America Is Hardly Comfortable In the World Jazz Orchestra
Cohen, Joseph E.
By Joseph E. Cohen America Is Hardly Comfortable In the World Jazz Orchestra There's the Threat We'll Pack up Our Saxophone and Go Home—We Must Settle with Our People Before We Can Save...
...America cannot begin saving herself until she settles with hei own people—away from capitalism...
...A Splendid Week-End Party Conference at a Splendid Party Camp 1 By S. A. Mm \ ii THE RADICAL "FHEY call me radical, because 1 seek * To raise the courage of the meek...
...Chnrlic Solomon led the discussion on party tactics...
...And the way the audience took to the old songs and ancient gags only shows how understanding a Socialist audience can be...
...Suffice it to announce that few of us were in fit condition to do much dancing after the show...
...the mechanics of this rare combination of ethereal music and side-shattering hilarity...
...And when you can get a druggist like Herm Vogel, a chef like Tim Daly, a plumber like George Sussman, a storekeeper like Kaplan, a teacher like Gil Sackman and an upholsterer like Jack Pliskin to perform with professional aplomb and savoir falre, then, boy, oh, boy, the social revolution is not far behind...
...Ever since we freed Cuba of Spanish tyranny by gobbling the Philippines and a place for ourselves in the Orient, "we" have had a surplus of goods to dump w- ————— upon some other country...
...Of course that is the only solu tion of the problem of industry And, true enough, each country wil have to solve that problem for it self...
...Food alone, however, does not always make a happy repast...
...It may seem like a big step bad for any nation to try to withdrav .from world affairs when so man...
...t That vast contingent which has known x The heel of tyrant, knave and drone...
...He said he became a member of the old Weavers' Association at Huddersfield in 1882 and in 1889 was appointed an officer...
...Certainlj each instrument player will havt to do a heap of rehearsing on hei own...
...There is always the idea thai America can play solo...
...Sir Ben Turner, old-time British Socialist and labor leader and former M. P., made this declaration at the annual meeting, at Bradford, of the National Union of Textile Workers, when referring to his retirement from the position of president after fifty years of activity...
...1 i It is handily located near the Hudson River, forty-five t minutes from Broadway, and is thoroughly equipped to give s a worker, or even a middle-class Socialist sympathizer, good - food, good rest, simple recreation, and comradeship...
...Al Lee and Jim Oneal said that the gags were too old...
...I've left Nimcnsky, my son David and myself out just because space does not permit further inclusion...
...If now we are to withdraw fror other spots on the map but ou own, then "we" cannot dispose o this supposed surplus except righ at home...
...They ought to know...
...It has a truly working i class atmosphere, run by a workers' organization and is i' everything a workers' camp ought to be...
...The Government is to command what planters' associations could not arrange by gentlemen's agreements, because owners of land refused to behave like gentlemen when they were alone...
...The Camp Eden Outing s fAMP EDEN is a delightful spot for Socialists to hold • conventions and conferences...
...Altogethe it might bring to a head the who...
...The way of all, nor race nor hue t To stifle not the will to do, t M They call me radical, but instead t Of feeling shame, I lift my head...
...is not free from its policy of dictatorship...
...About half of our cotton goes globe trotting...
...A solid vegetarian meal, leavened only by some herring, found us ready for the fun at the casino...
...So the argument has been advanced that if our own purchasiing power were pegged up 10 per cent we could take what we make and let the rest of the world go by...
...But generally, I'll say the show got by swell...
...Home Again THE hit of the evening was the Circle 8 Symphony Orchestra led by Ypsel Nst Cohen, with Yehudl Menshevik, eight year old, eight foot tall violin prodigy, as guest artist...
...n They call me radical, because 1 see r The end of greed and misery...
...I was too busy getting the minstrel show rebearsed to inquire as to the reason...
...Taking What We Make That would mean we would no have to accept the argument tha we pay high prices for the good which are sold lower in exper trade...
...And so we did without the meat...
...other forces are tugging towari the international concert...
...The Flushing Minstrel nrillS most necessary part of the announcement done, you * no doubt would like to know as to what transpired at the conference...
...I say all this because the last week-end two hundred of us New York Socialists spent there at conference has left ; a most delightful memory for all us to coddle whenever we ' think of other camps and places that are either too far i away, too expensive for our means, or just too ritzy for our 1 inclinations...
...When we go nativ on music, the motifs and strain will be the kind we like...
...I just dare not let you all in on...
...Walter R. St...
...I read my speech...
...But tha is only one of the many charge: of dynamite within capitalism, ex ploding attempts at universal do minion...
...We had no wine to curse, and found the scenery alluring...
...Against this there is the acute need to import certain raw materials not to be found in the American bounty...
...You just cannot laugh so long, and keep rolling over and under the benchee, and have enough stamina left to do much toe-twinkling, no matter how good the orchestra is...
...And ever some of those abroad have men tioned that the complete concert ol great powers cannot be smooth un til each country perfects' herself There cannot be economic work recovery until each nation mas ten her own difficulties...
...Especially does this hold good since there is avoided the turmoil over just which nation is to act a; conductor of the world orchestra A Solo Selection What tune can America play In the best of capitalist time...
...Clair...
...The Ypscls had their say on Youth...
...So a threat hangs over the melody that if America cannot find her kind of harmony in London she will pack her saxaphone and go home...
...And the buso* and cars took us all home, tired and glad...
...A full two hundred young folks (for even the old 'uns looked a generation younger then) gathered to laugh and boo generously at my introduction of the Flushing Minstrel Show...
...ttrive to follow Him along n The way which should be light with sovg...
...1 The term bestowed on me in ecorn, r Causes in me to be born >' A courage grim, not to be denied, ( Determined not to swerve aside...
...By Joseph E. Cohen America Is Hardly Comfortable In the World Jazz Orchestra There's the Threat We'll Pack up Our Saxophone and Go Home—We Must Settle with Our People Before We Can Save Ourselves...
...I want to remark in passing that whoever decorated the dining room so cheerfully deserves a big hand...
...We must protect parliamentary institutions...
...The wreckers and the iictators are at work inside and jutside parliament...
...Of the present political situation Sir Ben said: "One of the immediate taske before us all is to strengthen the Trade Union Movement It will be the best defense against the Hitlerism that some folks seem to encourage in this kingdom...
...What the show lacked In originality was more than compensated for by the all-round performances of the actors...
...Sunday was spent in conferences on farmers, led by Pierre dl Nio...
...see the rain-bow's end on earth, WJhen man no more will curse his birth...
...Where now my only hope the grave, I see a world without a slave...
...Report is around that, like wheat, the acreage is to be shrunk one-third...
...y^MERICA is not comfortable in Europe's jazz orchestra...
...But even more is at stake when America unpacks her saxophone to try a solo performance...
...As it happens, cotton has been picked to stand for a big cut in the sowing area...
...Comrades who are tuners will please take notice of this trade lead...
...The labor leaders who were scheduled to hold forth on the subject of New Approaches to Union Labor by Socialists were mysteriously absent...
...problem of our own people takini what they make...
...At first blush there seems to b< much gold in this hill...
...only about 10 per cent of American-made goods had to find foreign sale...
...But will instead greet each new day And help his brother on the way...
...More important still is the fact that with some of our own products a great share of the market is beyond our shores...
...So if America is to play for u alone that is something else again If only we have to listen we cai call the tune...
...Too large a fraction of our manufactured goods has been sold elsewhere below prices extorted here because, it was argued, a surplus was created here that had to be sold elsewhere against foreign competition...
...When she strikes the right note here, she will have offered to others the beginning of a score of a new world symphony...
...It is not easy to keep your mind on a music score when your hands have to keep near your pockets...
...And there would be mor goods made for us here...
...Downing St...
...It certainly boosted matters at all meal times...
...BEN TURNER GIVES UP HIS OFFICE LONDON.—"When I die, as die I must, there will be found written on my heart 'The Textile Union.' It has been, amidst all my activities, my love and my life...
...Saturday was spent getting settled, playing games, swimming and getting ready for entertainment...
...Instead of blood and sweat and tears, Oppression, bitterness and fears...
...Dot Daly did the piano up brown . , . and the only thing we found out of tune at the camp happened to be the piano...
...The 90 per cent was bought and consumed at home...
...And by this I b mean that there Is no overload of the usual camp hokum of high priced social directors, professional entertainment from * Minsky's Burlesque Theatre, moonlight water festivals, v confetti, tennis tournaments, lectures by foot-loose college f professors and week-end extortion for accommodations...
Vol. 15 • June 1933 • No. 25
