In the Other America
Ljchtenberg, Ben
By Ben Ljchtenberg In the Other America /")N April 7th, La Vunguardia, I the great Socialist daily of Buenos Aires, started its fortieth year of service in the interests | of the Argentine...
...But 1 it should not be forgotten that there is an incalculable -lumber of ccses of true heroism which the I press of our opponents has no interest in reporting...
...PANKEN WASN'T THERI MORE "United Front" gotf faith...
...The details of this subvervhu plan have now leaked out...
...Hence the barrage of "official" stories of resignations of Socialist Deputies,-their desertion to the Nazis, and so on...
...After some deliberation it was decided to have a few students leave, and Dr...
...The story is in the form of a letter, in which he is quoted as having said, "Marxism is dead...
...Frugoni that there would be no intervention in the affairs of the university, and that all could peacefully retire to their homes...
...I * j In the neighboring country of Uruguay, a hpitp de force has re-I eently taken place, as a result of which.the former Socialist Deputy, Dr...
...For the present the dictatorship has the unqualified support of the military forces of the country, but as this is a political combination of elements which seeks the satisfaction of its own appetites, it will not be difficult for this support to be weakened in the measure that the government orients itself...
...For Democracy...
...Yet the government of the dictatorship invokes the baleful consequences of this law to strike its blow, when its own most prominent members undertook to arrange this pact and then subsequently converted it into the law of the land...
...The masses who follow the I party with a faithfulness worthy of admiration make high in-.ral demands upon their leaders...
...The New Leader is in receipt of information from various source* j that indicates that behind the veil all is not so serene as the Hitler-Goebbeli-Gd>ing-Frick-Hanfstangl menagerie of sadist lunatics would like to have people believe...
...We propose ! to promote the political action of | the Argentine and foreign working class as the only means of | obtaining these reforms...
...The "coordination" of the whole people into a single Nasi pattern is not going as easily as the asylum inmates hoped...
...Oil...
...A "popular" or "rural" movement, so-called, was to have taken place in February with the object of calling on the government to adopt a dictatorship, this movement having been financed to a great extent 'by contributions from the oil interests and the land-holders...
...The Nazi press machine, in control of everything, printing their sheets on Socialist presses occupied by their hoodlums, first tried to connect the Socialists with the | Reichstag fire that the Nazis them-1 selves started...
...At first it attempted to represent the Social-Democratic Party as an accomplice of those Who caused the fire in the ReichsSpread Insolent Lie* of So-' cialist Defections)—Party Carrie* on Despite Terror tag, or to spread the story that it had criminal relations with enemies of the country...
...A world of meaning can be read between the linea of that mutious statement...
...The Socialist Party, in the vanguard of democracy, denounces this sinistat project, and exhorts the people to defend their Jeopardized lihrrtiee...
...In that connection the following, smuggled out of Berlin, is of major significance: "The propaganda department of the Government, which can use the whole of the German press as its tool, adopted a new method a short time ago...
...Terra is preparing U inaugurate a dictatorship under the pretext that the country est sires constitutional reforms and because of the announced Her-rerista revolt which he has bea covertly abetting...
...Frugoni, the Rector and most of the students remained in the university building...
...Its first editorial, April 7, 1894, ! entitled "Our Program," set 1 forth its aims as follows: "We are determined to repre-1 sent in the press the intelligent ' and class-conscious proletariat...
...Behind the wall of upraised arms, behind the flapping Swastika flags, beneath the roar of "Hells" there is a growing murmur of protest that not even the brutal censorship can suppress...
...There is no press j ?-*-to correct misstatements...
...We are determined to combat all privileges and laws secured by the rich for their own benefit and in order to : exploit the workers who had no voice in their enactment...
...In the fulfillment of this program it has always hewed to the line, and is held in high repute by its readers and the contemporary press...
...At about this time they received the news of the suicide of ex-President Dr...
...Brum, an ardent Democrat, who took his life as a protest against the dictatorship and as a symbol for the defense of public liberty...
...To le a Social-Democrat in Ger-1 many today means to be prepared j | for anything and to reckon with 1 every possibility...
...whenever you •«• a tloiy out of Germany discreditable to the German Socialisti assume that it it a lie, and the chancee are 'hat you art right...
...We demand the resignation of Dr...
...Second from the front, to * youthful fellow with H.inninf black hair, and Communist rai* ers are told that that is J«*» Panken "paying tribute to Tsav many Hall...
...He posted a large placard in front of the building reading, "Against the Dictatorship...
...Frugoni issued a resolution protesting against any intervention in his institution which might jeopardize its autonomy and disavowed the government of force...
...other...
...P. S.—Panken was not at th» dinner, nor does he ever arte* that sort ef dinner Nazi Press Machine Seeks To Demoralize Socialists THE German Socialist Party still lives, and—so far as is possible under the iron dictator-*hip—continues lo function...
...they are drawing an imaginary line of distinction between Socialism and Marxism, and are trying to drive a wedge in the Socialist ranks...
...There are signs everywhere that the half-wits who rale Germany are having the surprise, of their misspent lives in realising that the German people awe not quite so unanimous in shouting "HeU" and following the lady-like Adolf as they, want the world to believe...
...Emilio Frugori, has been deported and Lb at present in Buenos Aires...
...In the midst of the economic crisis an attempt is being made to effect reforms solely in the interest of the privileged classes, particularly the land-holding class...
...The Party lives," the statement reads-, "and all the members are fulfilling their duty as far as cir-cumstancpjL allow...
...While the Communist Party It seeking unity of actipn with St* cialists, its membere and its pre* are constantly giving evidence M the good faith without which n* common action is even^thinkabka As for example: In the official Communist dallf of May 9th is a picture and • story...
...The eaption is "Panken at Banquet with Tammany Judg*1 Below is a picture of a lot of welV fed gents in dinner clothes, quests' at a dinner to Supreme Court Justice Timothy A. Leary "By H* Former Colleagues...
...The whole of the press publishes them...
...We 1 are determined to promote all re-[ forms tending to the improvement I of the condition of the working | class, i. e., the legal eight-hour day, the suppression of indirect taxation, the protection of women and children against capitalist I exploitation, and all other measures of the minimum program of the producing class...
...Up to the present writing no one is sure as to what are the constitutional reforms to be realized, and there is neither respect nor unanimity of opinion among the the most closely connecting politicians...
...This is only a small pan of what The New Leader has received from Germany...
...A Reign of Terror A reign of force has now been set up in Uruguay, and the political plan of the dictatorship is none other than that of liberating the privileged classes from the obligation of bearing the greater share of the burden of the crisis and from contributing to an appreciable degree in remedying it Porseeing these events, the Socialist Party two months ago plastered the walls of Montevide) with posters reading as follows: "The coup d'etat which the reaction demanded is about to be realized...
...When it real-1 ized that this method did not succeed, it definitely turned to an...
...These hard times demand tough people...
...Because of the gravity of the situation, Dr...
...And they are right to do so...
...Aftet the manifestation of March 8ts> the President decreed the suspau sion of the 1917 Constitution, s*V stituting for it the 1930 Chart* The only constitutional prescrfo> tions which will remain in effect will he the electoral laws saf Article V, which establishes tat separation of Church and State...
...This law brought about a division and subdivision of the parties into veritable electoral enterprises and has frightfully corrupted the civic conscience...
...Whereas it had previously j [ attempted to represent the Social-Democrats as dangerous traitors' who would shrink from nothing, it now adopted the contrary course of describing them ss cowards who thought of nothing more than flight or surrender...
...Comrade Frugoni came to Nf»J York back in 1915, calling at tat old Call office, where he was inta* viewed by Comrade Bill Feige* baum...
...The University...
...Considering that President Terra has always been the legal representative of the great foreign enterprises and the negotiator of the American loans* secured by Uruguay, as well as the fact that his son is the lawyer for the West India Company (a subsidiary of Standard Oil), one can clearly see the economic factors at work in the Uruguayan drama...
...unable to make the idiotic slander stick with the people who know the German Socialists, they are trying a new tack...
...More of this material will be printed in future issues, to give American readers a vit nre of I the heroic efforts the Socialists make to maintain their organization and their propaganda—even going partly "underground"—in the face of the terror...
...To remain a 1 Social-Democrat, and to act as a ' Social-Democrat under all ircum-stances, presupposes a moral power 1 of resistance so strong thit it ean-I not be expected of everyone...
...The Argentine Socialist Party was organized in 1800, being the first of the Latin-American ' countries so to organize...
...The diiraat was held January 20th...
...These were the real interests at work in the national affairs of the country, and in order to combat their efforts the Socialist Party saw the urgency of arranging joint action between all democratic political forces to stem the tide toward a dictatorship...
...After a night spent at the university, the Chief of Police informed Dr...
...By this fact alone one may judge the moral responsibility of the men who are now assuming the dictatorship...
...Party Stands Solid There have been resignations from the party "only where measures of constraint were adopted by the authorities...
...In view of these circumstances Comrade Frugoni has earnestly striven so that the Socialist Party might fulfill its duty in these difficult times, and, as Dean of the Faculty of Law of the Montevideo University, he took a leading part before the students to resist the dictatorship...
...Terra, subvervive president, will is upsetting and convulsing our country by his demagogic artivi» ties, fomented by reactionaries at every stripe, and which the Yankee oil interests, desirous of a change which will again permit them to dominate our markets, support and perhaps subsidize...
...Advice to all American readers...
...This objective was partly frustrated by the lamentable consequences of the so-called pact between the "Colorados" and the Independent Nationalists, raised to the category of a law against energetic Socialist opposition, by virtue of which public jobs are prorated according to the voting strength, as though the function of government was the distribution of spoils...
...Long live Socialism...
...By Ben Ljchtenberg In the Other America /")N April 7th, La Vunguardia, I the great Socialist daily of Buenos Aires, started its fortieth year of service in the interests | of the Argentine working class...
...In this move the oil interests are playing a leading role...
...A story has come out of Germany that Hugo Ramm, described as a prominent Socialist, is enthusiastic over the Nazi regime following a brief term of imprisonment...
...Behind the Veil News from a score of sources— news that penetrates the leaky dike of censorship that Goebbels has tried to throw around Germany— shows that in the universities, in the Catholic party, in the Protestant churches, in every walk of life the murmurs are threatening to break into a roar...
...Frugoni accompanied them to the door, when he was taken by surprise, disarmed, and after a violent struggle, during which he addressed the students, he was carried off to jail, kept there several days, and then was deported to Argentine...
...Stories of large-scale disaffection among party members are authoritatively branded as falsehoods launched by Nazi agents solely to demoralize the party...
...Overriding the Legislature What they have sought to do Is to override parliament and ignore it, using the question of reforms as a pretext in order to bring about a conflict which would permit a satisfactory "explanation" of the coup de force...
...I* this connection it is wall to recall that Uruguay entered into an arrangement with Russia for the supply of oil, the results of which, while excellent for the general interests of the country, have injured those of the powerful Standard Oil...
...Hitler's Lies "Since then the German press has been full of stories of Social- j Democratic members of provincial diets and town councils wno are i alleged to have voluntarily relinquished their mandates, of the al-j leged voluntary dissolution of Social-Democratic groups, and even of the conferment of civic honors1 upon leading National S< cialistfl 1 with the concurrence of Social j Democrats...
...A statement has been smuggled out of Germany by the Social Democratic party declaring that not a single local or district organization is withholding its quota of dues in protest against the conduct of ihe party by the Executive...
Vol. 15 • May 1933 • No. 19
