The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 16, 1935, Page 5

McLevy Ring ‘United To Jail 3 Anti-Nazis With Boss Parties in Court Trial By The undisguised nature of the united front of the Socialist leaders, Democrats and Republicans in Bridgeport was certainly shown to be a perfectly natural arrangement, in time of need, when the Socialist Mayor, Republican police chief and democratic judge got together to frame up and convict three of us for Sam Krieger our part in the anti-Nazi demon- | stration of last October. Six of us were originally arrested On charges of “breach of peace” when the Bridgeport branch of the American League Against War and Fascism, together with other or- ganizations, decided to hold a street corner meeting without a police permit near a concert hall where the German Consul General of New York, Dr. Hans Borcher, was sched- uled to deliver a speech. The charges against three were thrown out in the lower court while | three of us received fines of $25 and costs. When the International Labor Defense brought the case up for trial in the Common Court of Appeals, it was quite clear that the Socialist city administration had decided to take an open stand against working-class demonstra- tions and would show the landlords and bosses that they had no sym- pathy with militant working-class actions, Mayor McLevy openly tes- tified on the witness stand that he had refused to interfere with the police ruling prohibiting the anti- | Nazi meeting because of his well- | known stand of “keeping politics out of the police department.” Sec- ondly, the Socialist leader executive head of the city, declared that he believed in free speech for everybody and that “you were going | to make trouble for other people.” | These two reasons were the only } ones given by McLevy to justify his and the police’s action in preventing | the anti-Nazi meeting. The former I,L.D. attorney the new city Schwartz, however, unintentionally exposed the fact that the City Hall had taken a great deal of interest in the affairs of the police depart- and | ment with regard to the anti-Nazi | meeting. Schwartz had written a | long letter to the American Civil Liberties Union in New York in | reply to their inquiries, that the Bridgeport police were willing to let us hold the protest meeting near the hall where the Nazi agent was to speak but not in front of the hall. Schwartz stated that the American League Against War and Fascism had, however, insisted on a permit for a meeting directly in front of the hall so the permit was denied. Forced into Damaging Admission The Superintendent of Police, Wheeler, however, did not make any such excuses, had applied for a permit to hold a meeting at least 300 feet away from the concert hall; but he wanted us to go at least four blocks away to | make our. protest. It is clear, therefore, that the city attorney lied to cover up the police action of brutally breaking up an | anti-Nazi gathering and arresting | six workers for “breach of peace” in the bargain. It is clear also that ment DID get together to deny Bridgeport workers the right of free speech and assemblage; the right demand the release of Ernst Thael- mann and other victims of German Fascism. The American Civil Liberties Union officially interested itself in the case and assigned its Connec- ticut representative to work with the International Labor Defense in the campaign for our release after our conviction in the Court of Ap- peals. However, in the report of its findings, although condemning the police permit system prevailing in the “Socialist” city of Bridgeport and the brutality used by the police in breaking up the meeting, the American Civil Liberties Union de- clared that the police may have been justified in denying us a per- mit if they thought that our meet- ing was near enough to the concert hall to disturb the Nazi meeting. Whereupon the newspapers imme- diately headlined the American Civil Liberties Union's report: “New \ York Civil Liberties body justifies “police action.” So that by its equivocable position, the American Civil Liberties Union played into the hands of the police department and the City Administration by pro- viding them with a complete white- wash, Campaign Broadened The suppression of the rights of the workers under a “Socialist ad- ministration as shown in this case has resulted in drawing many new supporters to the Communist Party and the workers’ mass organizations who, heretofore, were still under the impression that McLevy Was an honest Socialist at heart. Many honest rank and file Socials, Party members joined in the campaign for our release and some stated openly that the workers’ rights are not secure under a “Socialist” ad- ministration. It must be plain es- pecially to the rank and file of the Socialist Party in Bridgeport, that while their leadership does not per- mit unity of action between Social- ist and Communist workers in the fight egainst war and fascism, nevertheless, the Socialist Party leaders have no hesitation in unit- ing with the agents of the Demo- cratic and Republican parties in crushing such workers’ struggles as may take place. The latest Bridge- port anti-fascist demonstration has ‘, shown that the united front of the . \ workers must be welded immediately jin Bridgeport precisely because the Socialist Party leadership has al- ready supported the united front of the bosses. Met on Common Ground | and | attorney, Harry) He admitted that we | City Hall and the police depart- | to protest against Hitlerism and to | | | DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 19. MUSSOLINI MOBILIZES TROOPS TO INVADE ABYSSIN The Italian soldiers are shown parading in Rome just before leaving for Africa, where their fascist tyrant has ordered them for an a ttack against the people of Abyssinia, Maria Reese, Trotzkyite, Now Turns Fascist and Makes Call For Nazi War Against U.S.S.R. Trotzkyite Sheet in U. S. Publishes Her Vicious Attack on the Communist Party of Germany and Praises It Highly as in Complete Harmony With Its Counter-Revolutionary Program Maria Reese, the Trotskyite who was touted and praised so highly by the American agents of the counter-revolutionary Trotsky, has now turned Fascist, and is openly calling for a Nazi war against the Soviet Union. The Trotskyite sheet in this country | published her vicious attack on | the Communist Party of Ger- many, praising it highly as com- pletely in harmony with Trotsky- ism, It was even circulated by them in pamphlet form, so well did it fit in with their aims. The same Trotskyite Maria Reese is now an agent of Hitler, and schooled by Trotsky’s oounter- revolutionary attack on the Soviet Union, is a valuable assistant to Herr Goebbels and Goering in their war incitement and war preparation against the workers’ fatherland. In an intreduction to Maria Reese’s pamphlet published in En- glish, Trotsky himself enthusiast- ically defends her against the ac- cusations of the Communist Party of Germany. Trotsky writing against the accusations of the Communist Party more than one year ago that Maria Reese was a police agent of Hitler: “The resolution adopted in the name of the German Communist Party. . . accuses Maria Reese of ‘rendering aid to the government of Hitler and thus delivering to the latter, party members and sympathisers.’ . . . Maria Reese is expelled’ for her courageous open letter, that is, after she her~ self broke with the Comintern.” He then calls for the circulation of the “open letter” of this Nazi stool pigeon “in all languages” to all workers. We print below an article ex- posing the Nazi-Trotskyite Maria Reese, and the story of her attack on the Communist Party of Ger- many and the Communist Inter- tional. By ERWIN BRAUER social democratic member of the | Reichstag, Marie Reese, who joined | the Communist Party of Germany | for a short time, was expelled from our ranks, and went over to the | Trotskyists, on Thursday evening, January 10, three days before the | Saar plebiscite, broadcasted from |the Munich Wireless Station a | shameful speech, which was relayed | by all the German stations, in which she attacked the Soviet Union, en- thusiastically praised the Nazi regime in the Third Reich and, | amidet the howl of applause of the | brown terrorists, appealed to the | working people of the Saar to vote |for union with the brown Reich, | She venomously attacked the peo- | ple of the Soviet Union, called for a | | fight against “red imverialism” and | ‘red militarism.” and told a lot of \1 | persecution in the Soviet Union. | This agent of Trotsky, who has been bought by the German secret police, | did not shrink from coneluding her | chauvinistic speech with the words: | “Deutschland, Deutschland ueber alles in der Welt!” Maria Reese, the apt pupil of Mr. | Trotsky, the propagandist of war of |intervention against the Soviet Union, has consistently followed her path to the end. She has drawn the | logical conclusions from the teach- \ings of Trotsky and openly | over to the side of fascism, of open | counter-revolution, whom Trotsky, | year in and year out, has supplied | with intellectual weapons from his larsenal. Whilst the Nikolayevs, the | Kotolynovs, and their | sought by the shot fited at Kirov, to | deliver a blow at triumphant social- | ist construction on a sixth of the globe, the poisonous propaganda of |the Trotskyist Maria Reese is the | continuation and supplement of this |attack, for by her anti-Soviet in- |citement she rouses the mass fol- | lowers of fascism in Germany to | still greater chauvinism, eggs on the | German warmongers to intervention | against the fatherland of the toilers; ies about starvation and religious | gone | consorts, | and sought by her speech to per- | suade the people of the Saar to enter the prison house of the Third Reich. The abominable speech of Maria | Reese, which was broadcasted by | all the German wireless stations, is | simply the logical conclusion follow- ing from the Trotskyist arguments. |It is a confession of the complete bankruptcy of the German agency of Trotskyism; it is a warning sig- nal, especially for our social-demo- cratic class comrades, not to listen to the siren tones of this counter- revolutionary group. not to form a “new party,” a “Fourth Interna- tional.” We would particularly remind our social democratic comrades that Trotsky said some months ago: “The Comintern wishes to con- vert Europe into a fascist con- centration camp.” (Unser Wort,” Number 12.) Let us remember | that Trotsky called our hero George Dimitrov a coward, that he declared the slogan “Save Thael- mann” to be false and “unrevolu- tionary,” that he designated the Soviet Union as a land of “national reaction” and of “national conserva- tive degeneration,” that he de- scribed the Communist International as “a brake on the revolution” (Unser Wort,” No. 12). We remem- ber that Trotsky made the vile as- | sertion that the Communist Inter- national and the Communist Party | of Germany were to blame for the | victory of fascism in Germany. In No. 10 of their paper the Trotsky- | ists characterized the appeal of our |Party to combat, by the distribution | Of leaflets, by movement of resis- tance and mass actions, the despo- | tism of the employers, as a “criminal | slogan of the Sialinists.” They de- |clared, and still declare, that fas- cism has destroyed the working | class as a social power, that the | working class has not the strength | to defend itself, let alone to go over to the attack for the overthrow of On January 10 Trotskyism dem- | she supplies the German warmon-| fascism, Instead of that the Trots- onstrated to the German working class, and especially to the German social democratig workers, the depth to which it has sunk. The former | gers with weapons from the Trots- kyist arsenal, brings grist to the mill of the German warmongers, who wish to attack the Soviet Union, kyists raise the question: “Are the Nazis more revolutionary?” (No. 5, “Unser Wort”). And the thesis was put forward that up to now fascism TROTZKYITES SPLI AST July, with the end off the general strike in San Francisco; the powerful em- ployers unloosed a reign of terror against the working class throughout California. At that time, over 300 ar- rests were made in San Fran- cisco on the charge of “va- grancy”; and in Sacramento, center of the rich agricultural field, all workers identified with the militant working class movement were picked up by police. Eighteen of the workers arrested in Sacramento were charged with criminal syndicalism. It is signifi- cant that ten of these workers were officers of the powerful Cannery and Agricultural Workers Industrial Union. This union had conducted @ series of successful and important strikes in the agricultural valleys and had won for Mexican and white field laborers substantial increases in wages and beiter living condi- tions. The bosses wanted to get ride of these “agitators’”—because they fought for the oppressed, be- Cause they won real gains for the workers. The cases in Sacramento were not tried immediately. At the time of the terror in San Francisco, the In- ternational Labor Defense offices were smashed, and to all intents and purposes the T. L, D. became an illegal organization. In all of California, only two law- Utopia Society Members Seek CommitteeAppointed by Directorate Flays Its Officials LOS ANGELES, Feb. 15.—Imme- diate resignation of the board of directors of the Utopian Society of America was demanded last Tues- day on charges that these officials had engaged in racketeering. Accompanying the resignation demand was a predic- tion that the ‘society would be de- stroyed if the directors were al- lowed to continue in office The charges, ten in number, as well as the demand that the direc- torate quit, came from the mem- bership committee of the organiza- tion. This committee accused the directors of using the society for their own benefit and making no account of money contributed. The committee declared it was named by the directorate to investi- | gate complaints made by the mem- bers and that now the directors re- pudiate their own committee. The directors named the mem- |bership committee to investigate cording to Guthrie, its report was refused by the directorate. Members of the board of direc- tors are John G. Wenk, president; Walter H. Rosseau, Merritt T. Ken- nedy, R. E. Maddocks, Afta A. Toney, E. R. Mathison, Helen C, Baines, William B. Cullen, Etta L. Durning and Newton Van Dalsen, has had a revolutionary effect, It was even said of fascism that “it is compelled, to a certain ex- tent, to combat petty bouzgeois and feudal reaction.” (“Unser Wort,” No, 5.) Maria Reese has only added the concluding point to the Trotskyist views; she has become the assistant of Herr Goebbels, the Minister for Propaganda. The shot fired by Nikolayey at Kirov called forth jubilation among the White Guardists and fascists of all countries. The socialist justice of the workers and peasants of the Soviet Union replied to the assassi- nation by shooting some of the conspirators and their instigators. The Menshevists and White Guard- ists press hacks replied with howls of rage. Nor did the Prague Central Committee of the social democratic party of Germany keep silent, but in the “Neuen Vorwarts,” with revolt- ing hypocrisy, took sides with the murderers, declaring that Bolshe- vism wanted to surpass its fascist counterpart (Hitler) in barbarism. That is the language of the ene- mies of the working class allied with the Trotskyist counter-revolution- aries. That is the language of the enemies of the Soviets. That is also the language which the German Trotskyist Reese, amidst the shouts of applause of the brown murderers of workers, spoke at the microphone placed at her disposal by Dr. Goeb- bels. It is necessary ruthlessly to re- move all the Trotskyist element from all workers’ organisations of every kind. Every Communist must seek, with the greatest comradeship, persis- tence and perseverance, to win those misguided Trotskyist workers, and especially their social demo- |cratic comrades who are influenced by Trotskyist ideas, for the revolu- tionary class struggle, for the united front with the Communists and for the joint struggle for the setting up of the Soviet Power. It is necessary, in the ranks of our own Party, by the greatest vigilance, by constant study of the problems of Marxism-Leninism, of the teachings of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, to increase the strength of our Bolshevist Party and render it better able to fight against all the enemies of our class. The Trotsky- ist counter-reyolutionaries in Ger- many can be sure that they will not escape the judgment of the vic- torious proletarian revolution in Germany any more than the fascist hangman. To Oust Heads' charges and | the complaints on Feb. 6, and, ac- | ||_ REVOLUTIONARY ( yERMAN COMPOSER | | "This picture of Hans ler was taken at a dinner given to him Page 5 Chaco Carnage Crimes Mount In Puppet War 100,000 Slain as Two Oil Monopolies Fight for Rich Fields By From Samuel Weinman the Chaco battiefields mes the following account by @ litary commission soldiers who were making through the jungle heard tbreaking cri They began to ch and soon came upon a ter- scene, they found a Bolivian of the Indian race with his eye sockets opened bv knife thrusts ng untold pain In ted by these soldiers he was able to mumble in Quicha language that he had fallen pris- oner in the hands of a Paraguayan patrol, who after pinioning him wn, and among laughs and in- ad thrust their bayonets ten wenty times int way and su ¢ to | ome 50 5 " " . . his eyes. After | at the Hotel Algonquin in New York City. During his two years of this first torture they smashed the | exile from Nazi Germany Kisler has toured the larger European cities. | testicles with the butts of their | He has been received with enthusiastic response in Paris, London, |guns and left him. His face had | Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Vienna and other important centers. also been cut and slashed | Pana a When he had finished telling Home Loan Aid Is Deni | Government discriminatic stands exposed—this time in Owners Loan Corporation. The HOLC is one of the r |up by President Roosevelt, anc on paper. The HOLC is supposed to be the answer to the prayers of tens of thousands of harassed small home owners threatened with the loss of their homes by foreclosure. In most cases, these homes repre- sent the life savings of these smail homeowners. The case of Daisy Jones, 41 West 131st Street, New York City, is typical of the attitude of the HOLC toward smal] home owners. It is typical, particularly, of the wide- spread discrimination by HOLC of- ficials against Negroes, Miss Jones, a Negro worker, slaved and sacrificed all her life to put aside “something for old age,” under a system which throws its aged workers on the scrapheap., Teday she is facing not only the loss of her home, but of her health jand the only means of livelihood lavailable to her during the present, prolonged dislocation of capitalist industry, with its unemployment and suffering for over 14,090,000 jworkers and their dependents. Rules Against Negroes Miss Jones is unemployed, but cannot get relief, And beczuse she has to take in paying lodgers, the HOLC now rules that she cannot get a government loan. This ruling is made under a new HOLC provision, populariy k in H in as the “Roomir Alibi.” It was adopted several months after Miss Jones had made her application for a loan, but it has been invoked against this wo- man as against thousands of other Negro smal! homeowners. Against what group is the Room- ing House Alibi particularly aimed? Bear in mind the widespread job- discrimination against Negroes, the vast number of unemployed Negro workers—out of all proportion to the Negro population; the lower wagps paid Negroes, the thousand and one other discriminations they suffer in relief and other fields. Out of these conditions arise the eco- nomic necessity of Negro families doubling up in homes, or taking in paying lodgers, with resultant over- crowding and increase in the death and sick rate among Negroes. This, true of large sections of white workers, is more marked among Negroes, The Rooming House Alibi was T DEFENSE OF SACRAME | AID PROSECUTION IN FACE OF EMPLOYERS’ ATTACKS yers came forward to defend the workers—Leo Gallagher and George Anderson. Bail was raised for many of the defendants. The bail was difficult to get; liberals were ter- rified by public opinion and only & very few would put up money for the defendants. Under these insurmountable difficulties, the 1. L. D. managed to defend all workers in court, to obtain acquittals or re- versals for the great majority, and to function as the legal defense body of the militant working class, Exorbitant Bail In Sacramento the situation was more difficult. The indictment for criminal syndicalism was a far more serious affair than the vagrancy charges. Bail was outrageously high —$3,000 cash and $12,000 property. Under these conditions it was pos- sible to raise bail for only one de- | fendant. Albert Hougardy, organizer of the Communist Party was bailed out of jail. Into this situation, the Workers’ Party, Trotzky’s American agency, stepped in the latter part of De- cember. And since that time, the Trotzkyite Workers’ Party has done everything in its power to split the defense of the workers, to sabotage the defense, to fight the Commu- nist Party, and help the prosecu- tion in ottaining its objectives. The Trotzkyite slanders are as fol- lows, and in each case the facts are given which entirely repudiate them: Dec. 22. are allowed to lie in jail. for lack of bail while favorites of the C. P. clique are taken out.” The defendants were all members “The leading defendants | of the Communist Party, with the exception of Norman Mini, who de- serted the Party to join the Work- ers’ Party. Mini was bailed out by friends, and accepted a separate de- fense from the other defendants. While remaining a member of the Party, Mini constantly attacked the Soviet. Union, and every major struggle of the Communist Party. While still a member of the C. P., Mini secretly joined the counter- revolutionary Trotzkyites, Reason for Party Action All the defendants in Sacramento | were members of the C. P., and thus, under the discipline of the |Party. It was up to the Party to | determine which member was the most useful to be bailed out. They chose Albert Hougardy. Hougardy was the most mature revolutionary, the best public speaker, the man with the most experience. When he was bailed out of jail, he was used to give the plight of the other defendants the fullest. publicity. Dec. 22. “Nothing is done to pro- mote a broad other working class organizations in behalf of the prisoners. The case is deliberately played down in the party press and a venomous cam- Paign of slanderous insinuation is conducted against the leading de- fendants in the case.” This charge is based on a delib- erate Me. From the moment that the workers were arrested, both the Daily Worker and the Western Worker conducted a continuous campaign of publicity. The Western Worker in November published a special Sacramento edition, which Tillie Lerner gave the tw Vy united front with | , tory of the trial, Bruce Minton ex- |posed the use of the C. 8. law |against workers in California, and other articles appeared. Before this, Tillie Lerner had been sta- tioned in Sacramento to give full | details of the trial and to give full jpublicity to the plight of the 18. |The New Masses published a full jaccount of the situation before the (trial started in December. The I. |L. D. fought for protests, for funds. Leo Gallagher took full charge of the case, working day and night in behalf of the working class prison- ers. In the light of this, the charge that followed in the New Militant jon January 5 that there was a | “lack of serious defense” is a delib- verate disregard of the facts. eben sais ‘Ane what has been the role of the Trotzkyites? In the first place, the spreading of lies, particularly in liberal circles, with the result that some liberals have become |confused and have refused to give money to help the defendants. Moss, district organizer of the Workers’ Party, former Communist |who was expelled for (charges on the score of personal conduct, flitted about spreading ‘Tumors and lies about the I. L. D. When the trial started, the Work- |ers’ Party concentrated their entire | strength—all four members—in California. James Rorty, Herbert | Solow and Moss did their utmost |to block the defense, and cven brought the renegade lawyer, Al- | bert Goldman, to Sacramento to defend Mini. In the Minnsepoiis in truck drivers’ strike, Goldman was | his- |in the unenviable position of de- (Gallagher in court. He jumped up fending the action of Governor Ol- |son in terrorizing workers and of | Justifying the calling out of the | National Guard to suppress work- ers. The Trotzkyite sheet itself {printed a long denunciation of Goldman, saying, “Toward capitu- |lators we have only one attitude, clearly established a long time ago. It means a parting of the ways.” | And yet when it was necessary to | disrupt the defense of the 18 in | Sacramento, the Workers’ Party | called on Goldman, called the capitu- jlator into the trial to checkmate | Gallagher's defense. The Workers’ |Party is guilty of the most supine | opportunism, |The so-called Non-Partisan Labor | Defense, a Trotzkyite mask, did | raise bail for some defendants. Be- fore the bail was raised, Sam Darcy, | district organizer of the Communist | Party, stated that bail would be ac- cepted from any source, as the ac- |ceptance did not in any way bind , the defendants to different political | views. Solow of the Workers’ Party has attempted to make out that Darcy forbade the acceptance of serious Non-Partisan Labor Defense bail, | former comrades. jand that Warnick and Decker. ac- | cepted this bail contrary to Party | iustructions. Nothing could be far- [ther from the case. Darcy person- jelly and clearly made the point jthat Warnick and Decker were at |liberty to accept bail from | source, and that the acceptance {implied no wavering from their Communist position. | | Goldman Splits Defense Goldman has openly sabotaged any By Cyril Briggs because she is a home owner she | Corporation ed Negroes m against Negroes once more the functioning of the Home nany alphabetical panaceas set which are functioning mostly rushed through after thousands of Negro small home owners, persuaded by government propaganda into be- Heving that the Roosevelt, New Deal |meant a new chance for them, had |made applications for loans in the effort to save their homes. The government and its H.O.L.C. found the Rooming House Alibi an excel- lent cover for its discrimination against the Negro small home own- ers. A Typical Case The case of Miss Jones is typical of this deliberate anti-Negro dis- crimination. For almost a year the H.O.L.C. officials fed Mi Jones with promises that they were “en- deavoring to close the loan.” As late as Dec. 17, 1934, in a letter, they so informed Miss Jones. Yet less than two weeks later, on Dec. 28, they brusquely notified her that her application for a loan was rejected, Correspondence between the mort- | | @agees and the H. O. L. C. reveal that not only Miss Jones, but the | mortgagee had been led to believe | that the H. O. L. C. would grant | her a loan. The mortgagees are the Franklin Society, 217 Broadway, and | B. Bloch, 215 West 91st Street, first and second mortgage holders, re-! spectively. They are now threaten- jening to foreclose, and take her home from Miss Jones. What Is to Be Done? Miss Jones’ case, as already point- | owners, and many white small home j owners. Individual resistance and protests against the ruling class will together, organize and by united | struggle force the H. O. L. C. to stop its cynical discrimination against them—discrimination which objectively plays into the hands of grasping finance corporations hold- ing mortgages on their properties. In many parts of the country, Small Home Owners Associations have been organized and are func- tioning effectively where they link up their struggles with the general struggles of the working class. Ac- tively aided by the Communist Party, the Unemployment Councils and other militant organizations, these associations of small home owners have wrested many conces- sions from the H. O. L.C. and the mortgagees. before the judge and divorced him- self from Gallagher's defense, stat- ing that he did not approve Gal- lagher’s methods (because Gal- |lagher is militant and uncompro- mising?) and that he was in no way associated with Gallagher. Not only that, tried hard to reflect on Gallagher's | ability, going so far as to suggest | that Gallagher not be allowed to make a summation speech, but that | Goldman make it jor all defendants. Such a move is so preposterous |that it is almost inconceivable, but the Trotzkyites, in their desire to aid the prosecution, stop at noth- jing. They would have the world |treated to the spectacle of militant | workers defended in court: by a renegade opportunist, while Gal- lagher, a lawyer respected by tens of thousands of California workers for his long and militant fight for the workers, should sit by idly. And, to cap the climax, it is now known that the Trotzkyite Mini gave a confession to the state in | August To save his own hide, Mini ‘was willing to sacrifice his Goldman knew lof this confession before he took ithe case. loyalty to the cause of sabotaging |the workers’ movement, Goldman |defends a man who has deserted |his comrades, and who has turned |state’s evidenee. Not only does he |defend Mini, but he fights the I. |L. D. defense of the other workers. j And he carries his disruptive meth- ous. into the courtroom, offering | thereby assistance to the red-bait- |ing prosecution, the bosses and the capitalist court. get them nowhere. They must get” the Trotzkyites | But with his “impartial” | : \ s them of his misfortune he begged them to avenge him. He was able to tell them that he came from Tarata, Province of Cochabamba The soldiers tried to take him to the nearest post, but he died a few moments later. Prisoners Shot Down Rations of whiskey are handed out to the soldiers immediately be- fore going over the top. This partly explains their animal-like ferocity, After every engagement soldiers are found nailed to the ground with bayonets, others with both eyes pierced by onets, Prisoners of war are compelled to form the front line of attack, shielding their captors. Hands tied behind their backs the imprisoned men are forced to march in the face of machine-gun fire. Thus they are killed by their own countrymen, Behind the lines prisoners suffer from forced labor to the point of exhaustion. For working on roads and farms they receive a compen- sation of “a handful of crackers and beans.” Counter Charges All of the above outrages are charged against Paraguay by the | Bolivian Foreign Office in a Pamphlet, “Violations of Interna- |tional Law.” But this is a case of the pot calling the kettie black. Paraguay has retaliated by hurling ja series of similar charges at Bolivia, The complaints of the bellizer- ents are not directed ‘against “plain” slaughter. Military mass murder has the full sanction of “holy” in- ternational law as formulated at the Hague and Geneva. However, it seems that wholesale butchery as practiced by the imperialists is Supposed to conform with a well- defined technique, politely labelled “civilized” and “humane” warfare. | Notwithstanding the “sacred” | treaties, Red Cross bases. ambu- jlances and hospitals, have been |bombarded, surgeons and stretcher- bearers have been messacred. | Wounded soldiers have been killed: ed out, is not an isolated incident. The Rooming House Alibi affects |@md the dead have been horribly thousands of Negro small home | Mutilated. Behind the Carnage—OIL! This lust for oil and tin profits has produced an incredibly barba- rous conflict. Unbelievable atroci- |ties have been committed on both: {sides of the battle lines. Russian: | White Guard officers and Prussiarr militarists who can boast of having: devised the most ingenious and sa~ distic tortures and executions dur= jing the last World War, are di«< |recting the campaigns. : | During the last two years the | blood of over 100,000 workers and | farmers has soaked the Chaco bat< |tleflelds in the struggle between Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Com-< |pany and Deterding’s Royal Dutch Shell. American and British impe< |rialism have reeruited armies | through their colonial puppet rul- ers to decide the issue: which group |of imperialist brigands shall have |the privilege of exploiting Boliviaw | resources and labor. | < ‘USSR Farm Funds Rise (Special to the Daily Worker) MOSCOW, Feb, 13 (By Cable).— Meeting for the first time since the adjournment of the Seventh Con- gress of the Soviets, the Council of Peoples Commissars of the U.S.S.R. |turned its attention at the outset ta the credit plan for the first quarter of 1935. During this discussion, if was noted in passing that in view of the normalization of require- ments, the sale of bread during January was less than had orig- jinally been expected. This was |shown to be a positive factor prov- |ing that the wide sale of bread |without cards was progressing nor- |mally on the whole, and that sup- plementary reserves at the same \time are being created. | The credit plan of the agricul- tural bank was also examined at this session of the Council of |Peoples Commissars. According te data given by the bank, which has ‘over 800 branches throughout the {country, the indivisible funds of the |kolkhozes are continually increas: ing. The Council confirmed the plat of granting credits to the kolkhozer jand collective farmers through thy bank, 200 Social Workers Fired SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. Feb. 18 —Among the 200 social workers fire: | by Relief Director Paul H. Davi last week was Thomas H. Ward | county relief social worker, who wa | discharged because Davis accuses him of being a Communist, it wa _ today, Davis, however, wa ‘orced to acknowledge that. who has been on. the job for Pile time, is an efficient worker, fe his work is perfectly aa!