WORKERS The Militant OF THE W ORLD. UNITE Weekly Organ of the Communist League of America [Opposition] Published weekly by the Communist Le ague of America (Opposition) at 84 East 10th Street, New York, N. Y. Entered as second class mall matter. November 28, 1928 at the Post Office at a ew York, N. Y. under the act of March 3. 1879. VOLUME V, NO. 5 [WHOLE NO. 101]______NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 1932 PRICE 5 CENTS On the German S i t u a t i o n OPEN FORUM Japanese Invade Shanghai! Lecture by ALBERT GLOTZER W ar Threatens in the Far East and against the Soviet Union An Appeal to all the Communist Trotsky, supported by the international Left Opposition, for a united front to Workers by the National Committee Germany - Fascism or prevent Fascism from coming to power, As we go to press, the wires are still tion in dealing with the hardly delectable of the world revolution—(Workers’ Rus­ of the Communist League of America a new campaign of calumniation and humming with the latest dispatches of C o m m u n ism demarches of their Oriental competitor. sia Is the immediate and common ob­ (Opposition) the Japanese seizure of Shanghai. Bat­ falsehood has been launched, initiated In such a heated atmosphere as the and approved by the central Stalinist tles between Nipponese and Chinese jective of all the powers lrhat be. The danger of Fascism in Germany has at the bureaucracy. “Trotskyism”, killed a troops are in fu ll blast all over Chapel, present, even the fact that several Am­ not diminished. On the contrary, while Labor Temple Anti-Soviet Advances hundred times, has now been “re-discov­ the na Sve part of the town, and Jap­ erican worships have been ordered ;to the Communit have registered a num­ ered” in the highest instances of the 14th Street and Second Avenue anese reenforcements keep on marching Shanghai, appears to be a mild form of The Rengo News Agency (Japanese) ber of important advances, they have Russian party. “Semi-Trotskyist” de­ toward the scene of the fighting. After indignation. But it would be foolish to reports the seizure and operation of the failed to absorb even those social dem­ viations are being revealed in the Ger­ 13 hours of fierces skirmishes and air think that this has been so because of branch line between Harbin and Chang­ ocratic workers who have left the stan­ Friday, February 5, 1932 man and French parties. From Moscow raids, one report says, the occupation their good w ill, or because of pacifist chun of the Chinese Eastern Railway by dard of their party, and the Fascists i -self, the flat lie is being circulated a t 8 P. M. is not yet completed. But one thing is scruples. Nothing is further removed Japanese train troops! Add to this the have been s trid in g fo rw a rd w tih seven throughout the bourgeois and Stalinist certain The crux of '.(he Sino-Japanese from th at. planned invasion of Jehol vaiiey and league boots. It should now be clear press that “Trotsky has gone over to QUESTIONS and DISCUSSION conflict is already here. The reason why the Wes ern powers Mongolia by (he notorions Russian White to all that the Hitlerite hordes are de­ the German social democracy” ; that are refraining from prompt and drastic Guard general, Ataman Semionov, an ad­ liberately preparing themselves for the A D M IS S IO N : 25 Cents Undeclared Open War “Bruening, by the intermediary of Kaut- action to curb their yellow brother-un- venturer definitely known (o be in the seizure of the state power. Their sky, is going to give Trotsky a visa to Unemployed Workers Admitted Free The minions of the Mikado have been der-the-skin is that the present world pay of the Mikado’s government, and strength multiplies. A ll the recent elec­ steadily proceeding southward for weeks Germany” . situation is as combustible as a powder you have as arrogant a provocation tions show a distinct and threatening ever since th e ir fir s t easy successes in We warn the Communist workers that Auspices: New York Branch Communist magazine. Unemployment driving mil­ against the Soviet Union as can possibly shift to the Right from all the bour­ Manchuria. This time, China proper is these lies, these criminal and light- League of America (Opposition) lions to a choice between extermination be h flch e d up. The signal for an at­ geois parties. The bourgeoisie is stak­ the object of the imperialists* operations. minded diversions, are desperate maneu­ and bitter, uncompromising struggle. tack against the light-house of the in­ ing upon the victory of Fascism as the The game of the Japanese has been to vers of a bankrupt bureaucracy which Germany cn the verge of social eruption. ternational proletariat is being given In counter-revolutionary issue from the lop off one territory after another, while can discuss and argue on Marxian-Len- Unrest in Poland, class fighting in Spain, the East. terrific crisis in which it finds itself. protesting against breaches of the treaty inist strategy and tactics only by sland­ tormoil in Austria, Hungary and the The government of the Soviets is The big bourgeoisie press of the coun­ o f 1915, w h ile declaring the absolute ers and police concoctions. The issue other central European states. That is watchful and cau ious. And in a situa­ tries bordering upon Germany, like I N O U R N E X T ISSUE,: altruism of their motives. At this rate, cannot be settled in this way. Fascism what .the capitalist world is faced with tion surh as this, it must be. But, if France, is already preparing to “re­ the official declare Son of war ought to w ill not be destroyed by lying about the 1. ‘‘ The ‘Armed* Uprising of today. A “working agreement” for the we are to believe quotations from concile” itself to a Hitler regime. come just about at the time when the Left Opposition and its leader, comrade November 7, 1927” time being, or at least an “entente” is Pravda and Isvestia in the capitalist Nippon capitalists are ready to sign the WHAT WILL DECIDE? Trotsky. by Leon Trotsky the most natural thing to expect among press, the stress is being pu altogether 2. The Second Article In the Series peace treaty. the various national master classes. The But H itler’s march to power has not WHAT A FASCIST VICTORY MEANS and exclusively—for the present, at on Spain throttling of a social conflagration and yet been crowned with success. His vic­ So far, the other imperialist powers on the danger at the Eastern frontier A victory of Fascism, which threate by Max Shachtman have shown eareme restraint and cau­ the victorious subjugation of the fortress of the U. S. S. R. That danger is hard­ tory or his annihilation w ill be decided ens in Germany, means— if Italy teaches ly '.to be underestimated.. It can and by the relationship of forces, and pri­ us anything— the crushing of the Com­ marily by the course which the German probably w ill serve as the spark of an munists, the social democratic workers, round attack. Communists w ill pursue in the coming their trade unions, their press, their months. centers—in a word, the complete and But, for a revolutionist with open eyes Utilize Feb.4 Meets to Build Jobless Movement it cannot help being clear thnt the real The German Communist Party, to this bloody extermination of the whole work­ There w ill be another unemployment main factor in this. It therefore also movement can hardly be disputed. day, has folowed a false policy. It has ing class movement. and the main danger is in the West. day with nation-wide demonstrations' carries the main responsibility for the It might also be appropriate to propose not yet adopted the course which would A victory of Fascism would mean the Developmen s in the Far East generally for unemployment relief on February opportunities not being utilized. As the to the party that the unemployment de­ drag, must drag, because of the physi­ successfully exterminate the Fascist dan­ reactionary, ocunter-revolutionary solu­ objective conditions mature further this ger. tion of the present crisis, not merely 4th. It should receive the undivided monstrations be no longer concieved cal character of the land, because support of the working class everywhere. responsibility becomes heavier and the of the lack and inadequany of transporta­ Following the last Reichstag elections for the German bourgeoisie but also for purely as objectives and means of adver­ But it is imperative that it become more party failures become real obstacles in tion facilities, because of natural diffi­ and for many precious months there­ the bourgeoisie in other countries, in­ tising but on the contrary to be con­ than just one other demonstration. the way. Its failures have been appar­ culties. Should Fascism, however, suc­ after, the party leadership lulled the cluding the United States. ceived primarily as an integral part of ent in the slogans presented in its atti­ ceed in crushing the German proletariat, masses into a false security with its A victory for Fascism would break Can it become more than that? We agitation and organization activities to tude of approaching the unemployment and therebey pave the way- for a com­ baseless assurances that Fascism had the spinal column of the Communist In­ believe it can. There can hardly be any build a movement. The demonstrations situation mainly as a field for maneu­ bined effort of imperialist reaction, this reached the height of its power. The ternational at its strongest point outside question that with a real substantial vers and advertising stunts. Its fail­ themselves w ill not become effective un­ the Soviet Union—Germany. It would section of the millions of unemployed less actually sponsored by a serious menace would in crease at a furious events that followed every such boastful ure has been apparent in the utter lack ■tempo. On the Wes'-ern frontier, the assertion brought new proofs of the ad­ be a direct and immediate threat to the workers actually and seriously partici­ movement. Not until then w ill the cap­ of efforts for a class education, in the position is entirely the reverse. A few vances of the Hitlerites. very existence of the Russian workers’ pating in a movement for relief It can. bureaucratic methods of restricting the italist class and its government pay ser­ republic. But that is essential. Under all con­ ious heed to the demands made. weeks of successful m ilitary operations Instead of steering firm ly towards win­ movement as well as in pursuing a course by the European Imperialists would place The Left Opposition, contemptuously ditions the workers w ill obtain nothing ning the socialist workers, the Stalinists opposite to the one of uniting the work­ It certainly should be in order now In their hands the Ukrainian granary rejecting the liquidators’ standpoint, does more than they can take themselves and engaged in a vulgar and reactionary ers in action. This, of course, is all in­ also to really begin to remove all the and the heart of Soviet industry. Not not believe in the inevitability of the certainly not more than they are seri­ competition with the Fascists, servilely herent in the policy and methodology of bureaucratic restrictions from the un­ Jo speak of depriving the Soviets of the Fascist victory in Germany. On the ously ready to fight for. copying their slogans, seeking to outbid the Stalin agents everywhere. employed organizations. A present there aid of its most powerful and most valu­ contrary, we are deeply convinced that A ll the demands—and the pleas— so H itler in nationalist demagogy, and sink­ The direct results to the organized un­ Is no broader apical to the working able ally, the European and more imme­ the united strength of the German pro­ far made by the army of unemployed ing to the most abysmal depths of “Na­ employment movement, whatever there is class than the one concerning the various diately, the German proletariat. tional-Bolshevism” . letariat, assisted by the international have been rejected with scorn by the of it, have been that the councils lead measures for unemployment relief. working class, can smash the Fascists Hoover administration and similarly by Around this the greatest extension of Chinese Experiences Not Forgotten Then, when the reactionary monster a precarious existence out of proportion without great difficulty and prevent them the state and municipal governments elementary class unity could be attain­ had grown to a size which compelled the to the possibilities available. Their That is what every Communist work­ from coming to power. throughout the country. Whether the ed. It should ring out to all workers whole working class to look at the sit­ scope is restricted by bureaucratic divi­ er to whom proletarian Russia, (o whom But for this, the Communists must governments were Republican or Dem­ organizations regardless of how reaction­ uation with alarm, the party leaders sion of the workers and elimination of the world revolution Is dear, must keep have a correct policy, which means, in ocratic made no difference whatever. ary their leadership, as well as to those dragged the Communist masses through all who do not submit to the mechanical in mind. This is what the Russian work­ Germany, a radical and genuine change The capitalist class as a whole feels entirely unorganized. On this basis the mud of “red referendum” in Prus­ party control which is imposed upon er, especially, must keep in mind. And of the present course of the party. Not itself sufficiently strong to confine the serious efforts could be made for work­ sia, which not only heightened the wall them. They do not sufficiently attract it is precisely for this reason tha’.l the bureaucratic maneuvers which leave unemployed millions to the charity ing class unity of action. between us and the socialist workers, the workers and those who jo in , come policy of passivity and inaction of the nothing essentially unchanged, but a crumbs which iihey have seem f it to set and go. But above all it should be necessary Stalinist leadership of the Russian Com­ but added new fuel to the fires of Fasc­ breaking of the strangulating chains of aside. And suflclently strong to over­ ism. Some Practical Steps Proposed to pursue a thorough method of class munist Party and of the Communist In­ the theory of “social Fascism” and a turn come their fears of a rebellion from ternational in this situatiou is criminal It would be a good beginning for the education. That is not to be content To all this, the confusion was worse towards the real united front as Lenin’s those they so haughtily scorn. Maybe, with merely what directly and immedi­ and treacherous. confounded by the theory finally devel­ Comintern taught it. though, they are wrong in this feeling party to consider rounding out its de­ ately concerns the spontaneous movement It was these same people, onw mas­ oped, in blatant contras;-: to yesterday’s of security. It is certain at least that mands for unemployment relief by add­ The German social democratic work­ but rather to proceed from that to teach que trading as Intransigeant dortrinar- boasting, that the victory of Fascism was a real serious and determined movement ing the practical slogans which can ap­ ers, who number millions and who hate the workers in regards to the far more ies whose principles do not allow them inevitable. The fact that in the October would soon make them change their peal to the broad strata of the work­ Fascism with all their heart, who w ill serious problems they must face to to force struggle agreements agalntfi 1923 crisis, Stalin himself declared that mind. It would soon bring the unem­ ers, including those now employed. We not reocncile themselves with Hitlerism reach their revolutionary goal. German Fascism upon the social dem­ the seizure of power by Fascism was ployed masses within reach of obtain­ have in mind, as we have often emphas­ as their leaders w ill in a crisis, must be None of these proposals, however, can ocrats (the "social- Fascists” )— who even preferable to an attempt at power ing actual relief. ized, to add to the slogan for unem­ won for the united front against Fasc­ were responsible for the slaughter of by the workers, does not justify the ployment insurance also the ones of the be approached with the method of bur­ ism. The Communist party, as comrade Possibilities for Movement Growing the flower of the Chinese proletariat by policy of Thaelmann and Co., but serves Trotsky, and the Left Opposition have “six hour work-day without reduction in eaucratically maneuvering and playing But there is not yet such a serious Chiang Kai-Shek In 1926-1927. Then— to illuminate the source of its inspira­ advocated, must put to the German soc­ pay” as well as the slogan for “extension “ ______. They require first of movement. It would be foolish for Com­ under he banner of the Martynovist bloc tio n . ial democracy and to the reformist trade of long term credits to the Soviet Un-j munists to close their eyes to this fact. Ion.” That It would offer better possi-| t*le attitude of serious minded rev- of four classes. A ll the futile and empty unions the proposals for a United front It Is precisely because of this that such shouts of the Stalinist press about the THE RUINOUS THEORY OF to resist the advance of Fascism. Only bilities for the building of an actual olutlonists. —A. S. mountebanks, official dispencers of dope, “Chinese Red Army” and the "powerful STALINISM in this way, which puts their leaders to as the Pittsburgh Catholic priest, Father Chinese Soviet Republic” (Daily Worker Under the pressure of the increasingly the wall on a concrete, burning issue, Cox, can step on the scene and rally 1-29-1931) cannot cover up the facO th a t acute crisis, of the discontentment of w ill the masses realize that the Com­ thousands of unemployed upon a pro­ the impotence of the oppressed Chinese the masses with the party policy, and munists alone can lead them in the strug­ The Recent Outbreaks iu Sp ain gram of pleas to congress. The purpose masses in the face of the imperialist ag­ of the hammer-blows dealt this theory gle for liberation and for the defeat of of his appearing is, of course, to act distant rumble of a proletarian reply. gressors today is the retribution for the by the Left Opposition, the theory of “The old world Is burning at both reaction. as a preventive for a real movement by crim e o f 1925-1927. “inevitability” is now being formally and ends.” In the Far East, the imperial­ Now In Spain, the workers— headless ACT BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE leading the attention off into such fut­ hypocritically thrown overboard, the ist lust has mounted to the head of a and unled though they are— are again All Out On February 4! If the official party leaders miss the ile channels. But a movement learning to displaying a fighting disposition, a vigor scapegoats found for its advocacy in the Japan rendered desperate by the crisis The Left Opposition, under the leader­ opportunity which is still before them, know that the workers w ill get only and a resourcefulness that offer magni­ approved bureaucratic manner and the that has eaten into its vitals and it has ship of comrade Trotsky issued its warn­ if they persist obdurately in their pern­ what they are prepared to fight for ficent possibilities for shortening the in­ traces thus covered up. But unfortun­ plunged into so violent and unashamed ing then. It Is warning the party how. icious course, if they allow Fascism to would leave no room for such quacks. terlude between the democratic and the ately, in all their practises, in all their a conquest of prostrated China that only Only an acute turn of oplicy In the “subsidiary” theories, and by the per­ come to power without organized resist­ Failures Should Re Recognized proletarian revolutions. The resurgence Communist In'ernatlonal, only an imme­ ance, the revolutionary workers the a spark Is needed to set off an interna­ of the strike movement, particularly in sonal conduct and pseparations being The Communists lead whatever fighting tional conflagration. In Germany, the diate reorientation toward the old Len­ world over w ill hold the Stalinists dir­ Ca ialonia, Andalusia and Vizcaya, is es­ made by the party leaders, it is clear unemployment movement there is. The death rattle of capitalist mingles with inist line of international proletarian ectly responsible for the inevitable catas­ pecially heartening in view of the pre­ that the party course is still directed official Communist party is by far the .he noise of Fascism’s sabres and the action can save Soviet Russia, can pre­ towards a capitulation before the ad­ trophe that w ill ensue. ceding period of depression that set In vent '.he pillage of the downtrodden of vance of Hitler. We still hear that the The times are pregnant with great wwMiHuyMraiiwHniiniiHUiiinirMiilinilllPMIIMHIIHnsIBMIlMOB 6 the working class right after last year’s China, liberate the working class and Bruening regime is practically Fasc­ events, with victory or defeat. The right series of heavily defeated strikes led and the oppressed colonial peoples from the ism; that Bruening is no different from road may still be chosen. The Com­ mismanaged in classic syndicalist style yoke of capitalism and Imperialism. Hitler. With the thoroughly false dic­ munist workers in the ranks, here as O f f th e Press Today! by the head of the National Confedera­ Enormous dangers are facing the work­ tum of Stalin that t' e “social democracy well as in Germany, must speak out. They tion of labor (C. N. T.). At the same ers of the world and tremendous possi­ is a moderate wing of Fascism”, with cannot arrange their passports to flee time, the events which have just oc­ bilities for successful action are opening the equally disastrous theory and prac­ to safety from the consequences of a curred, during which a number of mun­ up for them. Every day, every hour, tise of "social Fascism”, the party lead­ Fascist vitcory. It is up to them alone icipalities were apparently taken over every minute wasted— can bring unfore­ ers still contend that for the crushing to act and to turn the course of the Com­ GERMANY by the workers and the Red flag hoist­ told consequences at this stage o f de­ of Fascism, it is first necessary to liq­ intern in the right direction. The Left ed, give ground for some concern for velopments. uidate the social democracy. Such a Opposition, conscious of its duties, Is Jhe Immediate future of the movement in Spain: the silver lining has a cllud. The official party Is calling upon all standpoint means that Fascism is to be ready one more to join with the party The Key to the International workers to voice their protests against allowed to come to power while the to arouse the proletariat to action,, and The distance that separates us from ‘he Japanese invasion of China at the in Germany it must act before it is too Stalinists are engaged in “liquidating the Spain and the thoroughly unreliable re­ nation-wide demonstrations on February social democracy”— an aim which they late. Let every Communist worker re­ Situation ports of the bourgeois press make it 4. Let all workers, all revolutionists w ill not attain w ilh their present course. flect carefully. Do not permit your­ turn out in.mass at these demonstrations. selves to be swayed by slander and difficult to evaluate and to analyze las. Not darng to defend publicly the theory L<7, every Communist bring pressure falsehood. Demand an accounting now. week’s events in proper detail. But a of capitulation, and incapable of meeting LEON TROTSKY upon the party leadership to wake it Today, the decision is still in your hands hy general knowledge of the Spanish situa­ up to the danger in Germany as well as the criticisms of the Left Opposition, the for it is not yet too late. Tomorrow, tion and the most recent copies of the to that in the Far East. Let every sin­ Stalinists, beginning with Stalin him­ it may have passed into the historical Single copies — 10 Cents In bundles of 5 or more—7 Cents self, are laying a smoke screen to cover Order Now revolutionary press that have arrived, cere revoliVSonist help the Left Opposi­ records of a great catastrophe! tion bring back the Communist party, up their indefensible standpoint and to make it possible to give a momentarily divert attention from the real needs of NATIONAL COMMITTEE, COMMUN­ the vanguard of the working class, to adequate picture of wbat is going on, the hour. Instead of dealing objectively IST LEAGUE OF AMERICA Pioneer Publishers, 84 East 1 o*1 2^ St. N . Y . C . the Leninist path, to the pajh of prole­ with the proposals made by comrade (Opposition) J (Continued on page 4) tarian victory. —SAM GORDON. PAGE 2 THE MILITANT SATURDAY, JANUARY 30. 1932

Nothing Done to Rebuild the Unions Since 1922 p ra c tic a lly nothing has been done by the Brotherhood /fficials to re­ Unemployment and the Party Bureaucracy in the R. R. Brotherhoods build the unions. In spite of the mil­ lions collected in dues, in spite of the (Continued from last issue) the re-hiring of laid-off workers, etc.” thousands of salaried officials on the This is the second of a series of arti­ to the present time has not been able ers took their first pay cut after the For us, it is axiomatic that we must But what if there are no strikes; are Brotherhoods’ payroll, regardless of the cles on the conditions of the Railroad to produe anything but a craft system war, the role of its leadership has been continue to fight. What we must do, is the movements not to be united? On this fact that the leaders were well p-ovided workers. The first appeared in the honeycombed w ith overpaid officials. an unbroken process of betrayals. In to add to the slogans of Unemployment question the resolution is silent. M ilitan t o f January 16, 1931. F u r­ For the past seventy years, a period 1921, in spite o f a nearly 100% strike with both men and money, they have done nothing in a concerted way to or­ Insurance and relief those practical slo­ It is apparent that the party still con­ ther articles w ill appear In subsequ­ through which all of the present twenty- vote to resist the cut, the leaders ac­ gans which, while answering to the one railroad unions were developed, ra il­ ganize and educate the railroad workers, ceives the fight for unemployed insur­ ent issues.— Ed. cepted it with the excuse, “that we can­ needs of the workers w ill appeal to them road transportation has gone through an instead of t< building the unions and get­ ance as a movement primarily of the In our first and previous article on not strike against the government” and ting ihem to amalgamate towards an In­ in terms of work. Such slogans exist. unemployed. This is borne out by the almost unbroken era of expansion They are principally: the slogan of the the Railroad Brotherhoods, we pointed this in spite of the fact that the Roads dustrial union the leaders tried to build organizational forms by which the resolu­ Through this period of railroad develop­ Six Hour Day, Five Day Week with out that the railroad workers in this had already been returned to private Banks end Investment Companies. The tion proposes to carry out the party pro­ ment the workers, although always poor, no reduction in pay and the slogan of country were kept divided into twenty- were generally kept busy. They worked management. In 1922, eight o f the low ­ net results of these financial ventures gram on unemployment. On this sub­ one separate craft organizations by were to the effect, that the members paid large scale, long term credits J,’o the ject the resolution says, “The basic form seven days a week as a general rule and est paid crafts received a second pay Soviet Union. In addition to their ap­ swarms of overpaid craft officials who cut. Seven of those crafts forced their for a costly lesson to learn that their of organization of the unemployed coun­ also overtime. As a matter of fact, about plicability to the present condition of the kept themselves in control of the unions officials to resist the cut with a strike, leaders knew as little about successful cil is the neighborhood council, elected 1913, a law was passed to prevent them working class- both at home and abroad, in typical bureaucratic fashion. In the Grable, the $14,000 a year lender of the investments as they knew successful la­ by the workers in the neighborhood, un- from working more than sixteen hours which has been elaborated ir- the columns articles to follow we w ill take up more per day. During this period the craft section men was able to hold his organi­ bor leadership. tmployment agencies, soup kitchens, etc.” o f the M ilitan t and by comrade Trotsky, in detail the results which naturally flow system a .id the craft officials filled zation in check regardless of its vote to Tuis, no douot, w ill be the purest form In the next article we w ill deal fur­ these .slogans have precisely that quality from such an arrangement and point out all the needs the workers required of strike. So Grable together with the of the united front from below. There is ther with the condition in which the which is so necessary in the present cir­ to the railroad workers, and workers in them. Because the workers are kept bureaucrats at the head of the other no mention here of uniting the employed railroad workers find themselves in the cumstances. general, that under present industrial 1 uty, although their hours are long and eight higher paid crafts kept their mem­ and unemployed. This makes a mockery conditions the craft form of organization face of unemployment and wage cuts The Six Hour Day, Five Day Week, en­ of the resolution’s declaration that, their wages low and their demands of bership from interfering with the smash­ as a result of a bankrupt leadership. is not only useless but extremely ex­ the capitalists through their unions are ing of the Shop Grafts by their employ­ tirely possible with the high develop­ "These organizations (of the unemploy­ pensive to its members. usually very modest. And also during ing of the Shop Crafts by their employers —A. E. ment of American industry is slowly ed) must be organized on the united At the conclusion of this series of the periods of industrial expansion, em­ winning the approval of sections of the front basis”. Nor is this distorted con­ articles we w ill submit a few recommen­ ployers are able to give the workers a American working class. It appears ception of the united front redeemed by dations which, we hope at least, w ill concession now and then to keep them reasonable to them and a means of re­ adding at the very end of the section furnish same material for a program, fairly satisfied. But these “good old” Lovestone Splitters Call for Unity lieving unemployment, by cutting down dealing with this question, the sent­ around which to organize that growing times of steady work and overtime are the working day and week and rutting ence, “A ll the unemployed councils have minority in the railroad unions who be­ practically gone. Problems are piling up men to work. It is urged even by sec­ representatives of employed workers.” lieve that Labor Unions were instituted before the railroad workers, as well as tions of the capitalist class. These gen­ It is not explained in the resolution front to liquidate the ideas of Commun­ for an entirely different purpose than to before workers, in general, which the The Lovestone faction has once more tlemen intend, of course, that the six how the employed workers who have al­ put forward an appeal for the “unity of ism and the Communist movement it­ mereley furnish a fat meal ticket for a craft union and the craft bureaucrat can­ hour day shall be accompanied by a cor­ ready signified their refusal to enter the the Communist movement”, in a letter self? Hardly; the Lovestone appeal is lot of unnecessary officials. not solve for them. responding cut in pay. We propose that existing mechanically controlled, narrow just an elaborate and solemn farce at The Brotherhood Bureaucracy Unemployment, wage-cuts, speed-up addressed to the official party, to itself, there should be no wage cut. The work­ councils are to be brought into them. the expense of the genuine sentiment for The Labor bhreaucrat and the craft and loss of working conditions are now and to the Left Opposition. Such an ap­ ers w ill decide. If the party were to revolutionary unity which exists in the The program of the Opposition pro­ union are closely related and both of .staring the railroad workers in the face. peal costs the Right wingers nothing. take up this slogan and launch a move-1 To Lovestone and Co. it is a purely jour­ ranks of the Communist workers. poses th a t the unemployed councils be them are products of the times through And as we are now dealing with the meat around it, it would penetrate all nalistic gesture which obligates them to The whole appeal of the Lovestone sections of the working class and stir genuine, broad united fronts consisting which we have been passing, namely, the Brotherhood bureaucrats we w ill look of representatives of organizations of era of capitalistic expansion and devel­ into what they have done or rather fa il­ no retreat from the positions to which group is based upon falsehood and a them into motion to realize it. they have been advancing for the past workers of all political or no political opment. Workers can only learn through ed to do to meet these conditions wii.h mls-translation of the actual state of The “work” aspect, so to speak, of two years and more, but with the aid tendencies, as well as unemployed work­ experience and the railroad workers are which the railroad workers are now con­ affairs. As for ourselves, we want no the slogan of credits to the Soviet Un­ of which they hope to cover up or ex­ part of any movement for “unity” ers from agencies, etc. This, of course, no exception to this rule. The experience fronted. ion is no less valid. Increased trade cuse the course they have followed up against the Communist party. Towards is possible upon the basis of a correct which the railroad workers have had up Since 1921, when the ra ilro a d w ork- relations with the Soviet Union as a to now. the Right wing liquidators, the Left Op­ program and a regime of working class result of a movement led I f the party position has an unchangeable attitude democracy in the councils. The Stalin­ The solemn hypocrisy of the Lovestone organized along the line elaborated by of intransigeant hostility. We have no ist version is now too well known. It appeal is unexcellable. The leaders of comrade Trotsky in his pamphlet “World is anathema to workers in the A. F. of the Right wing, who expelled the Left -ause fo r concealing our aim o f liq u id ­ Unemployment and the Five Year Plan”, 'Fathe/ Cox Gets Free Hand in Pittsburgh ating the liquidators— not by the stupid L. and out of it. On this score, the re­ Opposition from the party without the would result in concretizing the interest solution is silent too. This silence is PITTSBURGH, PA. is the workers’ Messiah. The workers remotest pretense at a democratic dis­ and ineffectual methods pursued by the of the American workers for the social­ are approachable and show a willingness Stalinist incompetents, but by an intense an ominous sign. It signifies that the Pittsburgh, the center of three of the cussion, who sought to train their fol­ ist solution as expressed in the Soviet policy of expulsion for holding non-Com- to listen to anyone who discusses with ideological and political struggle. The greatest basic industries: coal, iron and lowers in the art of the blackjack a,nd economy, and would alleviate unemploy­ munist and anti-Stalinist views w ill con­ them their real canditions and problems. inUrest of workers-in the disputes in steel, has yielded to the masters fabulous brass knuckles as the sole means of ment here by opening faatories now They show an eagerness for a program side the Communist movement exists and tinue. On such a basis there can be no profit wrung from the sweat and blood dealing with the “counter-revolution­ closed. For these slogans the workers of unemployment activities and light should be gratified. Not by Lovestone’s united front. of the toilers exploited in these mines, ists”, who violently disrupted our meet­ w ill fight. against their masters. Yet it is hard burlesques upon “unity”, but by an open It is plain that the party’s program mills and factories. Pittsburgh was al­ ings by thuggery, assaulted our com­ A ll these considerations together lead to recollect a single instance where the and free discussion of the contentious on unemployment and the organizational ways considered “be barometer of capi­ rades physically, and even burglarized to the conclusion that the Six Hour Day Party made the slightest effort either by issues. That is our position towards the forms it proposes are essentially the our offices, whose sole contribution to should be the central slogan and that talist economic conditions. To-day fraternization or by leaflet to gain the Right wing. Such an end is best served same as those with which it has failed this great industrial city still continues date to the discussion between us and together, these three slogans constitute confidence of these workers, to explain by a public debating of the questions to unite the masses for unemployment to be a barometer but a barometer of an them has been to lie and misrepresent the essentials of a program on which the to them the real souroe of their miser­ that divide us. About a year ago, we insurance. There is, therefore, no need entirely different nature. It now gauges now blithely call upon us to join hands masses, both employed and unemployed ies and the practical revolutionary way presented the Lovestone group a chal­ to repudiate the opportunism of Browder the revolutionary perspectives of this with them to “achieve unity in order can be united in a powerful movement. out. lenge to debate these questions publicly. and his former policy. On the contrary, country. The mines are shut down, that all the Communist forces may be This is the program of the Opposition. To this day, the Lovestone faction-, which it whitewashes them. “The present de­ workers striking, mills and factories On Saturday, January 16th, the day united in one powerful Communist now coos so softly about unity, has not Unfortunately, the party does not see velopments do not require a change in pratically silent, and thousands upon designated for the unemployment demon­ p a rty ” . s tra tio n o f jobless women, some 70,000 even replied to this challenge. We re­ the problem in this light. The Dec. 3rd p olicy------” thou ands d unemployed worke-.e idly Furthermore, what: sort of horse-play iterate the challenge here. Our letter workers—men, women and Children, turn­ resolution of the T. U. U. L. Executive The Stalinists are preparing another roaru the streets, driven by d'-sperution is it with the highly important and ser­ is still in their hands. Let them ans­ Committee affirms again that unemploy­ ©f hunger and fear of eviction, to re­ ed out under Father Cox’s leadership, at defeat for the fight for unemployment in­ ious problem and slogan of Communist wer it. —M. S. ment insurance must be the central slo­ sort to begging, charity, petty pilferage, the P itt Stadium, to demonstrate and de­ surance. The results w ill be disastrous. mand relief. The general character of unity when the Right wing chiefs invite gan: “We must strive to organize the The despicable demagogy of the Pitts­ suicides, and—Father Cox. A ll this in unemployed into the Unemployed Coun­ the “land of Mellon”, a city synonymous this mass demonstration presented all the Left Opposition to “achieve unity” Young Spartacus O u t burgh Reverend, Cox, is a warning that the ear marks of a political campaign,— cils—with the demand for unemploy­ if the Communists do not learn how with wealth and prosperity and,—the on the basis which they very “cleverly” ment insurance- in the center.” Although “Coal and Iron Police”. several brass bands, patriotic music, fly­ The third issue of Young Spartacus, to lead the fight for unemployment in­ ing flags, presentation of flowers and calculate w ill automatically exclude us the demands for a seven hour day and It is appalling to note the number of official organ of the Opposition youth is surance, all sorts of rif-raff w ill divert med'als, and numerous speakers, all try­ from a united party? At the meeting trade relations with the Soviet Union men, women and children who came to off the press. In this issue arp featured movement into channels harmless to the ing to out-do each other in their eulogies to celebrate their unity appeal, Gitlow, are included they are not conceived as the door begging for food and clothing. reports on the Anti-War Youth Confer­ capitalist class. of Father Cox, proclaiming him the na­ speaking in their name, set down the levers to unite the masses and set them They tramp in from the near-by mining ence, and the convention of the Young Against this danger and for the cor­ tional hero of the day. It was the usual bases upon which Communist unity was in motion. This is obvious from the and m ill towns surrounding Pittsburgh, People’s Socialist League. In addition rect policy, the Opposition w ill continue demagogy of the church and not at all to be attained, and included in them one method la id down to overcome the sep­ driven by the pangs of hunger and desti­ the youth section of the thesis of the to fight. For this, it has been created. surprising. What was striking, however, which called for the unconditional de­ aration of the “unemployed movement” tution, abandoned by the coal and iron Russian Opposition is reproduced, also, It calls upon its comrades In the party was the absence of the Communist party fense of the workers fatherland. With­ from “the red union movement” barons since there are no more profits, an article on Trotsky and the youth. membership. They had evidently thought out wasting a moment on Gitlow’s deli-, to fight shoulder to shoulder with it for to grind out of them. What more fertile Subscription rates are 50c a year, and This unity is to be affected as fol­ the six-hour day, unemployment insur­ it much wiser to stay away and not in­ berate falsification of our standpoint, on soil could the holy, flag-waving Father 5c the single copy. A ll comrades and lows : “in order to abolish these weak- ance, credits to Soviet Union; for genu­ terfere with such a “great and unim­ what basis then do the Lovestoneites con­ Cox find in which to fu fill his “sacred” sympathizers are asked to subscribe and neses it is important during times of ine united front unemployed councils; portant” event as the assembling of ceive that we are to be invited to join strikes to draw the unemployed into the mission as a Messiah for the workers? order bundles of Spartacus for distribu­ against bureaucracy, for working class 70,000 w orkers dem onstrating fo r unem­ in a “re-united Communist party”, par­ strike committees, into the mass picket This man whose breast is filled with tion and sales. Send in all orders to: democracy in the councils; for the unity ployment relief under the leadership of ticularly when they have not, to this lines,—and on the other side, to place “pure altruism” for the victims of this YOUNG SPARTACUS of the Communist vanguard. the boss class. Not a single effort was day, repudiated their action in expelling capitalist brutality and who is prepared 84 East 10th Street in specific shops concrete demands re­ made by the Stalinist leadership to ap­ us from the party which they at one T . STAMM. for ever greater and unselfish and un- New York, N. Y. garding the unemployed. For example, proach these workers or explain by time controlled? spai'ng efforts in the interests of the un­ leaflet the breakdown of the capitalist employed, even if the reward be but—a The whole affair smacks of that cheap system causing their unemployment and presidential candidacy. His popularity and pettyfogging kind of maneuver which misery, and to present to them accept­ continues on the increase daily with his is so characteristic of Lovestonian high able slogans: such as the struggle for public soup kitchens where hundreds and politics, which is neither conceived nor the 6 hour day without reduction of pay, Chicago Stalinists Disrupt Conference hundreds of helpless, discarded workers executed with any spirit of responsibil­ the 5 day week and extension of long are fed soup, coffee and bread, his Hun­ ity or seriousness. Matters become even A “broad mass United Front Confer­ mouth. United Front but also forcefully ejected term credit to the Soviet Union,—slogans clearer when the “appeal” is examined ger March to Washington, his. “Shanty ence to fight against Criminal Syndicalist While ordinarily it is difficult to under­ comrade Joe Giganti delegate from the which are momentary, realistic enough in the light of the recent past and the Town”, speeches over the radio and on Laws” was held here in Peoples’ Audi­ stand Gebert when he talks, under this Italian Workers Club. This action came January 16th as a climax, the mass de­ for the workers to respond to in the im­ relationships between the Right wing mediate. Not even the “constructive” torium by the I. L. D. last Sunday. pathological condition it was almost im­ after B ill Gebert, the D. O., stirred up monstration at Pitt Stadium in which liquidators and the Communist move­ the lesser bureaucrats with a speech in plan of physical attack of the jobless and possible. However, piecing his words 70,000 workers, men, women and chil­ ment as a whole. It was in every respect a “united which he said there are stool-pigeons break-up of the demonstration came to together here and there, we heard such dren assembled to voice their protests front” of the present day Stalinist var­ and counter-revolutionists in the hall pass. Whether the workers who were to At just what moment was Lovestone choice bits of slander as “Ray Edmund- against their miserable conditions. iety. A ll the I. W. O., I. L. D., Unem and pointed to these two comrades. carry out such strategy, saw through struck with the" burning need of unity ployed Councils and sundry organizations son, Illinois mine faker, ally of the The sight of a soup kitchen is quite Much resentment and protest was shown the folly of this hooliganism, it is hard of “all the Communisfc forces"? Up to of the Communist party were there. Trotskyites”. He also attacked Gerry familiar to all of us these days but a to this action but the well oiled machine to say, but not unlikely. the present time, the course that he and There was also present comrade Frank Allard as stool-pigeon. Saying that “Shanty Town" such as exists in Pitts­ his colleagues have pursued, has been moved on and a dead and dry confer­ It is important to note, however, that Buckley, delegate representing the Com­ he appeared as witness against him in burgh, “the workshop of the world”, is one of the unity of all the anti-Commun- ence of about 200 went on. the maximum of activities on the part munist League of America (Opposition). the Benton, 111., hearing and testified that a new kind of home for scrapped work­ ist and reformist forces against the The membership must resist such anti­ of the vanguard of the working class here the National Miners’ Union in Illinois ers of industry, a real eye sore and a Commuhist party. It is precisely this Joe Tash was chosen by the, bureau­ working class action by the bureaucrats. under the Stalinist regime amounts to was a strike-breaking organization. rotten ulcer upon this decaying society. course, which has become a stench in the crats to deliver the main report to the The bureaucrats cannot throw out the standing up within their own little sect, From this he generalized the term nostrils of every' honest reovlutionist in representatives of the most revolution­ - - Upon an open lot, in the rear of Father talking about means of breaking up Conference. He talked. He told the stool-pigeon to apply to the whole Left the country and has lost Lovestone what ary wing of Communism without at the Cox’s church, located at Liberty and 17th workers unemployed demonstrations, in­ audience th a t the bosses are fig h tin g the Opposition. Pointing with his finger at ever little support he ever had in the same time closing the door to the broad St, is found this modern mode of living stead of lending them real Communist workers. He admits at the same time comrade Joseph Giganti, delegate from Communist ranks, which the recent ‘ap­ strata of workers moving in the direc­ fOT unemployed workers when the boss­ that he does not know so much about the the Italian Workers’ Club, he called for leadership in their daily struggles on to peal” is intended to cover up. But the tion of Communism. Scores of such ex­ es can no more use them to extract pro­ Criminal Syndicalist laws themselves. mob action. Without even a chance to the proletarian revolution. trick w ill not work. amples can easily be pointed out bul fits. Little shacks, the size of out­ He also warns the audience against the I. ARCY. utter a word in answer to the cowardly one of the latest in Chicago is the houses, slapped together from every con­ Were Lovestone and Co. working to “Trotskyites” whom his keen eye per­ attack, Giganti was pounced upon by a Mooney-Harlan Conference of two months ceivable kind of refuse material, from a “bring about Communist unity” by pro­ ceives in the hall He said that this bunch of hoodlums and forcibly ejected ago which promised a bigger and broad­ piano box to old chicken crates, and posing and actively working for the liq­ small group of “renegades” was sure to Unser Kamf off Press from the hall. He pointed also to Buc­ er one in December. It is long past due rusty old iron beds as weights to keep uidation of the National Miners Union, advance a project for a united front with kley in the same manner, but out of and nothing has been done to mobilize the roofs from flying away when a wind We are sure that Unser Kamf the National Textile Workers Union, and the fakers o f the A'. F. o f L. respect for his huge size, the hoodlums the workers for Mooney who still rots in blows. Gas pipes, sewer pipes, etc., act w ill delight our comrades: for the first the Needle Trade Workers Industrial were more cautious in handling him. Comrade Buckley immediately took the ja il while the reformers and politicians as chimneys. The workers roam about time, comrade Trotsky’s article on the Union, working for this end in collabora­ floor and attempted to refute the lies of The meeting then dragged on for sev­ are taking advantage and making a foot­ idly, insufficiently clad, half starved and situation in Germany w ill be printed in tion with all shades of reformism? Was Tash, stating correctly the Leninist uni­ eral more hours. It was a successful b a ll out o f the case. on their faces an expression of complete the Jewish language. Greetings from it for “Communist unity” that Gitlow, ted front principle that workers organi- abandonment. They look forward only Zimmerman and Co. went to Paterson as Stalinist united front and the delegates The unseating of the Left Opposition our French comrades, who hope to spread z itions, irrespective of political tendency, to the pitiful handout that may come the agents of Muste, and the fakers of all went home deeply imbued with an through fear and inability to withstand Unser Kamf among hundreds of Jewish must be organized into a fight against through this benevolent underhanded pol­ the United Textile Workers Union In or­ object lesson in the “ideological” meth­ speaking workers in France. Letters the capitalist class on such specific is­ out Marxian criticism at the same time itician whose only object is to beat pol­ der to smash the Left wing movement— ods of the present party leadership. from our comrades relating to the strug­ sues like Criminal Syndicaltm, which carried with it the constructon of a huge itical capital out of the misery of these a job which was facilitated for them, —J, gles in their localities and in the parti­ could undoubtedly rally behind it large jobless workers. as we pointed out, by the criminal blun­ unnatural wall between the class. cular industries from all oer the coun- sections of workers, even those who for STATEMENT OF THE In the face of such scenes of work­ ders of the Stalinists? Is it for “Com­ Morgenstern and Goodman are sentenced try. the present may even be against Com­ CHICAGO LEFT OPPOSITION in Pennsylvania for Sedition and their ing class misery it is only natural to Every Jewish-speaking worker a sub­ munist unity” that Zimmerman, the munism. The crying need of the hour is unity representative in Chicago is denied the want to know how the Communist Party scriber to Unser Kamf shouid become Right wing spokesman in the reaction­ ary needle trades unions, unites with No sooner did comrade Buckley sit of our class forces to fight the bosses’ right to speak, when he calls on all to of Pittsburgh, the vanguard of the work­ yo ur m otto . DO YOUR SHARE TO down when B ill Gebert, D. O. of the offensive, but once again the criminal ac­ unite to fight the Criminal Syndicalist ing class here, is handling the situation MAKE THIS SLOGAN A REALITY. such notorious labor skates as Levy and tion of the Stalinist bureaucrats scatters Laws and for its victims. with regards to Father Cox and unem­ If yoc are unemployed send your name reactionary anarchists as Bluestein— to party takes the floor. His face was red and blue. His eyes rolled violently in our forces. They again demonstrated We call upon the workers and sym­ ployment. and address to us and we w ill mail you mention but two cases— for the purpose their deadening influence upon our Com­ pathizers to work for a broad uUited In contacts ,*ith some of the unem­ the paper, while you are unemployed. of combatting the Communists? In a their orbit. The gleaming white of his word, do the Loves^neites expect the eyes could be seen in the back of the hall munist party at the Sunday conference front movement, to fight for the release ployed under Father Cox’s leadership, Rush your subs to: Communist workers to take their “Com­ and might have furnished an excellent to fight the Criminal Syndicalist Laws. of class war prisoners and against the which by the way is the only unempoly- UNSER KAM F ed movement noticeable in the city, it munist unity” appeals seriously when target for Colonel Prescott’s men at the They not only ejected comrade Frank Criminal Syndicalist laws and support 84 E ast 10th Street was easy to detect that not all of his they have demonstrated so incessantly battle of Bunker H ill. He fumed and Buckley, delegate from the Communist the I. L. D. in this work as far as it followers are convinced that Father Cox m — H i t- W that their conception of it is a united stormed and the froth dripped from his League after he spoke ou the Leninist w ill go. SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 1932 T H E MILITANT PAGE 3 u i IN THE INTERNATIONAL OF LABOR Reviews and News of the Working Class and Revolutionary Movements

There is not a single worker, no mat­ In Spain ter how little conscious he is, who does A Letter to a Comrade by Leon Trotsky not understand the necessity of forming a single front with the comrades who The Fascist Danger and the Need For work with him in the same factory, in the same shop, in the same mine. The Factory Committee, elected by all work­ Left Opposition and the Brandlerites a United Front of the Proletariat ers of the same class without exception, whether or not organized in trade unions, Dear comrade: by the wisdom of the Stalinists, but We, the Left Opposition, are weak. We (Continued from last issue) or belonging to the C. N. T., or the has deepened the split still further. U. G. T., or whatever their political af­ I w ill try to express my views on the much rather, that they do not care a are growing slowly. But we are patient. What is missing are mass organiza­ Three or four months ago the Party, filiation may be, offers them the effective questions raised by you as briefly as snap what happens in the country of the The cadres of the Comintern consist tions, such as the Soviets, which assem­ faced w ith the open collapse of its trade- possible. From the first, I had consi­ either of completely used up, formerly possibility of realizing their unity in ac­ October revolution. Up to February 15, ble the whole working class and become union policy, announced a “turn”. It dered the disintegration of the Brandler- revolutionary, elements or of neutral the instrument of the insurrection and tion. The struggle for unity must there­ 1928 B ra nd le r and Thalheim er repeated­ gave up the spitting tactics, which had fore be begun from below, by undertak­ ist faction as something absolutely in­ hirelings. The Marxist tradition has of the seizure of power. Above all, produced such miserable results, and an­ ing an energetic campaign in favor of evitable. A revolutionary faction which ly said: The Opposition’s program of been broken. What is sailing now under there is missing a strong Communist nounced the transformation of the Re­ the cpnstitution of Factory Committeees has no doctrine, no general conception of industrialization and collectivization is the flag of Leninism, is only a mishmash party, without which victory is impossi­ construction Committee into a Unity throughout the country. the world situation, no elaborated strat­ a utopia. Beginning with February 16, of the most heterogeneous elements, cem­ ble. If the working class is conquered Committee. egical principles, is doomed, as a cross they immediately approved the pew pro­ ented by blunt Stalinist ignorance. The Once unity has been achieved in this yithout a battle or after a heroic but in­ between Communism and social dem­ gram of Stalin which was only a cari­ authority of the October revolution has The Spanish Communist Opposition way from below, the working class, im­ effectual putsch, its defeat, its passivity ocracy, to a hand to mouth vegetation cature of our own. One can more read­ become an obstacle to revolutionary dev­ greeted this “turn” with satisfaction, as pelled by the very logic of the struggle, w ill favor the evolution of the petty and cannot withstand the convulsions of ily understand why it is that the Stal­ elopment. That is the dialectic of his­ it was the same thing as an implied re­ w ill reach the conclusion that it needs, bourgeoisie to the Right and w ill permit the present epoch. Brandler and Thal- inists, under the immediate pressure of tory: reason becomes nonsense, October cognition of the accuracy of its critic­ not ye!, the united front, but unity from the bourgeoisie to lean upon it in strik­ heimer, the “leaders” of the international difficulties and contradictions which they revolution becomes Kaganovitch. Under ism; at the same time, it encouraged the viewpoint of orkanization, on a na­ ing a death-blow against the proletariat. Right wing opposition called us “sec­ are incapable either of overcoming or such conditions, how can the Marxist the Communists to prevent the turn an­ tional scale. This road is apparently slow­ Under these circumstances, Fascism w ill tarians”. Now, when we do possess a even of understanding, are engaged in tendency be expected to move forward nounced by the party from remaining on er than that of the fusion congress which find a magnificent basis for its develop­ certain amount of cadres and begin changing their position sharply and in a t express speed? In order to master paper, which there was reason to fear is favored as the first and last step, ment. slowly to grow, these alleged representa­ taking refuge behind lies, but it is really the international situation, its turns, from the persistency with which the but in reality it is much faster, and This perspective is possible, but not tives of mass action find themselves in repulsive to see these two Berlin pee­ changes, etc., a certain theoretical level party stuck to some of its fundamental above all, infinitely more effective. inevitable, far from it. The working the midst of complete disintegration. wits constantly saying yes and yes, with­ is required, or at least, a certain amount mistakes. The struggle for unity has, besides, class .must keep it in mind in order to Half of the leaders want to join Stalin, out taking any part at all in the affair of political experience. The masses can “As far as the trade union policy is other invaluable advantages pointed oqt foresee all the dangers, and to attack the the other half Seydewitz. When Messrs. outside of their fervent desire to be ap­ only approve of us, insofar as our views concerned”, said the Central Committee already by us in the past. In the first enemy more surely and more decisively, of the Opposition in the open letter ad­ Brandler and Thalheimer take the part pointed to high functions. And the fact withstand the test of events and' are place, it offers the proletariat a magni- that the Right wing opposition tolerates The situation is clearly a revolutionary dressed, with this purpose, to all mem­ of yes-men with regard to everything that confirmed by them. Example: Our small flcient occasion to counterpose the revolu­ the likes of them in Its midst, nay, at its one. The c a p ita lis t cisis i® more ag­ bers of the party, “the symptoms are goes on in the Soviet Union, th a t does German organization is making a serious tionary control of production, exercised head, is in my eyes very characteristic gravated from day to day. There is no even more disturbing. Concrete proposi­ not prove at all, that they are blind step forward precisely because It is hold­ solution. The bourgeoisie keeps conso­ by these Committees, to the project for by nature or that they have jpeen dazzled of that organization. ing its own In this eventful situation, tions for a united front have been made so-called “workers’ control” worked out lidating its position in a desperate ef­ to the O. N. T., but the Reconstruction while the Brandlerites are forced into fort, but stumbles over unheard of dif­ by Largo Caballero, which is only a bankruptcy. Committee continues to function, and concealed form of class collaboration. ficulties in trying to consolidate them Com. St. believes, according to w hat even after the circular of the Political In the second place, in the course of d e fin ite ly Rumblings in the German Social Democracy you say, that there are unreliable, con­ Secretariat announcing the turn in the development of revolutionary events in It tries to gain time' by constituting fused and even discrediting Cantonists policies of the party, has published var­ our country, the Factory Committees can a government presided over by socialists. ious manifestoes over its signatures. If among us, especially in Austria. It is serve as a powerful stimulus to the ap­ LEIPZIG, GERMANY gency decree policy of Bruening which The working class must take account of the wishes of the Executive Committee true, in Austria there exist, to be sure, pearance of Soviets, those irreplaceable The ‘‘counter-revolutionary” situation, clears the road economically and pol­ this and not give the oburgeoisie a mo­ are sincere, it must prove it in practice. not four but—insofar as I have been organs of the proletarian insurrection. that is, the situation immediately pro­ itically for Fascism. On the other hand, ment’s breathing spell. In revolutionary The members of the party must impose informed—two groups who count them­ Let us therefore abandon the empty ceeding the Fascist overthrow, also has the dissatisfaction in the ranks of their periods such as those in which we are their w ill in this direction on the lead­ selves as members of the Left Opposi­ propaganda for trade union unity and its peculiar laws and phenomenon. proletarian following, whose wages or living, events develop with extraordinary ers” . tion, both of which we are, however, for those efforts which, like the conference Apart from the objective factors, a unemployment dole are constantly being the time being, allowing to take their speed. The revolutionary consciousness Our fears were more than justified. of the masses progresses similarly in planned by the party, only deepen the certain weakening of the social demo­ cut and who watch the continual growth course outside of the framework of our The party, far from orientating itself geometric ratio. What is missing is a split, and let us work actively and re­ cracy (without strengthening Commun­ of Fascism with great misgivings, is organization because just now. we lay sincerely toward unity, emphasized its party to concretize this revolutionary solutely for real and immediate unity ism and accompanied by a general de­ also very great. An expression of this more weight on quality than on numbers. policy of division. This is the reality, consciousness into precise formulas and in action of the working class, by driv­ moralization of the working class) is dissatisfaction can he found in the enor­ Numbers only make up the real mass, the more so as it tries to present itself organize the masses for action. This ing forward with the greatest energy the required to make the social democracy mous election losses o f the S. P. G. and when the cadres maintain themselves by on the outside, formaly, as the most re­ creation of Factory Committees. party does not even exist, although there incapable of securing the further exist­ all the lesser elections of recent months their quality, that is, by their ideas, solute defender of unity. is potentially an intense Communist Barcelona, Nov. 27, 1931 ence of bourgeois society outside of its (about 25 per cent). Unfortunately, we and methods. When w ill the great suc­ Its decision to call a so-called “Trade spirit in the country. The working class —ANDRES NIN. Fascist form. Furthermore, this re­ m ust however adm it th a t the C. P. G. cesses come? T h a t I cannot bell you. must be given this indispensable instru­ Union Unity Conference”, using as in quires the going over of the decisive, instead of gaining more and more of The Left Radicals remained a small min­ ment for its emancipation. A great rev 1925 (1 ) the Federation o f W orking hitherto “democratic” sections of the big these S. P. G. votes gets less and less ority in the German social democracy olutionary proletarian party must be Class Organizations of San Sebastian, bourgeoisie to Fascism. In the last two of them and that a continually growing for years. The Zimmerwald Left con­ forged, unifying all the Communist forces can only lead to a second edition, revised In Bulgaria weeks trese two processes have developed section is becoming altogether indiffer­ sisted of single comrades from various which exist in the country, and giving and enlarged, of the Seville Reconstruc rather rapidly in Germany. A fast tempo ent An expression of dissatisfacton was countries, and they were not—as comrade tion Committee, that is to say, to the it a clear and precise program. Only in On the afternoon o f October 11, 1931, _was conditioned—not in the last place—■- also the expulsion of the opposition and St. very well knows—among the best: this way can the Fascist danger be av­ creation, of a third central body. a bloody dispute took place in the court­ by the abrupt aggravation of the crisis, the creation of the centrist S. A. P. D. a young Norwegian poet, the confused It is evident beyond a doubt that only erted ; and the Spanish proletariat, allied yard of Philippopel Prison among the which proceeded in the .(rail of the (Socialist Labor Party)', through which Hoeglund from Sweden, Julius Borch- an insighniflcant minority of trade un­ with the peasants, can advance with a political prisoners—all of them com­ events in England, especially those con­ the leadership of the Socialist Party ardt, etc. But the doctrine was solid, firm and sure step on the road which ionists w ill participate in this confer­ rades who have fought and suffered for cerning the British tariffs which are hoped to a tta in peace. They succeeded) the orientation firm, the methods cor­ ence, and that the great organizations of leads to victory. the cause of the proletariat. This quar­ ruinous for German trade. to be sure, in repelling the organized rect, that is, appropriate for the epoch. the C. N. T . and the U. G. T . w ill not The possibilities of success in the rel, called forth by factional differences, Insofar as the turn of opinion in the opposition but the spontaneous dissatis­ And out of this small group, the Third send delegates Under these circum­ struggle against the Fascist danger and of opinion and by reciprocal insults bourgeoisie is concerned I should like to fa ctio n in the S. P. G. and the trade International arose. To be sure, through stances, can the conference produce any in the constitution of a strong Commun­ deeply shook the sentiments of the stop for a moment, first of ail, on the unions has not ceased to continue to the intermediary of the October revolu­ other result than a new split? ist party w ill depend principally on the working-class circles. field of the political super-structure, on grow. The S. P. G. is s till seized w ith tion. Great revolutions always consume ability to put an end to the trade Union The experience of the last few years The press of Stalin’s tools—Echo, the press. It Is of the greatest signifi­ disintegration. whole generations, and that is just the split wdiich has torn apart the working shows that this road is not the most Workers’ Action, etc.,—was filled with cance that a sheet of such world import­ An expression of the pressure of the case now. To a certain, but only to a class of our country. desirable one to reach the unity so ar­ declarations and protests of prisoners ance and democratic traditions, as the membership for struggle, for action, was certain degree, it is necessary to begin In th is sense, the Communist p a rty is dently desired; that with unity confer­ of the Stalinist faction. Our excellent Frankfurter Zeitung, demands in all the united front proposal of Breitscheid, anew at present. In this, the most im­ called upon to fu lfill a role of the very ences and proposals for fusion congress­ comrades, at the head of whom stands earnestness and with the greatest deter­ w hich the C. P. G. answered w ith the portant task is to preserve the continu­ es, absolutely nothing is accomplished. first importance, by struggling implacably the noble and steadfast D. Gatchev, sen­ mination—a Bruening-Hitler coalition. ‘ ‘genial” slogan “ the S. P. G. is the ity of the revolutionary-Marxist, that is against the chronic splitters among the Unity must be achieved from below, af­ tenced to death like so many other Op­ It can easily be understood from this main enemy”. (This wisdom coincides —in our epoch, of the Bolshevik idea apd anarchists and the U. G. T„ by proving ter passing through the phase of the un­ positionists, were treated in these de­ turn of opinion that the bourgeoisie is with another, to. wit, “there is no dif­ to transmit it to the younger generation, ill practice to the proletariat that it de­ ited front. The struggle against the clarations as a hord of bandits, as a persecuting with the greatest brutality ference between democracy and Fascism” The confused Cantonists, who “discredit” sires unity, and by an ardent struggle bosses’ offensive, the problems presented gang of Fascists, enjoying the approval all its outsiders who have remained true and forms the main thesis of the “turn us w ill be hurled aside. One should to attain unity. by the revolution, have shown clearly of the prison warden, against whom to the old liberal traditions, who have article”, of Thaelmann which the M ili­ choose one’s path according to the funda­ Unfortunately, the Party in this field before the eyes of the working class the punishment and removal were demanded. remained anti-FUscists. In number 37 tant (No. 37.) has dealt with before. It mental, determining, objective factors has followed a fundamentally false necessity of coordinating and unifying The followers of Stalin, who has not of the M ilitant, the case of the editor is clear that we must declare a sharp and not according to the subjective im­ policy, which culminated in the famous its forces. Otherwise, it w ill be hope­ desisted from shooting, imprisonment Ossietsky has already been mentioned. struggle against this fundamentp.1 tend pressions of one group or another of Seville Conference and in the constitu­ lessly crushed by the enemy, and the and deportation of people of the rank The case of editor Hoellering is likewise ency as expressed by the Thaelmann followers of the revolutionary tendency. tion of the Reconstruction Committee, bourgeoisie, allied with the landlords, of Leon Trotsky and Christian Rakov- important. On the demand of the Min­ article and that we must explain to the Engels once wrote to Bernstein some­ which created a deserved unpopularity w ill accomplish once and for all the sky, are all alarmed over the incidents ister of the Reichswehr, Groener (who party membership which is being de­ what along these lines: “We (i. e. Marx for the Communists in the C. N. T., and strangling of the revolution. in the Philoppopel Prison. They are has breakfasted more than once with ceived by the modest and incomplete and Engels, naturally) remained in the calling for the intervention of bourgeois H itler) he was discharged by the Jewish criticism which Thaelmann practices on minority all our life and were quite com­ justice and are confiding to it the de­ democratic publishing house of Ullstein, the question of the “peoples’ revolu­ fortable at that”. I do not mean to say cisions of inner-party disputes. without notice because he had revealed tion”, on capitulation and individual by this, that we should make this our the air armaments of Hitler’s private terror-^-that it is not a matter of an ac­ aim. In my life, it also happened that FOR YOUR LIBRARY In this, just as all the other lackeys army! It is also typical that the hith­ tual turn, in order to drive them for­ I was among the majority. But all in the rest of the world, they are treat­ erto “republican” police officer^ of Sever­ ward. The “self-criticism” of the bur­ those who ocnstantly rave about the ing their opponents of the Opposition Books by Leon Trotsky ing have openly declared their solidarity eaucrats must be utilized, but we must “masses” and the “majority” never ac­ as traitors, or as tools of the bour­ with a major who has been brought up not permit them to exploit it, we must tually attain it, at least not for revolu­ geoisie and of Fascism. They have THE STRATEGY OF THE WORLD on charges because of anti-republican stigmatize their half measures and their tio na ry ends. The masses are not won neither the courage nor the ability for REVOLUTION activity (that is, by the way, a contri­ doublefacedness). This tactic, naturally, over by a special mass technique, as a free and honest struggle to compare 86 pages, two-colored paper cover 25c bution to the reformist practice of the aided the Breitscheids who have created Brandler and Thalheimer conceive of it both methods; that of Lenin and flhat' Introduction by Max Shachtman "peaceful acquisition of the state ap­ a combine of all republican organizations —in this field, the trade union fakers are of Trotsky which assured the proclama­ THE DRAFT PROGRAM OF THE paratus” ),. We are intentionally quot­ after “convincing” their followers that sky-high superior to them—, the masses tion and the entrenchment of the revolu­ are won over in our epoch, fu ll of events COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL ing only such examples as have to do a united front with the Communists is tion In Russia, and on the other hand, and crises, only by a clear revolutionary, A Criticism of Fundamentals with the camp of the formerly democratic impossible. This combine, which they that of Stalin and Molotov, who are social conception.- Introduction by j. P. Cannon bourgeoisie. As to the direct and stormy boastfully dub “the iron front” w ill, to subjecting all the acquisitions of the growth of the Natioral “ Socialists”, The further development of the Ger­ 140 pages hard paper cover 35c great Russian revolution, both the ideo­ be sure, accomplish very little insofar as enough has already been said to make the Fascists are concerned, but it w ill man situation w ill be decisive for the in­ THE SPANISH REVOLUTION logical as well as the organzafonal ones, things clear to everybody. ternational labor movement, and in the to an international danger by enfeeble- contribute, a great deal to the paralyza- 30 pages, paper cover 10c The social democrats are supporting tion of the proletarian forces! first instance, for the Comintern. Should THE PERMANENT REVOLUTION ment, destruction and demoralization. with suicidal steadfastness the emer- Since i t is impossible fo r the S. P. G. the German proletariat be victorious— 208 page book—cloth bound 1.00 More than that; the ■ political prison­ to change its policy of betrayal, it has this can only happen by the greatest paper bound .50 ers, poisoned by the Stalinist opium, to attempt, by means of personal changes tension of all the creative forces latent comrades, which are inspired by a sin­ THE REAL SITUATION IN RUSSIA who a te nevertheless o-ur comrades, In in the leadership, to create among its in it—then the dictatorship of the empty cere and deep effort to find the straight- Introduction by Max Eastman the same class and in the same strug­ membership the illusion of a change in and brutal Stalinist bureaucracy w ill im­ efij way to the social liberation of the 364 page book fo rm e rly $2 now 1.00 gle, go as far as to issue—before the direction. These personal changes are mediately fall, great ideological strug­ whole working class of the country, be­ proletariat. M Y L IF E —000 pages 6.00 also signs of the internal crisis. And gles w ill be solved, the Left Opposition fore the entire world proletariat,—in Osvobojdenle is not publish!^ any pro- the fact that the leader of the Reichs w ill have a fructifying effect on the re­ COMMUNISM AND SYNDICALISM the Stalinist press, which cpuld find not vocatory articles as the political prison­ Banner, the infamous and notorious novation of the labor movement in Ger­ The Trade Union Question a single word of fraternal conciliation, ers at the Philoppopel penitentiary claim. Hoersing has been deposed, is only a many and in the entire world. Should Introduction by James P. Cannon and reciprocal toleration, this declara­ (See the Edho, No. 227). sign of how deep-going the crisis Is. the German proletariat be defeated by 64 pages, paper cover 1Be tion: “it w ill be impossible to prevent The tragedy of Philoppopel Prison While the membership turns to the the Fascists, then all w ill be over with THE SPANISH REVOLUTION new attacks upon us, bloody conflicts are must arouse the conscience of the pro­ Left, the leaders (Severing, Heilmann) the Comintern and possibly also with IN DANGER Inevitable.” And since the Stalinites are letariat so that the Stalinist action w ill are travelling ever more openly toward the Soviet Union. For the world pro­ 64 pages paper cover 1Bc in the majority, it is quite apparent that one day be forced to cease identifying it­ the Right and it is due to the idiotic letariat, that w ill mean a set-hack for a new bloody attack is being organized self with the proletariat and to realize policy o f the C. P. G. alone th a t these long years to come. Under these tragic PROBLEMS OF THE DEVELOP­ against our comrades, which is already that highest law which rules the normal contradictions do not come more rapidly conditions, the Left Opposition w ill take M EN T OF T H E U . S. S. R . now prepared psychologically and just­ development of the proletarian' struggle and more openly to a head. The Stalin­ over the task of continuing to expand 48 pages, paper cover 15c ified in advance. is the principle of inner-party democracy ist leadership, far from changing its the Marxist Idea, but certainly no long­ Special Rates in Bundles of 5 or more Whom do these tragic quarrels serve? which allows for the broadest and most course, has begun, on the contrary, to er within the formal framework of the SINCE LENIN DIED Comrades on both sides, come to your fruitful development of the idea of the carry on in Germany too, an insidious, Third International. We have a long By Max Eastman senses! Can’t you sum up sufficient freedom of the proletariat. In the name noisy and filthy struggle against “Trot­ run perspective. The events can acceler­ 1924 50c moral strength to rise above these al­ of this inner-party democracy, the pol­ skyism”, especially since it is beginning ate our development, even give it a 158 page book printed in London together too primitive methods of strug­ itical prisoners of the Left Opposition to feel more and more the strong re­ feverish pace. A ll the better! We are, gle, of application for a judgment from of the Philoppopel penitentiary, have action, the deep echo to the latest pam­ however, also prepared, to carry on pro­ Pioneer l»i»bll»b«*'* the authoritatives of our class enemies? brought their first sacrifices. Let us phlets by comrade Trotsky in Germany, pagandists and educational work for 84 East 10th Street Are you going to show yourselves incap­ hope that these w ill be the last sacri­ on which the entire press was forced to long years as “setcarians”, in order to New York City able of rising to the level of proletar­ fices, and that the. opponents w ill once comment, and which are being quoted prepare the yeast for the future. ian ethics? Can you not find the strength mbre be united fraternally before the everyw here. W ith best Communist regards, for this by respecting the views of your common class enemy. E. BAUER. L. TROTSKY. PAGE 4 T H E MILITANT SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 1932 The Recent Outbreaks in Spain and their Meaning

(Continued from page 1) dicate, throughout Andalusia and Catal­ The light-hearted gambling with the pro- (D- W., 1-23-32). Unfortunately, this FA TH E R COX help in the organization of a united which w il] surely be amplified and con­ onia. Everywhere," the popular demand lems of the movement, ignorance and big mouthful is miles distant from the firmed by later information. was raised for the dissolution of the While unemployment increases daily fronJ of labor for the defense. A ll this ineptness, the stage juggling with the truth, if only for the reason that these Civil Guard.The republicans and social­ and the suffering and misery accumulates they refused, and the work went on “Law for Defense of Republic” burning trade union question which re­ same journalist-manufacturers and their ists in power, cavalierly oblivous of to the explosive point the m ilitant move­ without them. Now they come forward The republican-socialist coalition which sults in the absence of any deceive Com­ Spanish colleagues have done everything their solemn promises before the fall ment of the workers around the issue to protect the prisoners from the “be­ took over the government with such munist influence in the powerful C. N. they could to keep the masses from the of the monarchy to abolish the black completely fails to keep pace: The un­ trayal” of the defense committee which elaborate promises for the welfare of T. or the U G T, for that matter- Communist party. hatted bandits of the Guard, promptly employment movement shows many signs did the necessary work which they re­ the masses and took such deliberate has made it possible for the anarcho- The Daily Worker is not alone. The proceeded to send comrades o f the same of regression, or at best marks time. fused to do or help in doing. pains to proclaim Spain a “democratic syndicalists to debilitate the worikng current issue of the Workers Age, which Guards to suppress the strikes with all This is the price of false and inadequate This eleventh hour discovery of the republic of the workers”, has not fail- class without encountering effective re­ contains an outraged article by Gitlow the ferocity for which they are ontorious. policies and bankrupt leadership. In the merits of the case by .the Dally Worker - ed to reveal in action its brutally anti­ sistance from the Communist forces in against the bluffs and exaggerations of face of such a contradiction the way is has not occurred without reason. It labor character. Not only has I) not Despite the militancy of the strike the principal mass organizations. So the Daily Worker, does an elaborate opened for all kinds of charlatans to bears testimony to the effective work of succeeded in solving a single one of the movement, which sporadically and spon­ much invaluable, irretrievable time has piece of bluffing on its own hok. It in­ get the a tte ntio n o f the hungry masses, the defense committee in popularizing problems posed by the democratic rev taneously went so far as to take over been lost by the antics of Stalinism! So forms us of the "wide-e|piread revolu­ The situation is made to order for them, the issue and it indicates the pressure olution, but it has steadily instituted control of local municipalities, it is clear much more time threatens to be lost un­ tionary uprising under the leadership of and those who show skill in the work brought against the bureaucrats by the regulations and procedures which have from even the meager press reports that less a tu rn is made! the Catalonian Communist Federeation of deception have the capitalist press for Communist workers who were ashamed steadily increased '.(he discontentment of it has been driven back by the concen- The pitiful attempts of the Stalinist (the Right wing group of Maurin and a publicity machine. The most conspic­ of the things done in their name. But 'the worker si The Coteal point off the geoisie. And. with the present state of press to cover up the bankruptcy of Co.) and the syndicalist unions”. That uous and successful of these traffickers the new approach to the case shows a rift between the masses and the ruling the movement; nothing else couldd be ex­ Bullejos, Adame, Trilla and Co. in the syndicalist unions are leading the in human misery that has y.et appeared cynical contempt for the intelligence of class it has brought to opwer has be­ pected. Spain, deserve a word. Taken complete­ movement is undoubtedly true, but no on the scene is the C atholic p rie st o f these workers. They w ill stand for a come, to a great extent, the infamous The fatal weakness of hte movement ly unawares, the Daily Worker clamored more. The story about the leadership of Pittsburgh, Father Cox. great deal—as the continued existence of “law for the defense of the republic” is its leadership and outlook. Practic­ for days about “eight towns” having Maurin and Co. is nothing but bluff, pure The exploits of this clever sky-pilot the Stalinist bureaucracy demonstrates— and the existence of the aqually infam­ ally everywhere, it is under the domina­ “declared the establishment of a Soviet and simple, manufactured entirely out are crowding the legitimate workers but they have not forgotten the record ous “Guardia Civil” which is maintain­ tion of the C. N. leaders, either of the Republic” ! Such abymsal ignorance of a typewriter and a piece of paper. movement out of the daily news. While th is bureaucracy has made in the case ed to enforce the Draconian measures “pure” syndicalist brand or of the about “establishing Soviet Republics” is The revolution in Spain is still on the this can be attributed, in part, to a more of the marine workers, and they w ill of the law. “pure” anarchist brand. Practically ev­ to be expected from the bourgeois press order of the day. It is only necessary or less deliberate policy of the capital­ not forget it. Before the adojf ion of the law, and erywhere, the actions are consequently . . . and from Stalinist dunderheads. Then1 t& understand the dangers it faces, and ist press, it must be admitted that his In order to refresh their memory and now “legally” under the law, hundreds precipitated without genuine preparation, we learn that “the workers of Spain are to overcome them in a serious, Marxian methods and program have a superficial to put all the issues clearly before the upon hundreds of active m ilitants have with the vaguest, least practical, most turning in masses to the revolutionary manner. attraction for many workers. He stole workers the defense committee has de­ been arbitrarily arrested and detained “idealistic” aims, without national co­ leadership of the Communist party” — MAX SHACHTMAN. the thunder of the Communists with his cided to issue a statement giving an ac­ without trial or indictment. The sys­ ordination, without foresight as to the “hunger march” to Washington and, count of its work and policy. This state­ tem of “de,:enciones gubernativos” (arbi­ results or the mean provided for re­ from all reports, made just as good a ment, which w ill adduce documents and trary governmental detention), institut­ sisting an agile, mobile, well-directed Showing. He demands “immediate re­ facts on every point, w ill -deal another ed by Prim o de R ivera, has been carried and centralized bourgeoisie and its ap­ lief”, government appropriations and blow to the disrupters and thereby over under the Republic. Characteristi­ paratus of suppression. The inevitable Book Review similar measures, which have a prac­ strengthen the defense of the persecuted cally, under the dictatorship this vicious result is that the anarcho-syndicalists, Lasalle. By Arno Schirokauer. Trans­ tical sound and make a certain appeal workers facing trial. system was declaimed against by such contempt for the state, are completely sonal jealousy, by these gentry, or to lated by Eden and Cedar PauL The Cen­ to the desperate workers who are stag­ present-day authorities as Azana, Prieto, discomfited and checkmated when the some disease. If Lenin differs with A PROGRESSIVE TENDENCY tury Co. gering under the heavy blows of the Marcelino Domingo; one of its most “social myth” of the state turns up Plechanov and Martov—he is jealous. crisis. This is indicated by the attend­ The draft of a program published by ardent opponents under Primo was Gal­ at every comer and confronts the hero­ Of all the figures in the labor move­ If Trotsky disagrees with Stalin—it’s ance of fifty thousand at his Pittsburgh the Opposition group of the Proletarian arza, who today perpetuates it just as ically confused workers with serried ment since the beginning of the era of a personal issue for power. These crea­ mass meeting. It is not altogether out Party gives further confirmation of the ardently in the capacity of Director Gen­ ranks of trained Civil Guards bayonets scientific socialism, none stands out so tures see everything through the re­ of question that his project for a na­ progressive tendency represented by the eral of Security in Madrid. Just as un­ fixed and rifles levelled. romantically and haughtily as does the fraction mirror of their own petty-bour­ tio n a l convention -at St. Louis should new group. The document leaves a num­ der Primo and Berenguer, working class The concern which every revolution­ figure of Ferdinand Lassalle. He has geois souls. And so Marx’s and Engels’ dislike and distrust of Lassalle is placed arouse widespread hopes and attain ber of the most decisive questions unans­ papers are now administratively sup­ ist must feel over these events is over not only been biographed by so eminent right at the door of personal jealousy. measure o f success. wered, but in spite of this limitation pressed by the minister of .the interior the fact that the petty-bourgeois ignor­ a critic as Georg Brandes; but he was One thing is incontestable: The intol­ which is easily understandable in a or his representatives. Frente Unico ance and prejudices of the anarcho-syn­ even been transplanted into the fictional It need not of course be stressed here erable burdens of unemployment are group that has only recently taken shape and Mundo Obrero, organs o f the Com­ dicalist leaders resulted in dress parades pages of no less a novelist than the that the political differences between arousing millions who can no longer ■—the programmatic statement of the Op­ munist party, have been suppressed or of an unprepared and undirected work­ great Victorian, George Meredith, who Marx and Lassalle are barely skimmed bear them in -silence. They are moving position gives a fairly clear impression harrassed. In Catalonia, the civil gov­ ing class against a thoroughly fortified painted Lassalle with the cellophane over or entirely neglected. Marx’s crit­ with irresistible force toward some form of the nature of the revolt against Pro­ ernor, Anguerra de Sojo, completely sup­ bourgeoisie, unnecessarily exhausting the coating of fiction around him as Alvan, icism of Lassalle’s Gotha Program is of expression. Whether it will he a letarian Party leaders who lived too pressed the weekly paper of -the Left forces of the workers, Weeding them the Jewish firebrand and reformer, in not even mentioned. But then, what can fighting program or a compound of re long in peace. The faction fight—or, Opposition, El Soviet. The powerful slowly in futile skirmishes, preaching his novel “The Tragic Comedians.” And you expect of a social democrat, and formist and religious illusions, whether more correctly, the Bplit—in the Kerach d a ily paper o f the C. N. T ., Solidaridad the superiority of primitive guerrilla as a “tragic comedian” he has been ad­ a social democratic intellectual, at that! it w ill be led by revolutionists or dem­ er organization is a fight of revolution­ Obrera, has been seized regularly, parti­ warfare when only the strategy of cenl mired and parlor-gamed over by ever so One more point. In the conluding re­ cularly since it passed into the hands agogues—this remains undecided. It is ary workers against a sterile and conser­ tralized war is applicable, practising many well meaning intellectuals, liber­ marks of his biography, Mr. Schirokauer of the anarchists gives himself over to reflecting upon uhe not written anywhere that the workers, vative clique. the theory of sporadic advances and dis­ als and romantic socialists. in -the first stages of their awakening, The sections of the program dealing Trade union and political centers of organized retreats under the fatally er­ That he should have been 'taken up by career of a man who not only died once all so? is have been closed by the auth­ w ill take the road of m ilitant struggle wtih unemployment and the trade union roneous impression that it is the bour­ bourgeois intellectuals of his time and but three times. Lassalle is dead. His orities in the most high-handed manner, Neither is it precluded. The policy and question show the strong sides of the geoisie which w ill thereby be weakened^ after is hardly to be marvelled at. Con­ workt are dead. His (?) International methods of the party are the deciding opppsition as compared with the Kerach Just in the short period of the writer’s The continued precipitation of prema­ sider a boy born of Jewish parents— (the first) is dead. But our biographer visit to Spain, the press reported the factor in this question. The conditions er official faction. On both these points, ture and unprospective moSquito attacks, with decided Semitic features— rising to sees a faint light a-gleaming. He argues shut/Sng down of the C. N. T. (anarcho- work in a progressive direction, but the so vitally connected with the daily work accomplished by taking unwise advantage the point of confounding the aristocracy, thus: The chief bone of contention be­ syndicalist) unions in Cadiz; the illeg- leadership fumbles every time and turns in the class struggle, the opposition of the just resentment and militancy of and what’s more, the rising bourgeoisie tween Marx and Lassalle was the mat­ alization of the anarchist-controlled the movement back. group shows the impulse to break out the masses, means th a t the anarcho-syn­ (whom he evidently hated more) up to ter of National vs. International Social­ railroad workers’ union in Malaga; the Time is vitally important. Every er­ of the sectarian passivity, garnished dicalists are stretching out Spain’s the great Bismarck, himself. With in- ism. To put it in modern terms, between outlawry of the autonomous building ror and every delay increases the danger with high-sounding pseudo-Marxist talk, “July days” into weeks and perhaps genuious argumentation that resembled Socialiam-in-one-country and the Per­ trades union in Bilbao, led by the Com­ that the course of the movement w ill be which has characterized the Proletarian months.lt constitutes a terrific threat to njore the haggling of some ancient Tal­ manent Revolution. Now the spirit of munist paffV and the Left Opposition; turned aside. The spectacular successes Party from the. beginning. The pro­ the real progress of the Spanish prole­ mudists than the Dialectics of anybody, Lassalle, the spirt of the first Interna­ and— with .the tacit consent of the of Father Cox are a sharp warning of gressive and revolutoinary tendency of tarian movement. he stands up in court and defends the tional (a good nternational is a dead three socialist leaders who are in the the reality of this danger. the opposition in this regard is undubit- notorious Countess Hatfeld. A defense International nowadays) is coming up coalition cabinet!— the closing up of U. The other side of this situation is the ATTACKING THE MARINE able. which lasts well on to a decade and cul­ over the horizon. For have we not got G. T. (socialst unions) and even Social- “blnnhersin permanence” of the Spanish WORKERS’ DEFENSE minates in making him the darling of Socialism in one country in Russia? And It rnusi be noted however that this char Mi party centers in their stronghold, Communist Party. We have often point­ The attack on the Marine Workers’ the ‘haute monde” are we hot instituting a variation of acterization applies mainly to its program Estremadura. ed out the veritable crimes ayainst the Defense Committee in the Daily Worker National Socialism right here in Ger­ on these points as compared to the of­ In one strike after another, the gov­ revolution which the Stalinist bureau­ The turbulent days of ’48 find in Las­ of January 25'th is a continuation, under many, now? ficial policy and practice. The formula­ ernm ent^— the M adrid center as w e ll as crats have committed in the Spanish salle a noisy and forceful, if at times, a new form, of the policy of the party Thus we find, at last, another fore­ tions of the opposition are by no means the Catalonian Generality, has interven­ situation. Each acute situation only illogical leader. He electrifies with his and the I. L. D. in this case since its runner of Stalin and Stalinism. Action adequate, and they are lacking somewhat ed openly on v:he side of .the employers. reveals this horrible fact more glaringly. speeches. He crushes w ith his denun­ inception. The attack is shifted from — no matter how wrong so long as you’re in theoretical motivation. From this The Civil Guard, cordially despised and ciations. He even writes a book and a the prisoners to their defense committee, doing something; as agaihst action the danger can arise of an uncritical hatedb virtually the entire population, pretentious drama in blank verse. The but at bottom the attitude remains the through theory when the opportune mo­ plunge into “mass work” for its own has been used time and again to crush book is on the Greek philosopher, Hera- same— treacherous disregard fo r the fate ment arrives. sake and the ending of the whole move­ strikes, to beat up demonstrators, and In K. C. Opposition clitis and it is written not so much to of the prisoners and concern only for the ment in a swamp. If this is defended as even *jo fire • point-blank into workers’ enlighten anybody as to lay a philosophic — M. GTN. factional interests of this corrupt and Our first open forum held Monday, a necessary reaction to the “pure theory” meetings. A ll these measures and acts background for his aggregious behavior. degenerated clique. The attempt to dis­ January 18 m arked a real success fo r the of the Keracher group, it must be remem­ are now elevated to the plfine of con- Nothing is too much for him. He is the rupt the defense on the very eve of the Kansas City Left Opposition and speaks bered that it was not the preoccupation •tsitutional law by the new “law for the eagle. (H e says so, h im s e lf). A ll the trial is an act of collaboration with the well for our future work. About sixty of the Proletarian Party with theoreti­ defense of the republic”,, voted by reac­ time he is making love to one woman A Communication prosecution no less than was the state­ cal questions, but the shallowness and tionaries, socialists and even Macia ad­ workers, among whom were a dozen or or another. Love and action are in­ ment of the Daily Worker on the day We have received the following falsity of its thoeries, that determined herents, which puts more arbitrary and so party members, participated in a very scribed in letters of fire on his spiritual after the arrest more than two months lively and interesting meeting on “Why statement for publication. It is of its isolation and its futility. dictatorial power into the hands of the coat-of-arms. He Is as helpless without ago. If the conspiracy to railroad these especial interest because it expresses The paramount problem of the Amer­ minister of .the interior than Primo ever Trotsky was Deported from Russia”. the one as the other. And so the draft workers is defeated—as we trust it w ill a growing resentment among class ican lqbor movement—the prerequisite presumed to 'Take! A ll this by the grace The speaker, George Clarke, elaborated caused by his running from the political be—i t w ill also be a defeat fo r scoun­ on the basic difference between the Left conscious workers against the habit of for its development on the revolutionary of the socialist ministers and with their scene to the bed-room never ceases un­ drels who, in the name of Communism, making the defense of class war pris­ path in the next period—is the consolida­ benediction. Opposition and the Stalinists; told of the til the bullet from a pistol shot in a have done and are doing their best to ruinous consequences of the centrist duel over his lady-love, the comely Helen oners a factional football, whether tion of a firm cadre of political vanguard The Arnedo Massacre deprive the prisoners of the solidarity, fighters, that is, of revolutionary Marx­ zigzag in the Soviet Union and de­ von Donneges, (would he have loved this be done by the Stalinists, or as support and defense that is their due. ist^. In this task the clarification of The flames of resentment in .the ranks scribed the fatal disasters in the Inter­ her a week hence?) lays him low. in this case, by the I. W. ,W.—Ed.) When the Communist workers finally of the working class, which were reduced national resultant from the non-Marxian theory takes first place. The specific Now in the sense that the book deals New York, N. Y. call these scavengers to judgment their to a smoldering for a while back, now theory of “socialism in one country”. weight of even a small group of this with these situations which are by now January 15, 1932 reckless sport with the lives of labor seem \io have flared up again. From The talk was well received by the character w ill be far greater, and its a legend in the ranks of the radical in­ The Militant prisoners w ill not be the least count in what can be gathered by reading the audience. During the question period influence on events in a rising wave of telligentsia, it is a better book than any 84 E ast 10th St., the indictment that w ill condemn them most recent periodicals, the recent strike the party members were quick to seize class struggles incomparable more deci­ that has gone before. Certainly the New York City forever. outbreaks were precipitated by a horri­ the opportunity for questions and discus­ sive, than a hundred amorphous “mass Donneges affair which has been made Comrades: When Soderberg, Bunker and Trajer ble massacre of workers in Arnedo, pro­ sion. But as usual most of the time of movements” which leave aside the fun­ so much of by other commentators has The following is a resolution unani­ were first arrested their friends ap­ vince of Vixcaya. Right into a crowd their discussion was occupied with eas­ damental problems for future considers here been minimized to its proper pro­ mously passed at our last meeting: pealed to the I. L. D. for aid. This ap­ of defenseless workers came 'he rifle ily refutable slanders. The only half­ tion. portions. The book in general is w rit­ “At our Special Meeting held on Jan. peal was rejected; this organization, fire of the Guardia Civil, with the result way serious arguments were old ones, The formation of the cadres of -the ten with a gusty savor that somehow 15th, 1932, a t A risto cra t H a ll, 69 St. which is maintained by the revolutionary that besides the many wounded, there viz: “Trotsky wants to rob the peasan­ vanguard need not be contrasted to the does manage to recapture the personal­ Marks Place, our Delegates reported workers for such purposes, refused even is now a toll of ten dead men, women try” and “Neither Stalin nor Kalinin mass movements, but their formation is ity that was Lassalle. The style is about the Conference for the Defense of to send a lawyer to visit them in jail, and children, among ’.he latter a fifteen could be centrists since they had been the condition for the revolutionary effec­ rapid—hectic— and in keeping with its the Kentucky Miners, called by the Gen­ to hear their story and to inquire whe­ years old boy. in ja il and Siberia for their activities” tiveness of the latter. If the opposition subject. So much for the formal as­ eral Defense Committeee held on Jan. ther they were being mistreated. The Througholut the country it appears To these the speaker’s replies appeared group of the Proletarian Party sees the pects. 6th, 1932 at L^bor Temple, 14th St., and Daily Worker on November ItSh dis­ that this was the final straw. to satisfy most of the listeners. Second Ave., New York, N. Y. thing this way its revolt against the dead But the social democratic bias from avowed the men and denounced them as The accumulated hatred of the Civil * * * * “We endorse the stand taken by our routine of Keracherism can become the which the author writes can never for they lay helpless in the hands of the Guard, which symbolizes oppression, ar- On Sunday, January 17. at the Negro delegates to invite all other Labor or­ starting point for an important contri­ a moment be mistaken. With all the third-degreee torturers. Said the D aily bi rariness and police brutality to the Progressive Club comrade Clarke spoke ganizations, regardless of their political bution to the Communist movement. We painful efforts to be objective the bias Worker on that date: “Soderberg, secre­ Spanish workers and peasants, spilled to an audience of approximately 100 beliefs, to join in the defense of the hope for a fruitful collaboration with stands out like a pair of bow-legs in a tary of the Tidewater Boatmen’s Union, over in all parts of the country. In one Negro workers on the “Economic crisis Kentucky Miners as well as of all pol­ them on this line. The best way to be­ Ziegfeld chorus. The Marx-Lassalle dis­ whom the capitalist press calls a ‘Red’, section after another, general strikes of Communism and the Negro”. The re itical prisoners. We believe—as our gin this collaboration is to conduct agreements are explained from .the per­ was expelled from the Communist party protest against the Arnedo butchery were marks on this subject seemed to have delegates,—that in order to make the frank discussion of all the important sonal point of view. To a bourgeois in­ for being a suspicious element and also called some for 24 hours some for two struck a sympathetic chord among the struggle really effective, labor must un­ questions, J. P. C. tellectual or social democrat, a dis­ from the Marine Workers’ Industrial days, some for an “indefinite period” : Negroes gathered, for the hall fairly rang ite all its forces in the struglge against agreement between two people of differ­ Union for disruptive and anti-working in San Sebastian, later throughout Viz with applause at the conclusion of his the oppression by the ruling class. T H E MILITANT ent political opinions is always person­ class activities. Trajer, Reilly and caya, and, as recent press dispatches in speech. T his is the second Negro meet­ We express Our hope that the Con­ al. If Marx differs with Bakunin and Bunker were expelled from the Marine ing in Kansas City in which the Left ference for the Kentucky Miners Defense Published weekly by the Communist Lassalle, it is placed directly to per- Workers’ Industrial Unoin as bad ele­ Opposition has explained the,revolution­ w ill make an honest attempt in that ments.” And to this, the Young Worker League of America [Opposition] ary idea. We hope to continue propa­ d irectio n ” added: “Soderberg is a stool pigeon.” at 84 East 10th St., N. Y. gandizing Communist theory and practice We hope that you w ill give publicity Now, when the case is already on the -DANCE- among the black workers of Kansas City. EDITORIAL BOARD to this resolution. calendar for trial they come forward and For the Benefit of the Imprisoned —C. offer a “class struggle defense”. jWhat Martin Abern James P. Cannon Fraternally yours, Marine Workers =BANQUET= kind of a defense did they offer in the Secretary (Signed) Max Shachtman Maurice Spector Gretings on the appearance of days after the arrest when defense was Bunker — Soderberg —T rajer B ielotzerkover B r. 417, W. C. Arne Swabeck KANSAS CITY Semi-Monthly Jewish Organ of Left deperately needed? Nobody stood in a t the Entered as second class m a il m atter Opposition and to celebrafle the their way. The initiative was taken by November .28, 1928 a t the Post Office a t STUYVE8ANT CASINO Return of Comrades Swabeck,- others only because they would do noth­ The Left Opposition Program ST. LOUIS OPEN FORUM New York, N. Y. Under the act of Second Avenue and 9th St. Shachtman and Glotzer ing-nothing but denounce the prisoners for America M arch 3, 1879. Friday Evening, February 12th. and leave them to their fate. For this Speaker. GEORGE CLARKE Irving Plaza, 15th St. and Irving Place “LENIN, TROTSKY, and the Volume V, No. E, Whole No. 101 Auspices of the reason also the Marine Workers’ Defense MONDAY, FEB. 8th at 8 P. M. WORLD REVO LUTIO N”. Saturday, JANUARY 30, 1932 Marine Workers Defense Committee Saturday Evening, Feb. 6, 1932 at 8 P. M . Committee was formed at the request 914 Grand Avenue Speaker: Martin Payer of the defendants. The I. L. D. and the Subscription rate: $2.00 per year; for- Show your solidarity with these victims Second Floor A D M IS S IO N : 50 CENTS Friday, FEBRUARY 5, ’931 eigh $2.50. F ive cents per copy. o f the fram e-up system. Come Party were invited to participate, to Auspices: Communist League of America Auspices: N.. Y. Branch—Communist 14th and Cass Avenues send speakers to the mass meeting, to Bundle rates, 3 cents per copy and bring your friends. Auspices: St. Louis Branch, Communist (Opposition) League of America (Opposition). League of America (Opposition)