Whither Germany?
Whither Germany? Political and Economic Situation Leads Inevitably to New Upheaval In Third Reich By Rudolph Katz T H E beginning of the fourth y e a r of the Hitler regirm presents a...
...TS* corkers were deprived of their ights and rendered powerless 1st he time "being, but they did not ose their political understanding ind common sense...
...Company Says it's Unconstitutional W A S H I N G T O N , D. C—Th,pected attack on the Natioi.a...
...For fourteen years the Communists decried the League and with arid stupidity tried to persuade the British working class to distrust and boycott it...
...Rourke, accompanied by fourteen members of Local...
...A striking feature of the celebration was the publication in thf official Reich gazette of legislatior governing the proclamation of mar tial law—an act likely to be of extraordinary importance in the future but passed over in silence by the German press...
...Those expelled, says the correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor, have not merely lost their standing in the party...
...And en that day 'tb* Social Democracy, assuming tht leadership of the masses, wiB IS it its post, fortified by the erssf experience of the Hitler dWvshS> thip and ready te undertake udsb »nergy and determination the task of building a new psMHssI SSf social order...
...These are the new ruling class of Russia...
...Added to tail Has been the aoolition of all detnocratie rights...
...Parades and new outbursts of hate against the Jews fuS to conceal these facts...
...The higher officialdom and •ommanders of the pre-war and var era in industry and high 8lance are back again in the potiions they lost in 1918...
...And why lot ? The masters of Germany ash jreatly indebted to them...
...The jarty stalwarts of 1933 have been rushed into the background while ;hose who wielded power in the old caiserist Germany have come forward to take charge of the steer.ng wheel...
...What they think of the Communists and their united front swindle is well expressed in the following editorial appearing in the London Doily Herald for January 24: '"For the second time in a twelvemonth the Labor Party has rejected the Communist Party's proposal for a 'United Front.' "Rejection was, of course, a certainty...
...The text of the declaration adopted by the General Council follows: "Ih*the fight for the defense of the democratic liberties against faofiini and war, the Labor Party calls for the cooperation of all and does not refuse to take part in any collective propaganda campaign with individuals or groups which utilize the same methods and pursue the same aims in this domain...
...The NsSM vill be compelled to abdicate, while the masters of heavy industry and agriculture will be compelled ts -eek a new way out of the hope lest ituation to save their skins...
...Abraham Abramowitsch and Wm...
...It has brou^it t I to restrain the Labor Boa...
...But the danger that the middleclass masses, roused to fury by thf pseudo-socialist propaganda of the Nazis—those elements who madr Hitler and his party—would demand the enforcement of a Social j ist program, nationalization of the banks, heavy industry, the chemical industry and the armament industry, which had in the mean while attained gigantic proportions was very soon overcome...
...The corporation contends that the act is unconstitutional because it deprives the employer of his constitutional right to contract for labor...
...10 who had been dismissed, received a letter from Mr...
...memorandum with the statement that it could not grant the litter's request pending an investigation of the situation in the American party...
...The day wtD •ome when the workers will stars...
...When this process s completed, heavy industry wfU no longer find I t s alliance with the Vazi party profitable...
...The only point to which we take exception in this editorial is the Characterization of the Communists as "revolutionaries...
...Such is the inspiring picture presented by the Soviet dictatorship...
...Corroboration of the callous treatment accorded to W P A workers by W P A officials is contained in a statement made to The New Leader~by a W P A worker, a member of Local 488 of the Carpenters Union and a long standing member of the Socialist Party, who until his discharge last week was employed on the Crotona Park swimming pool project...
...Quite different •as been the attitude of the poht; :ally unschooled and unexperienced tetty bourgeoisie...
...In 1932 the party had 3,078,000 members...
...The process of disillusionment is still in progress...
...and party members, but not tht army or government employees The people were conspicuous btheir absence...
...The bloor purge of June 30, 1934, and Hitler...
...Should circumstances in a particular area or region justify common action for a limited period and for certain clearly defined aims with one or more of the groups referred to above, the General Council asks the local federations of the party on no account to lose sight of the fact that the Labor Party is and most remain the pivot of the Unity of all workers, of all members of the working class, in the fight for the defense of democratic liberties and of peace...
...The Communist Party is a party of revolutionaries, committed to the practice and preparation of revolution, and advocating the establishment of a class dictatorship...
...Its petition mentions the "peaceful and harmoruous" relations of the corporation with its company union of 2,300 members...
...nevertheless submitted a memorandum to the L.S.I, asking for moral support in the coming Presidential election...
...The Workers Abroad Belgian and British Labor Parties Hit United Front Maneuver—Stalin "Liquidates" Communist Party Through Wholesale Expulsions—L.S.I...
...Counterrevolutionaries" is a much^rore fitting term for them...
...The Belgian Labor Party is one of the strongest in Europe...
...consequence, the General Council rejects the tactics of the no called United Front or 'Front Populaire' and adopts the following guiding principles: " ( 1 ) The Belgian Labor Party must retain the initiative in the organization of propaganda and of the fight against fascism and war...
...British Labor Again Hits "United Front" A S reported elsewhere in this issue, the British Labor Party has — - m again rejected the application of the Communist Party for affiliation...
...Socialist International Rebuffs "Militants" The internal conflict in the Socialist Party of the -United States was among the matters considered by the executive committee of the Labor and Socialist International at its meeting in Paris last month...
...At the same time, however, it warns members against the ceatfusions and deviations which might result from rapprochements mask in imitation of other countries in which the situation is essentially I different, and which might lead to the creation, either of a super-party with a program differing from that of the Socialist Party, or to the conclusion of temporary alliances on a basis of equality with other political organisations—such as the Communist Party—the strength of which is glaringly out of proportion to that of the Labor Party...
...Risini prices, food shortage, decline ir real earnings and increase in taxes were required to rouse these aliments to the realization that the...
...Later...
...sz*+ lasji mm** The present- altostt**- in Oerr : a r y nay be smronanse-i as follows: The mass basis required by a modem dictatorship, and which had been acquired by German fascism in the support of the petty bourgeoisie during the critical period of 1930-1933 by means of hysterical and irresponsible propaganda, it already melting away like snow is '.he spring sun...
...A l l civil authorities as well as leaders of the Hitleparty and Storm Troops chieftain would then be expected to oke...
...Now they ask the workers to support he League...
...4) It expresses itself as opposed to all alliances, even of a temporary nature, which would result in placing it on a footing of equality with political groups which only represent an infinitesimal part of the whole bf the forces of the workers...
...Hitler, the ; e x p o n e n t ^ tl tr;ddle class, run amuck under the t'Tects of the severe fcC'r.cnic crif.s, was chosen — ; if- class of Germany, the * sen-..rated heavy ini the offensive against • • f the vorking class < i< . • in, cooperative so. d s i other positions of . ding the smallest a, ne a.nd song ver. ..• his orders faith - : „ to the extreme V iittve and <; !*tiit<ts cf *-'K and the | - vt IP* seeraeo i as h tr* ecouoi n ..u c? German' vert about to have the evper...
...Most everybody in Germany fees hat changes are impending...
...A certain record of consistency is essential before cooperation eon be profitably discussed...
...Ridder denying their right to have their cases reviewed, went to Ridder's office...
...This stand is in accord with the attitude of the British Trades Union Congress, which has expressed in unmistakable terms its opposition to any united front with the Communists...
...Briefly, the law provides that martial law may be proclaimed in ^fche event of disorders or a state of danger arising in the Reich, upder which ar power shall be transferred from the civil to the military authorities With the proclamation of martia" law, the commander of the army corps in each province would auto statically become chief of the civi* administration...
...Brutal Treatment Our informant readily admits that at times, owing to the incompetence of the officialdom, the work is arranged with such a lack of system that men are kept waiting who would prefer to use the time in working...
...1 bor Relations Act on thf g.ou that it is unconstitutional w made this week by the A. O. La-* rence Leather Company -' P< body, Mass...
...Purcell said that a " G " man had reported it...
...when they were arrested ind subsequently released because j f Rourke, who assumed complete -esponsibility for the picketing and received a suspended sentence...
...The cases were dismissed...
...The organized workers of the world, struggling for freedom and Socialism, regard both with horror and contempt...
...The issue is important for the whole labor movement and the outcome will be watched by labor men •with anxiety...
...This was intended, obviously, as a round about way of obtaining the International's indorsement of the left-wing faction in control of the N.E.C...
...Stalin Liquidates Communist Party JLfORE than 1,600,000 members have been expelled from the Russian * ™ Communist Party since 1932, when Stalin ordered another ytehfttka" (cleansing operation") in the party, according to a Moscow dispatch to the liberal Christian Science Monitor under date of February 1. The "chistka" continues...
...What remains is an aggregation of sycophants and time-servers willing to serve the master in the Kremlin...
...Participating in the celebration...
...Even supposing the Communist leadership could be trusted as reliable, and even given all those surrenders of positions once held so tenaciously and so dogmatically and with so superior an air, the fundamental difference, as we say, remains...
...They are beginning to doubt he stability of the new system...
...They were informed by Deputy Labor Administrator Daniel Ring that Ridder was at a xiard of directors meeting of his publishing association...
...Executive, however, saw through the maneuver and tabled the N.E.C...
...Although our informant has been told to go on home relief where he was later told to go back on work projects and is being shunted back and forth like a football, he insisted that he was one of thousands who want to do an honest day's work for an honest day's pay but are subjected to brutal, inhuman treatment by a mechanical, impersonal system...
...Among those •xpelied are many students, who were also driven out of the universities...
...ence of Goethe's amateur magician: " I could not free myself from the spirits I had called forth...
...Thus the Communist Party itself has virtually been liquidated...
...Communism and Fascism: the Siamese twins of our bewildered, blood-stained era...
...Slowly but urely the real power in the dieatorship has been shifted...
...d ft' holding a hearing on whether company union shall be the gaining agency for its work* • The board is directed by tht con - : to show cause why a prelimir a: injunction should not be issued...
...he gates of the government buildngs, supported by the masses of he disappointed petty bonrgeess* That day, we may be sure, is sot rar removed...
...For fourteen years they tried to smash and supplant the Labor Party and to discredit trade union leadership...
...The Nazi part Reichand its auxiliary organizations sac low merely tolerated...
...Most of ra were deprived of their jobs in the government or industry...
...Or January 30, 1933, German heavy industry succeeded in dealing to organized labor- +va blow long dpsired by tht i 1 ers...
...The L S . I . Executive knows how to distinguish between Socialists and pseudoCommunist adventurers...
...It took -eriously his promises of a big/Sot standard of living and a be tsar social order...
...The independent artisans believed that orders would i e forthcoming, the landlords oxoected higher rents, the tenants 'ooked for lower rents, .the unshv ployed white collar workers expected jobs...
...Purcell, in charge of the project, to inform him who had seen him "loafing...
...The L.SJ...
...3) It considers that the most effective safeguard in the fight against fascism is only to be found in the combating of the crisis and of • unemployment...
...and thus misleading the party members in this country into the belief that the faction which supports secession and suspends charters in highhanded, Stalinite fashion has the approval of the International...
...The enslaved German wet king doss • '•"eginning to mere...
...It is represented in the government, and its energies are now centered upon combating the economic crisis through the Plan of Action approved by the party as a basis for fundamental social and economic reconstruction...
...What would be the use of cooperation with hysterical muddlers tars pubis of taking a consistent line on the vital political problems of ear time...
...Ring further stated that he had orders to keep his mouth shut...
...marking the third anniversan of the regime on January 3C were largely the storm troop...
...Rebuffs Our "Militants" By John Powers Belgian Labor Party Against United Front With Communist s JkJflNDFUL of the basic principles which make impossible a united' * " * front between Socialists and Communists and the ideological and organizational confusion suffered by the French Socialist Party as a' result of its united front experiment, the Belgian Labor Party has gone OS record rejecting emphatically the proposal for ah alliance with the Communists...
...But the partners in this alliance io longer feel quite happy...
...T h e party has discussed the question of the so-called United Front and 'Front Populaire' and expresses its firm hope of seeing the realisation of the organic unity of the working class forces under the banner of Socialism...
...They are the enemies of Socialism and the working class, to be classed with Hitler, Mussolini and all other bloodstained foes of labor...
...L a b o r Act Faces Judicial Trial...
...To putt more precisely: he had to re main faithful to his masters if hf was not to be handed his passport' on the principle that the Moor har done his work and could go now The Real Masters I t has been quite clear who havf been the real rulers of German...
...Although our c o n f u s e d left wingers and "militants" look with disdain upon the Labor and Socialist International as a "reformist" organization believing in •'bogus democracy," the N.E.C...
...Pickets Arrested Together with the fourteen men, Rourke remained at the office until 3 p.m...
...There is i perfect business understanding >etween them...
...I declaration that "the revolution if I over" proved that he remainer faithful to his real masters...
...Thf rulers are the masters of heavy industry and the large land own ers, supporting themselves upor the army, which has been gaining in strength from week to week and month to month...
...Rise of H i t l er This law marks another important milestone in the history of thf German counter-revolution, whicV began on January 30, 1933...
...Several days later, the men picksted Ridder at the Hotel Roosevelt and were again thrown into jail...
...are victims of an extraordinary historical swindle...
...Political and Economic Situation Leads Inevitably to New Upheaval In Third Reich By Rudolph Katz T H E beginning of the fourth y e a r of the Hitler regirm presents a peculiar picture...
...The wholesale expulsions indicate clearly the manner in which She Stalin dictatorship hoi-: on to power: suppression of all Socialist and revolutionary parties and groups, despotism wfthin the Communist Party itself and its reduction to a rubber stamp of the dictatorship, universal terror against all dissidents, filling of jails and concentration camps, particularly with Socialists and revolutionaries, and wholesale expulsions from the ruling party of those considered "unreliable...
...Under the arrangenent the Nazis are permitted to •etain their jobs, offices, salaries ind service automobiles, while the nasters of the nation's economic ife retain final authority in everyhing...
...Apart from the unbridgeable differences of policy and belief which will always make honest cooperation impossible and undesirable the latter-day wobblings of the Communist Party can hardly be said to increase its attractiveness as a partner for anyone...
...This is again pointed out in the text of the Labor Party's reply to the Communists, and this is how history mill record it...
...WPA Workers Terrorized By Officials, Say Socialists WI T H the arrogant statement made by Herman F. Ridder, W P A Administrator in NTew York City, that "any organization that puts up a picket line or holds a mass demonstration will not be allowed to confer with me" following dismissals last week of 2,000 workers, additional evidence has come to The New Leader indicating a policy of obtaining the arre?ts of peaceful picketers as well as the existence of an elaborate espionage system alleged to be linked up with the federal Department of Justice...
...It reminds members of the decision of the Congress of the party of November 16 and 17, 1935, calling for the immediate resumption of -the campaign in favor of the Plan of Action, and declares that the first duty of the party organizations and of the active workers in all circumstances is to devote themselves primarily to the campaign in favor of the Plan...
...A Communist who holds these beliefs and yet wishes to join a democratic party is either woolly-headed or else deliberately seeking a wider platform for Communist propaganda...
...TWi vay of escape may be—probably vill be—war, or colonial acquisitions, or similar adventures...
...Our informant ad'-ises us that it is widely rumored among the men that plain-clothes men circulate around the place and a general feeling of fear, suspicion and even terror prevails...
...only the orders of the general...
...The -round under their feet is becoang rather insecure...
...The action of the British Labor Party reflects the mind of the millions of organised workers of Great.Britain...
...Rosenzweig, Socialist lawyers, represented the pickets...
...The statement by Ridder was made to Henry V. Rourke, chairman of Local 10 of the Workers' Alliance, after vain efforts to modi fy a harsh policy of dealing with the unemployed...
...Their cases were to have come up for trial Thursday, February 13th...
...For in its entire theory and practice international Communism has been the handmaiden of fascism and reaction...
...it is getting lot...
...For fourteen years they attacked democracy as unreal and Parliament as worthless...
...Now they wish to enlist in the ranks of the defenders of democracy...
...The petty bourgeois* is now perceiving it has been deceived...
...It actually beieved Hitler's siren song...
...There is less sympathy for the Communists inside the labor movement now than at any time since the war...
...As in most other countries, the Communist Party is an insignificant quantity in Belgium and it is not surprising that the highly organized and well disciplined Socialist workers of the country, trained for a half century in the principles of Socialism and the realities of the struggle for social emancipation, have declined to associate themselves in any united front with the Communist enemies of Socialism and labor...
...We welcome such an investigation, for we have no doubt what the verdict would be...
...A Historical Swindle The majority of the workers tave been aware from the TSJ* >eginning of the real meaning of he situation—the temporary jhe» ess of the counter-revolution...
...Those expelled outright were relegated to minor positions...
...He explained that he requested Mr...
...2 ) On behalf of this campaign it appeals for the support of all those who, without distinction of party or creed, utilize the same methods and pursue the same goal as itself in this sphere...
...He added he was ready to present his case before Administrator Ridder and spill a story of sheer incompetence, favoritism and espionage which ought not to exist cn a project the sole purpose of which should be to provide work for unemployed and construct useful projects for the community...
...This man, whose name cannot be disclosed, declared that he was dismissed for "loafing on the job-for a half hour" and simultaneously a score of others were discharged with the identical reason set forth on their discharge slips...
...since the end of 1934, and partic ularly since the repudiation of thf military provisions of the Versail les Treaty in March, 1935...
...The madly swinging variations of Commanist policy since 1934 give the impression that the party leaders are fickle, dander-headed and unashamedly opportunist...
...By a vote of 45 to 4, with six abstentions, the General Council of the Belgian Labor Party rejected the united front as well as association in any Popular Front in which the Labor Party does not hold leadership and which threatens'in any way to vitiate the principles and aims of Socialism and the organized labor movement...
...Thr lines are clearly discernible...
...The membership now is 1,400,000...
...Ir other words, there would be a re turn to the situation as it existec in the "beautiful and glorious' days of 1914-18...
...To be penalized because of stupidity of officials and then have no recourse for one's grievance, he declared, was a bitter pill for a self-respecting union man to swallow...
...Now they apply for affiliation...
...Let us stop speaking of the Communists as "revolutionaries" The wreckers of the labor movement and the creators of a bloody terror against Socialists and revolutionary dissidents in Soviet Russia, upon which all fascists have modeled their own system of oppression, are not "revolutionaries...
Vol. 19 • February 1936 • No. 7
