Page Four
THEPAHTWOPKEP
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THE DAILY WORKER, 1113 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, Illinois
J. LOUIS ENGDAHL j
WILLIAM P. DUNNE f
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Entered as second-class mail September 21, 1923, at the post-office at Chi
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290 Advertising rates on application.
Engels on Britain Today
$290,000,000 for new warships has been appropriated by the Brit
ish government as the greatest crisis in its career approaches.
Even Premier Baldwin, hardboiled tory tho he is, was seemingly
afraid to make the demand for this huge sum during the prevailing
crisis, but the admiralty and the admirals delivered an ultimatum—
either the appropriation would be made and work on more warships
begun or they would resign.
The Baldwin cabinet agreed with the war lords.
Here is a classic example of the role the state—the agency of
the capitalist class for the suppression of the masses.
Said Frederick Engels:
The second distinguishing feature (of class society) Is the estab
lishment of a public power which is no longer identical with the
population and which is organized as an armed force. This distinct
public power is necessary, because of self-acting armed organization
of the population has become impossible with the break-up of society
into classes .....
The need of the British masses is for bread, not for battleships,
but the ruling class and the “special bodies of armed men” upon
whom it depends wants more weapons of warfare—and get them.
Lloyd George and Ramsay MacDonald join in futile opposition
to the increase in armaments, but they do not challenge the capitalist
state because they are part of it.
It is symptomatic of the crisis within capitalist society that the
British militarists hold the upper hand and grab millions for the
navy when the whole fabric of British industry is being ripped and
torn by the greatest conflict in its history.
Engels might have been writing of Europe today when he said:
>
The above-mentioned public force increases with the intensifica
tion of olass antagonism withln'the state, and with the growth in size
and population of the adjacent states. One has but to glance at
present day Europe In which the class struggle and rivalry in con
quests have screwed up that public force to such a pitch that it
threatens to swallow up the whole of society and even the state
itself
Who can look with undrestanding gaze at Europe today without
realizing that the armed forces of the great states have become more
and more separated from the masses of the population until the
ruling class can no longer count on loyalty to its instruments from
the masses?
The state, synonymous with its “special bodies of armed men,”
appears openly as the enemy of the masses.
This heralds the beginning of great mass movements like that
now gaining impetus in England and which can end only in revolu
tion.
The Coal Crisis and the Need for Unity
In the coal industry the lines are being drawn for a great strug
gle. There seems to be little doubt that a strike will occur this fall
in the anthracite regions upon the expiraiton of the agreement unless
the coal barons make substantial concessions to the miners. The
union officials have been forced by rank and file pressure to adopt a
more militant attitude than they have shown in recent years and
about the militancy of the coal diggers themselves there is no
question.
In the soft coal fields the constant violations of the agreement
by the bosses have practically wiped out all semblance of a contract
and standard wage scale; the shutdown policy used by the coal bar
ons has proved to the miners that they must either fight or surrender
and they have no intention of surrendering.
There are greater evidences of international unity among the
coal miners than ever before and a crisis exists in coal in England.
Belgium, France, Germany and America which tends to bring closer
the great unions of coal miners in all these countries.
Quite aside from the great importance to the American labor
movement of the impending struggle of the United Mine Workers,
the larest union in the American Federaiton of Labor, is the patent
fact that the coal miners in all the capitalist countries need the
closest kind of international organization.
Capitalist industry is so closely linked together today that
strikebreaking has become an international enterprise. Coal from
America must not be used to break the strike of British miners nor
must coal from the Rhur break the strike of American miners.
The officialdom of the American unions opposed world trade
union unity but the mass of organized workers will soon, thru ter
rible pressure from the capitalists listen more and more readily to
the left wing of the labor movement when calls upon them for unity
from below and in spite of the sabotage of capitalism's agents in the
unions.
The Press Picnic
The workers of Chicago are cordially invited to the fourth an
nual workers’ press picnic, which will be held tomorrow in Riverview
Park. Communist papers depend on the nickels and dimes of the
working class for its oxistenc.e The class that it serves must sup
port it.
Therefore we hope that tomorrow’s affair will be patronized
by those who realize the value that the DAILY WORKER and other
Communist papers are rendering to the working class movement.
Another Soviet Republic about to be proclaimed! This kind of
thing is getting monotonous for the capitalists and just about as
comforting as the ticking of a clock to the condemned man.
•Julius Rosenwald has given more tlinn two millon dollars to
Negro charities, we are told. Where did he get the money? Very
likely by exploiting Negro workers; most certainly by robbing white
workers.
Australian capitalist politicians are entertaining the officers of
the American fleet. But the Australian workers don’t seem to lie so
enthusastic. There’s a reason.
Get a member for the Workers Party and a new subscription
for the DAILY WORKER. I
Communist Agrarian Program and Policies
The following resolution was unai
mission for submission to the Nation
munist) Party to be held August 21:
IThe more deeply our Party is be
• coming Bolshevized, the clearer
becomes its conceptions on the urgent
necessity of an agrarian program and
policies and systematic Communist
work on the agrarian field. The Party
must take closely to its heart and to
its understanding the lesson given by
the last plenum of the Communist In
ternational: that an under-estimation
of the agrarian question by a Com
munist Party is fatal for the proletar
ian struggle for power.
2 One of the effective ways of Bol
• shevizing our Party is to increase
considerably our interest and Com
munist activities in the Party’s agri
cultural work. We may subdivide our
agricultural campaign into two phases:
First —to draw the rural proletariat
which is part of the working class into
active participation in the class strug
gle side by side with the city prole
tariat against the bourgeoisie. This
is part of the process of the unifica
tion of the working class.
Second —to separate from the bour
geoisie and neutralize and to win over
to revolutionary proletarian influence
and leadership the middle farmers,
the poor mortgaged and tenant farm
ers and the semi-proletarian farming
masses.
3 The Communist Party must fetill
• overcome certain prejudicies in
its ranks in order to intensify and
broaden its activities among the agri
cultural masses.
(a) We must reject categorically
and fight energetically against that
narrow guild or craft concept of the
class struggle in our ranks which is
the chief barrier to our approach and
application of Communist tactics in
our agricultural work.
(b) We must categorically reject
the non-Communist and even anti
communist attitude occasionally mani
festing itself in our Party, of disre
garding the tremendous significance
of the farming masses in the struggle
of the proletariat against the big
bourgeoisie.
(c) Marx has well said:
“Only if we succeed in moving the
peasant masses to a coalition with the
proletariat, the proletarian revolution
will have obtained a chorus without
which its revolutionary solo (song)
would become a swan song in all
agricultural (peasant) nations.”
A Nearly one-fourth (about ten mil
lion people) of those employed in
gainful occupations in the United
States are engaged in agriculture. Os
these about two million and a half
are agricultural workers, proletarians
of the farms, who have the same in
terests as the proletariat of the cities
and must be made to struggle jointly
against the common exploiters,
r The Communist work among the
agricultural masses is especially
important for the Workers Party of
America because:
(a) Agricultural production consti
tutes nearly 40 per cent of the total
production in the United States.
(b) With the development of the
United States as the dominant impe
rialist power the American colonial
domain is growing to gigantic propor
tions. In those colonies the agricul
ural masses constitute the bulk of tho
population. Thus the agricultural
question assumes for the American
proletariat increasing importance be
cause of its close connection with the
colonial question.
(c) Furthermore our bourgeoisie are
making strenuous efforts to utilize the
present period of temporary improve
ment of the agricultural condition for
establishing their domination over
these rural masses at home and mob
ilizing them against the proletariat.
£» In planning our agricultural work
we must recognize the various di
visions within the agricultural masses
in the United States. We must con
sider carefully the social composition
of the farmers in the United States.
(a) There is a small section of
wealthy farmers whose interests are
unqualifiedly capitalist.
(b) One sixth of all our farms arc
FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS REGARDING
THE PARTY’S NATIONAL CONVENTION
The postcriptum to the Call for the National Convention of the Workers
(Communist) Party published in last Monday’s DAILY WORKER called at
tention to the fact that the question of representation of the Young Workers
League in the city and district conventions of the party w*s still to be decided
as well as the question whether Chester. Pa. should bp affiliated with the
Philadelphia City Central Committee.
These questions have now been taken up and the fXwing decision ren
dered by the Central Executive Com- *
mlttee:
1. That the Young Workers League
city organizations shall be entitled to
one delegate in the city conventions
of the Party.
2. That the Young Workers League
district organizations shall be entitled
to one delegate in the district conven
tions of the Party.
3. The Party will send three dele
gates to the city and district conven
tions of the Young Workers League.
The provisions of the Party consti
tution covering the election of Young
Worker League delegates to Party
conventions as adopted by the laßt
convention are as follows:
(a) City organization of the Young
Workers League shall be represented
In city conventions thru delegates
elected by the City Central Committee
of the Young Workers league the ap
portionment to be made by the party
organization. Where only one branch
of the Young Workers League exists
that branch shall elect the represeu-
THE DAILY » WeO RK ER
mimously adopted* by* the Parity Corn
ual Convention oi£thSs Workers (Com
■ c e
* A _
r »
mortgaged; that*iaf about a million
and a half. 4
(c) Seventy (tent of all the Im
proved land in fcheiUnited States is,
today operated by tenants.
, (d) There are two million agricul
tural workers. These farm hands are
mainly disfranchised, migratory work
ers whose standard of living is low.
(e) We must take further into ac
count the fact that in the United
States except in certain sections of
the South, we do not have a big, spe
cial land owning class In the Euro
pean sense. The same bankers and
manufacturers vjho own the mines,
factories, railroads and shipping facili
ties are in the main the owners of the
land used by the farmers.
(f) Furthermore, the conditions are
such that in many instances farmers
are simultaneously farmers and work
ers, the industrial vforkers turning to
farming for several months qf the
year.
(g) In the United States, because
of the tremendous economic and poli
tical power wielded by the huge bank
ing and transportation monopolies and
the trusts, there is a far sharper con
flict of interests between even the
middle farmers and the big bourgeoi
sie than there iS'ffietween these farm
ers and the proletariat.
rj There are in the United States
• over two million tenant farmers
and about one and a half million
mortgaged farmers,* whose average
income is somewhere between seven
and ten dollars a week. These
two groups of poor farmers, semi
proletarian in their social position
and mode of living, are struggling
desperately to maintain an existence
and are therefore in great need of as
sistance and cooperation from the city
workers in the struggle against capi
talist exploitation.
8 Unlike the conditions in some of
• the agrarian countries of Europe,
there is in the United-States, with the
exception of the South, no large land
owning class, no land aristocracy. The
class that owns and controls the eco
nomic life of the agrarian population
are the bankers, grain speculators,
mine and railroad magnates, trusts and
other capitalist corporations. That is,
the same capitalist glass that domi
nates and exploits the workers of the
cities. Thus theYels a clear com
munity of interest between the work
ing class and the poor farmers for a
common struggle against the com
mon enemy.
9 Undoubtedly the severe ngriciil
• tural crisis of 1920 which pro
duced such an .intense ferment in the
ranks of the farming masses has
abated. The world crop shortage of
last year was the principal force for
whatever improvement recent months
have seen in the lot of the agricti!
tural masses. But it must be pointc-l
out that
(a) Tho the crisis Uas abated it has
not been solved completely. At the
lowest point of the recent agricultural
depression, whiefr was the worst in
the history of the JJnited States, the
purchasing power tof the farming
masses fell to 20 iter cent below the
pre-war level. Today; despite the much
heralded improvement of the eco
nomic conditions of-the farming mass
es, the purchasing ipower of the agri
cultural populatioVls still at least 10
per cent below the pre-war level.
(b) Besides, the ravages of the Inst
severe agricultural depression h.vo
been so sweeping and so deep going
that it would take many years of
considerable economic improvemenl
for the farming masses to make up
for their heavy losses.
(c) The fundamental causes.for thv
agricultural crisis in the United
Slates, a condition which has been
and is part of the international agri
cultural crisis, have not been removed
The basic causes for the unsatisfac
tory economic and social conditions
of the farming masses in the United
States are to be found in the wide gap,
in the deep chasm, between the or
-1 ganization, or rather lack of organiza-
*- .
tHtives. ' JF'
(b) District organizations of the
Young Workers Yeague shall bo rep
resented in the District Conventions
of the Party thrit representatives ap
pointed by the Mfstrlct Committee of
the Young Workers League. No
branches of city organization shall
have delegates in the District Conven
tion. except in such instances where
no District organization of the Young
Workers League exists. In these
cases the City Executive Committee
of tho City Central Committee of the
largest Young Workers League city
organization in the district shall elect
the delegates apportioned to the
Party District Convention.
4. That tho branches of Chester
shall be affiliated with Philadelphia
City Central Committee anil send dele
gates to the Philadelphia city conven
tion.
Fraternally yours.
C. g. Ruthenberg,
* Executive Secretary
tion, of agricultural economy on the
ono hand and the high efficiency of
the splendid industrial organization
on the other band. American indus
trial production is organizationally on
a highly social basis. American agri
cultural economy is still predominant
ly organized on an individual basis.
The dire conditions in which tha
farming masses have found them
selves are to be attributed to the fact
that they are compelled to sell their
products at a low price and are forced
to buy the industrial commodities of
the powerful trusts at exorbitant
prices.
(d) The disorganization of the agri
cultural economy in the United States
has been further aggravated by the
over-development of agricultural pro
duction thru stimulation by the tempo
rarily increased demands of the world
war; the subsequent reduced post
war purchasing power of many coun
tries and the loss of the markets of
other countries, particuluarly in Eu
rope; and by the continuous strong
support tendered the monopolists
against the farming masses by the
United States government thru high
railroad rates and burdensome taxa
tion.
(e) The basic factors that produced
the agrarian crisis in the U. S. in
1920-23 have not been removed. The
temporary alleviation of the crisis has
been achieved by American capital
ism at the cost of expropriating from
their land hundreds of thousands of
farmers. The impoverishment of the
European population, resulting from
the decline of capitalism, the emer
gence of Canada, Argentina and Aus
tralia as successful competitors of the
U. S. on the agricultural world market
and the relative improvement of the
European agriculture are creating a
permanent critical situation forth«
agrarian population of the U. S. A
new wave of agrarian discontent Is
now in the making and it is the real
ization of this fact that makes the
capitalists and the government of
America pay so much attention to the
agrarian problems in the U. S.
1 The burden of taxation is be
coming heavier and more unbear
able for large sections of the farmers.
The American capitalists persist in
their policy of shifting the burden
ever more to the shoulders of the
farmers and workers. Already there
is a new campaign on foot to have
the coming session of Congress reviso
the taxation laws still more in the
interests of the big capitalists and
against the farmers and workers.
11 Marx once daclared, "The
changes in the relations be
tween town and country are a sign
of changes in the whole epoch.”
(a) This truth is born out very
•vividly and intensely in the United
States. The results of the severe agri
cultural depression are of the great
est significance. The migration of sev
eral million farmers from the rural
communities into the industrial cen
ters; the expropriation of hundreds of
thousands of the exploited farnvnp
masses; the proletarianization of hun
dreds of thousands of poor farmers
are only amongst the outstanding
manifestations of deep going changes
n the class composition of the United
States. This process of agricultural
-xpropriation brought about by the
“scissors” relationship hastens the
tendency towards the concentration
of ownership and centralization of op
eration in agricultural production
Thus, the bad economic conditions of
the farming masses are further aggra
vated and their social composition is
further undermined and fundamental
>y changed.
(b) The influx of hundreds of thou
sands of native elements primarily un
skilled into the big basic industries
where previously the overwhelming
majority were foreign born, is a force
hastening the creation of a homo
geneous working class in America and
consequently aiding the development
of class-consciousness in the United
•States.
1 O In the imperialist stage of capi
talism the agricultural question
is most, pressing for the Communist
Party working for the establishment of
•he proletarian dictatorship and the
Soviet Republic.
(a) The bourgeoisie at this time ar.-
working overtime to create as big and
powerful a reserve army against th •
masses which are being steadily pro
letarianized. The tactics of the capi
talists in this is to count on the con
servative character of the farming
masses, their individualistic attitud*.
trising out of the conditions and en
vironment of the productive system it
which they find themselves.
(b) The bourgeoisie are actively
working to win over the broad farm
ing mltsses as their allies against the
proletariat. They are relying on the
wealthy conservative farmers to servr
as their advance guard to win th*
farming mass for capitalist reaction.
(c) The imposing question is
whether the great bulk of the rural
masses will be under proletarian oi
bourgeois influence and leadership in
the gigantic conflicts that aro to come
In the United States.
(d) The capitalists are following, In
tho words of Comrade Rucharin, n
united front tactic with the wealthy
and middle farmers and thru them
they are exercising a tremendous poli
tical Influence over the poor farmers.
This capitalistic united front with
the farmers operates thru such means
as the discriminatory use of credit
facilities and the tariff in favor of one
group of farmers as against the other,
legislative policies of the same nature,
etc. All these means are calculated
to win the wealthy and middle fariu
sra for capitalism and against the
workers.
10 The American bourgeoisie are
energetically working during
this period of the abatement of the
severe agricultural crisis to win over
the rural masses. Our capitalists are
talking of making concessions to tho
farming masses. They are talking of
sundry relief measures by means of
which they hope to put the farming
masses in their camp and slightly to
improve the rural economic situation.
(a) The bourgeoisie of the United
States, as well as in every other coun
try, approach the farming masses with
concrete proposals, with specific but
actually worthless concessions In or
der to establish their hegemony over
these masses.
1 A To counteract these tactics of
the capitalists, the Communists
must pursue a united front policy
with the poor farmers to definitely
win them over to a joint struggle with
the working class against capitalism
and to neutralize the middle farmer.
The Agrarian Thesis of the last ple
num of the Communist International
lays down clear and definite lines for
such a united front policy.
-| r There are in the United States
-Lt/. numerous farmers’ organizations,
cooperatives, unions, semi-political and
political organizations. Most of these
organizations are mixed in their so
cial composition (rich, middle and
poor farmers), with the wealthy farm
ers controlling the organizations. Some
of these organizations, such as the
Western Progressive Farmers, the
Farmers’ Unions, farmer-labor groups,
and numerous cooperatives, are pre
dominantly composed of poor farm
ers. It is thru these and similar or
ganizations that the Workers Party
must strive to establish a united front
with the poor farmers for the purpose
of winning them away from the capi
talists and the rich farmers and for
united action with the workers thru
an alliance with the Labor Party.
1/? In order to prepare the basis for
LU. our united front policies with
the poor farmers, the Workers Party
must first of all establish a firm base
among the agricultural workers. We
must organize branches of the Party
of the class-conscious agricultural
workers. We must assist and cooper
ate with the I. W. W. and other work
ing class elements in the organiza
tion and strengthening of unions of
agricultural workers. At the same
time, we shall penetrate the existing
organizations of farmers for the pur
pose of crystallizing within them a
left-wing of poor farmers which even
tually shall function independently
PARASITE’S WEDDING GETS MUCH
PUBLICITY, WORKERS MUST RELY
ON AND BUILD THEIR OWN PRESS
By GERTRUDE PINCIES
(Worker Correspondent)
NEW YORK, July 31. —Reading the Evening Journal, I came across a
very interest*!:* news item. A great event has happened amongst the royal
400. Vanderbilt’s daughter got married.
The evening Journal devotes an entire page to this great event. I wonder
how much publicity the slaving working’class gets for toiling and creating
the paradise for the parasitic Vander- A
bilts. The capitalistic press serves {
the bourgeois lords well.
The parasites who live on the blood
and flesh of the exploited working
class have built up a powerful press,
lhat serves them well.
We, the toiling masses, must work
to build up our own press to repre
sent our life and our struggles. The
workers must unite in the Commun
ist ranks.
Let us build up our own organ, the
DAILY WORKER.
YELLOW “FORWARD" SECRETARY, CAP
MANUFACTURER, CUTS EMPLOYES’ PAY
WHEN POWER STOPS; MEN PROTEST
Employes of the Alma Headwear company, 419 S. Wells St., of which
A. Galitzsky* secretary of the Chicago Forward Association, publishers of the
“socialist” Jewish newspaper, is part owner, are engaged in 9 dispute with
the "socialist” owner because of his slave driving methods.
Recently the power in the plant was out of order for forty minutes, and
Galitzsky, in true “socialist’ style, deducted the time from the wages of the
seven employes, who are members of
the Capmakers’-Union, located at 1145
Blue Island Avenue.
"My firm is a member of the Cap
Manufacturers’ association,” Galitzsky
admitted to the DAILY WORKER.
“When the power stopped I told the
men they could work an extra hour
the next day or have the time deduct
ed from their pay.”
Galitzsky admitted that there was
“some sort of a dispute,” but denied
there was danger of a strike. The
union has not yet adjusted the dis
pute with the "socialist" manufac
turer, it is learned.
French-Spanish Anmity
SANTANDER, Spain-—King Alfonso
and queen Victoria today dined aboard
the French warship Voltaire and after
wards telegraphed greetings to Presi
dent Doumergue in Paris.
; Out Now! The August Issue of Out Now! |
THE WORKERS MONTHLY
' 25 Cents a Copy
from the rich and middle farmers and
in alliance with the agricultural and
industrial workers.
■I n The first prerequisite for the
-*- * carrying out of these policies is
a clear, concrete and practical pro
gram of demands for the agricultural
workers and poor farmers. Also the
establishment of a well-organized
agrarian department and an agrarian
press.
-| Q The Workers Party shall active
-*-0. ly support and fight for the de
mands of the agricultural workers
dealing with minimum wages, hours,
and conditions of labor, food, lodging,
etc. The Workers Party shall strive
to develop United Front action with
the I. W. W. and other labor organiza
tions for the following demands:
(a) These organized agricultural
proletarians should be connected with
the labor union movement of the in
dustrial proletariat. Being real pro
letarians, these rural workers form
the Party’s firmest base in the ranks
of the farming masses.
(b) The right of the unions to main
tain employment bureaus in every
agricultural center. Any interference
with these employment bureaus by the
American Legion, ku klux klan, or
any other capitalist agency shall be
considered a criminal offense and pun
ished accordingly.
(c) The immediate repeal of the
state vagrancy laws in all states. No
persecution of migratory workers by
arrests, compulsion to leave the com
munity, or otherwise.
(d) Children of employed aaults
shall not be required to work. Chil
• dren of school age shall not be per
mitted to work.
(e) The migratory workers shall
not be denied the rights of citizen
ship.
-J Q The Workers Party shall de
velop united front action with
the poor farmers along the line of
the following demand:
(a) Absolute and unconditional op
position to imperialist wars, to mili
tary preparations and to militaristic
propaganda.
Orj The Workers Party shall sup-
p or t by all possible means the
program and activities of the Inter
national Peasants’ Counoil and shall
strive to work for the affiliation of
American farmers’ organizations with
the I. P. C.
pi The convention instructs the in
coming Central Executive Com
mittee to appoint a commission to study
the agricultural question to propose a
complete agrarian program.
4
j State Appropriation
for Tornado Area in
Illinois Too Small
SPRINGFIELD, 111., July 31—Indica
tion that the state will use every cent
of the 1275,000 appropriated to repair
17 school buildings in the Tornado
area of Southern Illinois, were given
here today by Senator Richard R.
Meents, of Ashkum, chairman of the
executive committee that has just
completed a tour of the region.
NEW SECTION OF THE
INTERNATIONAL RED
DID FORMED IN DRAZIL
According to a telegraphic report
from South America a section of the
International Red Aid has been
formed In Brazil, The new section
has already eagerly taken up the
work In many local committees for
the support of the political prison
ers and the many thousand Immi
grants who are in Brazil.
Getting a DAILY WORKER
nub or two will make a better
Communist of you.