A Fallen Labor Chief
Watt, Don
A Fallen Labor Chief By Don Watt ' rvA 1)1)Y. hurry back, Mamma's 1 ¦"^ akk aad III be lonesome, while you're gone," said 12-year-' old little Delia Mae Graham on Sunday, April SO, as her father...
...In asking the Socialist Party groups not to cooperate the National Executive Committee makes it impossible for us to work for Tom Mooney through the organization that he has authorized to handle his fight...
...of Germany from the L.S.L has caused consternation among many Socialists...
...In scanning over the vast number of subjects dealt with by Socialist writers the reader cannot help bat be again impressed with the usefulness ef the Marxian method in unraveling the past and ia understanding the varied problems of our time...
...Fifteen or twenty shots rang .out on the quiet Sabbath air...
...We are receiving a state dole by working on the public road at the rate of $2.50 per day which we receive in the form of food at the store...
...Ia there a reader who will see to it that thin old comrade will get The New Leader for a year...
...Graham had reached the corner of tbe street even with the store of the Fentress Coal and Coke Company...
...It was just the occasion the Company gunmen had longed for...
...For months he had j been a marked man among the <'ompany thugs...
...If Comrade Sinclair did not read of the action of the French Socialists in The New Leader...
...He has given his life to end starvation, slavery and poverty...
...I say this because my withdrawing from the executive of the International was misinterpreted and misunderstood...
...He had helped them in the funeral marc) around the Com-pa store whore the dead body had been picked up...
...I tell you all this so you can understand why I have not renewed my subscription- to The New Leader...
...Particularly has tlx name of Otto Wels, party chair man, been used as having deserted his prill- ^-gasajjw ciples the Bhs face of the wEE^^yjk Man ¦ Hansa The following, J e r e f ore, is H V particularly in- V teresting...
...The deed waa well done...
...Union men, hearing the shots, came out of their shacks and down to the murder scene...
...Yes, Barney Graham is dead, they any...
...but to raise monev or to carry on propaganda for Tom Mooney we ought to do it, and in the case of money raising we have to do it through the body authorized bv him to act...
...My interest is $42 and my tax $51, unpaid...
...In those days, according to Comrade Low, "the majority believed that an international organization could prosper only on the basis of strong national organizations and therefore declined to do anything which might lead to conflict between the ptiliee or the courts" (emphasis mine—S...
...I have one daughter at home of age but she can't get anything to do unless perchance work for her board...
...7W-i*H SM.7M JuiirpruiiiMtt Scc.alills...
...By Benedikt Kmutsky, 8© pp...
...Of course such news, until I* was proven falsC mnst have caused consternation among all Socialists—or didn't it cause consternation In Bela T.ow...
...Certainlv the Party here in America would condemn any attempts of the S.D.P...
...Bakers on General Strike...
...n s p e e c h by I ^hs, Wels in Berlin "¦¦mWKsBsnV before party workers, where Otto Wels his resignation from the Executive of the Labor and Socialist International waa being discussed...
...But Company thujfs stood them off with machine ' fruns and sawed-oft* shot guns...
...They took out Graham's gun and put it in his left hand...
...Arranged to take place at the time when "un-German" books were being burnt in Germany, the parade exceeded all expectations...
...This pamphlet fills a long-felt Seed and will render a service to the party and workers in general who w-nt to know what the dispute is about, how it arose, and what are the issues it mvo.vea...
...942.715 KX/«7 The date for the elections had been set forward two months to take advantage of the situation created by the mutiny on the warship "Seven Provinces" in the East Indies...
...Large demonstrations were also held in Chicago, Philadelphia and other cities...
...Four bullets entered from the back...
...We may suffer some desertions af those who will run from one party to another, but history will tell of the heroism of tens of thousands of Social Democrats at this moment, snd in this heroism lies all eur hope for the future" REMARKABLE PROTEST AGAINST HITLERISM i »On Wednesday afternoon the greatest mass demonstration in the history of New York was staged as a protest against the lunacy that rules Germany...
...A few paragraphs sre devoted to the struggle between Marx and Baka-nin in the First International, Showing the similarity between that struggle snd the tame of the united front since the f'undin* •f the Communist International...
...is an old and experienced organization and capitalism is on its last legs—but with a lot of kick still) supposed to be more than remotely similar to 1869, when the German S.D...
...The author does not in|end to give a complete index of Socialist books, bat an appropriate selection is furnished, and each book is briefly descrnV.1 and evaluated...
...They had made their boasts to get Barney Graham first of aB...
...The item is translated from the Vienna Arbeiter Zeitung: "I remain true to the ideals of the International...
...Incidentally, the Issue ef the "Guardian" of May 6th carries a headline reading that Hey wood Broun abandoned the Socialist Party because we "objected to his speeches for the Seottoboro boys.'* This ia a falsehood...
...likewise Yipsel circles...
...I hate been in Montana 58 years and I have never witnessed anything like this depression...
...Socialist Party organisers should make it their business to see that their branch has representation at this conference...
...ccived occasional letters from that ! section denouncing the party because of Oscar's actions Yeats passed Before the wound was healed and it is only within the past year that we have been abb) to begin to build the party * Oklahoma...
...His father or grandfather, it .was learned, was a rtrfluchter Jud...
...All labor and Socialist organisations are requested to send two delegates to this conference...
...I tell you, Barney Graham's blood was shed so that our children might have bread—life...
...But Barney Graham was a fearless man—also, lightning on the trigger...
...The parade started at 4 p. m and the crowds did not disperse till 10 p. m. The vas* extent of the demonstration exceeded all expectations and it revealed a revolt more extensivs than its sponsors anticipated...
...GERMAN SOCIALISM By David Sinclair What is the meaning of Comrade Low's communication of April 15...
...on the other hand, American conditions are necessarily neglected...
...Unfortunately, the value of the pamphlet to most English readers is curtailed, because a large number of the books discussed are net available in English translation...
...Barney Graham, fearless leader of the union in a now ten-months' strike at Wilder, Tenn., turned to his little daughter with a smile in his keen blue eyes: "111 be back before dark, darling...
...It seems to me thst rseaidPmnta in Germany demon strate all too tragically the futility of compromise until all one's Socialist principles are compromised away...
...In 1928 I received from their milk $9 to $32 every two weeks...
...Oscar decided to cast theory aside aad made hia paper an organ of a group to work within the Democratic Party, j Oscar and Use group helped to ; elect Jack Walton Governor on the j Democratic ticket Walton proved to be such a grafter that he was removed from office and what was i left of the small Socialist groups ! completely disappeared...
...No union men were in sight either to help him or set as witnesses against the murderers...
...PUS booklet Alls a gap in Socialist literature...
...He had just turned to cross and ascend the mountain toward his own shack...
...The Company took his life so they could go on making profits, exploiting us and keeping us In slavery...
...WELS REAFFIRMS HIS INTERNATIONALISM *I*HERF...
...Editor...
...it is intended as a guide for the study oi Marxian theories and their appti-applirations, and for the compilation of a Socialist Horary...
...ZMi - Rernhrti^w* Socialist* .. 4S.WI 7\y-2 Tiit^t Socialists...
...SOCIALISTS GAM VOTES IN HOLLAND POLL WITH official retains at hand from the general elections in Holland April 26th, it appears that despite conditions of hysteria aad near-terror the vote of the Social Democratic Labor Party held up remarkably well, and that the total Socialist vote—including two "left-wing** Socialist parties—actually rose by 48,000...
...The Company thought It could breathe easier with him dead...
...I'll try to borrow money to get some medicine and a little food for her...
...Our New York City leaders were even willing to have just criticism of the German Communists deleted, so anxious were they to have no criticism of German Socialism recorded by the City Convention...
...It was one of the most cowardly and dastardly crimes ever perpetrated upon an innocent leader in the history of ! American labor struggles...
...The New Leader and the Rand School have frequently received requests for information est the united front, especially from the West...
...We do not have to cooperate with the Communists in carrying on anti-war agitation or trade union organization...
...A Fallen Labor Chief By Don Watt ' rvA 1)1)Y...
...Clothing is the greatest necessity and I raise nearly everything we eat, but last yeat's supply is getting short I am 69 years old and at 70 the state will give me a pension of $10 per month if I deed the county everything I . nossess...
...The fact la that theory —»—fm principle and principle guides action...
...BOOKS IN BRIEF The United Front WHk U SITED FBONT...
...I didn't read this in The New Leader, however...
...It is impossible for us to adapt ourselves to the present governing power...
...The question of a uni>d front "does not turn solely on whether or not the Communists will prove to be honest in asking for it...
...A Marxist Guide By Beta l-o» DO YOU WAST TO L'tCOME A MARXIST...
...A highly placed member of the Nazi asylum called Hitler's attention to the terrible fact, and asked whether it was proper for a Nasi official to be medically handled by a Jew...
...Not even the safety latch had been released on Graham's gun...
...In the case of the Mooney conference the arguments in favor of cooperating with it even though there may be Communist influence or corilrol are even stronger...
...o preserve its organization on anything but a completely Socialist basis, the first essential being membership in the LSftv and yet Comrade Low savs: "The false news about the withdrawal of the S.D.P...
...Asaeringer spent a good part of his time ridiculing the importance of theory as s guide to s working class movement and it waa obvious to the informed that the whole j trend of his thought was against j the .Socialist asoeement...
...At tie same time the shadow of Hitlerism loomed over the German border, and masses of voters were stampeded into two opposite camps...
...He was indeed a danger -tone man tp Company oppression, ' greed and exploitation...
...decide who is a Jew...
...And the crowd wound slowly and quietly down the mountain side to Wilder Creek, where Barney's widow had been waiting, unable to ascend the mountain side even In a rocking chair...
...A veal calf brought^ from $10 to $16 per hundred weight in 1932-33...
...W$ •soil be glad t<> htur frtm yon...
...Band School Prrtn...
...If, on the other hand, Bill asks Bam to cooperate and Sam refuses, and at a public meeting Bill then denounces Sam everybody in the audience who does not know either Bill or Sam Well is Inclined to agree with Bit' because Sam has refused to cooperate in what was at least ostensibly an effort to accomplish what Sam has been saying he was in favor of...
...When we ridicule principle as a guide, when we refuse to accept the test of theory by experience, we are likely to laud in the camp of unscrupulous adventurers like Jack Walton...
...The Socialists had been moving forward fast and it appeared that they would score a heavy gain...
...Even the scabs who have «en Inking the Jobs of the union men have become outraged at this cowardly work of the Fentress Coal and Coke Company...
...Tyler shows from Communist sources that the united front has been the Communist method of destroyii« other organisations...
...Hitler drew himself up, thrust out his weak chin and delivered his dictum: { "Iter Jade iit, dot bestimme I tea...
...Back in the bleak shack on Wilder Mountain a wife sick with pellagra and three little children await Daddy's footsteps...
...Some grease had been melted into an old can and pieces of cloth bathed In it and set on fire to furnish light to that desolate in 'mi unking...
...Take (rood care of your another...
...All branch secretaries are requested to inform their membership ef the Bakers' Union strike and lockout hi their neat branch mailing...
...We carried this on naire 2 of the issue of A*>rll 22...
...The attempt of the N.E.C...
...This demoralises the rank and file and brings disintegration of the movement...
...Shadows fall and all is quiet in Wilder Hollow--the quiet that always, comes before the storm breaks...
...Call Conference Sunday The lockout by the Employing Bakers on May 1st, against the Bakers' Union throughout the city continues and the union has retaliated with a general strike...
...For '--tn^rp, they chose the lesser or two evils: compromise with a bourgeois party, or Hitlerism...
...Others were Bred while he lay in the dust Aa.be lay in the grime and dirt mixed with his own blood, the Company gunmen rushed up and crushed his skull with their gun butts...
...We may change our tactics, but ami oar ideals...
...NEW LEADER FORUM AMERINGKE AT WASHINGTON By James Oneal The writer cannot let the speech of Oscar Aaaaraagsr at the Conti-aenetal Congrsss pass unnoticed...
...Bakers' Union Local 607 of the Bronx has arranged for a solidarity conference to be held Sunday, May 14th, at 11:30 a. m, at the Royal Mansion, 1315 Boston Rd...
...Ameringer is a forceful propagandist, certainly one of the beat in the United States, but a disservice waa rendered to toe Socialist Party by selecting bim aa a speaker...
...We remain true to the ideals of freedom and liberty to all, regardless of race or religion...
...the coin box campaign, an Important part of the efforts to Save these Socialist Institutions from going under...
...I cannot understand the comrades who are . always unwilling even to listen to criticism of our Gprman Party...
...Is the present situation in 1933 (when the German S.D.P...
...When the mutiny came and the Socialists demanded leniency for the leaders of the mutiny, the reactionary parties worked up a hysteria against the Socialists that was designed to wipe the Socialists off the map...
...The following table tells the story: PAKTY l*U !«-\ Suc-ial Democratic l-abor r»rtr...
...I have a small farm of 60 acres and try to make a living by milking cows...
...I Returning from his attempts to | borrow money to get medicine and a "little food" for his mck wife (his wife has pellagra), he was struck down...
...S74.+M Ktt.'Js ¦ m-mm sti...
...It take* many forms but the aim ia the same...
...Goebel is seeking to enlist teams of coin box volunteers, each team headed by a captain, who will supervise and be responsible for the collections...
...J» « The above in a pathetic letter...
...The official Socialist Party lest about 6,000 votes under conditions deliberately framed to wipe the party off the map, while the split off party, the Independent Social, iats entering an election for the first time, palled 27,443...
...The set faces of mountaineers took in his words: "Our leader has fallen...
...Bulletin,'' which states that the object of the united front remains the "undermining and smashing of the mass influence ef the Social Democracy...
...This might hare bean expected, as his weekly presents an amalgam of unclassified views and it has declared that it is indifferent to organised and disciplined movements...
...hurry back, Mamma's 1 ¦"^ akk aad III be lonesome, while you're gone," said 12-year-' old little Delia Mae Graham on Sunday, April SO, as her father left the barren miner's shack, which was their home...
...German...
...My family consists of my wife, daughter, son and myself...
...IN THE DEPTHS OF DEPRESSION By a New Leader Reader I am too poor to renew my subscription...
...Barney Graham was right-handed...
...Volunteers Wanted for Rand School Campaign George H. Goebel, . campaign manager of the "Save the Rand School, Save the People's House" drive for $17,000, with headoua.-ters at 7 East 15th Street, issued a call for volunteers today to aid...
...I heard I much talk among them to the I effect that they, too, were confide int, walking out on strike against this deed...
...If Bill asks Sam to cooperate with him to accomplish a purpose which they both claim to be in favor of and Sam accepts, and then at a public meeting Sam argues for their common purpose while Bill spends his time denouncing Sam, everybody in the audience who does .not know personally either Bdl or Sam gets the strong impression that Sam is a pretty good fellow and Bill is a rascal...
...Good-by...
...Socialists to the Middle West contributed tana af thousands of dollars in the pre-war period to build up a Social let publication in Oklahoma of which Ameringer was editor...
...5 rmU...
...This pamphlet by one ef eur best informed Yipse.s is the answer to these requests...
...I have seven head and of course they don't give milk at the same time...
...Fortunately the majority in this country do not believe in such "opportunism," as Comrade Low calls it...
...The Rev ehstieaary Socialist Party, an organization somewhat similar to the Socialist Labor Party in this country, elected a deputy for the first time, H. Sneevliet...
...They said the tame thing about Jesus Christ two thousand years ago...
...Mnv 2. With a voice filled with feeling he spoke to a group of over a thousand on top of Wilder Mountain In the Miners' Grave Yard...
...The Communist vote likewise increased, with the result that despite the terror and the threat of fascism the leftward movement of the Dutch people totaled M328 rotes ia four years...
...Barney, Graham writhed in the coal dust before the Compsny store...
...I read with pleasure that the French Socialists have recently again decided to take no part in coalition governments (which is what temporarily killed the German S.D.P...
...He goes on to say, however, that it "would jirobably have been violently censured by those who now are always willing to condemn our German Party...
...This Sunday afternoon the fears of his followers and friends were to be realised...
...RACIAL PURITY NOTE Here is an item that came from Germany in a private .letter, vouched for aa genuine: It was discovered that one of the doctors assigned to take care of the precious health of Hitler or Goring or one or another of the lunatics now running Germany was partly Jewish...
...were to take such a step to the right...
...They were not permitted to approach the dead body till they had arranged things as they thought would lead to a "killed him in self-defense" decision...
...This has been our experience here, and was the result for example of the joint meeting ia,Boston last August to send delegates to the anti-War Congress and the joint meeting arranged by Socialists ant* Communists in Springfield against Hitlerism...
...There was not a single bite of food in,the house...
...Oscar is again justifying the course that helped to destroy the Socialist organisation in Oklahoma, a state where we once had seven members of the legislature...
...The population is 8,000,0*0...
...The citations cover tne entirej period of the controversy and the' latest one quoted is from the March April, 1933, number of the Y.C.I...
...My average was from 99 cents to $6 every two weeks and a fat veal $4 to $5 per hundred weight...
...MuRt we always have absolute confidence in German Socialism and never criticise...
...In the period of post-war terror the fine Socialist organization we hsd in that state dwindled to a small group...
...The demand by the employers for a 30% cut in wages has solidified all locals throughout the city...
...has made mistakes, and big ones...
...Since when have we become so sectarian tfiBt we think Ourselves infallible...
...Therefore, , they set out to kill bim...
...Even if they , are not, but use joint meetings to denounce Socialists, it seems to me that they will be decidedly helpful to us rather than harmful...
...This policy probably helps to explain why the Communist vote for state offices in this state has markedly declined for the past eight years while in New York the Communist vote has increased during the past eight years, and I believe as much if not more in proporticn than has the Socialist vote...
...Just aa Jesus waa murdered by tha powers of corruption two thousand years ago, so was Barney Graham killed on Wilder Street last Sunday...
...Over 100,000 people marched, carrying banners and placard.!, roaring against Hitlerism, which met responsive echoes from tens of thousands lining the sidewalks...
...Owing to sickness in the family in 1926 I had to borrow $700 on my land and now it's due and subject to foreclosure...
...The bakers are fighting for a living wage and for the preservation of their union...
...The parade from Madison Square to the Battery was an elemental storm of revulsion against Nazidom...
...and got both...
...A similar compendium, arranged for English-speaking readers, would be of great help in Socialist educational work...
...Certainly such timidity would be violently censured and not only by those who are "always" willing to criticise our German Party—if there are sue' in the Party...
...We will not soon forget Barney Graham and the thing for which he died...
...Added to the darkness of their general despair, I found they had no kerosene for the oil lamps...
...Men and women of all political views from conservatives to Socialists and Communists, trade unions, Workmen's Circles, college fraternities, Jewish organizations and many other groups participated...
...Barney Graham wast dead...
...The books discussed are classified under such heading as Historical Materialism, History, Political Economy, Pre-Manrian Socialism, liu-'cry.of the Labor Movement, Trade Uni«-r«, World War and Revolution, Disarmament, Socialization, Bolshevism, Fascism, Woman's Question, and others...
...It ia because he does not read The New Leader...
...i And Barney Graham walked down into Wilder Hollow for the last time...
...The New Leader has carried editorials and stories in defense of these boys and many Socialist speakers m New York have made the Scotta-boro case a theme of their speeches, Broun left the party because the party objected to him speaking at Communist meetings...
...Labor Party was just formed...
...Comrade Tyler has presented a history of this question since it arose some ten years ago and has documented it with important citations fr< in vsrious sourer...
...may have to take in order to preserve their organization under Hitlerism...
...That is why when we go into these united front affairs, and Communist* denounce Socialists, it has always resulted in a loss of sympathy for the Communists by those neither Socialists nor Communists...
...Our leader is dead, but his spirit lingers with ui...
...Within a few days the labor committee of the Socialist Party will arrange for a series of outdoor meetings and demonstrations under the auspices of the party in the various neighborhoods of the city...
...to prevent Socialist cooperation with the Tom Mooney Congress is therefore likely to drive at least some of our members who want Xo cooperate in efforts made in behalf of Tom Mooney in accordance with his desires into the ranks of the I.L.D...
...Let us test Ameringer'.* views...
...For in that case the Mooney conference despite the Communist co'n-troTts authorized by Tom Mooney...
...If we American Socialists cannot learn from one another's mistakes then we are lost...
...Comrade Low also refers to certain steps which the S.D.P...
...haTe l)cen many stories to the effect that the Socialist Party of Germany has struck its colors and that it has levered all relations with world Socialism...
...They only get a small bit of Red Cross flour and fat meat for food...
...The neighbors who were sitting up with her told me she had wanted some com bread that day, but no one had any meal...
...Ten bullets were in his body...
...In the first few years the policy j was a frank one of splitting till the Communists got something "pure" that they could take in...
...Obviously the German S.D.P...
...I get work three days each month...
...They must strike before he knew their intent...
...Would the chairman of the Educational Committee still feel criticism out of nlace If the S.D.P...
...He was alone...
...The chasm between National Socialism (Hitlerism) and Social Democracy is unbridgeable...
...Graham was the most ' fearless, cool headed and inelli-| gent leader the union had ever1 | known...
...All party speakers are requested to Immediately get In touch with the Labor Committee giving the evenings thst they desire to speak...
...toward the Communists and the reactionaries...
...Are we Socialists going to develop a "don'tf-rock-the-boat" psychology...
...It is all the more humiliating that he used the platform at the Congress to ridicule Socialists Aa apology far the harm he did to the Sarty in the Middle West would fn order...
...is ¦ an extract from IK...
...Whsn t'lki e»uld ¦• lunger be fallowed c« a policy the united front Was formulated to aeeomptnh the Same purpose...
...I visited their home the night after the murder and found the mother sick in bed...
...My son is a stout man nearing his majority but he is not allowed to work unless he works in my place...
...11S.2C 67.561 foul Marxist Vole...
...If Oscar | wants to do the decent thing as | will correct this false news item in a subsequent issue...
...By Auyunt Tyler...
...Barney Graham is dead...
...Many times hie friends had> warned hire about being alone around the Company gunmen, but smilingly he had always told them he thought their fears were unfounded...
...The old mountain preacher in his primitive eloquence gave voice to the general sentiment of the union men at the funeral service...
...Following the Walton episode The New j Leader for a number of years re...
Vol. 15 • May 1933 • No. 19
