An Open Letter to Frances Perkins

...Hitler as the servant of German capitalism has succeeded, by means of a semi-radicalism in the sphere of social policy as well as by means of chauvenist demagogy, in attracting to his movement millions of people belonging to the ruined middle classes and numerous unemployed who have been driven to despair by the persistence of their misery...

...There is, however, one large group of women, politically literate and socially responsible...

...The Paris Minority Report This is the moat important of three resolutions supported by 18 delegates at the recent Paris International Socialist Conference...

...In the coming elections twice this vote is hoped for...

...dustryt We recently asked our readers to report eases of violations...

...The conference declares that it is not the task of the Socialist parties to attempt to straighten out the capitalist world or even to collaborate in such attempts...

...Signed) Alter ("Bund" Poland), Andreesen (Estonia), Bianco (Italy), Boconi (Italy), Erlich ("Bund" Poland), Felix (U...

...The conference expresses its cjgviction that a Socialist govern-atst which attacks the very (tarees of the capitalist system is capsule of succeeding by utilising aJJ productive sources in eliminat-kjg unemployment and preparing fj this way the basis of an intea-¦ttional Socialist economic system...

...For our unemployed re employment, when it does come, is at the minimum wage even if salaries previously earned were as high as (SO or higher...

...Comrade Cooper joined the party in April 1907, and has been a member of the party ever since...

...Of the thousands of women who have the bitterly-foiight-for franchise, not more than half use it...

...In view of the fact that Fascism is the proof of the lack of hesitation of the bourgeoisie to depart from its own legality when it considers it useful in order to defend its privileges, it is necessary that the working class begins to prepare at once for a struggle by all the means which may secure victory...

...Dictatorship must be exercised under the permanent control of organisations free to negotiate, to choose their representatives and to determine themselves their line of action...

...Local Cook County (Chicago...

...has ac-ceplrd the invitation of the laundry work-era to cooperate in an organisation dr,ye by picketing, speaking and distributing literature...

...The only choice before these classes is that between complete destruction under Fascism and the immediate struggle for Socialism...

...Cooper has splendid backing in the young but strong Olean local in his campaign...

...It would depend very much upon whether the measures were regarded as a solution for our economic ills, or whether they were accepted merely as immediate palliatives for our millions of distressed workers...

...Norman Thomas, chairman of the Terzani Defense Committee, will be the principal speaker...

...We want the facts...

...A brutal and bloody fight against the Labor movement, t!:e enslavement of the working masses, an unleashed nationalism coupled with a ferocious anti-semitism have been the characteristics of the first phase of the new German regime...

...He has spoken at numerous rallies and at the League of Women Voters as well as at the Young Socialist dinner...

...In most countries this implies an adaptation of Socialist organisations to the new conditions of the struggle...

...Do you share the opinion that we are just a lot of chronic malcontents...

...But the Conference ia conscious of the fact that the struggle against Fascism in the countries under Fascist domination as well as in the other countries cannot become efficacious without a clearly and precisely defined line of policy...

...The conference calls the attention of the working class to the need for conducting towards Socialism the1 middle classes who have been impoverished by the crisis and whose revolt has In several countries been expressed in the rise of Fascism...

...S. A.), Pivert (France), Zyromske (France), Spaak (Belgium...

...The Conference appeals to the international working class for the most efficient material and moral support of the Socialist movement of Germany which is fighting courageously against Hitlerism under the most difficult and most horrible conditions...

...In), Karl Borders will lecture on "What About the Unemployed...

...The German events condemn at one and the same time the failure of the Communist policy of division and the reformist policy of Socialism...

...Illinois Chicago...

...A beaten, despairing, starved-out working class such as we now have is poor ground for Socialist teaching...

...We must remember that even in our "normal" periods we have an unemployed army of nearly 2,000,000...

...A liberal friend of mine said recently, "If you Socialists had elected a Congressman and he was successful in putting through some of the measures which the NRA is fighting for, you would consider it a great victory...

...These are the elements which see in Hitlerism a promise of economic and national emancipation and supported by the armed forces of the government who have turned Fascist, have secured the victory of Fascism in Germany.' This victory has on the other hand been helped by the grave errors committed by the German working class party...

...The fight against Fascism is intimately bound up with the fight against the crisis...

...The local grew by leaps and bounds under Cooper's leadership and proved its worth in tho 1932 election...

...It declares on the contrary that by whatever means they are going to achieve power they must not i •-cure the exercise of power within the structure of the capitalist regime, but must utilize power in order to destroy the bourgeois state and install the dictatorship of the revolutionary party during the period of Socialist construction...

...The experience of the last two years have only confirmed this point of view...

...Why can't we enter into wealth—producing utilities instead of paying tribute to the power trust, gas trust and other profit-taking businesses operating here...

...In 1932, he was nominated for Con-g r e s s in the 42nd D i s t r ict, c o n s i s ting of Allegany, Chau-t a u q u a, and C a 11 a r augus counties, and in C a 11 a r a gus county alone the S o c i a I ist Party enroll ment increased from 90 to 635, over 7007c...

...G. Bertelli of the Italian Socialist Federation, A. Cavorso, V. Buttis, A. Thomas, tf...

...As far as we are concerned the NRA is a failure on both counts— both as an immediate help and as a long-time plan for recovery...

...In one of the most highly industrialized countries in the world, where the working class possessed powerful'• organizations, during an economic crisis which demonstrates in conclusive manner the failure of the capitalist system, the most savage of all the capitalist dictatorships, the Hitler dictatorship, has just gained its victory...

...We see collapse ahead, because the recovery program ia based on an economic fallacy...

...you were deeply sympathetic to, perhaps part of, their cause...

...It is evident that the working class will defend energetically its democratic achievements against all reactionary attempts, but the struggle against Fascism cannot have as its goal the maintenance or re-establishment of bourgeois democracy which is based on economic inequality but that of constructing a real Socialist democracy...

...Perhaps it will make them understand the close tie between economics and government — between the battle to live on the face of this earth and that nebulous quantity—politics...

...Thomas Speaks at Anti-Fascist Meeting in Chicago CHICAGO...

...J. Sjoro will apeak on "Organzied Labor anil the Boycott Against Germany...

...Four of the six American delegates voted for it...

...STORIES of the NRA Do you know of any eases of nibbling at the NRA in a eode t...

...Signers, Waco (Texas) Socialist Local...

...The conference declares that it would be vain to awaken the hopes of the working masses by making them believe that new efforts on the part of capitalist governments estld provide them with a remedy far their misery...

...For us the $15 minimum set by the NRA is becoming with terrifying frequency, the rock-bound maximum...

...Cooper stresses in his campaign the urgent need for municipal ownership of public utilities, the need of water, gas, electricity, milk,'and garbage disposal plants, stressing the fact that the city should make money as well as spend it...

...The chairman will be S. Polio, well-known Milwaukee , Socialist...

...Nov...

...At a dinner given by the Young j Socialist League of Olean, he said: "The city must keep up a fire department at great expense, but it dare not sell fire insurance to help 1 jay the cost of that department, ft must keep up a police department for the protection of the citi-sens' lives and property, but it dare not sell burglary insurance to help sustain the cost of that department...

...To Be Continued) Cooper Waging Great Fight In Olean FROM Olean, N. Y., comes the news that John G. Cooper, Socialist mayoralty candidate, is waging a strong campaign that bids fair to be victorious...

...However, Comrade Cooper shows 410 inclination to rest upon his laurels...

...I understand that once (when you were young and reckless...

...For our times they are totally inadequate...

...noring the "tr...

...These women you will probably not find the occasion to address...

...terms of the tlue Eagle regulations themselves...

...Do not rely on gossip and do not exaggerate...

...Whilst continuing their normal activities the Socialist parties will prepare without fail for the necessities of direct action...

...We are for the most part white-collar workers, or the wives ef white-collar workers, or both...

...The dissolution of the present regime makes the existence of capitalism within the framewodk of bourgeois democracy more and more impossible...

...The Conference makes it a duty of all Socialist parties to organize an economic political and moral boycott of Hitler Germany...

...It may help them to acknowledge their duties and responsibilities as citizens...

...Comrade Cooper is one of the most enthusiastic of The New Leader boosters...

...Does this seem like a paradox...

...J^ECENT events in "Germany constitute a serious defeat for the international working class...

...By the National Administration, by the industrial leaders who have been coaxed into accepting it, the NRA is an extremely radical step to be used only during this unprecedented emergency...

...That is' why the fight against Fascism can only be led by forces fhich are resolutely anti-Fascist and by a decided adherence to Socialist reconstruction of society...

...In the State of New York, the richest state in our suffering country, the State Department of Education is about to cut the $15 wage paid to teachers employed by the Emergency Relief Administration...

...gress of the L.S.I...

...This is not wishful thinking...

...Its strength has increased until, to quote Comrade Cooper, "We now have a local powerful enough to be a strong threat to the capitalist parties in this city;->and there is a very decided possibility that we will carry the* city of Olean in the coming election...

...They have on the one hand demonstrated the incapacity of the capitalist governments in face of the crisis in their respective countries and on the failure of all the economic conferences called together to find a solution of the crisis on a general international basis...

...The experience of the last year has demonstrated that the prolonged economic crisis, the frenzied attemr'-s of lie bourgeoisie to maintain its privileges in spite of all and to maintain by all means its position from the menace of Socialism, place before the Labor an:1 peasant parties the necessity of fighting to realize Socialism as the i mediate objective of their struggle...

...The demonstration is under the auspices of the Italian Socialist Federation and other Italian political groups of Chicago...

...What the President, what you, Miss Perkins, and the others working with you are trying to do—i...

...Her* are a few report* from the NRA front...

...The meeting Is held in response to the appeal of the Women's In-trnational Matteottl Committee of Essex, England...

...The complaint is that these organizations have been persistently holding their banquets in the Raleigh Hotel Restaurant, which, we learn, has not subscribed to the NRA*, and who have, we are told, been paying their waitresses as low as $2,60 per week and charging for breakage of dishes...

...The conference affirms that the working classes can expect nothing from these institutions and that they can only count on their own efforts in their struggle against Fascism, the crisis and war...

...Cooper was elected organizer, which office he still holds...

...Galassi and P. Porflri...

...S. A.), Levinson (U...

...e., restore business to a politely profitable basis, eliminate cut-throat competition, and at the same time give to the workers enough money in the form of wages so that they will be able to answer your plea of "Buy Now" is simply a mathematical impossibility...

...aptly character, ized the crisis as a crisis of the regime itself, which cannot be con-quered except by a series of measures constituting the first step towards the transformation of the present regime into a Socialist regime...

...The Sixth Congressional Branch is holding open fotnnis Friday evenings at 8:15 at hcadquaitcrs, HZi Rooseycll Road...

...S. A.), Krucger (U...

...That is why the struggle for the conquest of power cannot be separated from the struggle against the crisis and why the seizure of power by the revolutionary classes is the necessary condition for a solution of the crisis and the problem of unemployment...

...On the other hand, the reformist policies of the Social-Democratic Party hoping by means of class collaboration to improve in an enduring manner '." conditions of the working class and to prepare its accession to power have not only not led to the goal but have been revealed as a source of weakness for the proletariat in its fight against Fascism...

...The Vienna Con...

...IT has been brought to our atten-tion by the owners of the leading cafes of Waco, who are mem-bers of the National Restaurant Association, that the very fountain-heads of Waco en'orcement offi-cials for the NRA have been ig...

...These cafe men are greatly incensed over the matter and have sent their protest to President Roosevelt Not only this violation by our "would-be" high-up "patriots" and "civic leaders," but we are also told that the News-Tribune—tool of the "big boys"—has for some reason failed to publish this violation when it has been brought to their attention...

...Norman Thomas will speak at a big demonstration of solidarity for the/victims of Fascism, Sunday, Ortober 29, at 1:30, at the IMy House Auditorium, Halstead and Polk Streets...

...This problem can only be real-had by a government representing (hi interests of the workers, the ¦patents and all those impoverished people who are suffering from the crisis...

...Discussion billows 'ec-tures...

...From our point of view, some NRA measures which may redound to the benefit of the workers are simple social reforms which should have been part of the program of any intelligent, socially-minded administration during any normal period...

...Others will be Prof...

...The conference registers the impotence and the default of all international organizations founded by capitalist governments such as the League of Nations, the Disarmament Conference, the Economic Conference, etc...

...Capitalism itself is turning Fascist...

...This goal can only be reached by the elaboration of a program and by the development of activities capable of rallying the middle classes who are plunged in grow-ing misery due to the present regime, by extending to them a guarantee of the provision of work through the Socialist solution of the crisis...

...During the period of struggle for the conquest of power as well as later during the exercise of power, the Socialist parties must remain faithful to the principle of proletarian democracy which is the only guarantee for the development of the dictatorship by the revolutionary classes into a dictatorship of the workers and peasants...

...The Labot forces were on the one hand paralysed by a tragic division which was to a great extent the result of the policy of the Communists who considered as the principal enemy of the working class, not the steadily more menacing forces of Fascism, but Social-Democracy...

...Aided by the local, he continues to bring the Socialist program before the people...

...These banquets have been continued for a month or more, we understand, over the repeated protests of the Waco Local of the National Restaurant Association...

...If the President takes the next seemingly inevitable step and inflates the dollar we are hopelessly sunk...

...loth, Dr...

...Because we have no powerful labor unions to fight for us we are caught between the relentless jaws of lowered wsges snd rising living costs...

...From the broader aspect, we again see only collapse ahead...

...S. A.), Senior (U...

...Admission free...

...I refer, of course, to the women in the Socialist Party, Women cannot support1 the seemingly-Socialist measures which yon are helping to advance through the NRA...

...All readers of this paper In Chicago and vicinity are urged to attend...

...I am sorry...

...An Open Letter to Frances Perkins By Gertrude Weil Klein *y|Y Dear Miss Perkins: I notice you are addressing many women's organizations all over the country...

...Perhaps...

...This local was formed in March, 1932, by a dozen earnest comrades...

...nd this in the face of protests of these leading restaurant men who have subscribed to the Blue Eagle...