[ POLAND's PATH of PEACEFUL DEMOCRATIC DEVELOPMENT WLADYSLAW GOMULKA F the BRITISH EMPIRE COMMUNIST CONFERENCE
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250 APRIL 1947 ORGANIC UNITY: NEXT POINT ON LABOR'S AGENDA JOHN WILLIAMSON I THE PEOPLE FIGHT BACK FOR RENT AND HOUSING LILLIAN GATES $ [ POLAND'S PATH OF PEACEFUL DEMOCRATIC DEVELOPMENT WLADYSLAW GOMULKA f THE BRITISH EMPIRE COMMUNIST CONFERENCE WILLIAM Z. FOSTER JOSEPH WEYDEMEYER Pioneer of Amorican Soeialism By KARL OBERMANN The story of- one of ■die gteat pioneers of so cialism in the United States. Joseph Wevdemever, fighter for democracy in Germany in the Revolution of 1848, friend and corre spondent of Karl Marx, came to the United States' in 1851. Journalist, trade union organizer, political leader, commissioned by Lincoln as a colonel in the North- em Army in the war against slavery, Joseph Weydemeyer was in every activity a champion of the American people, and a consistent fighter for socialism. This is the first study of the founder of Marx ism in the United States. Published by International Pub lishers, it fills a long-standing gap in American historical writing. Price; $2.25 New Century Publishers • 832 Broadway, N. Y. 3 I/.;. r •• POLITICAL AFFAIRS A magazine devoted to the theory and practice of Marxism-Leninism EDITORIAL BOARD MAX WEISS, Editor: V. ]. JEROME, Attoeiate Editor ■ ALEXANDER BUTELMAN, HENRY WINSTON VOLUME XXVI, NO. 4 ContCfltS APRIL, I947 American Democracy Must Not Commit Suicide Eugene Dennis 291 'A Cablegram to Secretary o£ State Marshall Eugene Dennis 293 Organic Unity: Next Point on Labor's Agenda John Williamson 295 The British Empire Communist Conference William Z. Foster 302 The People Fight Back for Rent and Housing Lillian Gates 316 People's Democracy: The Way to the Peaceful Development of Poland Wladyslatv Gomull^a 328 The Connecticut Story Joe Roberts 336 Toward a People's Tax Program Donald Freeman 346 The Development of the New German Trade Union Movement Paul Merger 359 Current Economic Trends Labor Research Association 368 Book Reviews: . Hider's 3 K's for Woman—^An American Rehash Elizabeth Gurley Flynn 376 Negro History Misinterpreted Alpheus Hunton 381 Re-entered as second class matter January 4, 194;, at the Post Office at Neiv Yorh, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, tSjg. POLITICAL AFFAIRS is published monthly by Neus Centuiy Pub lishers, Ine., at 832 Broadway, New York. 3, N- Y., to whom subscriptions, payments and correspondence should be sent. Subscription rate: $2.30 a year; fias for six months; foreign tad Canada, $3010 a year. Single copies 23 ceius. PRINTED IN THE OM. >0* MiW PUBLiCATldNS WORKERS,DEFEND YOUR UNiONI, by William Z. Foster-I .01 IS COMMUNISM UN-AMERICAN?, by Eugene Dennis .05 WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT COMMUNISTS —WHO THEY ARE—WHAT THE BELIEVE IN— WHAT THEY FIGHT FOR. .03 WHAT DO COMMUNISTS REALLY WANT? .01 FRANCO SPAIN—MENACE TO WORLD PEACE, by Mil ton Wolff — .05 TAX RELIEF FOR WHOM—THE NEEDY OR THE GREEDY? by Donald Freeman 03 THE COMMUNIST POSITION ON THE NEGRO QUES TION 25 HOLD THAT RENT CEILING!, by Louise Mitchell .03 WOMAN'S PLACE—IN THE FIGHT FOR A BETTER WORLD, by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn .05 HOW'S YOUR HEALTH?—THE FIGHT FOR A NATIONAL HEALTH PROGRAM, by Robert Friedman .10 THE COMMUNIST PARTY AND YOU, by Betty Gannett„„ .10 WHAT PRICE PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE, by George Phillips .10 .ENEMIES OF THE PEACE: PROFILE OF THE "HATE- / RUSSIA" GANG, by Sender Garlin. .10 MEW CENTURY PUBLISHERS • 832 Broadway, Now York 3. N. Y. AMERICAN DEMOCRACY MUST NOT COMMIT SUICIDE A STATEMENT ISSUED TO THE PRESS ON MARCH ii, 1947 By EUGENE DENNIS The American people, the followers of the late President Roosevelt and especially the labor movement were shocked at the demand of Secretary of Labor Lewis B. Schwellenbach that the Communist Party be outlawed. In asking this, Secretary Schwellenbach openly joined forces with the ultra- reactionary G.O.P. and its Parnell-Thomas-Rankin Un-American Conunittee. ■ It is significant that Schwellenbach's un-American declaration was made before the G.O.P.-dominated House Labor Committee, which is trying to push through legislation designed to cripple and destroy the trade unions. Therefore it was not accidental, that the Secretary of Labor coupled his call for repressive action against the Communist Party with endorsing the G.O.P. proposal to amend the Wagner Act. In this connection, all Americans, especially all trade unionists and their organizations, should remember that in every country in which ^e Com munist Party was outlawed the free trade unions and the liberties of all sections of the common people were also suppressed. This was so in Hitler Germany, in fascist-militarist Japan and in Italy under Mussolini. It is so today in Franco Spain and fascist Greece. We American Communists, for nearly three decades, have worked in the best interests of the American people, in the best traditions of our country, as the staunchest fighters for democracy, process and peace. We showed in exemplary fashion our patriotism and devotion to our country s national interest in the great war against fascism. And today we are in the forefront of the struggle to curb the trusts and realize fully the anti-fascist aims for which the peoples fought-the-w.ar! Because of this, the Wall Street trusts and cartelists are engineering the current anti-labor and anti-Communist attacks, so that they can, with greater arrogance, carry on their offensive against the American,,people and the peace of the world. They are trying to do to our people and to all countries what the German fascists did under Hitler. To defend their own liberties and the Bill of Rights, the labor and people's 'movements of our great country must speak out and act. In their own inter- 291 292 ' POLITICAL AFFAIRS ests, they must defeat the anti-Communist conspiracy of the G.O.P. and the trusts, in which Mr. Schwellenbach and Attorney-General Clark collaborate. The pro-fascist demand for the illegalization of the Communist Party can be defeated by the aroused and united action of labor and the people. For 1947 is not 1933, when Hitler came to power. The American people have learned something about Hitler's anti-Communist technique in the fires of the anti-Axis war. Insofar as the Democratic Party and the Truman administration are con cerned, they seem to have forgotten what happened to them in the 1946 elections, when they tried to compete with the G.O.P. reactionaries in Red baiting. They seem to have forgotten what happened in the Presidential elections of 1920 when the Democrats did the bidding of the reactionary open-shoppers of that day by organizing Red scares and Palmer raids. While the Truman adipinistration may be prepared to commit political suicide by joining with the Hoovers and Tafts in abridging the democratic rights of labor and the Communists—the supporters of F.D.R.'s policies, the mass of the American people, are not. But time grows short. Every American who cherishes democracy must now actively defend it. Every democrat and progressive must protest and defeat any and all efforts to violate the Constitution and Bill of Rights through the enactment of undemocratic and repressive legislation, whether directed against the Communist Party or the trade unions. Democracy, like peace, is indivisible. It must be defended for labor and the Communists if it is to be preserved for all the people. * CABLEGRAM TO SECRETARY OF STATE MARSHALL By EUGENE DENNIS The following cablegram was sent on March i6 to Secretary of State George C. Marshall by Eugene Dennis, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the United States of America: % Hon. George C. Marshall, Secretary of State, U.SA., c/o United States Embassy, Moscow, U.S.SJI. Dear Mr. Secretary: I have read with deep interest the definition of democracy which you presented in behalf of the American government to the Council of Foreign Ministers on March 14. Whatever one may think about applying those democratic rights to all persons in Germany, I believe those rights must be guaranteed for the American people, regardless of race, national origin, creed or political affili ation. I wish to call to your attention that Representative J. Parnell Thomas, Chairman of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, announced on March 15 that his Committee will open hearings March 24 on HR 1884, HR 2122 and other bills designed to abridge the constitutional rights of Communists and to outlaw the American Communist Party. The proposed legislation which will be considered by the above-mentioned House Committee hearings, would deny the rightV enunciated by you, of "freely constituted political parties" to participate "in a free and competitive election system." It would also nullify "the uniformly effective guarantee of freedom of press and radio," in all paTls of "the United'S^tates. Among those who will testify at the House Committee hearings, starting March 24, as announced by Representative Thomas, will be Secretary of Labor Lewis B. Schwellenbach. Mr. Schwellenbach has recommended that Congress shall pass legislation banning the Communist Party and barring it from participating in federal elections. 394 POLITICAL AFFAIRS XiCgislation is also pending both in the House Committee on Un-American Activities and the House and Senate Labor Committees abridging the "uni formly effective guarantee of the rights of free trade unions" in all parts of the United States. • Included in this legislation is the proposal that patriotic American citizens, who are Communists, or who are suspected of being Communists, shall be barred from employment in government and industry, membership in trade unions and denied the right to hold elective office in trade unions. This, too, is in. violation of your statement that: "To us a society is not free if law- abiding citizens live in fear of being denied the right to work or deprived of life, liberty and the pursuit of happihess." I therefore respectfully urge that you authorize the State Department representatives in Washington to submit as testimony before the House Committee hearings, scheduled to open March 24, your definition of de mocracy.