The daily worker. [volume], November 07, 1924, Page Page Six, Image 6

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Page Six
INC DJULT WORKER.
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aiM.um.it.' ■l..U—ki.< iimi rnwgeaßß—l
Under Soviet Rule
Since the workers and peasants of Russia, under
ihe leadership of the Communist Party, overthrew
the feudal-capitalist dictatorship of the czarist
irgime and established that of the proletariat, the
American press has been lilled with furious de
nunciations of the alleged persecutions and_ ter
rorism carried out against their opponents by the
workers’ government. In this orgy of abuse the so
cialists took a leading part.
Soviet Russia was not a democracy, they wailed,
the Communists outdid the capitalists in cruelty
to their political opponents! Even Eugene V. Debs
beat the air with protests against the incarceration
of counter-revolutionary brigands who sought to
overthrow the government which Debs so often ex
pressed his willingness to die for.
But the Soviet government has given many
proofs that it is not carrying on a war of revenge,
against even its most bitter opponents. It has on
many occasions pardoned active counter-revolu
tionists, sentenced to death. Recently it commuted
the death sentence on Boris Savinkov, agent of
Kornilov, Poincare, Lloyd George and Winston
Churchill, in causing death and destruction to the
workers and peasants of his own country.
And again on the seventh anniversary of the
establishment of the Soviet government, the Com
munist leaders of the Russian masses make another
splendid gesture of peace and forgiveness in grant
ing amnesty to thousands who had fought against
the workers of their own country and in behalf of
the capitalists of the world.
Needless to state, the capitalist press will not
play up this act any more than it does the fact
that in every capitalist country in the world
thousands of workers are rotting away in vile
capitalist dungeons and that even under'the so
called labor party government in Britain the
stupendous number of 253,000 Hindoos, were im
prisoned in India because of their struggle for in
iependence from Great Britain. <
The lying capitalist and socialist press has done
its worst to put Soviet Russia in a bad light. But
the very fact that the Russia of today can afford
lo be magnanimous to its enemies is the best pos
ible evidence of its growing strength and stability.
Now It Can Begin
With the decisive election of Coolidge, the big
gest employers are preparing to lose no time in
launching their national open shop offensive
igainst the working masses.
The near future will very likely witness a repe
tition of the “grand offensive” of 1922. All evi
dence tends to indicate that the textile workers
will again be marked first for slaughter by the
capitalists. New England, the home of the re
elected president, has been chosen as the first
ground of battle by the bosses. The textile workers
of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Is
land have been ordered by the mill barons to accept
wage cuts from 10 to 20 per cent.
This drive against the textile workers bears all
the ear-marks of being only a prelude to a general
onslaught on the workers of all industry. For
some time the well-kept presß has been ranting
about the need for the deflation, the readjustment
—always downward, of course—of wages. In
launching the wage-slashing campaign against the
textile workers, the bosses made it their business
to be better prepared than they were two years
ago.
For months the textile workers have been unem
ployed or allowed to work only part time. Their
resources have been deliberately depleted by the
exploiters. Nearly two-thirds of the members of
the United Textile Workers have been excused
from dues payment in the last few months because
of wide spread unemployment. At the some time
the textile barons have been consolidating their
forces thru gigantic mergers. The textile operat
ors have been solidifying their ranks for a fight to
the finish.
The textile workers can be counted upon to re
sist heroically these dastardly efforts of their ex
ploiters. This, however, is not enough. Behind
the textile barons stands the united power of thn
strongest employing interests of the country. Be
hind the textile workers must stand the united
of the working class from coast to coast.
The struggle of the textile workers is a struggle
of the entire working class. The employers feel
that now they can begin their much-heralded and
somewhat delayed open ahop drive. They are be
ginning to garner the fruits of their election vic
tory. The time to halt these anti-labor maneuvers
is at hand.
Every day get a “sub” for the DAILY WORKER
And a member for the Workers l’arty.
I
In Minneapolis
According to unofficial returns Emil Youngdahl,
Communist pandidate for the state legislature on
the farmer-labor ticket, is elected despite the op
position of fake progressives and labor leaders.
While the so-called progressives found nothing
contradictory in supporting republicans and dem
ocrats as the case may be, they achieved a notable
unanimity in their opposition to the Communists
everywhere.
But for the Communists of Minnesota, the
farmer-labor party would be as dead as the shin
bone of Saint Anne by this time. The vacillating
policy of William Mahoney of St. Paul and the
weather cock gyrations of Robly D. Cramer, the
alleged “red” of Minneapolis would long since have
made the party a cog in the republican machine.
But there was nothing red*about Cramer except
his hair.
The “progressives” had a lot of fun charging
the Communists with being visionaries while the
former were “practical” politicians. But in that
kind of a game, the older political prostitutes can
give their pupils cards and spades. The Com
munists stuck to their principles, and while they
did not win many victories in the parliamentary
sense, they gained a greater victory in winning
the respect and confidence of the masses which
was lost by men like Mahoney and Cramer, who
supported republican politicians against the Com
munists running on the farmer-labor ticket.
But the immediate success which these spurious
progressives hankered for did not materialize, and
they are now left without either virtue of the re
ward of their treachery. They have allowed La-
Follette to inflict a dangerous wound on the
farmer-labor party of Minnesota. The Workers
Party kept the banner of independent working
class political action flying, and is the only party
in the United States today that is a farmer-labor
party in the real sense.
MacDonald Steps Oat
Ramsay MacDonald moved his furniture from
10 Downing street. Stanley Baldwin moved his
in. The business of the empire goes on as usual.
The exploitation of the workers continues. Noth
ing has really changed except that millions of Brit
ish workers are no longer under the illusion that
they are running the empire.
The MacDonald government was never a labor
government except in name. Even its name was
badly diluted. Several Lords and Sirs occupied
important position. With few' exceptions even the
untitled members made no secret of their devotion
to the capitalist system.
Stanley Baldwin succeeded Lloyd George. Mac-
Donald succeeded Baldwin. It is Baldwin’s turn
again. This is democracy, according to the gospel
of the Second International. Under it capitalism
.can change its servants when it pleases.
The MacDonald government wms not a labor
government but it was forced to do a few things
that the ruling class did not like, therefore it gave
it the boot. The Soviet loan guarantee and the
Campbell case left a bad taste in the mouths of the
British bourgeoisie. The idea that extra-parlia
mentary action should cause a British government
to act w'as repugnant, unless of course it was
extra-legal action on the part of the ruling class.
Baldwin w r ill take his orders all the time from the
British Federation of Industries.
The Fat Boys Cheerful
The New York stock market reacted splendidly
to the unexpected news that Foster had not w r on
the election. The reports ran as follows:
“An enthusiastic and vigorous forward move
ment in the principal railroad stocks was the stock
market’s response today to the results of the presi
dential election. New York Central and Atchison
w r ere leaders in this movement. In the first two
hours the twenty railroad stocks in the Interna
tional News Service compilation gained 2.12 points.
“Industrial leaders were taken in hand later and
boosted to the highest prices of the year and in
some cases to the highest point in their history.
American Smelting hung up a new high record.
American Sugar made a good response. Oil Btocks
were not weak and Mexican Seaboard advanced.
Call money advanced % cent.”
If the workers will take this news and ponder
over it, remembering that if anything helps the
bosses as a class, it hurts the workers in propor
tion, they will see what they voted for. Also, they
will, if they follow that line of reasoning far
enough, understand why the Workers Party’s
struggle is just beginning and why it is the first
political party in America which is organizing by
basing its lowest and most powerful units on the
job, in the shops and factories.
It is reported that James J. Davis is taking a
trip to South America and that John L. Lewis is
to get the job of secretary of labor. It is also
whispered that Lewis is out to trim old Gompers.
Even foxy Ham fell for the LaFollette illusion, but
it would not surprise us to hear that he is now
suffering from a headache.
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge suffered a severe
shock on November 4. That was the day the Cool
idge landslide took place. When Silent Cal was
handed the nomination for the presidency, Henry
thought he was handed a lemon. But it was Henry
who got squeezed. Now watch Cal talk to the
workers!
Norman Hapgood says that bunk killed the La-
Follette candidacy. We can claim that the Work
ers l’arty helped to debunk him.
THE DAILY WORKER
Significance of the 1924 British Elections
By J. T. MURPHY.
WHILE the election campaign is
concentrating upon the Camp
bell prosecution and the Russian
Treaty and developing Into a frenzied
fight against Communism, there can
not be the slightest doubt that the
fury of the onslaught means more
than the Imminence of the revolu
tion In Britain.
As a matter of fact that latter is
so near or so far, that we need waste
any time discussing It at this juncture
and concern ourselves with the other
reasons governing the anti-bolshevik
campaign.
When the conservative party lead
ers decided on a general election in
1923, tvfo outstanding problems faced
them. First, to secure unanimity in
the acceptance of the Dawes’ plan
then in process of completion and sec
ond, the consolidation of the forces
of capitalism against the rising class
feeling amongst the workers due to
the prolonged unemployed crisis. The
capitalist leaders knew quite well
that If they came forward with the
Dawes’ report as the basis for a “Eu
ropean settlement” that the labor
party leaders would pounce upon It
and make the utmost political capital
from its proposals as a means of ad
vancing the labor party.
Labor Party Got Job.
They knew that the only party that
could get this plan accepted in Britain
was the labor party. Without the
Dawes’ report they also knew things
were going from bad to worse for they
had no plan apart from it. Looking
back over the last twelve months, I
think we are driven to the conclusion
that all other explanations for the sur
render of an overwhelming party ma
jority in the parliament have to take
second place to .this determination to
secure the acceptance of the Dawes’
plan, the nature of which they alone
knew at that time. By the time Mac-
Donald was safely installed the plan
was practically ready for him to op
erate.
The manner In which the conserva
tive leaders carried out their strategic
retreat is worthy of study. Choosing
the most imperialist of programs aris
ing from the imperial conference—tar
iff war against foreign competition,
empire development, colonial prefer
ence, etc., Baldwin cut free from the
limitations and commitments of his
predecessor, Bonar Law, and at
once took a bold stride forward to
wards the solution of the second out
standing problem—the consolidation
of the forces of capitalism against the
rising tide of working class discontent.
Immediately he succeeded in bring
ing back into the fold of the conserva
tive party leadership those who had
been cold shouldered because of their
coalition leadqfshlp viz: Birkenhead,
Chamberlain and Co. He drove the
liberal sections together on the basis
of free trade, and once having done
that used the results of the election as
an opportunity to modify the party po- 1
sition on the question of tariff war as
a means of easing the relations be
tween the conservatives and the li
berals ready for the next step when
the united forces of the two parties
would be required to dispense with
the services of the labor party.
Between Two Parties.
In this task he was aided by the at
titude of Churchill who, standing first
in between the two parties as the
rallying force against the labor party,
developing the cry which both Bald
win and Asquith echoed at the proper
moment for a united front against the
labor party. It was easy for him to
do (his as a free lance and to take
the right step on to the conservative
platform at the proper moment.
The moment of the election in 1924
completes the process. The conserva
tive party was never more united. The
whole of the conservative press is una
nimous in the application of the unit
ed front policy against labor while the
pact for the elimination of three cor
nered contests where these are deem
ed to endanger either liberal or con
servative seats is a consumation which
it would have been risky to prophesy
to happen nine months after the 1923
election.
But these developments do not con
stitute the limits of the strategy. Be
sides committing the labor party to
the Dawes’ plan and involving it In
every phase of imperial responsibility
the aim thruout has been to split the
labor party. This the conservative
party In particular has had in view
all the time, taunting MacDonald and
his right wing colleagues on their
association with Communism and
those who sympathise with it. How
could all their denials be accepted so
long as they did not prove their words
by dissociating themselves from these
people. The more the labor party
leadership developed along the lines
of liberalism and imperialism, in their
efforts to gather elements from the li
beral party and to capture liberal
votes at the coming election, the more
they were urged to cut the painter.
But the time was too short altho Mac-
Donald led the way with the attack
first upon the Communists in spite of
the incidents of the Campbell prose
cution and the signing of the Russian
Treaty.
Conservative Strategy.
In this part of the capitalist strategy
the conservative and liberal leaders
have not been successful altho Mac-
Donald was willing. In faot, the haste
te dispense with the labor government
over-reached Itself, for Instead of
splitting the labor party end weaken
ing the development of eleee war poli
tics within It, the pushing of the la
bor party Into the position of opposi
tion psrty will strengthen this devo-
lopment as the only means of develop
ing the labor party.
But why the haste? Here I think
we come to the crux of the new situ
ation. The crisis came not on the
Campbell case. Had the labor gov
ernment not made an ass of Itself on
this question the crisis would still
have been upon them. This crisis de
pended on the Anglo-Russlan Treaty.
Yet to still narrower limits must we
draw it. This hung upon the question
of a guaranteed loan and debt recog
nition.
Raised Great Howl.
On the lines of approach to the Bol
shevik delegates, MacDonald received
the plaudits of every capitalist paper
in the country. But when It came to
the loan question especially, there was
an almost universal howl. But for
this feature, It is probable that there
would have been an accommodation
with the liberals. This gave the con
servatives their chance to develop
their campaign against the treaty as
a whole and with the help of
Lloyd George, the liberal party was
swung into line.
Why this complete change In the
attitude of the liberals who previous
ly were in favor of developing the re
lations between Britain and Soviet
Russia? None of the liberal leaders
have given coherent reasons for the
change but have simply eehoed the
tirades of the conservative party
against helping the Bolsheviks. The
echo is so complete that we are driven
to the conclusion that the conserva
tives hold the key to the riddle.
, Turning to the conservatives for an
explanation, we find the following in
teresting theory propounded by
Baldwin on the eve of the election.
“Russia never has been, and I do not
believe ever will be, one of our prin
cipal markets. Geographically and
linguistically, conditions are against
it, just as those conditions are against
us in our trade on the lower waters
of the Danube. Our natural markets
are the Dominions, South America,
and the East. There we have a bet
ter chance of competing with the
world.
Baldwin’s View*.
“Whether we like It or not, the na
tural exploiter of Russian trade is
Germany. They have always done the
largest trade In Russia because, geo
graphically, they are the most favor
ably situated and they study the Rus
sian language and understand Rus
sian methods of business. In my view
the thing for world trade, of which we
should get our share, would be the de
velopment of Russian trade by us and
when it becomes possible by Germany
that she should turn into that market,
which some day, but not yet, will be a
great market —that she should turn In
to that country the surplus of exports
which Is to provide for*the payment of
reparations and incidentally of some
of our interest to America—that she
should do that rather than the bulk
of that surplus should be turned either
into this country, or into our own spe
cial markets which I have described.”
In addition therefore, to the hatred
of the Bolshevik government of Rus
sia there is also a very definite fear
of the increased competition that the
rehabilitation of Germany is bound to
bring. As a matter of fact, in the
same speech Baldwin states: “It is
perfectly true that the increased trade
that will come from the rehabilitation
of Germany, that is to say the increas
ed world trade, must be coupled at the
same time with an increased compe
titive power in Germany, and you have
to weigh the balance of advantage.
The probability In my view is that
the balance on the whole is to our ad
vantage, too, subject to one or two
observations I shall have to make.”
These observations I have already
quoted.
On Dawes’ Plan.
The position therefore, becomes
clear. The opposition to the Russian
By ALFRED V. FRANKENSTEIN.
Jacques Grdon, concertmaster of the
Chicago Symphony orchestra, was solo
ist with the organization at the reg
ular concert given in Orchestra Hall
last Friday and Saturday. Gordon
played, for the first time in America,
the Gregorian cqncerto for violin and
orchestra, by Ottorino Respighi. Res
pighi has busied himself greatly in the
last few years studying medieval Ital
ian music and this concerto is one of
the fruits of his labor.
Thruout the three movements there
is a sombre, mysterious atmosphere,
refnlnlscent of the old illuminated
manuscript music that is still sung in
Italian cathedrals. The work must be
ferociously difficult to play, and Gor
don did It perfectly. To us there
seems a great Improvement in the
fconcertmaster's work. The tension in
his style, so annoying heretofore, was
entirely gone.
Liquid What?
Contrasting with modern composi
tion, Gordon played the eight concerto
by Spohr. This concerto is a work of
simple, almost Ingenuous liquid mel
ody thruout, tho there are pas
sages of virtuosity which is not music
that is the fault of the concerto form.
Following this was an English horn
solo with orchestra. The symphonic
poem "The Swan of Tuouela” by Jean
Sibelius. Tuonela Is the Hades of Fin
nish mythology, and In this weird and
gripping movement the composer de-
I
Treaty Is based upon the acceptance
of the Dawes' plan by the British Im
perialists. To carry out the Dawes’
plan and secure reparations it is ob
vious that they are anxious to be
able to compete effectively and at the
same time to be safeguarded against
the competition. The latter part of
the scheme won’t stand a great deal
of examination but the question of
competition and the relation of the
Russian Treaty thereto is all import
ant for different reasons to those put
forward by Baldwin.
For example, we should require to
be credulous to thing that British
capitalists are prepared to hand over
any market to a competitor. Even
Baldwin’s Limited are not so generous
if their recent completion of a £ 70,000
order from Russia is anything to go
by. The argument that the geographi
cal and linguistic factor is against
Britain Is too funny for words. If the
Russian market is to be handed to
Germany because they are neighbors,
why not China to the Japs and South
America to the United States. As for
language, is Chinese easier for the
poor Britisher to learn than Russian?
The Russian Market.
I think w 6 must go a little deeper
than these specious reasons. When all
allowance is made for the hatred of
the Bolsheviks there Is not the least
shadow of a doubt that when the Brit
ish capitalists see their competitors
rushing into the Russian market, they
will not be far behind. A comparison
of the trade they have already made
with Russia and the trade made by
their competitors with Russia since
the revolution will prove that. But the
fact of the matter is, both British and
foreign capitalists do not want to aid
the Bolsheviks of Russia at all and
will only develop In that direction ac
cordingly to the pressure of circum
stances. A further factor must be
taken into account and that is, the
British capitalists have got first of
fers and hold a favorable position in
relation to their competitors for the
Russian market.
But these ofTers are not altogether
timely when placed In relation to the
competitive factors operating In the
world mgrket especially with the
Dawes’ plan holding premier position
in the capitalist plan of campaign.
They .know as well as we that the
placing of orders to the tune of thirty
million pounds would have a decided
effect upon unemployment and upon
the workers generally. They know
thal Immediately there is the slightest
sign of revival of trade it is the sig
nal for the workers to make demands
for a recovery of their losses, for
wage improvements, etc. To get such
demands at the time when all the other
conditions of the market arising
from the application of the Dawes’
report are insisting upon reductions
of wages and the lengthening of the
working day and week would be fatal
to their policy of the conquest of the
world market.
Behind The Screen.
The opposition to the Russian
Treaty is therefore, more than an an
ti-Bolshevik campaign and is based
upon a planned offensive against the
workers of Britain to bring their con
ditions down to competitive levels es
tablished in Germany. Until that has
been accomplished there will be no
means enabling the placing of large
orders from Russia.
This conclusion is forced upon us
by the general preparation going on
thruout industry for this offensive.
Hichens, a chairman of Cammell
Lairds, stated frankly to the I. L. P.
summer school that “The main cause
of the present trade depression lay
in conditions outside the control of
Britain—in European unrest, in the
poverty of other nations due to the
war, in foreign rivalries and competi
tion. . . , As a temporary measure
to meet this situation, I believe It is
inevitable that real wages In this coun
scribes the swan that swims on the
river surrounding Tuonela. The use
of the English horn produces just the
effect the subject needs. And if there
is anything connected with the play
ing of the Instrument that Mr. Nap
olillt does no£ know, It Is not worth
knowing.
The Less the Better.
To open the concert Mr. Stock
chose that bit of musical laughter the
overtyre to “The Bartered Bride” by
Smetana. He followed this up with
TOO LATE!
iMilirri
B j
22
The foreign diplomat* didn’t get the Chinese-Eastern railroad. The
Soviet* have It new.
Friday, November 7, 1924
try must fail. I say real wages hies
cause it Is possible that nominal
reckoned in money will rise. THey’
tend to rise, in fact, at the present
moment.”
The industrial correspondent of the
“Morning Post” writing on September
22, of the iron and steel position, says,
"A reduction in production: costs would
appear to be the only way In which
to get the industry back onto a sound
basis, and prevent the blowing out of
further furnaces in the near futura.”
Demand Wage Cut.
The "Financial Times” of the umt
date declares in reviewing the coal
situation created by German compe
tition, “There is only one way left to
combat German competition and that
is to get the costs of production in this
country down to the German level.
Under the seven-hour working day and
the new wage agreement that may be
regarded as a sheer impossibility, for
the miners will sacrifice neither one
nor the other of these conditions.”
Sir George Hunter, a prominent ship
builder, declared also “Improvement in
the shipbuilding industry would not
come unless the shipbuilders could
induce the leaders of trade unions to
help them reduce their costs and to
co-operate with them.” These quota
tions could be multiplied ad lib, but
there is here sufficient to reveal the
fact most clearly that the defeat of
the Russian Treaty at this juncture
is part of the general economic of
fensive against the working class of
Britain bound up with the operation
of the Dawes’ report. The coincidence
of the two features accounts for the
fetocity of the anti-Bolshevik cam
paign far more than the growing im
portance of Communism in Britain.
While the fact that the labor party
is bound to the Russian Treaty more
positively and wholeheartedly than to
the Dawes’ plan made it imperative
that the labor government, should be
immediately displaced altho the con
servative party tactics had not com*
to full fruition.
, Served The Purpose.
The calling into being of the laboi
government was therefore, determined
primarily by the need to secure the
acceptance of the Dawes’ report by
the working class movement The
end of the labor government was caus
ed by the historic association of the
British working class movement with
the Workers’ Republic of Russia ant
these associations cutting clean across
the fulfillment of the plans of the
imperialists in spite of the willingness
of the labor leaders to serve. The
treaty of negotiations were conducted
on approved bourgeois lines. The
compromises forced upon the Russian
workers were bourgeois compromises.
But the objective situation ruled that
the operation of the treaty Interfered
with the major plans of Imperialism
Involving the intensification of imper
iallst competition thruout the world
and the deeper enslavement of the
workers. Hence the defeat of the
labor government. Hence the new
coalition of conservatives and liberals.
But the plans are not complete and
the sequel is destined to prove as in
teresting and important as the Inci
dent of the labor government. The
defeat of the Russian Treaty Is bound
to make it the first plank of all labor
agitation dealing with unemployment
and whether MacDonald gnd his
friends like It or not, draw the work
ing class of Britain closer to the work
ers and peasants of Russia. • The fall
ure of the capitalist plan to split the
labor party before driving It out ot
office is destined to deepen the work
ing class development, within It; to
strengthen the class conscious forces
and give a leftward impetus to the
whole movement. The speeding up
of the forces of competitive struggle
of imperialism has thus destroyed the
labor government, but how deeply the
country is being ploughed for Bolshev
ism!
a work by Smetana’s greatest music
al compatriot, the twenty seven var
iations for orchestra by Dvorak. If
some twenty of these were excised
from the score, one might listen to
the composition In a better frame of
mind.
The rhapsody "Finlandia” also bj
Sibelius, closed the program. This Is
the composer’s best known effort. It<
starts out with a cold, gloomy section,
and winds up fast and furiously %lth
an infectious dance rhythm.