TIMELY TOPICS
THOMAS, NORMAN
By Norman Thomas TIMELY TOPICS Every week Norman Thomas writes in his pungent style his own comments upon the salient events of the moment The Allottment Plan Again 'THIS farm allottment bill...
...somewhat weakens the \ original principle of the bill, multiplies the bureau- * „Jy^^ cratic agencies necessary » ^ to enforce it, and increases ' ' ' the tax that will be laid Norman Thomas upon the consumer...
...This program in turn must be linked up with the other planks of a Socialist platform for the benefit of industrial workers...
...snd are reserved for local residents...
...STAUNING COMING TO THE UNITED STATES PREMJER THORWALD STAUN- 1 ING, Socialist head of the Danish government, is to make his ¦ first visit to the United States, it i has been learned...
...Again ss thst good Socialist and good agricultural economist, Roger Wallace, writes me: "Two fallacies lie back of the domestic allottment plan...
...That's the basic question which we Socialists are tackling as neither the Technocrats nor Chase himself has done...
...Technocracy and a Survey CTUART CHASE has done his usual beautiful job in a little pamphlet published by John Day, entitled "Technocracy—An Interpretation...
...Rice, P"""^-SHBT...
...Applications,to the Reconstruction Finance Coqioration, through the State governors, grow weak by week...
...In them is to be found striking confirmation of many of the things that we Socialists have been .saying without facilities for elaborate investigation for these many years...
...It's just another case of trying to hoist oneself by one's boot-straps, perpetual motion, the old rahbit-in-the-hat trick, or what you will...
...We may cooperate with others who for their own reasons desire proportions...
...Called agsln to office - in 1929, he won a striking vote of " confidence in November, 1932...
...Probably half of ths 2,360,000 ehldren 17 years of age and under, and 2,240,000 aged over 66, gain, fully employed In 1980, will have, to be maintained by taxation," he asserted...
...There is not even an emergency measure that capitalism can apply without mating as many or more problems as it solves...
...A billion dollars, raised by taxation of capital savings, should be provided now...
...In what was one of the shortest party conferences in Its history the Belgian Labor Party defined its position following the recent elections in which it was so successful...
...William H. Walker and his associated fee-splitting physicians who have apparently cooperated with him to the hurt of the city in compensation cases must stand trial...
...As a solution, unemployment insurance cannot be made, practical for several years...
...COMMUNIST PLANT WAS POLICE SPY TTHK Central Executive Commit* * tee of the Social-Democratic Party of Rumania reports that charges having been made against the Social-Democratic Deputy 1T...
...But even if proportional representation in the city should omit the party label it would still be perfectly possible for Socialists to mske their own designations snd to carry on a party fight In fighting in New York for proportions...
...It is less than $80 per unemployed person...
...I at Nevertheless, their prod- bBsV 7 ucta are not exported, they B ss^TjIL sre supposedly protected ^^^L / by the tariff, snd in gen- Wk mLt / arsl they sre not ss sim- K/^ 7 ply handled by a few proc- /¦ ||s1b^ J essers as are wheat, cot- X ^|^^^^Jr ton, tobacco and hogs...
...The Danish Consulate-General in New York was unwlling officially to conform the report, but it has been learned from other sources thst Stauning will be in attendance in Chicago upon that occasion...
...The conference heard a great political speech by VanderVelde and then unanimously adopted, without any discussion, a resolution on the lines of Vandervelde s anthusissticslly received speech...
...Investigstion...
...Fearing thst the general council, which is to meet shortly, would expel him from the party, Deputy Moscauteanu got together a few adherents of the party in Ismails, founded a break-rway group with them, and announced, by s statement read in the.Chamber, his secession from the Social-Democratic Party in Parliament...
...Socialists, and especially Socialist speakers, ought to read it for the clear light it sheds on some aspects of Technocracy its immense values in waking up the people to a possibility of another system, and its limitations...
...Stauning has ac- ' cepted an invitation to speak at Danish-American Day at the Chicago World's Fair on June 21st...
...The national executive of ths party thereupon decided to suspend Deputy Moscautanu and to prohibit him from taking any part in the party's public activities until ths general council or the party congress hsd met, these being the bodies entitled to take more drastic measures...
...At the elections for local authorities in...
...representation, preferably with a party label, we are carrying on a battle of national significance...
...Of course, they could not have got that money, so I suppose the thing to do is to be glsd thst ths study of social trends gives us ss much msterisl ss it does...
...For these elections the Social-Democrats of Hungary entered into an electoral alliance with the radical and democratically inclined lower middleclass and peasant parties, and in conjunction with these parties secured appreciable successes...
...In addition to these gratifying election results the propoganda campaign of the party during November has been highly successful In spite of every conceivable trickery and attempt at intimitation by the authorities and the police the Socialist speakers were listened to everywhere, and notably in the Plain county, by extraordinarily large audiences, which shows thst neither terrorism nor demagogy can prevent what is called the "Marxist invasion of the villages...
...Keep Religion Out of Politics, Belgian Socialists Demand BIUJSS,ELS...
...A Liquor Plan I IK ELY enough this paragraph will get me the *"* usual crop of letters of remonstrance both from wets and drys, but here goes...
...Not to include them makes them subject to tax to help other farmers...
...After all, that's the main question and ths money spent on their elaborate survey would have been better spent could Socialists and strong labor unions have got it for work of organization...
...In Pesterzsebet, near Budapest, on December 4th, out of the 60 seats to be filled by general voting the Social-Democrats secured 27, the lower middle-class parties 26 and the Government Party 7. This result, to be sure, is nullified by the fact thst a further 22 seats are filled ex officio while 60 others are filled by an election at which the suffrage is restricted...
...Stauning, one of the leading Socialists of Europe, is the first I Socialist head of a state to win s ; vote of confidence upon going to ) the people...
...Public works cannot be gotten under wsy in time...
...What is the principal source of energy to effectuate this social change in face of a class interest in maintaining the old system...
...But Chase's pamphlet, like much of Chase's other work and like the work of the Technocrats themselves, is weak in that it ignores, or almost ignores, the vital issue of power politics...
...Let's at least take ths profit out of the liquor traffic, ths profit out of the business of selling bad liquor, or such quantities of good liquor as to create general drunkedness, and than sss whers wo stand...
...We Socialists were basically right in our platform...
...In this unanimous resolution the conference "declares that the members of Parliament must not confine themselves to a negative opposition hut must on the contrary put forward a constructive policy with a view to carrying out the program submitted to the electors...
...By the wsy, while other people talk about good government we Socialists manage to get rather more real work done than they do...
...it pledges the workers to redouble their vigilance in order to develop their organizations and the Socialist press...
...Benjamin C. Marsh, executive secretary of the People's Lobby, testifying before tho LaFolletteCostigsn subcommittee of the Senate Manufacturers Committee in hearings on their 1500,000,000 appropriation bill for relief of destitution, said that the federal govr ¦--eminent will have to pay at least $1,000,000,000 a year for relief work, for a year or two, to svoid s hesvier bill later...
...Paul Blanshard, a Socialist, made the original demand and the legal end of the case was handled without cost in very able fashion by Louis Waldman...
...his now shown thst the charges against Moscauteanu were substantiated...
...By Norman Thomas TIMELY TOPICS Every week Norman Thomas writes in his pungent style his own comments upon the salient events of the moment The Allottment Plan Again 'THIS farm allottment bill shows with sxtrs* ordinary clearness how difficult it is to patch op tho capitalist system by emergency legislation...
...WASHINGTON.—Answers received by Sen...
...The McGrawHill book compsny publish these volumes...
...Ideally the proportional representation we want, of course, is representation of parties, not of individuals, snd under s normal scheme of proportional representation party designations should not be lost These considerations apply directly to the fight in Nsw York City for a new charter...
...the rural districts, for which the Social-Democratic Party co-operated with the Independent Peasants' Party and the Kossuth Party, during the course of December the Social-Democrats secured the election in Mezotur of 2 regular Councillors and 1 substitute Councillor, in Kisujszallas of 5 Councillors and 4 substitutes and in Mako of 3 Councillors...
...To V ^^^¦¦aWf include them, therefore, \ \^^^bK...
...Clearly it is out of line with public opinion and public conception of what is right and fair...
...The conventional explanation is that these business interests believe that by helping the farmers the necessary shove can be given to the whole economic process...
...The impression made upon the working classes of Hungary by these speeches is shown by the results of a series of local authority elections which took place during the Prime Minister's tour...
...Hungarian Socialists Gain Despite Terror and Reaction BUDAPEST.—The new Prime Minister of Hungary, Gombos, is trying to win over l'ie Hungarian masses to his policy and to his idea, advertized after the wellknown model of Mussolini, whom he praises highly, of s "national and authoritarian state...
...the liquor interests, legal and illegal—don't forget there will still be some illegal bootlegging left—in order to increase their traffic...
...The hope for the farmers lies in a Socialist program in respect to taxation, marketing, farm landlordism and debt reduction...
...Proportional Representation fHE Socialist platform for many years has de* clared for proportional representation ss under present circumstances sn aid both to democracy snd to the growth of Socialism...
...representation without any fusion of any sort whatsoever...
...Washington correspondents have pointed out that important business interests have endorsed the farm allotment bill...
...Hence they sre treated as undesirable strangers, if not as criminal suspects...
...But this is only part of the trouble...
...The experts who examined social trends do not go so far as positively to tell us how to conduct s social movement...
...In other local authority areas where elections are shortly to take place ths prospects for the Social-Democrats are extremely favorable...
...Everybody will be encouraging us to drink—the go'vernment to drink us out of debt to balance the budget...
...The 18th amendment ought to be repealed if for no other reason than it has produced so much hypocrisy and law evasion...
...We can all oppose Tammany without embracing each other, I should just about as soon embrace Tammany as a Chamber of Commerce ides of what constitutes good government...
...I should also like to recommend that Socialists get hold of the two volumes of the report of the President's Research Committee on Social Trends...
...The best way would be to make the manufacture of all kinds of liquor a monopoly and entrust it to s public, non-profit making corporation set up by the Federal government which would enly sell to public non-profit making distributing agencies set up by states which so desire...
...that the industrial workers can and will stand the increased cost of living that it would create—almost a billion dollars % year—and that by robbing Peter in this fashion, Paul would become prosperous and buy Peter's product, thus helping Peter to become prosperous again...
...peanut and dairy farmers SsssssW^^^V have about as many troub- afl ¦ les as the wheat, cotton, fl a, farmers, hay and tobacco...
...The recent decision in New York City of the Medical Grievance Board that Jimmie Walker's brother, Dr...
...Unless a practicable way can be found—and that will be difficult —to protect what farmers receive from this allottment bill from the demands of mortgage holders it will be a law to underwrite mortgages and farm lessee...
...Nevertheless the present indications are that so-called naked repeal or even repeal with some alleged protection against the return of the saloon will leave us with a liquor problem still very much unsolved...
...We need a planned economy for use, not profit, throughout the nation...
...To this end he is' now undertaking propaganda tours throughout the whole of Hungary and expounding in' practically every village the program of "national solidarity" which, according to his assertions, is to lift the awful burden of poverty from the masses and lead Hungary into a great and happy future...
...You want to take that explanation with a grsin of salt...
...He wsi called to the . Premiership in 1924, served two , yesrs snd was defested when the , Radicals, upon whom he had to de. pend for support, suffered election . losses, although the Socialist Party . made gains...
...Under Stauning, the Danish gov, eminent has carried on remarksble t work slong ths linei of the Socialist program...
...Transient unmeployed men snd boys ars looked upon ai a burden which *J»e city should not be ssked to bear...
...Actually the important business interests thst are pushing the farm allottment bill hardest are banks and insurance companies which hope to make farmers prosperous enough to mske it possible to collect their loans while landlords collect their rents...
...LaFollette to ' 2,200 questionaires sent out, for the third successive year, to mayors of American cities, as to how they deal with the homeless unemployed, show that the standard treatment is a night in jail or in a lodging house and an order from the police to "Move on I" 1 Work is provided in fsr fewer instances than one or two years ago...
...Ha estimated that 8,000,000 families, including farm families, are In dire distress...
...Indeed, proportional representation will cut the ground from under the recurrent rather hysterical demand that all enemies of Tammany must perforce get together in a fusion movement...
...Local funds are sli...
...Moscauteanu of being simultaneously a Communist, a police agent and a police spy, the national executive of the party hsd therefore forbidden him to act ss Deputy or to speak in Parliament until the matter had been cleared up...
...The chief good of a new charter would be to give us proportional representation...
...All classes of farmers, naturally enough, are trying to get in on the hoped-for _ benefits of the bill...
...MOVE ON...
...considering thst the Catholic party derives its principal electoral strength from the shameful exploitation of religious feelings, and that its tactics consist in diverting the working class by this means from the healthy conception of the defence of its interests, it reaffirms that religion mult remain a private matter and that the rank* of the Socialist Party are open to all manual and intellectual workers without distinction of belief, and denounces the intrusion of the religious authorities in the sphere of politics...
Vol. 15 • January 1933 • No. 2
