sweden, but having the same anti-working class intent, is the recent brief for | “power” presented by the editor of The New Leader, James Oneal, in the autumn issue of The American Socialist Quarterly. Mr. Oneal, who has all these years fled from Bol- shevik phrases as from the plague, has suddenly burst forth with an article entitled “On the Road to Power.” Let us see what road to power Mr. Oneal proposes for the working class. Afraid of Open Attack Oneal opens his article with a warning against “some rigid form- ula to be applisd to all countries.” |This, of course, is a method to which | traditional social-democracy com- moniy resorts when it dares not openly attack the proletarian drive to power. It is an attempt to give the appearance of “dogma” and “rigid formula” to the crystallized, revolutionary slogans that are em- bodiments, in clenched, fighting Phrases, of the Marxist-Leninist guide to proletarian action. In thus trying to play “flexible,” the reac- tionary social-democratic leaders are in reality trying to break down the revolutionary principles of the k= ing class, The charge of “rigid formula” is invariably the opening statement for piloting their way in- to the broader stream of complet rejection of revolutionary principle. Mr. Oneal leaves no doubt as to his purpose when, in the very opening Paragraph, in speaking of the “march to power,” he adds, “what- ever the road chosen may be.” For revolutionary Marxism, for Marxism-Leninism, the only road to power is the revolutionary over- throw of capitalism and the estab- lishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat—Soviet power. All other roads lead away from p*oietacian power. “whatever the road chosen may be” sets himself accordingly against revolutionary Marxism: he charts for the working class imaginary roads to power in a circuit of per- petual wage-slavery. What does it matter then to an Oneal if on “whatever the road chosen may be” Anyone who speaks of; the sign-posts read: “The Road to Power”? And which of his plurality of roads would Mr. Oneal have us choose? | He presents his counsel to the work- ing class as follows: “Capitalism in Socialist Basil,” “Unless its (the proletariat’s) po- | litical and economic organizations are pledged to the aim of recorgan- izing capitalism on a socialist basis and unless both intimately cooper- |ate in the immediate struggle as ; Well as for the ultimate aim, an jessential of the road to power is | locking.” (Italics mine—V. J. J.) talism, but to reorganize it; not to Shatter the bourgeois State and to construct the new foundations for the Sosialist society, but to reform and strengthen capitalism—‘on a socialist basis.” This is the power Mr. Oneal holds in store for the working class—the vety “socialism” toward which the N. R. A. was a step, as he and his fellow leaders swore, It is thoughts of such “power” that bring a section of the Prague leadership of the shattered German social-democracy to state, at this very moment, of Hitler's rule: “It is progressive capitalism and the clearing away of the debris for Socialism; it is a piece cf Socialism .. . ” (Deutsche Freiheit, September 12, 1934.) Do you not see, workers of the Socialist Party, why the James Oneals who bandy about words like “Socialism” and “power,” but whose policy is one of collaboration with the bourgeois class, take up the battle cries of Socialism while | lining themselves up on the side of capitalism? To screen their role of betrayal, these “Socialists” make it a point of seeming to support themselves on texts from Merx and Engels. The devil quoting the bible. This time Mr. Oneal is pleased to drag in Engels’ Preface to Matx’s Class Struggles in France. And our “Marxist” concludes: “To sum up, Engels did not solve the preblems involved in the road to power although he faced them. He believed that the Socialist movement grows strong by constitutional means...” Oneal is, of course, repeating here the construction that his re- visionist forebcar, Eduard Bernstein, put on Engels’ Preface; namely that the Party should renounce its reveluiionary program and in its place (in the words of Bernstein) “carry on a slow propaganda of parliamentary activity.” Text Repudiated by Engels What are the facts in the case? Engels wrote his celebrated Pre- face in 1895, the year of his deeth. It is known that immediately after its publication Engels vehemently repudiated the published version. In fact, Kautsky himszif, in his The Road to Power (p 43, German Edition) cites from a letter that Engels wrote on April Ist. (the preface was published in March): “To my astonishment, I notice in the Vorwaerts today an extract reprinted without my previous knowledge and distorted in such Here we have the meaning of Mr. | Oneal’s goal: Not to destroy capi-| Radicalization of Socialist Workers Forces Demagogues cial Democratic Parties to Don ‘Left’ Clothin ® a manner that I stand there as @ peaceable worshipper of legal- | | ity at any price.” Not until 1925 did the whole \truth cume out. The Marx-Engels Institute revealed to the world that ‘that which for thirty years had | passed for Engels’ Preface to Marx’s Class Struggle in France was, in ‘ yeality, 2 distortion, a forgery per-| petrated by Bernstein. The Insti- tute had come into possession of | the original manuscript and pub- | lished for the first time the Pre- face which Engels had written. | Then it became evident that Engels’ | discussion of the military tactics | that the working class would have | to adopt in its future revolutionary | struggles against capitalism had | been criminally emasculated in the | 1895 version. To take but one of |a@ number of passages: In Bérn- steiti’s mangled text, in discussing | the layout of the Berlin streets in }relation to their suitability for | barricade fighting in the face of the new miltary equipment of the | bourgeoisie, Engels is made to con- j clude his remarks with the words: “The revolutionary who would himself select the working class districts in the north and east of Berlin for a barricade battle would have to be a lunatic.” Saw Necessity of Fighting But what Bernstein kept from the world and what the Marx-Engels | Institute revealed was that Engels ‘had added the following: “Does this mean that the street- battles will play no part in the future? Not at all, It simply means that conditions have be- come far more unfavorable for the | civilian fighters since 1848, and | far more favorable for the mili- tary forces. Street battles in the future may be successful only if this unfavorable situation can be neutralized by other factors. Such fights will therefore be far less usual in the earlier stages of a great revolution, than in its later | course, and will have to be fought with greater resources of strength. Such battles will rather resort—as in the great French Revolution, and as on September 4th and Oc- tober 3ist, 1870, in Paris—to open attack than to the defensive tac- tics of the barricades.” By such downright forgery have the Marx-vitiators of the Second International attempted to drape} their reformism and_ eventual counter revolution with the banner of Engels, Engels’ warning to the working class that it must hence- forward turn from tactics of de- fence to open attack is crippled by , them into an apology for bourgeois constitutionalism. And now James | Cneal, as though he had never heard of the expose, brazenly con- tinues Bernstein’s lie. And falsely assuming the patronage of Engels, he asks: “With the enormous powers of destruction possessed by the gov- ernments, what hope is there for the workers if these powers are directed against them, or if they are ranged in support of fascism? Assume any form of action work- ers may take, can it possibly be effective against police, army, militic, tanks, tear gas, poison gas, bembing p’anes, machine guns, artillery, pocsession of railroads, industries, munitions plants, wire- less communications, the radio, mails and telegraph?” And so in the name of power, why try? (To Be Continued) |is now taking place. | leaders Farmers Want Action As Ruin United Fight for Relief Is Main Question in Prairie States By Lem Harris Cash relief is being cut today everywhere in the drought-stricken area, At the moment of greatest need. when cold weather has frozen up the plains, whén grain and forage has to be bought at skye rocketing prices, when bitter winds fotce families to buy fuel even ahead of grocéries—t! is the moment chosen by the Agents of the Roosevelt Administration to put into force sharp cuts in the meagre amount of relief which the farm | families had been getting. The whole state of South Dakota —center of the drought—recently cut off relief for a full week. Farms ers and townspeople on relief—a full 80 per cent of the people of the state—worked as usual on the roads during that week—and then were | told that they would receive their relief money “in January.” In Nebraska, cash allotments for feed have been cut by 28 per cent and the soaring of feed prices has cut the amounts they can buy s‘ill fur- ther. North Dakota farmers also report direct cuts in the amounts going to families. This whole r lief-cutting policy of the adminis- tration, which was started after its sweeping victory at the polls, has already built up a mass resentment which is growing more intense every week. Farmers in Desperate Situation All the farmers of this Plains area with the exception of the few rich ones who are known 4s the banker's pets, are facing the most desperate situation they have ever known, They have practically no cash— years of low prices for the things they sold, high prices for the things they bought, and usurious interest rates have seen to that. They have small or no suppli¢s of hay, fodder | or grain feeds. Those who still have something clear of debt, are no’ allowed to go on relief. Farmers with clear herds find that they car | only borrow $8 a head on animal worth five times that much, anc must pay 8 per cent interest. There- fore instead of trying to mortgag< they sell their cattle to the govern ment for an average of $13 animal and join the long list o° subsistence farmers. The average relief check for 4 family of five is around $3.50 pe" week. We find homes without but- ter, sugar, green vegetables, o fruits. This year vegetable garden: produced at best a few bushels o° potatoes. Diets consisting only o* heavy bacon, or pork and potatos with sometimes burned barley fe coffee, are common. There is ree} | fear that even these supplies wi! not continue throughout the winter’. Farmers are realizing that th> administration's relief policy is driving every small farmer down t | a peasant level of living. Nex | spring when they want to put i another crop, they will be faced witi: thin horses, almost no stock, and ix | all probability a soil which will sti® | be lacking adequate moisture. The can not get money from the loca’ banks since it is generally recog: nized that there is no chance of | repaying. The Government is th only source of credit and it committed to a reduction and sub- sistence policy which means at tho best a very small scale of opera- tions on the farm. Growing resistance to this peasant standard of living is beginning to take organized forms. Wherever this occurs the political maneuvers of the relief administration at once attempt to stop it, to quench the early fires of revolt. Militant leaders are given better jobs at better wages in order to discredit | them, and to give them a material interest in abandoning the fight, Farmers Uniting for Struggle But the ranks of the farmers are becoming more and more solid. They ate demanding united action on re- | lief for their families. They are | directing this pressure not only | against the government officials but also against the leaders of the big farm organizations like the Farmers Union and the National Holiday Association, to try to force them into action. To date, no national or State leader of the Farmers Union has taken any active part in the relief fight. Instead they con- tinue to peddle legislative proposals which many of these same leaders in the Farmers Union privately ad- mit will not help the present situa- tion. Here also the hand of the ad- ministration is seen at work. A split in the whole Farmers Union Importent from Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. who cluster around the Terminal Association and work in close har- mony with the National Grain Cor- poration, a government agency, have been meeting in Minneapolis to en- gineer just such a split. In the face of this situation, there are arising all over the Great Plains independent movements covering counties and townships bzinging mass pressure to bear on the relief authorities. A score of counties in this area have organized regular mass meetings of farmers and wage= workers where members of all the farm and labor organizations of the county come together to consider action in the struggle for relief. Committees responsible to and elected by these mass meetings have been placing constant pressure on the local county commissioners and relief authorities. This action has won local victories: Broken Bow, Nebraska has forced distribution of free coal, which was never done bes fore the demand was made. Davi- son County, South Dakota, through the demand: of its regular mass meetings raised the amount of te- lief by $2,000 per week. : Every militant farmer and rural worker must join with all others to bring mass pressure on the authori. boi 3 the masses of the ught-stricken area win their demands, ore