The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 15, 1935, Page 5

‘ WJZ—Plantation Echoes; '——— Fy MICHAEL GOLD YOUNG proletarian writer of Canada writes in to complain that our Amer- ican Writers’ Congress has as yet not in- vited the Canadians. “H. F.” lives in the province of Ontario, and ruefully describes himself as the “author of various plays and stories that never went any- where.” Many Canadian workers and intellectuals have always felt that the American movement neglected them. They cannot help thinking it is due to some sort of superiority complex, a reflection of the upper-class imperialism. ‘The middle west of America feels the same way about New York and the east. And our Mex- ican, Cuban, Haitian and Porto Rican comrades would repeat the same story. It is a big empire that Wall Street rules, and we haven’t yet learned to build a united front of its “mainland” and its “colonies” to fight the supreme rulers. The Amer- ican workers are still provincial, this is part of their weakness. They haven’t yet learned that a battle in Havana is as important to their own lives as a strike in San Francisco. But the Wall Street exploiters know it; the way battleships are rushed to the scene shows their sensitivity toward the problems. * . * A Literary Appendage be: IS STILL shockingly true,” continues H. F. “that Canada is only a literary appendage of the United States. Particularly is this true of our revolutionary writers. Certainly no one who at- tempts to write anything at odds with the strong theological tradition of our bourgeois literature | Artists’ Problems LITTLE LEFTY WALY “TILL “THEY SEE THESE POSTERS | BROUGHY/ BETCHR DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1935 Just a Little Detail! GENTLEMEN! a LILOKEN OF NY ‘GTEEM ANO ‘PRECI WHAT A SWELL PICTURE To ATION / Yowsau! Find Expression In ‘Art Front’ ART FRONT—Organ of the Artists’ Union and the Artists’ Committee of Action, cents, Reviewed by JACOB KAINEN iN°z So long ago, artists confined | | 4% their wrath against existing*con- ditions to the issuing of literarious | | manifestoes. These documents set | forth one esoteric doctrine or an-; | other as the nostrum for settling all| problems. Some were vaporously | mystical. Some enriched the tech- nical equipment of the artist. Some | were revolutionary, both from the | social and plastic points of view. | Yet, at one time, they all performed necessary spade work and broke the ground for a broader and more ma- ture method of voicing the needs of Feb: , 1935, Five! spruary, 1985. Five’ New Husband Is Would-! Be Fascist Le ader of Coughlin Stripe By Philip Sterling ORIS DUKE, whose - fabulous riches have made her a fabulous personage at 22, has become a fas- cist princess by marriage. The newspapers of the land took proper cognizance of the event on Wednesday. For a few editions the Hauptmann trial,the ill-fated Macon and Mussolini’s attack on Abyssinia were overshadowed by the reports of her marriage to James Henry Rob- would think of sending it to a Canadian publisher. | the artists. The Artists’ Union is|€tts Cromwell, step-son of E, T. “Neither have we any magazines where we can function. We must look to the United States here, also, but then we come into competition with all you fellows, and naturally, you are mort interested in material dealing with your country than ours. “There is great hope for a Canadian reyolu- tionary literature, however. We have no bourgeois literary background to overcome, no native literary tradition to speak of. It is virgin soil, and we can build from the ground up. But give us some attention and help; it’s what we most need at the present moment. And you must invite Canada to your congress, and give our problems a place on the agenda. Maybe we can learn something at such a conyention that will help us in our own struggle for a Canadian literature in the interests of the working class.” * * . No Bed of Roses ELL, there isn’t a doubt that Canada will not only be invited, but discussed, at the Writers’ Congress. As will Mexico, Cuba, and the Caribbean coun-. tries. One of the chief values of such a congress is that it creates a new solidarity, and gives each participant a living sense of his own wide prole- tarian world: Comrade H. F. has other complaints to make, and they sound familiar enough—the fact that the practical organizers do not understand the function of a writer in the movement, and seem determined to turn all writers away from writing, redeeming them into organizers. The only answer to that, is to go on writing and writing. Our young writers, many of them, get discouraged much too easily for those who have taken the proud title of revolutionary. This movement is no bed of roses for anyone. Do our young writers think that the older writers arc being pampered, or given any special privileges? Do they think having your revolutionary novels or poems published helps much to pay the butcher or landlord? Or that having critics discuss you at length solves your writing problems for you? Writing is a “lonesome” job, and in the last | analysis, always demands a great deal of personal persistence and courage. Some of the writers in New York and Chicago get some stimulus in meet- ing with other writers, find courage from knowing they have loyal comrades who must meet the same struggle. The young writers, like the Canadian comrade, who are isolated in smaller communities miss this comradeship, this mutual discussion. But they must not exaggerate its importance. Often it becomes a handicap to writing; the New York cafeterias are filled with the writeless writers, people who talk by the yard very glibly about literature, and have no time to do any work. TUNING IN 7:00 P.M.-WEAF—Paying the Bonus—Representative Wright Patman of Texas WOR—Sports Resume—Stan Lomax ‘WJZ—Amos ’n’ Andy Froman, Songs; Bob Hope, WABC—Oourt of Human Relations 9:00-WEAF—Lyman Orches- tra; Frank Munn, Tenor; Vivienne Segal, Songs WOR—Hillbilly Music WJZ—Beatrice Lillie, Come- dienne WABC—March of Time— 9:30-WEAP—Bonime Orches- Pic and Pat, Come- dians Woreal and Lee Reiser, iano WJZ—Beatrice Lillie, Come- dienne WABC—Hollywood Hotel— Sketch, with Dick Powell, Fio-Rita Orchestra, and others }-WOR—Singin’ Sam :00-WEAF—Dramatic Sketch WOR—Kemp Orchestra WJZ—Dramatic Sketch 10:15-WOR—Current Events— H. E. Read 10:30-WEAF—Symphony Or- ehestra, Prank Black, Con- ductor; Mixed Chorus; Conrad Thibault, Baritone WOR—Pasternack Orchestra WSZ—Jewish Program; Rab- Black Chamber WOR—Lum and Abner— Robison Orch.; Southern- aires Quartet WABC—Just Plain Bill 1:30-WEAF—Hirsch Orch. WOR—Mystery Sketch WJZ—Red Davis—Sketch WABC—The O’Neills—Sketch 1:45-WEAF—Uncle Ezra— WOR—Front-Page Drama WJZ—Dangerous Paradise WABC—Boake Carter, Com- mentator 8:00-WEAFP—Bourdon Orch.; Jessica Dragonette, So- prano; Male Quartet WOR—Lone Ranger—Sketch WJZ—Dramatic Sketch, with Irene Rich, Actress WABC—The Changing Posi- tion of Women—Mrs. Frenklin D. Roosevelt 8:15-WJZ—ArmbrusterOrch.; Mary Courtlandt, Songs; bi_Israel Goldstein Male Quartet WABO—The O’Flynn—Mus- WABC—Edwin ©. Hill, Com- ical Drama mentator 8:30-WOR-—-Kataman Orch.; Lucille Peterson, Songs; Choristers Quartet WJZ—Goodman Orch.; Jane 11:00-WEAF—Talk—George Holmes, Chief Washing- ton Bureau, INS WOR—News ‘WJZ—Dance Orchestra For the First Time in English LUDWIG FEUERBACH The classic exposition of dialectical materialism, for the first time in complete, ungarbled English translation, It includes ~~ = = ——~—=—° other material by Marx | International Publishers, 381 Fourth Avenue, and Engels on dialectical | New York. materialism. Lenin recommended | pumtestions, “Please, Send Feuerbach as “the hand- me your catalogue and book of every class-con- , book news. scious worker,” rating it inte with the Communist Mani- | eae festo. 1 Address .... seenennsnnnnnessas INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHERS 481 FOURTH AVENUE NEW YORK, N. Y. the organizational form into which | these early gropings have crystal- | lized, and Art Front, its organ, fol- | lows their best fighting traditions basis. A great deal of space is devoted to | annihilating Mayor LaGuardia’s | Committee of 100 and to exposing | | his cynical sidetracking of the Mu- nicipal Art Center issue. Not only | is the cover of Art Front an abstract | of the Federation of Architects plan | |for an Art Center, which, by the | way, makes for a very handsome} | cover design, but a whole set of architectural plans are included, two substantial drawings and an article. The plans and the article are of little af, but the drawings by Gropper and Shahn are dev- astating. Alfred Sinks’ “Potted Palms and Public Art,” which deals with LaGuardia’s Committee of 100, | suffers from an excess of imma- ture humor. LaGuardia is con- stantly referred to as “the Dream- \er,” and the language generally is “sarcastic” and circumlocutory. | “On Work Relief,” the contribu- | | tion of Project Committee 259, deals with the tactics of the College Art Association in trying to prevent or- | ganization on the projects. The | devious schemes hatched by the offi- | cials of the association makes for | amusing as well as instructive) | reading. Art Front has a real scoop in| “Surrealist Revolution — Counter- | | Clockwise.” It concerns itself with | the recent resignation of the execu- | tive director and a department | chairman from the staff of the Mu- | | scum of Modern Art to begin the jorganization of a fascist party. | Some of the misadventures which befell them in the process will stir | | up laughter to say the least, Stuart Davis tackles the American Realists and brings them down hard. Commenting on “The U. S. Scene in Art” as put forth in Time Magazine, Davis exposes the shal- Jow nature of the American Realists and points out their chauvinist character. In a style that is strictly dynamite,, Davis proves that they really mean Hearst's "New York American Scene.” “DADA FOR PROPAGANDA” is a fine Marxist analysis of the origin and meaning of Surrealism as the stabilization of Dada in post- | war Europe. Jerome Klein shows how Dadaism was launched as an anti-bourgeois movement, how Sur- realism inherited its “anarchic im- pulsiveness,” and how Surrealism, through its spokesman, Andre Bre- ton, finally “aecepted” dialectical materialism. Klein believes that Surrealism is “neurotically in- capable of giving .. . a point of leverage in the real world,” and, because of this, may be incapable of projecting a revolutionary class- consciousness. Elliot Paul contributes a well- informed article, tracing the devel- opment of satire in Spanish art up to Quintanilla. Paul swings a left hook in passing at Hemingway, who contends that American artists should not presume to do satirical work until they have passed through a revolution. “Did you ever have a horse shot from under you?” Moses Soyer reviews Moses Soyer's show at Kleemann’s favor- ably, and also comments on the Sec- ond Whitney Biennial of American Art. Soyer warns against the chau- vinism bound up in the slogan “Paint America,” but urges artists to paint the American scene in its true class-values. The Commercial Artists section of the Artists’ Union issues its pro- gram, which includes wage scales and hours for employed artists, ap- prontices, unemployed artists and free-lance artists. Clarence Wein- stock contributes a letter on Salva- dor Dali. T should like to see Art Front deal at greater length on specific in- stances of the degradation of art and the humiliation of artists by the administration. Also, facts and figures of unemployment among artists in the United States can clearly show how slim the outlook for artists is under capitalism. Anna Sokolow’s Group The group of dancers led by Anna Sokolow, which was organ- ized by her as The Theatre Union Dance Group, has Dey one an independent group, ited with the Workers’ Dance League. a on a more concrete and practical | 9 Stotesbury. Doris Duke, known to her more intimate friends as “Dee Dee” is heiress to $30,000,000 of the $133,- 000,000 estate (excluding real estate) left by her tobacco king-father, | “Buck” James Buchanan Duke, last | of the robber barons. : Famous for Parties The bridegroom, famous for his parties and his athletic inclinations, has more recently turned to the serious business of organizing fas- cist groups. He is a leading member of the fascist Committee for the Nation, fountainhead of the inflationary and anti-working class policies preached by the arch-demagogue, Father Charles Coughlin. Crom- well is quite intimate with Cough- lin. Inflation, by the way, would greatly increase the value of the vast real estate holdings which Cromwell found on his hands when the Florida land boom bubble burst in his face, Mr. Cromwell is not only endowed | with social graces, he is a writer on economics and politicis as well. Cromwell Wrote a Book He is the author of a slim but serious-minded volume, “The Voice of Young America,” in which he lectures with severity “the parasitic rich.” had no compunctions about marry- ing the richest girl in the world. The final touch ot perfection was given to the nuptials by the person of the official who performed the ceremony—Supreme Court Justice Burt J. Humphrey, who gained last- ing infamy last week by signing the injunction which forbids cooperative organizational action between the longshoremen’s union and the truckmen’s union. “Dee Dee” wouldn’t know about that, however. She has led a clois- tered existence since infancy under the sheltering wing of her mother, Nanaline Holt (Inman) Duke, her- Self one of the fairest flowers of Southern aristocracy from way back. Such nun-like protection has been necessary, the newspapers explained at great length, because “the richest | girl in the world” is an attractive prize for lesser parasites than her- self. Perhaps the more interesting of The following sketch is based on the story of Lorenzo Brown, 41 year-old unemployed Negro, who was beaten to death by the Bridgeport police on January 2nd. | —EDITOR. E WAS New Year's Eve in the So- cialist-governed city of Bridge- port, Conn, In a side street down near the end of town was where Lorenzo Brown resided. Colored. Unem- ployed. “Huddled up on a chair he sat by the window and looked out. The wind thumped against the pane but it was not heard. It sneaked in through the cracks and settled on the walls. Lorenzo Brown turned in his chair, the black fullness of the room pushed itself against his face, He raised his arm and pressed it against his eyes. Then slowly he arose, this Lorenzo Brown, and stood outlined in the light that rose from the street. He felt hot flashes run through his body. And he thought it funny—his body so warm and the vapor coming from his mouth. Like a tea kettle, or a skittle full of coffee. It was to bed for him, to rest for him; so he could be strong for the morrow and stronger for the morn after the morrow. i& was then they were coming, the lawful agents of the aged town of Bridgeport, Conn. Oh yes, he was to be evicted. On Wednesday morning, January 2, he was to be evicted. They would come, two or three of them, and Place his possessions on the street for ail to see. The relief administrator had looked. up at him and shook his head. You live alone Brown, he said. You know we can’t heip you. You single ones will have to get along without the city’s aid. Why don't you go and raise yourself a family and then come back to me. That's what he said, the relief ad- —FANO HERE'S ONE ABOUT “THE SCOTT BORO BOYS By Marriage "SYenu! we're h {ALL Ser Excerr] |FOR ONE LITTLE How aBouT Some MEMBERS 72? World's Richest Girl Becomes — Mawrice Susar’s Fascist Princess the two, however, is the dashing bridegroom, referred to by the newspapers as “young.” (A man is young at thirty-eight when he has lived the life of a well-nurtured scion of the ruling class, A man is old at forty-five if he’s applying for a job in a Detroit auto factory or a Pennsylvania coal mine.) Mr. Cromwell's close association with Father Coughlin came to an embarrassing climax recently when the reverend father boasted that Cromwell gave him inside informa- tion on the banking situation, Mr. Cromwell denied that he had said anything on the subject to Father Coughlin, and then Father Coughlin explained it was all a mis- take because he had never said any such thing anyhow. Which explains why, with | | typical Fascist clear-mindedness, he | With the calculating, misleading | “radicalism” always employed by | fascists, Mr. Cromwell proclaims | himself a reformer. He wants to | chastise the rich and help the poor, | downtrodden masses, but here is | how he wants to do it: Has Fascist Program | Reduction of payments to veter- |ans, the end of government “agri- | cultural subsidies” to farmers, (even though poor farmers are getting lit- |e enough as it is), He attacks ployment relief. | Like other fascist spokesmen seek- jing to tighten the tether of terror- ism about the neck of the American | working class, he calls for a na-| | tional Police force. He anticipated the New Deal, one newspaper re- | ports, by denouncing the gold stand- |ard, which means he wants infla- |tion, and Mr. Cromwell's interest |in inflation has already been in- | dicated. | It is easy to see that such “radi- |calism.” closely akin to the “radi- j calism” of Oswald Mosley and | Adolph Hitler, is not calculated to jbar him from the social register or |from the dinner tables of the four | hundred. | Pity Poor “Dee Dee” | “Dee Dee's” story is a little differ- ent. Don’t think that being the $$. Lorenzo Brown By Nathan Fein |ministrator, and he laughed. He went home that night and told it to his wife, and she laughed. Every- body laughed, he observed, but that Brown man. Why, damn those nig- Bers, he then thought, they ain’t even got a sense of humor, + ee Were dawned, Lorenzo Brown fled. Away from the cold stove and its cold ashes; from the frigid draft and from the bed. He was chased from home and sent out cn the street. He*ran from there in shame. From that street to an- Other street. But the icy hand still clutched him at the throat. He was choking. The blood was rushing from his head, and his legs were bending beneath him. And then he fell; and lay for a moment. Apprehensive hands raised him to his feet, For a moment he swayed unsteadily and then he moved on. He passed a railroad station and then walked in. He bought a ticket to New Haven and sat down to wait for his train. Lorenzo Brown looked up from his bench and there were creased faces looking down at him. There was ® woman. Her face was almost upon him. He could see her open mouth. Her teeth were strangely white. What was she saying? Who was shaking him? What was it? These two policemen. What was it? , C'mon buddy. Get up on your feet. C'mon buddy: Yes, officer, I saw him first. No, I was first, Well, there he was, swaying as he sat. Don’t forget he was talking. Yes, he was talking to himself. C’mon buddy. Lorenzo Brown stood up. What's the trouble? he asked. The policeman’s mouth was open dust keep quiet, buddy. You better come with us. C’mon buddy. Lorenzo Brown shook himself ‘away. What'd you say, suh? t Doris Duke—Heiress of Tobacco Millions, | public works as a means of unem-| richest girl in the world, and being | very good-looking besides, accord- ing to reports, hasn’t its cares and responsibilities. | | “Dee Dee” has inherited from her | tobacco-king father, a weakness for thrift and the “bargaining instinct” —not to be confused with collective | bargaining, on which her set frowns. | And speaking of collective bar- |gaining, “Dee Dee” received a sig- | nificant wedding gift directly from | | the N.R.A., which, a few days prior | to her marriage put into effect a| |mew code for the tobacco industry. The code now pays forty cents an | |hour to some workers, thirty-five | cents an hour to others, thirty cents to a much larger group, and twenty-five cents an hour for an-| other large group. | Doris is no giddy debutante. She | doesn’t mind wearing a three-year- old bathing suit (no holes) but, she complains: | “I wish I could go into a store and shop for things just as a girl. When people know who you are,| | prices usually go up twice as high | to start with. People wouldn’t have | money long if they didn’t ask how much things cost and then refuse to buy half of them.” It's No Cinch Then there’s another difficulty. | She is exclusive not only in the so- cial register sense but in the fact that she has never been a child laborer nor one of America’s 200,000 | homeless youths since the depres- | Sion. Consequently she has grown straight and very tall—a head taller | jin fact than Barbara Mdivani Hut- | ton. Because of this her choice of | agreeable dancing partners is sadly | limited. | All of the foregoing should ex- plain why the marriage of the rich- | jest girl in the world to a would-be |fascist leader is treated by the) papers as news of world-shaking im- portance, far more so than the Con- | gressional hearings on the Workers’ | Unemployment Insurance Bill or} |the trial of eighteen California | _working class leaders for criminal ‘ syndicalism. ORE uniformed men arrived.| Four, to be exact. One of them took charge. What is this, he asked. | Push back these people, he ordered. | Quick, men, push these people back. | He was a beefy-faced man, this man in charge. He raised his Shoulders and shifted his belt. | Well, man, he said to Lorenzo | Brown, you come with us. We'll take care of you. I ain’t going, suh. ticket to New Haven. to New Haven. You come with us, said the man |in charge. He raised his shoulders, |shifted his belt, and stepped in to! grab Lorenzo Brown. | You can't do this, cried the) Negro. I'm going to stay here. And |as he pushed the beefy-faced one jaway his black hand grazed the | | white man’s cheek. I've got a I must go! une a | 'HERE were six of them and they set upon him. He was mauled. He was belabored and pommeled. | They struck and thrashed him. | When he fell to the floor they | kicked him. Then they pulled him | to his feet and carried him to the | wagon. His feet were lifeless and his ankles scraped the walk. | The patrol wagon with its numb- ing siren carried the unconscious form to the station house. It paused there for a few minutes and then | left for the hospital; the Emergency Hospital. But it was too late, Lo- renzo Brown died. The blood ceased to run from the open wounds. The | Pain ceased to wrack the helpless | body. Lorenzo Brown died. And | an orderly filched the ticket to New | Haven. | The police say he was slightly de- | }vanged. They ought to know. He was beaten by them. The coroner | | Says he had a weak heart. Workers | say he was murdered. They know and the authorities will be made to know too—soon, | hii nit EA AS Brilliant Defense | Of James Victory A NEGRO ON TRIAL FOR HIS LIFE. Speech to Jury by Counsel for Defense, Maurice Sugar. Is- sued by Committee for Maurice Sugar for Judge of Recorder's Court, 1010 Barium Tower, De- treit. Price, 5 cents. Reviewed by A. B. MAGIL IS is a document of first-rate importance. It is important be- cause it tells the story of the frame-up of a Detroit Negro worker, James Victory, which attracted nationwide attention—a frame-up that was defeated. It is important because it is an eloquent defense of Negro rights and a blow against | the system of persecution and op- pression of the Negro people. It is important because it is a model of labor defense technique—of the use of the courts to expose the capital- ist frame-up system, to accuse the | accusers. And it is important be- cause it sheds light on the charac- ter of a man who for more than 20 | years has been an_ outstanding fighter for the rights of labor and who today is a candidate for the office of judge in the very court in which this trial took place. I was present at the trial. last summer when Maurice Sugar made this speech to the jury. There was | at stake the life of a man—a sen- tence of guilty would have meant life imprisonment for James Vie- | tory. I recall the tremendous im- | pression that speech made on the crowded courtroom. In cold type) it loses none of its eloquence, none | of the passion of its denunciation of the persecution of the Negro | masses, none of the calm logic and | irony with which it tore to shreds the entire fabric of this vicious frame-up. James Victory was accused of | having attacked and robbed a white woman on the night of May | 12, 1934. He was arrested after a | frenzied man-hunt, whipped on by the Hearst newspaper, the Detroit Times, during which the police ar- | rested every Negro seen in a white neighborhood. Despite the fact that | there wasn’t the. slightest evidence against Victory, that the “iden- tification” was obviously framed, that witness after witness, both black and white, testified to his ac- tivities on the evening in question and to his unimpeachable charac- ter, this innocent Negro worker would, as he himself declares in a | statement on the opening page of the pamphlet, most certainly have been railroaded to life imprison- | ment had it not 2een for the splen- did fight put up in his behalf by Maurice Sugar and the protest | campaign organized by the Interna- | tional Labor Defense. | pet ' | Neat and again Sugar protested | the attempts to bar Negroes | from the courtroom. Toward the | end, after again warning the jury | against race prejudice, against be- ing “influenced by stories that came from the poisoned press,” he de- scribed the double exploitation of | | the Negro workers and pointed to | the way out. In this case, as in hunareds of | other labor cases, Maurice Sugar | served without fee. Today, under the slogan of “All Labor Unites to Elect a Fighter,” practically the en- | tire Detroit labor movement, in- | cluding the Detroit and Wayne County Federation of Labor (A. F. | of L.), Mechanics’ Educational So- | ciety of America, the Society of | Designing Engineers, the Trade Union Unity League, the Commu- nist Party, etc., has in fact united | to place him where he can even more effectively serve the workers. That's a hard thing to do in a city dominated by the open shop auto companies, but it can be done. | This pamphlet, distributed in thou- sands of copies, especially among the Negro people, will help to do it. Recommend February Issue of ‘Communist’ To Trade Unionists Earl Browder's articie, “New Developments and New Tasks in the U.S.A.,” is a brilliant sum- mary of the recent course of economic and political events, and the tasks which. as a result. face the working class end its yanguard, The Communist Party, at the present moment. This article is published in the February issue of “The Commu- nist.” Together with the Central Committee Resolution (also printed in this issue), it is basic Suiding material for the carry- ing out of the main tasks of the Party today. Though sharply analytical the article is simple and clear and pre-eminently readable. It is required reading for every worker who wishes to under- stand and carry out his revolu- tionary job today. It is sug- gested that every reader of the Daily Worker bring this issue of “The Communist” to a fellow worker in his shop or trade union. Page 5 Questions and Answers This department appears daily on the feature page. Al! questions shouid be addressed to “Ques- tions and Answers,’ c/o Daily Worker, 50 East 13th Street, New York City. . * . Growth of the Communist Party 4 Question: How much has the Communist Party grown during the crisis years?—B. K. Answer: The membership of the Communist Party has more than quadrupled in the period 1930-1934, rising from a membership of about 7,500 to over 31,000. The following table taken from the report of Earl Browder to the Eighth Convention | of the Communist Party indicates the steady growth of the Part; 1931— t half 8,339 dues paying 1931—Second half 9,219 dues paying members 1932—First half ..12,936 dues paying members 1932—Second half 14,474 dues paying members 1933—First half ..16,814 dues paying members 1933—Second half 19,165 dues paying members 1934—First half ..24,000 dues paying members 1934—Second half 31,500 dues paying members It is clear from these figures that as a result of the correct political pol s of the Party, the membership is increasing steadily. It is significant that the largest and most decisive period of growth has been in the past year. It was during this period that the main body of the Party member- ship began to seriously study their work in the light of the Open Letter of 1933. With the sube sequent mastery of its principles the Party ens tered into a period of greater and more rapid growth This does not mean that the Party is come pletely satisfied with the progress to date. It is striving to cut down the curse of fluctuation by better organizational work. It is developing better recruiting methods. The inner life of the units is being raised to a higher level of political de- velopment In this way, by better work on®the inside of the Party, and better work among the masses in all their struggles, the Communist Party is marching towards its goal of becoming a mass revolutionary party rooted in the factories and in every organization and activity of the workers, members Foreign Concessions in Soviet Union Question: Did the Soviet government grant con- cessions to foreign firms during the period before the Five Year Plan? If they did, are any of them still operating?—M. K., Michigan. Answer: During the NEP period, 1921-1928, the Soviet Government granted a few concessions to foreign firms. The latter paid the Soviet Govern- ment royalties on their operations. They were heid strictly responsible for maintaining wages and conditions as laid down in the Soviet labor laws. These conditions had to be suitable to the work ers and were formulated by them through the So- viet Government and the trade unions. These concessions were an unimportant part of Soviet economy. With the rapid socialization of industry they were terminated by the Soviet Gov- ernment, and at present there are no foreign firms operating concessions in the U. 8S. 8. R. It is significant to note that the few conces- sions that were operated never did so at the ex- pense of the conditions and wages of the Soviet workers. This contrasts sharply with the experi- ences of workers in capitalist countries where foreign capitalists, not only exploit the workers of a par- ticular country, but are backed up by the full force of the native capitalist state. In the United States, for example, strikers of foreign owned plants fare just as badly as those who strike against a native capitalist. And similarly the workers in plants owned abroad by American capitalists, are made the victims of a governmental attack if they strike against their American bosses. Short Wave Radio HE fascists and the war mongers are doing @ beautiful job below the broadcast band. The United States Naval Reserve and the Army Amateur Reserve System, two highly important cogs in the war machine, are widely advertised and recruited for by the American Radio Relay League, an or- ganization supposedly devoted to the best interests of the amateur. These youth versed in radio operate ing are fast being rounded up in the preparations for a new blood bath. It would not be amiss to remember that immediately preceding the entry of the United States into the World War, the A. R. Ry L, upon receiving a call from the War Department gathered un and delivered over to the army and navy about ten thousand men to fill posts absolutely neeessary for entrance into war. To quote from the January, 1935, issue of QST, the official organ of the A. R. R. L.: “Since that time (1929) this organization (U. S. N. R.) has de- veloped into a large and efficient group of more than five thousand officers and men owning and operating two thousand licensed amateur stations and thirty-two Naval Reserve control stations—a splendid organization toward which the eyes of many nations of the world are turned in envy and emulation.” This recruiting and drill work of the reserves is going on in a band of frequencies supposedly as- signed for the development of a hobby and radio experimentation. 65 Thus, the task of all class-conscious workers in= terested in radio is to make serious efforts to coun- teract the militarizing activities of the A. R. R. Ly Officials by definitely aligning themselves with worke ing class radio organizations. The Short Wave Radio Club of Manhattan for one has taken the stand and adopted a policy against war and fascism, x * * The Short Wave Radio Club of Manhattan: Full time hq at 124 West 21st Street. Member- ship meetings Fridays, 7:30 p. m. till midnight. Lecture tonite on superhets. Executive meetings Wednesdays, 8 p. m. The American Youth Club radio groun of 1813 Pitkin Avenue, Brooklyn, meets Tuesday nights. The Bensonhurst-Bay Ridge Club mests Fricars 9 p. m., Sundays, 12 noon and ‘Wednesdays, 8 p, m. at the home of M. Starkopy, apt. D-3, 30 Bay 25th Street, Brooklyn. The American Craftsmen’s Guild radio division is meeting with the other divisions Sundays, 2 p. m. at the home of the organizer, I. Phillips, 138 Floyd Street. This week, lecture by Fogel on Thermionic Vacuum Tubes. Massin reports the receiver to have been put in fb condition. Code practice every night. The other div sions of the ACG at the present are: Machinists’, Photo, and Internal Combustion Engine. The equipment to date comprises a lathe, drill press, grinder, slide projector, two cameras (including a graflex), Evinrude 2 cyl. marine en- gine, 6 cyl. Studebaker motor, etc, Donations and new members welcome, - i