THE MILITANT. WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE Weekly Organ of the Communist League of America Opposition Published weekly by the Communist League of Amerien (Opposition) at 126 Bast 16th Street, New York, Entered as second class mall matter, November 28, 1928 at the lost once at New York, under the act of March, 1870 VOLUME VI, NO. (WHOLE NO. 151 NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1933 PRICE CENTS Liberals Protest Chen Arrest Left Opposition Demands Broad United Front at Unemployment Conference HELP!
in the determinarea to hospe the Presents Revolutionary Program to Stalinist Confab Oriented on Opportunist Half Turn Com. Cannon Speech Nazis, Cops Provoke CPG was The continued imprisonment of with those of the many other brave comrade Chen Du Hsiu, leader of the militants whose lives are at the mere Left Opposition in China, has called les of the Kue Min Tang brigands.
forth a protest from a number of leading liberal and radleal figures in American public life. cablegram sent by them to Chiang Kal Shek in Nanking reads as follows: Leading Americans protest prosecution Professor Chen Du Hsiu and associates the Weekly MILITANT will con Urge their release.
tinue. Thus far, our paper has de The New York conference held under well as the requirements of the situa. Communists in leading whatever mill pended almost exclusively upon the relief Among those who signed their the auspices of the of Commit tion of the American Federation of tant fight for unemployment membership of the Communist Lea Resolutions names to the cabled protest were a tee for Unemployed Insurance on Sun Labor locals in the city, only a handful there has been in this country, it will gue, out of their limited resources, number of writers who are notedly day, January 22, 1933, was of such sig. SIST 10do 181 uto aq) papuaso dos acombe seen that the representation at Sun.
to maintain the leading English exsympathetic to the Communist move nificance for the struggle against unem 23 of them. With isolated exceptions, day conference was far below the vast pression of Bolshevism. Now, today, Note: This statement was distributed ployment in general, and the Communist the balance of the organizations present possibilities at hand for the mobilizament in the United States and elose our readers and sympathizers must ly associated with it. These include the delegates at Unemployment movement in particular, that it deserves were those in which the Communists tion of a strong fighting movement. The lend a hand to save the Weekly.
Theodore Drelser, Sherwood AnderConference at Irving Plaza, New York, a detailed account and treatment.
have already gained predominance. very fact that the meagre response can The demands upon our numerically son, Dana, Malcolm Cowley small membership have been heavy, on Sunday, January 22.
The importance of the Conference did when it is considered that the ravages be said by the Daily Worker to have and Waldo Frank. Among the liberThe United Front conference for Un not lie so much in the organizations re of the crisis, plus the treacherous pas. exceeded the best expectations of the especially so in this lengthy period als and socialists who signed the employment Insurance and relief is a presented. In this respect, the gather sivity of all the reformist leaders and Committee. is only an indication of the of economle crisis.
protest are to be found Upton Sinstep in the proper direction. Properlying fell for short of the possibilities as the exclusive position iecupled by the extent to which the sectarian policies We have no doubt that our readclair, John Haynes Holmes of the ers will respond to the plain, frank developed it can result in a genuine and of the official party in the past period Community Church in New big movement of the working class York, have isolated it from the bulk of the appeal of the Left Opposition to Floyd Dell, Oswald Garrison Villard, maintain the Weekly MILITANT.
against the scourge of unemployment workers and their organizations.
elitor of the liberal weekly, THE and its source capitalism.
The requirements of the situation This phase of the Conference may be NATION, Arthur Garfield Hays, the demand more and more the participa Throngh such a broad movement the summed up in the following observation: Lawyer, and Roger Baldwin, of tion and direction of the Left Op working class can be more closely welded To the extent that the representation the Amerlean Civil Liberties Union position in the dally class struggles. together in common struggle for the from non Communist organizations was The official Communist party, howThrough the MILITANT, sull our immediate and historical interest of Comrades and Fellow workers: no less than we do, do not mean what small in comparison with what it should best organizer, the ideas and prac the masses. The Communist League of ever, and the International Labor In the limited time alloted for speech they say. They are not ready to break and could have been, its size is to be Defense, have not yet raised a single tices of Leninism, of the Left op America heartily welcomes this moves from the floor it is naturally impos with their leaders at the present moment attributed to the Third Perlod antics protest against the arrest of comrade position, are made known to the ment and works for its advancement. sible to deal adequately with the whole and to respond to appeals over the heads of the past, the elimination of the uniChen and his comrades, whose Ilves Communist movement, to the Left The call for the present conference problem which has brought us into con of their official leadership and their reted front, the ultimatist policy of the are still endangered. The only comOpposition, to the broad masses of propuses a state wide conference to lay ference here to day. will therefore sective central organizations. This 18 party, as well as to the inadequancy workers coming steadily, if yet slowment yet made by the Daily Worker was aimed at preventing any protest ly, toward class consciousness and the interests of the unemployed and work ent points which must be considered in not in somebody imagination. The united front and at the present ConferCommunism.
from the militant labor movement The MILITANT can and must be ing class. This proposal to put pressure connection with our next steps on the problem is to base ourselves on this enco. To the extent that non Commun on the grounds that comrade Chen on the capitalist legislature is necess road to a broader movement and a more reality and find the way to draw these 1st participation exceeded the best exIs a counter revolutionary Trotskynuaintained. Its existence as a Weeksary part of a fighting movement for the effective struggle. Permit me to refer workers into the common struggle with pectations it is due to the turn made ist. To the disgrace of the movely through these scourging years of unemployed. The fight on this front, you to the mimeographed copies of the us in spite of that. For this we must in dropping the idiotle verbiage about the economie erleis, have shown the ment, It has remained for liberals and radical Intellectuals to speak out clearly the devotion and sacrifice of however, can become really effective statement and resolutions of the Com have recourse to the political wisdom of social Fascism and approaching even to serve the immediate interests munist Left Opposition which have been lenin who has taught us how to do it. standpoint on the Leninist united front where the party preserved that the supporters of the Left OpposiFor this we must have recourge to the which the Left Opposition has sought dreadful silence which could not be tion to their paper. What has been of the unemployed only if it is supple attributed to the delegates. In this mamented by and combined with a program terial you will find a more thorough ela genuine tactics of the united front.
to drill into the mind of the party for of greater good to Chiang Kai Shek clone before, can be done againand his butchers than if the latter better and even more generously.
of direct mass pressure through huge boration of the program and tactics The appeal to the Socialist party the past few years.
united demonstrations of the workers.
which the Bolshevik Leninists advocate branches of greater New York brought themselves had aranged for it.
Sympathizers, readers. help the than will be able to present orally in a response from one single branch which Our Reservations Justified MILITANT now! Save our and your This preliminary conference, should my limited time.
is represented here alone and even that The Communist workers must wipe The fact that the turn was made, and Weekly!
aim to put the movement on a firm foun MARTIN ABERN.
clation by recommending a concrete proThe conference here today representa branch is located outside the metropo while still defective, was nevertheless litan territory. The appeal to the Send money at once to: out this shameful blot by demanding that party and the take THE MILITANT gram for the consideration of the State a step forward in the direction of of locals brought a mere handful made in the right direction, could not wide conference. For this program we united struggle of the workers against of delegates and even these, in almost Left Opposition. At the same time, how to bring it the endorsement of the up the fight for the Left Opposition126 East 16th Street, ists in China and connect their case the unbearable burdens of the crisis.
New York, proposed the following points: locals alreay unThe tendency towards such a union of every case, come from Immediate Rellet.
forces in the fight constitues, from our der the influence of the left wing. Do ever, all the shortcomings and dangers Unemployment Insurance, to be point of view, the progressive feature not shut your eyes to these facts, com already perceptible at the first stage of paid for by the employers and State of this conference. For it is only when the idea that we have a united working from the very beginning as factors which rades. Let us not delude ourselves with the party turn which we polnted out government.
the workers of various The hour day and day week in a common front that real blows can absent here to day.
and poliitcal trends are welded together large section of the workers who are accord the turn an unreserved endorseVon Schleicher Uses Fascists to Bolster Bonapartist Regime without reduction in pay.
If we proceed from ment were obtrusively present at the he directed against the class enemy on Long term credits to the Soviet the great class issue of unemployment. the point of view of the committee that very first Conference in New York.
When this union of forces is lacking their political views and their alla struck by the Committee representative the workers generally, regardless of The keynote of the Conference On Sunday, January 22, tens of thou their answers. The demonstration suc Union, as a means of unemployment resands of fascists made a demonstration ceeded in establishing the weakness of hier for American workers and the cem when the comparatively small groups of tions, want to struggle against anem who opened the meeting. Bordman, and in Germany. In clashes with workers the party. This must be said openly enting of fraternal relations between the the workers vanguard take the field ployment and think this is the core che committee on entinenabo Weinstock and Communists one worker was killed the reason is to be found in the false American and Russian workers.
and a hundred were wounded. Accord theories of the Thaelmann Stalin leader implies the demand for recognition of the blows fall heaviest on them, the clasa Ing to the press the occasion was the ship which harnessed the party to the the Soviet Government and the establish enemy remains nnshaken and the masses ask ourselves why they have not respond hand picked credentials committee. The.
anniversary of the death of a Fascist yoke of social Fascism and erected barment of trade relations.
of the workers gain no advantages, burden of their appeal was the need of killed in an assault upon workers. Touch riers across the line of march to the And it we face the problem clearly, presenting to the legislatore soon In supporting the movement for legis To the extent that the present confer.
we will have to say that the fault lles convene in Albany a program for aning sentimentality! The Kaiser sent a unity of the working class. That is wreath of flowers to lay upon the grave. why the socialist workers today remain lative action the Communist Left Op ence signifies a progressive step toward not with the workers but rather with employment insurance and other labor the united front struggles of the work the manner in which position deems it necessary to point out they were aplegislation. The burning problem Had the demonstration for this sort under the bloodstained flag of the Noskes the inadequacies of a parliamentary came onr readiness to give hearty support to broached. By ignoring the central organi connecting with the fight for unemploy.
ers we, of the Left Opposition, declare of human rubbish been part of the usual and Sheidemanns. And that is why the maign to achieve any one of these dezations, by ignoring the official Fascist tinsel of bluster and barleaque party had to suffer the humiliating in mands. Such a tactie by itself is inthe movement and to work loyally for ship of the reformist and conservative diate rellet, the six hour day and five leader ment Insurance, the demands for immepomp it could have been set down as an sult of a Fascist demonstration in front sufficient and would be misleading and its advancement.
other item in the ledger of the working of its windows. The demonstration was incapable of obtaining the aims of the organizations, the committee unfortunate day week without pay reduction, and class account with these agents of capt another warning to the party leader. Conference. The broad masses of the Broader Base Necessary ly gave these treacherous leaders all the long term credits to the Soviet Union talist reaction, to be settled in full and ship to redress its line and begin, with workers must be drawn into class strugground they needed to excuse themselves this was not dealt with at all by either The invitation which the committee before their own membership for their of the two spokesmen before the Conforever by the proletarian revolution. out delay, the approach to the social gle activity for those demands. Through extended to the branches of the Social failure to participate.
ference. Anxious to get as far away as But there aro aspects of the demonstra. democratic workers and trade unions mass demonstrations and activity among ist arty, to the trade union locals of tion that mark it ag an event of great through their organizations, mobilize the the working class organizations trade the of and similar conservaMoreover it put the locals and branches possible from yesterday Hght for the significance for the German and inter whole class for the extra parliamentary unions, fraternal organizations, national working class and its vanguard. strugle against the Bonapartist, Fascist the employed and unemployed, the organ can only mean a recognition of the fact etc. tive organizations means in itself and of these organizations before the pro streets of the Third Period. the blem of acting over the heads of their speakers sedulously avoided any referIn Berlin the Fascists invaded the and social democratic pillars of capitalized and unorganized must be united in that the unemployed issue is not an is tral bodies. If you understand official leadership and their official cen ence to the need of mass pressure from the workers in the attainment of their someheart of the proletarian districts to asist reaction.
semble in front of Communist party headquarters. Alone the Fascists would not the party leadership is still unable to the economic and political organizations the only way to present the question and you will recognize that this is an unwellend them then simmered down to the Having escaped disaster on one rect the widest possible mass pressure of rather an issue of the class. This is thing of the mechanics of organization donds. The whole program of action timely demand. The reformist workers presentation of a petition to the capital have dared the anger of the workers. steer by the charts of a Leninist course of the working class must be exerted to lay the groundwork for a real strugBut the Fascists were guarded by the It has not assimilated the lessons of upon the ruling class to reinforce the gle. But this step in itself remains untake their organizations seriously, no ist legislators assembled at the Capitol.
largest police mobilization ever made in this memorial meeting. It is now em legislative demands.
completed. The roll call of the delega less perhaps than we do. They do not with not a single word did these two Communists who apparently thing that Berlin. This was a sinister united front barked on a course of counter demonIt is necessary that this Conference tion bears eloquent (Continued on page 4)
between the Tuscist hordes and the Bonn strations lasting week. We have shall conduct a sharp campaign of ex. fact. Between the testimony to the act over the head of their official in tbe way to function in the trade union the aspirations of the movement is to cease acting and fightpartist police. This fact gave the de numbers too seems to be the cssence of posure and criticism of the socalled committee which called the conference ing like Communists emphasize the danmonstration character of the highest their reaction to the Fascist. Insult and labor representatives and their lobbying and the workers organizations actually International Workers School Sentertaining any illustons about political significance. It was not a mem provocation. Such demonstrations are methods behind the scenes with orial meeting all, but an enormous significant when they are manned by politicians at Albany and elsewhere in From this we do not conclude that the the legislature. or the limits necessarily provocation of the workers vanguard. workers following a correct policy. In order to secure a few cheap and meager calculations of the committee were AMERICAN LABOR LEADERS set by a parliamentary campaign. They Under the circumstances the party cor the present situation these demonstra concessions for the unemployed. This wrong or that the aspirations to draw The Movements and the Men neither drew a clear line of demarca rectly refused to be drawn. That is to tions must take place on the basis of capitalistle polítics is only a spare and the reformist and eren the reactionary tion between their program of action its credit. Series of Popular Lectures on the extra parliamentary united front. delusion to the workers and serves to organizations into the folnt struggle are American Labor History and its and the perniclous lobbying system of In the mind of every the of and the Socialists, nor worker ques. Otherwise they are futile protests against disarm them before the attacks of the without foundation No. We only have to conclude that Outstanding Personalities capitalists and their agents. These la tions will arise: Why was the party not the Fascist outrage.
did they stress the quintessential imby portance of organized action by the able to arouse the masses of workers That is one aspect of the events of bor fakers must be shown up in their the step taken toward this end must be JAMES CANNON nasses to force concessions from the to resist this hostile demonstration in January 22. The united front between true colors by counterposing a program followed by others. The tactics of the ruling class and its government.
its stronghold? Why could it not call Von Schleicher police and Hitler mer of class struggle to their political chic united front a tenir laid them down. FEB. 12 TERENCE POWERLY and as they have been verified by exon the social democratic workers to join cenaries is a new and striking develop anery.
The Grand Master Workman The warning we gave week perience on an international scale, must with it against their common foe? The ment in the German situation. What is ago In order to achieve the aims of the be unfolded in their full scope. It of the Knights of Labor. against the tendency knowledge of its ability to do so would the meaning of this co operation?
towards parliaConference in concerted struggle, it is not sufficient to invite the branches of is FEB. 19 SAMUEL GOMPERS have made the demonstration in red The Labor Lieutenant of mentary opportunism already visible in In the interregnum of the Bonapartist necessary to take a further step for the Socialist party and the local unions the the party half turn, proved to be more Capitalist Class.
Berlin impossible.
iegime of Von Schleicher class situa ward on the road of a broad united of the of to join us in a com. FEB. 26 ALBERT PARSONS than well founded. The straining to To ask the queetions is to hint at tion has not stood still. The economic front of all working class organizations mon fight. To be sure that is something.
wards respectability was positively crisis has continued to deepen. Unem unions and political parties (A. of By such an invitation we recognize the The Haymarket Martyrs and painful. In an overwhelming Communthe Eight Hour Movement.
ployment is rising again. Dissatisfac. Socialist Party, Communist Party fact that the workers in these organiza MAR. EUGENE DEBS ist assembly, the party members and OPEN FORUM tion with von Schlelcher is growing. He etc. It is not enough to invite the tions also suffer from the plague of unapparently been instructed to adhere The Socialist Agitator The strictly to the solemn ritual of avolding has successfully postponed the conven branches of these organization. The re employment and that it is quite possible ing of the Reichstag for a time but on spective central organizations and the for them to join in a fight for a program American Railway Union and the term comrade and addressing each After REPORT OF THE PROGRESSIVE its next assembling he may find himself official leaders of these organizations of Immediate demands even while they MAR. 12 DANIEL DE LEON other as brother and sister. obviTRADE UNIONS CONFERENCE and his cabinet forced out, the precarl must be put to the test before the eyes! remain reformists and conservative in ously for the sole purpose of impressing The Socialist Theoretician.
AT GILLESPIE, ILLINOIS ous equilibrium of his Bonapartiet re of the workers and compelled to show their political views, even while they MAR. 19 WILLIAM HAYWOOD the half dozen or less pure and simple gime disrupted by a rising tide of work their colors in action. The Communist retain membership in organizations rep Industrial Unionism, the West fact that the sponsors of the ConferA. of delegates present with the Speaker: ing class struggle.
Party must participate officially in this resenting these political currents. That ern Federation of Miners and ence were beyond reproach or the susJ. CANNON The united front of Hitler and Von movement and undertake thereby, to give is the beginning of wisdom on the questhe Schleicher was a maneuver directed direct leadership to the struggles of the tion of the united front.
MAR. 26 SIDNEY HILLMAN picion of being connected in any way now In Tllinois Coul Fields against the spearhead of the working workers for their immediate needs and But it is by no means the whole of Business Efficiency the with the Reds.
class. Von Schieleher utilized the Fase final aims the overthrow of capitalism it. The fact remains that these workers Betrayal of the Workers.
Friday, Feruary 3, 1933 ist troops to provoke the Communist and the establishment of a Soviet Gov. in the reformist and reactionary organlar. WILLIAM FOSTER Socialist Workers Alsent 128 East 16 Street, party to struggle under unfavorable ernment.
xations who have good cause and very The Blight of Stalinism.
The same game of hide and seek was conditions; to drown its defense in blood Communist League of America probably a real will to fight against the ADMISSION: 15e and make bloody reprisals against the played by the party in the selection of (Opposition) Branch scourge of unemployment are not ready Single Lectures. 15 Cents Auspices: working class: to appease the restless126 East 16th Street the chairman to break with their organizations and One Dollar for the Course.
The call for the con New York City are not convinced that their leaders who SUNDAY P. Br. Communist Logo of America ness in the Fascist ranks with this ference, while saying nothing about 80(Continued on page Opposition. Continued on page 4) talk against the evils of unemployment 126 last 16th Street (Continued on page 2)
to ot in