The toiler. [volume], March 05, 1920, Image 1

About The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922

Image provided by: Ohio History Connection, Columbus, OH

                
NO. 109.
Published
at Cleveland
Oar Washington News Letter
BY PAUL HANNA.
WASHINGTON Do wage-earners
benefit from" a big export trade! What
becomes of the fruits of' industry
above what wages will buy baekt
These and other pertinent questions
fill the minds of honest economists is
they view the industrial and financial
wreckage caused by war.
At present ewry day's news is filled
with facts which contradict the old
"laws of sound business." At Wash
ington nobo'I'' can be found who any
longer attempts to explain the contra
dictions. There is only bewilderment,
and hope that the world may some
how muddle through its welter of
high prices, debt, taxation, falling
change and worthless paper money.
Before looking abroad there is :i
condition at home worth mentionin
For a year past business men and
politicians have been telling the work
ing man that he must produce more.
Figures were used to show that the.
demand for shorter hours could not
be granted without slowing up pro
duetion and further increasing prices
en account of the shorter supply of
eommodities. All polite people grasped
at that doctrine as an easy explana
tion of the high prices mystery.
Within the past fortnight, however,
the drop in foreign exchange has
brought an implied denial of the
above argument. Hopeful leaders,
from cabinet members down, are say
ing that prices will soon como down
because vast stores of food, clothing
and the like, which Europe can no
longer buy, will be dumped on the
home market at almost any hour.
This is taken as a confession that
Americans' have been paying terribly
high prices because the export gam
bler was taking food out of their
mouths and clothing off the backs
and holding those necessities in stor
age to sell abroad for more than the
people at home could pay. It indi
cates that with all the shortening of
working hours in America, onr farms
and factories have still turned out a
vast surplus for speculators to hold
"TfoTlaie to Europe.
And hopefull politicians declare high
prices will end as soon as the American
people aro allowed to have a bigger
share of their own excess products)
Crossing to Prance, we hear Minster
of Commerce Isaac saying: "The only
way to re-establish our credit is to
increase our export trade. We must
not allow the foreign market to be
taken by others. Manufacturers must
reseive a large part of their output
for export."
But to that good old gospel so
familiar to Ame icans another con
servative French faction replies: "If
we export more we will be shorter of
supplies at horn We an not be saved
unless we produce more for ourselves
and stop exporting so much."
Arguments, like the above are going
n all ovor Europe. And the wago
earners, it is reported, aro learning
from it all that goods shipped abroad
aro goods which labor has produced
hut is not permitted to consume. In
"normal" times this process works
smoothly enough; the workers being
contented with their "living wago"
and not caring what becoineB of the
surplus. But the workers of Europe
have omerged from tho war with a
new intorest in their work and what
it is for.
Last summer the American railway
mem postponed their wage demands
when the president gave a solemn pro
mise that the government would leave
nothing undone to bring down the eoBt
of living. If they havo been qxortod,
all tho powers of the government
havo proved useless at that task.
The masses know now. that political
promises do not lower the cost of
living. The old arguments are all shat
tered by the facts.
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CLEVELAND, 0., FMDAY, MARCH 5th 1920.
PAPER SCARCITY
Scarcity of print paper compels us
to issue a six rolumn paper this week.
We hope to revert to our usual 7
column sine next week.
Address all mall to
3207 Clark Ave., Cleveland, 0.
$1.00 A YEAR
Reds Better Americans then Prosecutors.
Says Jane Addams
The Snake in the Grut.
Another Week to Organize
Your Study Class
For tho purpose of allowing
our rearders more time in which
to organize Classes to take Dp
the study of "Proletarian Sci
ence, An Economic Interpretation
of History," by W. E. Reynolds,
which will appear serially in
The Toiler, wo havo put off
printing the first chapter' until
tho noxt issue.
This gives yon another week In
which U coropleto your arrange
ments for taking up this inter
eating and instructive course tn
Proletarian Science.
Complete your arrangements
this week. Be prepaired to fol
low this entire course from tho
tint chapter which will appear
In onr next week issue.
A Challenge He Won't Accept
LONDON George Lansbnry, editor
of TheLondon Herald, now in Moscow,
last week wirelessed a cahllenge to
Premier Lloyd Oeorge, to come to
Moscow and join in his conference
with Lenine.
"Yon are making the mistake of
your life in your estimate of tliO
soviet leaders," Lansbury told the
premier.
"I beg of you to come here to
Moscow and join in conference with
Lenine. I am sure your eyee would be
opened as soon as you crossed the
frontier. Tho soviet leaders arc first
rate, clear headed, honest, and humane.
It is to tho interest of England and
to the world to make peace with them
without delay."
The London Herald contains Lans
bury 's challenge to Lloyd George and
also gives an account of an interview
Lansbury has had with Secretary Mel-
niehansky, of the Federation of Rus
sian Trade Unions, with the soviet
government.
"The Russian trade unions" said
the secretary, "are an integral part of
the soviet organization. Their form
in effect is that of ono big union with
many sections very similar to the Brit
ish conception of industrial union...
"Their chief function has been to
organize the supply and distribution
of iabor and to control work shop
organization, Thoir formation of in
dnstrlal armic is in no sense mili
taristic. TWoy are result of the desire
of the rnnk and file thomaplvoa who
cheerfully have realized that such an
organization is the only way undfr
conditions that have obtained to re
store Russia economically."
Lansbu'y added with emphasis that
the Bolshovicki haVe nothing wtnt-
ever to hide. They understand their
mistakes and openly acknowledge their
failures, he said "thoy know that
their friends will understand tho on
staclcs thoy had to overcome. Tho
diseases, starvation, and sufferings
that have been endured, havo been
on an unequal scale hut with it all the
spirit of tho people remains unbroken.'
QUERY OF "WHERE IS JOHN
REED" ANSWERED
Shipped to Norway, Then Turned
Stowaway.
WASHINGTON, I). C, Feb. 22. L
John Reed friend of Lenin and Trotz
ky, who is under indictment in Chicago
for alleged conspiracy to ovorthrow
the United States government arrived
in soviet Russia by way of Finland last
December, it is learned. Since his in
dictment last month federal and Illi
nois state agent have been searching
for Reed all evei the United States.
On being told of Reed's presence in
Russia it is not known yot whether
he has left there the state department
was interested to learn the channel
through which he obtained a passport.
Hie department is informed that he
shipped as a sailor from an American
port to Norway. From there ho traveled
on foot to Stockholm. There he stowed
himself away, or was stoned away
on a vessel about to sail for Helsing
fors.
Narrowly Escapes Arrest.
iccca narrowly escapeu arrest in
Ifelsingfors, but, but disguising him
self as a Iiusxian peasant, ho crossed
the frontier into Russia, lie was ro-
ceivod in Moscow as tho official ou
voy of the American Communis: Labor
party. As such he attended tho moet
ings of the third intornationaln and
made speech at the all-Russian soviet
convention in the middlo of Doc.cmbor.
In Moscow Reed lived at tho Krem
lin as the guest of tho people 's com
missalros.
ile was ;n constant cominnnicnticn
lift Lenin and Trotzky it is stated,
and visited the Red army at the front.
Reed was in Moscow until tho middle
of January. Of that the stato de
partment is 'mite certain. His reception
in Russia was the warmor becauso two
years ngo Trotzky appointed him bol
slfcvist consul general at New York.
Mr. Reed never assumed that office,
for, as it turned out, the appoitmcnt
was made to facilitate his return to
the United States.
AGAINST RUSSIAN BLOCKADE
An Appeal of the Checho-Slovak SociaJ
Democratic Women to the Women of
All Nations.
Jailed Agitators More True to Flag
Than Men Who Raid Them,
Miss Jane Addams of Hull House,
speaking yesterday afternoon in Recital
Hall at the Auditorium Theater, (Chi
cago, Feb. 22) brandad the activities
of the federal government in the sup
pression and deportation of foreign
bora radicals as a form of intolerance,
f-ho called i lie reds in jail and under
suspicion 'noro American in their
basic Hovs aou thought than the
agents of the government which is
sending theie to banishment.
These Socialists. Communists, matc
hers of the I. W. W., or whatever
they may be, she said, aro being per
secuted for no other reason than that
they represent the voice of the ma
jority of the people and the consti
tutional right of free speech, free
thought and free press.
Suffrage Leaders Speak.
Miss Addams, Mrs. Carrie Chapman
Catt, Miss Grace Abbott and other
suffrage leaders spoke to more than
300 men and women as a part of the
program of a school of political ed
ucation being conducted during the
convention of the National American
Suffrage Assoriaition.
"This wholesale and so-called de
portation of radical thinking and
speaking peoples is very disconcerting
to those working for the Americaniza
tion of alien-born citizens," said Miss
Addams. "It is significant that since
the so-called rod raids began more than
1,500,000 aliens have applied for pass
ports back to their native lands. They
feel America no longer is a safe place
to live.
Trying to Deport Party.
"Hundreds of poor laboring men
and women are being thrown into
jails and police stations because of
their political beliefs. Tn fact, an
attempt is being made to deport an
entire political party.
These men and women, who in
some respects are more American in
ideals than the agents of the govern
mint who are tracking tbmffdwitL
are thrust into cells so crowded they
cannot lie down. I know of one batch
of radicals, thirty-two in all, who faced
this situation in an American jail
They were huddled together like rats
and treated as criminals because of
their political opinions.
"And what is it these radicals
see;? It is the right of free speech
and free thought; nothing more than
is guaranteed to them under the
Constitution of the United States,
but repudiated because of the war.
Dangerous Situation.
"It is a dangerous situation we f ac
at the present time, with the rule of
the few overcoming the voice of the
many. It is doubly dangerous because
we are trying to suppress something
upon which our very country was
founded liberty.
''The government is proceeding on
the theory that because these thinking'
aliens demand an end of class struggle
and equal rights for all they are
plotting to overthrow the United
States. So it was said of suffrage years
ago. Anything that is radically new
to the established order of things is
revolution in the eyes of many.
"But, I tell yon, these radicals sim
ply are struggling for equal rights;
to down the spirit of intolerance whieh
has crept into our government.
"They are proceeding as they are
simply because in no other way can
they gain attention.
Speech a Safety Valve.
"The cure for the spirit of nnrest
in this country is conciliation and
education not hysteria. Free speech is
the greatest safety valve of our United
States. Let us give these people a
chance to explain their beliefs and de
sires. Let us end this suppression and
spirit of intolerance which is making
of .America another autocracy."
Carrie Chapman Catt was almost
equally vehement in denounciation of
what she termed the attempt of tke
federal government to curb free speech
and free thought.
"If all the talk even the pro
German talk had been out in the open
before and during the war, wo would
have had a chance to answer in the
open and so clear away misundestand
ing," said the suffrage leader. "As
matters stand, there is danger we may
lose what has been onr proudest boast
r5nT"1epliblican Torm or government.
Bale of the Few Vow.
"Because of the political corruption
in the United States corruption which
began fifty years ago, and included
the buying and selling of votes we
have come to a form of government
that is not of a class or classes but a
rule of the few."
YQUNGSTOWN OPEN FORUM MEETINGS
A AT BUHHNELL HALL
Every Sunday evening T:30
Good Speakers Live Subjects
TOO" ABB IHVITBD.
Prague, December 24th.
Women! The Russian Soviet Republic
is oppressed with hunger and distress.
Exhausted by the world war, distracted
with inner conflicts, cut off by the
rigid Entente blockade, the millions
in Russia are suffering misery and hor
ror. Mothers become insane when they
look at their half-dead children men
in tho desperate effort of saving
their children find themselves tempted
to commit crimes and the children,
struck by the blighting frost die like
a young, tender crop.
The blockade, the wilful starvation
of Russia, whieh is a tcrriblo crimo
equal to that of war ia its effects,
is being perpetrated against millions
of innocent men, women and children,
a race with a high cultural mission, a
people that has presented to us the
most magnificent literature in the
world, the greatest thinkers, the most
eelf-Bacrif icing. heroes of progress. Wo
men! Call upon the conscience of your
Governments, of your representatives
in Parliament, of your labor leaders,
domand the lifting of tho blockade
against Russia V Raise your voices for
the protection of weeping mothers,
dying children, men in despair. Pro
tost against the blockade in the namo
of humanity!
You American, liaglish, French and
Danish women, should demand tho
opening of the boundaries and the send
ing of foodstuffs to Russm, Widen
will also be done by the women of tho
Slavic nations, who have livod through
tho blockade of the world war and
who know all its terrors. Citizens!
Women! Show that yon can unite a
love mid undeBtanding of human mis
cry with nn abhorrence for violence,
and devote your powers to the strug
gle for peace between nntions, for the
humanizing of civilization and for
the lifting of the blockade. Russia is
the advnnce-gnard of Socialism, the
benrer of the ideas and aims which
we honor, and for that reason Russia
:...:( not starve I Demand the opening
of tho boundaries of our European
states, for free trade with Russial Wo
must help tho hungry; and we must
also secure them pence, labor, and
bread!
Committee of the Chscho Slova
Social Democratic Women of Prague.
Soviet Russia.
Bolshevik Policy in the East
Talk with Lenin's Chief Lieutenant
I had a long conversation to-day
with Radek, formerly the Russian So
viet "ambassador" here, upon the
"Red menace to India." Radek, one
of Lenin's chief lieutenants, is in
regular commnnication with Moscow
and entitled to speak with authority.
''PrcBS engineered" was his com
ment on tho Red menace agitation,
vet he added that it contained a
mixturo of truth in its untruth. Ra
dek's knowledge of world affairs is
almost a legend in Russia, and he
showed what a great measure of troth
tho legend possesses as ho rapidly
passed his finger over the map of
Asia and in quick sentences described
the local situations. Tho Eastern world
ia in a state of ferment, but Soviet
Russia, he nffinns, is not responsible
for the unrest, which is due partly
to historical reasons, partly to "En
tente Imperialism," and partly to the
effect of the world-war. Thus, through
out tho Far East prices havo risen
proportionately higher than in Europe
Rndek, mentioning other causes of
trouble, said that Scmenoff's Cossacks
in Mongolia were assisting the Man
darins against the famishing popula
tion. There wns n popular movemon:
in . Persia directed against foroign
domination. Of late a peasant land
movoment ha arisen in Anatolia, to
which the Young Turks were com-
pulsorily ndapting themselves. Tho
Middlo East, ho added, was disturbed
by British Admiralty designs on the
oilfields withir. tho stretch indicated
by Bagdad lKhanikin-Baku.
"No Propoganda" Guarantees.
Radek admitted that omiasarios from
tho whole East, Far, Middlo, and
Near, could be found in Moscow. It
was natural enough, he said. The same
phenomenon was observed at the time
of the first Revolution, in 100B, whieh
sent a similar wavo across the Asiatic
Continent. "Our attitude is simple,"
he declared. "We sympathise with
these Eastern peoples, but wo go no
further. Soviet Russia has no Imperial
1st aim. Imperialism means either a
desire for the subjection of other nn
tions by arms, or their exploitation in
the interests of capitalism. Neither
motive applies to Soviet Russia. Onr
aggressiveness is merely a newspaper
invention. On the contrary, our one
desire is for peace. Russia is rained
by lack of transport
'Hut what or the invasion or In
dia by propaganda!" 1 asked.
"The Russian Government conducts
no snch propaganda," answered Ra
dek. "On the contrary, it is prepared
to give to any country that establish
ed peaceful relations all conceivable
guarantees. Of courso, the march of
ideas cannot be arrested, but we are
ready to give guarantees that wo
.hall use neither money nor agents, di
rect or indirect, for the conduct of
propaganda In India or elsewhere in
the British Empire. We have too great
need for peaco with England to hag
gle. We are under no illusions. British
imperialism is not merely a capital
ist intrigue, but is rooted in the psy
chology of the masses. Tho British dom
ination of India and Ireland is pop
ular. If we desiro the English masses
to becomo Socialist wo cannot do any
thing from outside. Salvation must
come to the English proletarians and
oppressed peoples of the Empire from
Continued on page 4th.
esSWT''''iihl A.f .nfi-.i.r.m -
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