The Workers Abroad An International Review of the Socialist and Labor Movement of the World
Khinoy, Mark
The WorkersAbroad An International Review of the Socialist and Labor Movement of the World By Mark Khinoy Moscow Answers Austrian Y.P.S.L. .IN :his column a few weeks ago I reprinted a...
...Farmers who had been forced off their land, who preferred a more secure life, or w*ho found that they preferred the new system, could become workers on these farms, ¦p...
...But again not a word about pu.'ing a stop to the criminal campaign of vituperation anl villification the local and international Communist press is still conducting against the Austrian Socialists...
...The telegram claims that the youth sections of SociaJi-ts and Communists are already cooperating harmoniously in France and Spain...
...As reprinted in the Arbeiter-Zcitung, it expresses the readiness of the Moscow leaders to discuss with the young Socialists the problem of united action against fascism...
...Mclnnerney, presldrnt, director...
...16,133 Arthur U. Milhank, cluiirinuii board...
...And therefore, forward, antifascists of'farm and city...
...If these workers received anything like their just due the farmer could dispose of an abundance of products — providing the market were socially controlled —and still make a good income himself...
...Thus directly and deliberately the two great aims of agriculture would be served...
...of the establishment of an independent Catalonian Republic, the Workers' Alliance would defend Catalonia against any attack of the central government and would rail;: the (proletariat of all Spain to its defense...
...also the opposition Communist groups—but not a single representative of the official Communist organizations, youth or adult...
...As to Spain, the statement does npt seem to be correct even in the autonomous republic of .Catalonia, w>u:f4a workers' alliance of Socialist, syndicalist and Comnianist organizations has been in existence for almo-: eight months...
...Unity in Action in Saar .Ijr.RE is an example of the Socialist-Communist unity '* * in practice in the Saar Valley, of which I ppoke in the iast issue: ". . . . Organize all over the district Commi'-?es for the united sruggle against reunion with Hitler's Germany...
...And .this is even more the case in view of the fact that taxes remain extremely high j sands of tun abandon their taxes could sj interest is rj cause mure i spent for m»d all these facts...
...A. Van II.iiii.-I, vice-president 70.000 A. A. Stockier, trruMirri...
...while the price of milk is jacked up one cent a quart...
...The same phenomenon—national interest of the Soviet Union— seem to be the real cause of the sudden change in the united front tactics of the French Communists...
...It's Quite Nice for the Big Dairy Executives WHILE babies in the big cities languish for lack of wholesome milk which so may working-class and jobless families are unable to pay for...
...In any case it seems probable that if by planned production, and the socialization of marketing, the farmer could receive a large share of what now goes to processors, commission houses, packing and milling companies in profits, he would be able to make « good and secure living even though he were producing an abundance on smallscale farm units...
...IT is as yet impossible to say what was the real reason that forced the German Communists in the Saar Valley to adapt a policy that was in complete contradiction to everything they said or did before...
...By means of such cooperative associations it should be possible for large machines to be owned in common, thus reducing each individual farmer's overhead expense...
...28,250 J. I...
...But if it were tried first as n measure of unemployment relief, providing well-paid work for the unemployed, and if it worked out well it might, without being forced upon the farmer, be deliberately chosen by him as a means of deliverance from the utter insecurity ..f his present condition...
...taxes on land ¦collected in PJh...
...Of course, we might socialize the milk supply pay the farmers decent wages, cut out the insane salaries and eliminate the swollen profits, and supply wholesome milk at low prices...
...It would consist roughly of a trade...
...the big dairy companies are doing quite well, thank you...
...75,000 Total .....................S5I6,064 Borden Compny: I...
...The reasonable solution would seem to be, therefore, for any farmer who desired to do so to be able to petition the government to assume his debt in return for his transj ferring the title to his land to the 'government and receiving back from it a use lease entitling him to live upon and farm the land so long as he works it himself...
...For Labor Unity But whatever the real cause that forced the Communist leaders in France to change overnight their attitude toward their "worst enemy," the Socialist Party, the rapprochement of the two movements that began with the vigorous anti-fascist fight by the Socialists on Feb...
...20,000 IIoIm-IMI V. Jones, assistant to vice-president...
...One indicates the readiness to negotiate directly with the Socialist Youth International if the latter will make such a .proposal...
...The Moscow telegram is signed by Lacroa and Massi and includes two significant phrases...
...B y such a method, as I suggest above, perhaps the problem could be solved But it all depends upon whether the farmer can carry on successfully on a s in all-seal e b a s i s and still keep the price of food down to a proper level of abundant distri but ion...
...44,61(1 II...
...The other 50 per cent of supposedly "f r e e" farmers are little better off...
...The other informs them that the Austrian center of the Communist you-.h "was given permission" to deal with the local SociaJ.'-t center on this subject...
...This is not the whole story, but it is the main part of it...
...The most plausible explanation connects the new "line" with the new orientation of the Soviet leaders toward the League of Nations and the democratic and Socialist governments which support it...
...The following article is not eubmitted as a solution of this problem but as a contribution to an understanding of some phases of it,-the Uvo suggestions of the author being solely his...
...401.53...
...55,000 Williur S. Scott, vice-president...
...IN :his column a few weeks ago I reprinted a letter I* addressed by the underground Y.P.S.L...
...In the first country the nonaggression and joint action agreement is only a few days old and it is therefore too early to judge how it will work out...
...The victory of Notional Socialism proved to be the greatest danger the Russian revolution has faced since 1920-21., Faced with the danger of war in the Far East, the Soviet government knows that in the rear it will have to contend with Hitlerism...
...As reported by the French press, the conference of the Labor Alliance adopted a resolution stating that in the ever...
...Republic into a Socialist republic...
...But now they have to support the Socialist proposal of a continuation of the League control for another five years...
...In the case of agriculture, the worker, of course, is the farmer, lie is ordinarily thought of as the owner of the laud and tools with which he works...
...We appeal to the people of the Saar to create a powerful and an air-inclusive anti-fascist front...
...How the Farmer Is Robbed by M.Yearbis American agriculture has not been studied by Socialists as it deserves, and no more complex problem facet us in this country...
...The Borden company reported gross sales of $186,301,203 in the same period...
...23,200 I'ali ic k I...
...Model communities could be erected for the housing of families making these government farms and all manner of cultural advantages provided...
...And while babies were crying for milk and while dairy farmers were striking against the companies to gain a mere subsistence from the dairy companies, the officers of the two companies were being paid as follows: National Dairy Products Corporation : Thorn** II...
...How "free" a man u f a cturer would consider himself if he had to sell his product to one of two or three possible buyers at a price fixed by them is not hard of conjecture...
...This is true because farmers compete against each other for what cash market there is and each must endeavor to produce more than his neighbor and get it to market quicker...
...It reported a capital surplus of $25,018,745, a profit of 18 per cent on working capital, after deducting dividends on preferred stock, salaries, interest on funded debt, etc...
...Soviet Russia has now come closer to the French government and therefore is fishing for popular support among the French masses...
...Finally, there is the problem of debt...
...j upon whethe arising front culture alone, dustries, still millions of ( must each el expense is M If it is not, erly coordb) support as present famij nish cheap people of the out would set First snd agricultural ketitig from top to done most of...
...Manuel llendler, chairman SW district ..................6 42,600 John l.i'1'eher, director, chairman Wis...
...district...
...Long live the antifascist front...
...The farm family would trade a certain amount of its supposed independence for a more enjoyable, care-free, and secure lite...
...57,433 Merrill J. Norton, vice president 14,100 Bulph O. Wurd, vice-president...
...center of Austria to the Communist Youth International in Moscow...
...26,000 John B. I<pwli, director, \ lee-pres...
...themselves...
...No matter what acreage they plant, so long as farmers must compete with one another in selling their crops to a few powerful buyers it is obvious that they will never receive anything like their just share of the income from agriculture...
...The aim of such a system would naturally be the production of abundance, and the more production increased the greater the wages of the working farmers could be...
...If this plan should fail, another and somewhat more radical plan should be tried...
...In the realm of immediate demands, the conference agi-.ed on a platform demanding, among other things, the arming of the workers, complete liberty of organization and (propaganda for all ¦workers' organizations, expropriation of the estates of the most active leaders of Ihe Regionalist "LLIGA", the closing of all fascist centers, arrest of the monarchist and fascist leaders, and the 44-hour week in all branches of industry...
...At the same time an effort will he made to tram form the Catalonia...
...Fight against the fascist terror in the shops and facto) and the more effective unity of oil workers, profsstrioitall and office-holders in the trade unions, followed by a struggle against the yellow (clerical and fascist) ¦niottsi 'The Social Democratic and the Communist partlet declare in this connection that great as Is theh desire to create unity of action of Socialist and Communist workers, they remain true to their separate meu-H oH the aims and method* of the ?oclatUt'aM labor movemcnt and continue their existence as\separate and independent or!/a n iza t tonal en I ities...
...The reference therefore to Spain is a little premature...
...To this statement we ma;,1 take exception...
...23,4113 I...
...Fox, vice -president...
...And, consequently, the instinct of self-preservation' dictates the Bolsheviks a new orientation both in the field of its class, or proletarian, policies and in the realm of diplomacy and international politics...
...I n addition to this only a few farmers have any control whatever over the price at which they sell their products...
...They will result in foreclosure sooner or later...
...34,833 Total .....................$447,049 Not bad, what, if you happen to be a vice-president or a director...
...district...
...Most of these can nevir be paid, anyway...
...stand out K agricultural Kj^indant food Apple that could produced and fithe nation to ¦ Second, the Mould like to Hp must not Hpcau.se of the ¦tee, but they En out of the ¦peelves The Km tradition [ Hi* more im-1 mediately pri be more aft...
...This would mean that when the Soviet Union was opposed to the League of Nations, the local Communists had to fight for a return of the Saar Valley with its 700,000 inhabitants to Germany even when this meant their enslavement under the Hitler dictatorship...
...But the "subsistence" idea is certainly a step backward out of the age of potential plenty in which we are supposed to live...
...THIS IS ROBBERY < By William Morris H7HAT I want to 'point out " now is the impossibility of cur attaining to attractive la lor under this system, and to repeat that it is this robbery (there is no other word for it) which wastes the available labor-power of the civilized world, forcing many men to do nothing, and many, very many more to do nothing useful...
...Long live the united front of the toilers...
...That is, after deducting absurdly swollen salaries, and dividends and interest—-which are in effect a form of profits—this company trading upon the dire need of human beings — MOSTLY BABIES — turned in a. profit of 79 per cent...
...So we'll go right along in the same old way . . . until a lot of people who are now asleep wake up...
...108,351) Stunlev M Boss, director, cliuiriiiuii O-Ind...
...Third, Bjpt to join ¦J for^thefr agency buy only from farmers wh< were members of such associations Most farmers would like to be members of cooperative associations if only they could be sure that everyone else would do likewise and that no one would try to "beat" the organization by selling his crop outside the cooperative channels...
...consumer 1'of middlemen tl rations and | Moreover, sot inff is the planned ag*ri( a system tho agency coul( mated requir for.staple crt to buy allots from farmers before the crfl In the hccoi 'should and | kind rather ' farmers con cooperative own benefit of Having t land likely to I to farmers itjjeas depends •Jwie problem lit that agrilonr great inOrganized that Inducing units Shm overhead ituntable one...
...lose your ranks for determined trade union action...
...while dairy fanners must go out on strike from time to time in a desperate attempt to wrest from the big dairy companies a mere living...
...Undoubtedly the second method here suggested would arouse the antagonism of some rural poople...
...more despertt ever of a cask Two great | with relation problem...
...Thus, the men who control the agricultural market, plus the bankers, really own the capital and the farmer just works for them producing their interest and their profits...
...director 23,333 ('.has...
...Instead of this, I would suggest large-scale, scientifically managed farms run under competent managers by the government itself...
...It ignores, however, the question of a nonaggression pact without which the Socialist youth of Austria considers any "united front" action as nothing but an utterly dishonest maneuver...
...The ipovverful Socialist Party and all Socialist and syndicalist controlled unions with their millions of members were represented there...
...Deducting all salaries (about which more later), expenses, taxes, DIVIDENDS ON PREFERRED STOCKS AND INTEREST ON FUNDED DEBT (all of which is really profits), thete is still a profit of $7,051,872.05 oh capital...
...This, at least, is the theory advanced by Leon Blum in the last issue of the Midi Socialist...
...Fight for the fre-dom of assembly, demonstrations, organizations and prt'ft...
...and forcing those who carry on really useful labor to most burdensome over-work...
...The leaders of our youth movement in Austria invited the Moscow leaders of the Communist youth to arrange tor a "non-aggression treaty" and "united action" pact between the two youth organizations...
...Inspired by our faith in victory, we shall defeat Hitler...
...II e r e is where the problem of the farmer ties into the problem of the <lis tribution of income in the nation to the urban workers...
...Fight for n raise in wages, pensions and dole and for the further extension of nil the precious social gains...
...bight against the intim lation of the anti-fascists and for the uprooting ol nil he fascist elements from these institutions...
...46,666...
...director...
...Fight against the fuscization of the administration, of the courts and the police...
...But not quite so good for the babies and their parents, and for the diry timers...
...The Moscow answer came by telegraph three weeks later and could hardly be considered very satisfactory...
...20,000 Wallace 1...
...Even in Catalonia the official Communists keep aloof from the real united front and continue their nefariqus attacks on all non-Stalinist forces of the resolution, Workers' Unity in Spain rf,JiE utter isolation of the official Communists in Spain * was strikingly demonstrated at the regional conference of the Workers' Alliance in Barcelona on June 17...
...Why Did the Communists Join...
...arming, propf planned, can ent units our and still furj food to the then the way K as follows: essential, the kg and marbe socialized i Until this is It paid by the | will go to (Issing corpoE the farmer...
...Unite for the self-defense of all the anti-fascists...
...First supply for all j be produced, si got to the p« satisfy their men who coti produce this be allowed toj abundance th must be rewii Two possibk dilemma sugfi first fits with better than the , fekHa* tbouhad to , pusA* because ' .pet), because . 0 burden, be , pre must be j - and because , the farmer , fj need than i at...
...ERICAN agriculture isufTering from the same disease that affects all our national life—the worker gets too little, the owner of capital gets too much...
...v itiiimiii-i, Jr., director, executive com...
...And besides, it might make people think therer was something to be said for Socialism...
...55,000 Arthur W. Mllbuni...
...The agreement contains a number of important points that are being repeated in the numerous drafts of other "unity" negotiations...
...As a matter of fact, he is nothing of t h e s or t. Just about 50 per cent of Our farmers are tenants who work other men's land, largely with other men's machinery, and receive as compensation for their labors a share of the crop, of uncertain value...
...chief exec...
...says a joint appeal of the two parties...
...The future welfare of our Saar country and of all our German nation is at stake...
...One of the first large Communist unions to be thus absorbed will probably be the "Unity" (Communist) Federation of Railroad Workers...
...Moreover, to cut acreage and still leave agriculture on a competitive basis means that each farmer must strive harder than ever to increase the yield on each acre he does farm, and that it will cost him morel—for machinery and fertilizer, and the like—to do it than it did before...
...The subsistence homestead development now being carried on by the national government is some indication of the fact that the government can acquire land, and good land, too, very easily...
...G, last, is going on and is daily making more progress...
...For example, we learn from the Rural New Yorker that the National Dairy Products Corporation reports net sales during a single year of $231,196,979.72, ON A WORKING CAPITAL OF $8,891...
...P of market « nationally 1"Under such *al marketing JMe the est i m the nation I then contract w these crops »i fixed prices ¦Br planted...
...This is at present especially noticeable on the industrial field, where negotiations go on in almost every industry to end the curse of dual unionism...
...The regular federation of railroad unions, at its congress two weeks ago, agreed to the terms of a unity congress...
...Struck, director, vicepresident...
...It Dowman, dlrn-tor, executive com...
...But the vice-presidents and the directors wouldn't like it...
...1168,000 J. F. Bridges, vice-president____ 31,641 V. P. Hovey, vice-president...
...Unite for the 'protection of their lives, homes and property against the terror of Hitler bands...
...Yet this is exactly the plight of the farmer...
...could lw based on th" value of the crops tbay produced...
...H. Suplee, vice-president...
...However, this might have been left out for "bargaining purposes" and might he conceded later when direct negotiations begin...
...They may "own" their land, but in how few cases they own it free of debt one may guess when/ he discovers that American farms are today carrying in all about $16,000,000,000 of indebtedness...
...Kraft, director, executive com...
...And while the Agricultural Adjustment Act has, by impoverishing the whole nation, put some new purchasing power into the pockets of some farmers it has left untouched the great problem of his dependence upon market conditions beyond his control...
Vol. 17 • August 1934 • No. 31
