The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 24, 1934, Page 5

by CHANGE —-THE — WORLD! By MICHAEL GOLD who participated,” writes the Times “N\HE workers Moscow correspondent, describing the local Soviet elections in Moscow which took place last week, “looked little different from a group of factory workers in the United States. The auditorium in which they voted was the theatre of a park of culture and rest in the ‘proletarian district.’ | ‘They were reasonably well dressed and adequately scrubbed. They ap- peared neither wildly enthusiastic nor profoundly bored. But they seemed to be enjoying the evening.” The-evening of voting in the “proletarian district” which this Times reporter describes with amused condescension is part of the elections to the Soviets, the governmental organ of the working class, which have been taking place all over the Soviet Union. From factories, shops, offices, the workers have been choosing their candidates for local and national offices. The candidates are not chosen as they are in capitalist America. Here, the biggest stock- holders, the richest and most influential men in the party machine meet over thick cigars and a scotch-and-soda to settle which repre- sentative of capitalism will be most acceptable to the temper of the times. The selection is conducted in secrecy. Money and wealth dictate the choice of candidate. The most amenable tool of the in- terests of banking or industrial groups heads the narty ticket. But what a vast difference in the Soviet elections. The reporter from the Times was amused by the workers who seemed “reasonably well dressed and adequately scrubbed.” Evidently. affairs of state can be efficiently conducted only by frockcoats and Havana cigars. The workers to this little newspaper snob are capable only of laboring and toiling in the factories, not of voting intelligently and freely for their own candidates. * The Right to Choose Their Exploiters 'HEN one compares the atmagsphere and the process by which work- | ers elect their delegates to the local Soviets in Russia with the technique of democracy in the United States, one sees how great a gulf separates the two. 4 The democracy of capitalism is only a pretense of democratic rule. Marx pointed out long ago that in America once every four years the workers have the right to decide which capitalist shall exploit them. And America is the purest representative of bourgeois democracy in the world, But in the Soviet Union, the candidates are chosen by the work- ers themselves in their own districts, which are really factory districts. Here, by dropping the name of a worker, a worker who works beside them and whom they know intimately, the candidate, with the ap- proval of the local party cell, is chosen. And when the time to vote comes, it is not done in a little canvas- covered cubbyhole, with a cop outside and watchers and gangsters in- timidating hesitant voters. Voting in America is like casting a vote in a prison cell. And most of the people vote because of duty, not from enthusiasm. In Russia, however, in the Soviet Union, voting is done openly. It is done in the theatres, or in the parks of rest, or in public audi- toriums, The vote is taken by a show of hands. There is nothing to hide. Your job will not be endangered if you vote against the candidates. Democracy in the Soviet Union is deep and real, not a sham front of a secret dictatorship of capital. * . * Who is Elected? 'HO is elected to office? In America, no poor man, no worker has ever held a high public office. The rich, their flunkeys, and professional politicians, those who serve the bourgeoisie in the-business of politics, hold office. They are the representatives of big business, of the banks, of the merchants, of the manufacturers. They pass and legislate those laws which alleviate the conditions of the capitalists. They oil the legal machinery for the benefit of profit. But in Moscow, it is the workers of the Stalin Auto Plant, the Kaganovich State Ball Bearing Works, the Stalingorsk Chemical Com- bine, the Kalinin Car Building Works who are elected. From the factories and from the state and collective farms the delegates come, and the candidates take office. Moscow has known a phenomenal growth in the past years. To- day she is one of the great cities of the world. Her growth, her im- portance has all come with the reconstruction of industry, with the success of the Revolution. The workers who take office in the local Soviet are those who have built, sweated, and toiled to make Moscow the city she is. They are the ones who will govern and administer the affairs of the city they themselves have built. The slogans and the appeals of the election campaign emphasize this. “The Soviet elections are drawing near,” ran the election appeal, “A glorious and hard path of struggle for socialism has been traversed in the years that separate us from the last Soviet elections. The first subway in our country is being built in Moscow, The Moscow Volga Canal is being constructed, A new Moscow is growing, a Moscow of wide squares and straight streets, asphalted roads and granite embankments, a Moscow of automobi*:s and trolley buses, of parks of culture and large buildings of new architecture.” . * . Negro Shock Brigader NE of the most significant features about the mechanics of a work- ers’ democracy as contrasted with that of the capitalists’, is that foreigners as well as citizens are qualified to vote and to hold office. If the “foreigner” is a worker at some socially useful task, and a defender of the workers’ government, he is permitted the full electoral rights of a Soviet citizen. What a sharp contrast this offers with the capitalist countries, where foreign born workers are hounded by the law, are driven out of the country, have no legal rights, and live the lives of hunted animals from the police, But in the Soviet Union, many foreign workers and specialists have been elected to the Soviets. One of the most significant of these elections, a fact which demonstrates the great cleavage between the two democracies, is the election of Robert Robinson, a Jamaica Negro, who worked for a time in Ford’s plant in Detroit, and is a naturalized American citizen. He was elected a member of the Moscow Soviet by the State Ball Bearing plant. i In the Soviet Union, Robinson the worker has become a famous “shock brigader” and a holder of piblic office. In America, where Hearst is the spokesman and defender of “democracy,” Robinson would have been of the millions of exploited and segregated black workers. It is only when the sham democracy of the capitalist class is destroyea and in its place is substituted the machinery of a workers’ Soviet, with the power and control in the hands of the workers themselves, that a real, deep, living democratic state is established. aise eaetetiicsaiemecosnovinaennenaeiveptpeerinieiciairipuasinsinearseeaeeray eT MILITARISM AND FASCISM IN JAPAN By O. Tanin and E. Yohan Introduction by Karl Radek, who says: “The present work is of great scientific and political value... . It uncovers the fuse which leads to the explosives in the Far East hidden in the cause of peace ... reveals con- cretely the roots of the military fascist movement in Japan, and the phases of its development; acquaints the reader with its ideology, organ- ization and the place it occupies in the complex system of forces which determine the basic problems of Japanese imperialist policy. CLOTHBOUND, 326 pages, $1.75 INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHERS 381 FOURTH AVENUE @ NEW YORK,N.Y, Se OE International Publishers 381 Fourth Avenue, New York Gentlemen: Iam interested in your publica- tions and would like to receive your catalogue and book news. Name Address ., | | 1 | regarded by j calculated to start a war with the ; - ; In essence, this is what American capitalist democracy amounts to. jae the same time the naval circles, | force events in the North, and, tem- | Porarily, to come to terms with the | with the United States would in- ‘it is possible to come into economic jcontact with the United States in DAILY WORKER. NEW YORK, MONDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1934 Anti-Soviet War Drive by Japan| | “QHALL it be a Japanese-American | war or a Japanese-Soviet war?” | Scores of books and pamphlets | have discussed this subject in Japan | in the past year, O. Tanin and £, | Yohan declare in their book, “Mili- | tarism und Fascism in Japan,” just | issued by International Publishers. The book studies the historical | background of fascism in Japan, analyzes the class roots of fascist | groups and parallels the rise of fas- cism with the world crisis. Noted Soviet Orientalists, the au- thors throw a white light on the place of Japan in the drive for im- | perialist war and especially as a leading instigator of war against the Soviet Union. “Arguments in fayor of these two alternatives,” the | authors show, “conceal the concrete | interests of the various groups | among the ruling classes in Japan.” They point out that the Japanese | occupation of Manchuria could | serve as a springboard for war | either against the U.S.A. or the USS5.R. and for that reason was supported unanimously by all sec- | tions of Japan’s ruling class. | On the other hand, exporting, shipping, ship-building and certain banking interests, whose aspirations were voiced more by the Naval| chiefs, were interested more in the Shanghai invasion of February, 1932. These groups are “interested primarily in gaining possession of the Central Chinese market —an aim which inevitably involves Japanese-American conflict.” al “[DMIRAL SHIOZAWA'S action | in Shanghai, which led to the | events of February-March, 1932, was | Japanese opinion as) United States which would prove extraordinarily profitable for Japan | under the existing circumstances. which have long been preparing for such a war, consider it wise not to U.S.S.R. as regards Manchuria and | Mongolia, of course on the assump- tion that Manchukuo would be rec- ognized. “A different stand is taken by | those circles in the bourgeois-land- | owner camp which are interested in maintaining friendly relations with | the United States, as, for instance, | silk manufacturers and exporters | (many of the latter are landowners as well); further, those sections of the financial bourgeoisie which have direct investtaents in Korea, Man- churia, and Mongolia, and are forming plans for expansion on the mainland by agreement with the, U.S.A. and at the expense of the | US.S.R. A special place in this group is occupied by those sections of the Japanese bourgeoisie which are interested in the fish, timber, oil and other resources of the Soviet Far East. The position taken by this group is strengthened by the | true consideration that in war| against the USS.R. Japan may count upon the very considerable | aid of even those powers with which | she competes. * * 8 “HE military circles which most consistently express the inter- ests of this bourgeois and agrarian group, advance the following as the principal arguments in favor of a} Japanese-Soviet war: (1) a war volve the ruin of ten million peas- ants who cultivate silk worms; (2) Great Britain and France would not permit Japan to strengthen its hold in the Far East at the expense of the American colonies, while they would, on the contrary, gladly sup- port a war against the Soviet Union; (3) the securing of Man- churia to aJpan ‘which is a matter of life or death’ for Japan, is im- possible unless Primorye and the Priamur area are also seized; (4) in another five years the Soviet Union will be strong enough to dic- tate its own Far Eastern policy; (5) order to secure capital for the ex- ploitation of Manchuria and Si- beria. “What then do the ruling classes of Japan consider to be the factor stimulating the growth of the na- tional - revolutionary struggle for liberation in China and in Man- churia in particular? The revolu- tionizing influence of the U.S8.S.R. upon colonial countries, particularly on China. This influence is un- avoidable; it is a result of the very existence of the Soviet Union, how- ever rigidly, however consistently the Soviet Union may maintain its policy of non-interference in the Far Eastern conflict. Further, the seizure of the Soviet Far East, which would convert the Sea of Japan into an inland sea and which would provide a firm base on the mainland for Japan, would be strategically desirable conditions for the impending Japanese-Amer- ican war. Consequently, not only to the supporters of the second ten- dency, but even to some of the representatives of the first, a war with the Soviet Union appears in- evitable. And actually it is for this reason that Japan’s war prepara- tions are aimed primarily against the U.S.S.R.” Little Lefty WHAT'LL WE 00 PeANurs? we GoT “TWO INVITES FORT CHRISTMAS PARTIES New Book Exposes McNamara Adds Voice | In Support Prisoners’ By ROSE BARON 'WENTY-THREE New Years have rolled past since J. B. Mc- Namara, known and loved by thou- sands, the dean of American class- war prisoners, entered San Quen- tin. Today he faces his twenty- fourth, as keen, a8 militant, as full of uncompromising struggle against his tormentors, against the whole capitalist system, as when the steel doors clanged behind him in 1912. They have done their damndest during half a life time to break the spirit of this tough old work- ing-class fighter. They can't do it. “Jim is as hard as granite, as/ Solid as the earth. He has an un- J. B. McNAMARA jconquerable faith in the working class. He'll never give up. His dy- ing words will be a challenge to the | rotting capitalist system and a ral- lying cry for the workers of the world.” This is the estimate of J. B, Mc- Namara made by a fellow political prisoner. The letters of J. B. bear it out. In San Quentin, his fellow-polit- icals refer To him as “our Ilyitch.” Outside, thousands of American workers, farmers, students, have been inspired by J. B. McNamara’s spirit. correspondence with branches of the International Labor Defense, and with individual comrades. eo euer “| HAVE an honor no gifts, gold, or freedom can buy,” he writes. “IT have been adopted by four In- ternational Labor Defense branches. I am determined never to be an orphan.” “I receive comradely letters front many branches,” he writes in an- other letter. “It is a difficulit task to answer them so they will not offend at this end, and be under- standing and inspiring to all the} members of the branches. We are not in close touch with all that is happening, but we sense very keenly what is going on all over the world. The social trends never looked so promising. I assure you, one and all, that it is the greatest reward to me for my undying confidence in the working class all these years. “T have always said the workers would respond and I have been chided and laughed at for it. “It has been a long, long strug- gle and sacrifice. Good color on the | horizon—a very good color. “With warm comradely greetings to the I, L. D,; and all the twigs and all the leaves of all its branches; and all the students, farmers and workers who are in the struggle for a better world for all,” HE difficulties of his correspon- 4 dence are illustrated when he writes: “T received a copy of two letters | from M. O. P. R. (I. L. D, of the Soviet Union) members of the U. 8. S. R., I feel positive they can not be answered in the right spirit from TUNI 7:00 P. M.-WEAF—Hi-Jinks on Christmas Ev G WOR—Sports Talk—Stan Lomax WJZ—Amos 'n’ Andy WABO—Myrt and Marge—Sketch 7:15-WOR—Lum and Abner—Sketch WJZ—Plantation Echoes WABC—Just Plain Bill—Sketch 7:30-WEAF—Hobo Jungle Christmas— Sketch, With Tom Powers WOR—Mystery Sketch WJZ—Red Davis—Sketch WOR—Broadway WJZ—Dangerous Paradise—Sketch WABC—Boake Carter, Commentator 8:00-WEAF—Himber Orchestra WOR—Lone Ranger—Sketch WJZ—Jan Garber, Supper Club WABC--Robinson Buckaroos 8:15-WABC—Edwin C. Hill, Commentator 8:30-WEAF—Richard Crooks, Tenor WOR—Kemp Orchestra WJZ—Carefree Carnival WABC—Kate Smith's Revue 9:00-WEAF—Gypsies Orchestra WOR—The Witch's Tale YEAH - ON FROM “HE LADIES CHARITY NIONE FROM PATSYS FREE For he carries on a great | oS Oe ig PUB Xmas Drive {here. Will the National Office (of | | the I, L. D.) answer them?” The fortitude of McNamara after 24 years in prison, his clear un- | | derstanding, isolated by prison cen- | |sorship though he is, of the role of the social forces in his own jcase, the development of that role jin the years that have passed since he was betrayed and sent to jail by labor misleaders, and his clear- |Sighted, unshaken faith in the | working-class, have been an inspi- ration to thousands the country over with whom he has conducted correspondence | MeNamara wrote in 1933 a letter which was shed in the ‘West- ern Work of January 1, 1934: * | “HEN I pleaded guilty of taking| | Wopart in the Los Angeles metal trades strike in 1910, in order to save my brother, two partners and |the ‘Committee of 26 labor leaders | |from San Francisco,’ the leaders of | organized labor and the Socialist | |Party, all over the country, ran) |away like rats leaving a sinking | | ship. | “These leaders Jost sight of the | jaims, ideals and purposes of the | trade unionists, whom they rep- resented, In 1912 I became con-| vinced, beyond all doubt, that these | leaders were never militant or class | | conscious. I Tost all confidence in} |them. It was brain racking and soul-scorching, but I knew from ex- perience that the cause of the work- | ing class was a just one. | “All my confidence is in the work- | | ers, organized and unorganized, and {as the years went rushing on my | confidence in the workers, who toil and spin from childhood to the grave, grew more and more. | | “The workers and farmers have | | gone through many struggles and | Sacrifices on the agricultural and | |industrial fields. All through his- |tory such patience, such heroism, | has been unheard of. And it will be | through such struggles and sacri- | jfices that the workers and farmers | will find their way to economic | security, by equal distribution of | production and consumption of all the material necessities of life for all who toil. | “My course is the right one, a| life dedicated to the emancipation of all humankind and with undy- | ing confidence in the workers.” “The labor leaders have tried, and | will attempt to divorce the Times | wrote in another letter, “but it never will be accomplished with the mili- tants on the job.” | ee the ‘HE struggle for the rigiits of political prisoners, the collection |of relief for the prisoners and their | families, the work of solidarity, led by the I. L. D. with those who| | have given their freedom for labor's | | cause, are questions that McNamara | naturally understands very well. |of the Prisoners’ Relief Fund, and | |the Christmas Relief drive of the |I. L, D—though for himself, watch- | ing the events of the world struggle | as news of them filters into his | San Quentin cell, he frequently asks that his share of the fund be turned over to the defense of the Scotts- | | boro boys, to the victims of Hitler's terror. | “Tf all the opposition groups, who | claim they are striving towmake this | world a better place for workers,” ‘he writes, “would become class con- | seious, and join the I. L. D., every day would be Christmas for all those who toil and spin from child- | hood to the grave.” | Meanwhile; there are thousands of prisoners behind bars, thousands of | wives and children left destitute, | thousands of widows and orphans made by the murderous onslaught of fascism. McNamara supports the | call of the I. L. D. for funds for the prisoners and their families, to be | sent to the Christmas for Political Prisoners Fund of the I. L. D., | Room 610, 80 East 11th Street, New | | York City. | “When the season's greetings of the holidays are with us,” he writes to the I. L. D,, “I will be holding | steadfast to the lofty ideals which | brought emancipation and the first | | fatherland of the workers to one- | sixth of the world.” NG IN WJZ--Minstrel Show WABC—Rosa Ponselle, 9:30-WEAF—House Party WOR—Corinna Mura, Soprano WIJZ—So Like a Thief—Sketch WABC—Gluskin Orch.; Block and Sully, Comedy; Gertrude Niesen Soprano | 9:45-WOR—Burnett Orchestra 10:00-WEAF—Eastman Orchestra; Lullaby Lady; Male Quartet WOR—Ionians Quartet WJZ—Cleveland Orchestra, Rodzinski, Conductor WABC—Wayne King Orchestra 10:15-WOR—Current Events—H. E. Read 10: ‘World Need of Peace—Sen. 3 Hamilton Lewis of Illinois Artur T, Foster of Pollack Foundation 10:45-WABC—Children’s Sketch—A Visit From St. Nicholas 11:00-WEAF—Russian Symphonic Choir WOR—News WJZ—Meetin’ House—Sketeh WABC—Concert Orchestra 11:15-WEAF—8Story of Silent Night--Sketch WOR-—Moonbeams Trio The Choice GO TO PATSY'S SHINDIS OF COURSE! CHARITY, MY NECK /I'D RATHER FIGHT THAN BEG, ANYTIME / to the Masses LANCASTER WANTS SOCIALIST COMPETITION HE section organizer caster, Pa., writes: ‘Our Party is to be congratulated on the feat of printing and distrib- from Lan- uting 100,000 copies of Stalin's Foundations of Leninism.’ We have here a new section with only 32 members. We ordered 100 for the section. Yesterday I visited our smallest unit, a shop unit of 3. This unit decided to take 50. It begins to look as if we under-estimated in | ordering 100. “I would like to suggest that the Literature Commission of the C. C. organize a national competition be- tween Party sections in literature distribution. This competition should last two months. Both quantity and quality should be taken into con- sideration. In such a competition I think our section should come close to the top.” —M. 5 All right, Lancaster, let’s have your challenge to another section in your district Socialist competition between sec- tions and districts can help them fulfill their quotas on the 10-cent edition of “Foundations on Lenin- ism.” International Publishers re- ports that 67,000 copies of this book have now been sold through vari- ous sources. This leaves 33,000 to go to distribute the entire edition of 100,000. low-priced editions of other basic Marxist-Leninist works can be put out, the 100,000 copies of “Founda- tions” must be distributed. The quotas must be filled! Send us reports on your sales of Foundations.” CLEVELAND SECTION INCREASES SALES ECTION 3, Cleveland, writes: “Our section has broken an- ther record in literature sales. Dur- ing the month of November, we sold over $50.00 worth, not including Party Organizers. “What makes this figure the more impressive is that $38.69 of the sales were made through the units. “A serious shortcoming is that we do not yet achieve a large enough sale of the cheaper penny and two-cent pamphlets. During this month units should be able to dispose of thousands of Amter’s “Why the Workers Unemployment Insurance Bill” at 2 cents a copy, with a view to popularizing the case from the class struggle,” he | coming National Congress for Un- | employment Insurance. Buros should instruct their agents to order a few hundred. % « Unit 341, our new unit, To ensure that similar | Page 5 a Literature Qutstanding Storie = | s ° In Partisan Review 5 Written by City Reviewed by ALAN CALMER HE contributions to P; | view No. 5 which i most of all are those by wr who have not appeared in revol tionary magazines before. Ta e Spectre a story by Peter Quince, who as - ing “hoboed over It is a swell little itionary full of sound human emotions. handled _ unpretentiously sketched with a few strokes of the pen. Its plot is turned very neatly; yet there is nothing arti- ficial about it Its revol message is very clear, and yet message is nev hat r forced upon the plot in the m charact B of so many volu nary short | stories. It has a nice quality of wit about it, particularly in the it ends: “Laurie sat at the foot of t | bed. His brother's book lay beside |him. I went outside. There was nothing to say, nothing. Or so I way thought until, on the way to the road, I passed the open kitchen | window. Now Laurie should have been crying. This is not unreason- able. When a kid sister dies a fel- low doesn’t read. He cries. But Laurie wasn’t crying. He was read- ing. The smile was still on Naomi’s face and she seemed to listen as Laurie said, from his brother's book: “‘A spectre is haunting Europe and California and Wheatpatch, the | spectre of Communism.’ | “He had misquoted Marx but I could find nothing wrong with it.’ | Then there are two poems by two newcomers, “Subway” by Robert | Halperin and “Two Cities” by Philip Cornwall. The curious thing about these two poems is that the mood |and the manner of the early T. 8. Eliot drip all over them—and yet they are revolutionary poems. | Check, for example, these lines | from “Subway”: “Regard this man in the chill of the subway train” an “Who is that man so frigid at your side?” with these from T. S. Eliot “Regard that woman who hesitates toward you in the light of the room,” and “Who is the third who walks al- ways beside you?” | to aesthetics. He is an enthusiastic supporter | A | business the question of literature with only seven members, is forg-| Or take these lines from “Two ing right aread with their literature | Cities sales, breaking a unit record for|The cold hangs on along North our section with $10.05 worth of | River, literature sold. And we mean liter- | But there are those who have warm | ature sold.” | coats * . bd And there are those who do not STION 3, N. ¥. | shiver.” | TTENTION! | And yet these are revolutionary | poems. | 'T HAS been reported that at al meeting of section literature di- rectors in New York, Section 3 re- lated the following: When attempt- ing to enlist the aid of the section | leadership in the drive for litera- ture distribution, the literature di- | —-—____—_ rector was told that the section is tS Questions a . IN ADDITION to good contribu- | tions by well-known revolutionary | writers like Meridel LeSueur and | Edwin Rolfe, Partisan Review con- too busy organizing the waterfront; but when the waterfront is organ- ized, then there will be time to take up the question of literature. | Do they think they can organize the waterfront without literature? Let’s get the whole story on this. Will the Section 3 literature direc- tor please write up the story for Questions and Answers Depart- | this column? Write it Saree nein ment, Daily Worker, 5 E. 12th St., and send it in to the Literature! 4, Commission, Box 87,Sta. D, New| New York. City, | York City. This department appears as a daily feature on this page. All questions should be addressed to The same goes for all! SAE literature directors and their ex-! periences. Question; Why does the Daily Worker accept advertising from | | capitalist firms?—M. G. | . LITERATURE INVENTORIES y es approacning end of the calen- | dar year places on the order of | Answer; In taking advertisements | from capitalist firms,’ the Daily Worker knows that these companies | inventories in all districts, sections, | employ capitalist methods. We can-| units and mass organizations. 02 | not destroy capitalism simply by the last day of the year a complete boycotting all capitalists. The! ee net pega | money received from the ads is of | mittees appointed to verify the ac- help in financing the Daily Worker, counts. You should: (1) get your! which is in the front line of the cash account in se a the ae | battle against the capitalist class. i ittee; (2) take an exact | ieee inventory of all literature| While printing advertisemer on hand and figure its value at|the paper does not approve of the| your cost price; (3) check up on | capitalist methors of the companies. accounts due you and put them Om | It definitely will not advertise any-| ape technically; (4) check up on P . pea the ills you owe, adjust all claims, | ‘hing that will harm the working | and make up a complete list of in- | class. It will not accept ads from} debtedness; (5) have the accounts |companies whose workers are on | audited by a committee and send | strike, In all its contracts with ad- a copy of the report to the section, | vertisers the Daily Worker very care- district, and center; (6) prepare to | fully stipulates that it will cancel keep your accounting records so | any contract which turns out to be that you can submit regular month- | @ detriment to workers, or is from ly financial reports on income and | @ company whose workers go out disbursements, accounts receivable, | on strike. Thus the Daily Worker would never carry the advertisement of a debts, etc. It is highly important to the suc- cess of the work that all literature scab store such as was done by the accounts shall be placed in tip-top | Milwaukee Leader, a Socialist Party condition. There is no better time | daily paper. The Leader carried a to make the proper start and to | full-page advertisement on Dec. 17 strengthen all weak spots than at) by the Boston Store, whose workers the end of the old year and the were on strike, saying that the| beginning of the new. strike did not have the support of | by del! | | ewcomers tinues its policy of publishing time- ly articles by foreign revolutionary authors. It contains an excerpt from Bukharin’s speech at the So- viet Writers Congress on “Poetry and S list Realism” and an ex- cellent report by the German poet, Johannes R. Becher, on the “Great Allience” of ral and revolution- ary German writers in forging an fascist cultural front ged book section con- n outstanding piece of liter- criticism (by E, B. Burgum) of recent volumes of fiction by ars the Bodenheim., Dahlberg, Halper, Far- rell, and Waldo Frank—although I with some of its conclu- Some of the other reviews are too sketchy and fragmentary for a critical publication like Partisan Review Partisan Review No. 5 marks the end of the first stage in the devel- opment of this outstanding literary magazine. According to an edi- torial announcement, the magazine disagree sions jis to be enlarged to 96 pages, in order to make possible the publi- cation of more and longer stories and poems and critical articles and book-reviews. “A much = greater variety of writing will be presented,” the announcement reads, “giving room to experimentation in form, and to analytical and directive Marxian criticism of a wider scope than heretofore.” 'T SEEMS to me that the latter type of writing is sorely needed and if for that reason alone I hope this new advance in the revolu- tionary literary front will be achieved. Despite the innumerable articles and reviews in both reyo- lutionary and liberal publications, the Marxist approach to literature still remains the most maligned and misrepresented and misunderstood method in contemporary criticism, I think Partisan Review has al- ready contributed some provocative articles on the subject—in pieces like Obed Brooks’ dissection of Mac- Leish, in the translation of Lukacs’ essay on the concept of propaganda in literature, and in the editorial by Rahv and Phelps on “Problems and Perspectives in Revolutionary Literature.” But even these have been scattered and fragmentary. I hope that Partisan Review, in its enlarged form, will devote a good deal of its space to clarifying the problems of the Marxist approach It seems to me that such writing will be valuable not only in correcting the misrepresen- tations spread by enemy critics who persist in viciously tackling the dummy that they think is the body of Marxian aesthetic; but also in acquainting the revolutionary read- ing audience as well as the revolu- tionary creative writer with these principles. For it seems to me that there are as many confusions over even elementary aspects of the Marxist approach to literature on the part of the audience and the creative author within the Amer- ican revolutionary literary move- ment as outside of it. nswers the store’s workers. To appear “im- partial” the Leader also carried an advertisement by the strikers. In such a situation the Daily Worker always fights only on the side of the Strikers. It throws open its pages to their statements free of charge, since it is not in the class struggle to make profits from striking work- ers, And with all its forces the Daily Worker fights with the work- ers until they carry their struggle to a victorious conclusion. nd A Question: Is it true, as the Octo- | ber issue of the “National Repub- lic” claims, that the Young Com- munist League of California sup- ported Upton Sinclair in the No< vember elections? Is there an ore ganized “Red Army” drilling to de~ stroy the government?—B. M. . . . Answer: The photostat published by the National Republic, the organ of a group of red-baiters, is of a forgery that was widely circulated during the California elections, Both the Y. C. L. and the Daily Worker exposed many such for- geries during the course of the campaign. There is no “Red Army” drilling to destroy the government. Com- munists do not advocate insurrece tions by small groups of conspir- ators. These were the methods eme {ployed by the anarchists against whose petty bourgeois doctrines Marxists alway fought. Communists believe in mass action. They or- ganize the workers and their allies around the issues of their imme~ diate needs, Through these day-to- day struggles they prepare the workers for their historic mission of destroying capitalism by the revolue tionary seizure’ of power. Now Playing in Newar. Only New Jersey Showing At Special Low Prices for ¢ All Workers THE SOVIET PICTURE YoU BEEN WAITING FOR €€Q SONGS ABOUT LENIN” Exactly as shown on Broadway 1 to 5 P.M. 30¢ sr 400 fo cise EXCEPT SAT., SUN. & HOLIDAYS LITTL TREA.—S#2 Broad St. Newark, §. J. HAVE | S—