RS FACE THE BOSSES
ers Face the Bosses to Smash Solidarity of the m to be Ready for Civil and Guns Ready In, Bulletin* of I merely signed 1 Workers," call Lie to "run the Kunkiei out of JFese tactics is £...
...And in the end, it was the revolt of the present leaders of the Labor Party against the limitations imposed upon them by such conditions of office-holding—their refusal to follow MacDonald any longer on that line—that brought about the crisis...
...missionaries in the States, and | notably by Fenner Brockway iiiih^elfj and in this contest the whole force of the I.L.P...
...want an "American movement' and a 'movement that would "talk language that the average man can understand...
...If this paper were to run such stuff there would be a shower of bricks from every quarter, but the World Tomorrow gets away with it, When we reach the stage that one can talk of "materialistic metaphysics" we do not know that disintegration of Socialist thought could possibly sink lower, We may add another quotation: "The Christian Marxian regards it as significant that it is a moral defect which makes capitalism untenable," etc...
...And since the issue thus raised is the ore up?n which I fcur.d, during my visit to you last fall, the most serious misunderstanding existing in America, I beg of you to look closely at the West Ham election as a revelation of the British position on this matter...
...was turned on to persuade the workers of West'Ham of the truth of the case which has been put to .you or) behalf of the I.L.P...
...Speaking of tho Declaration of Principles now before th* party membership the editorial declares: "Its coercive instrument is the general strike, which demonstrably In practice, has won victories free from more than peripheral violence, and which offers a realistic technique as against planned violence or passivity," Said like a Harvard sophomore...
...The World Tomorrow is magisterial in its judgments, although its pages present all the confusion that is now rampant In a movement that should be proletarian and that should smell of the that should be proletarian and that should smeli of mines, and factories rather than of Harvard and Yale...
...He opened a bicycle repair shop, and later branched out into motorcycles...
...The fight was expressly staged by the I.L.P...
...you see, they have' done no better than various Communist candidates have done in previous attempts to make the same sort of demonstration...
...and the writer is a noted "left" in the party...
...no soft of doubt as to- the movement of British public opinion...
...Eleven days after the passing of Ray Newkirk, state committeeman, Otto L. Endres, county chairman and for over a quarter of a century leading spirit in Socialist circles here, passed away...
...And the men still leading the Labor Party joined in that bstrayal...
...puts forward as Its justification for fighting the Labor Party...
...public health administration all over the country was being developed...
...Under this provision it is presumably possible for worker* to vote for some official of his outside union...
...Locating the Peripheral Line WE do hot know what "peripheral violence" means and ™ no diagram accompanies the editorial to explain It, but it has the air of profundity, of one who talks down to workers...
...Fear makes them arm the more...
...The quotations as a whole remind us of what Disraeli onco said of Gladstone: "He it intoxicated with th* exuberance of his own verbosity," All this academic pretense Is foreign to a proletarian movement...
...ers Face the Bosses to Smash Solidarity of the m to be Ready for Civil and Guns Ready In, Bulletin* of I merely signed 1 Workers," call Lie to "run the Kunkiei out of JFese tactics is £ Undoubtedly, timidated...
...Comrade Endres was one of the founders of the Socialist Party, one of the fast-disappearing breed of German Socialists of the old school who came to this country forty and more years ago with a passion for justice and liberty...
...Therefore, the I.L.P...
...They voted for saving what it seemed to "them possible to save from a complete surrender of everything to capitalist control...
...They did not vote against the things set out in the I.L.P...
...representatives in the House of Commons moved resolutions In favor of action well within the avowed purposes of the Labor Party, the Labor Party turned them down ami ostracized the I.L.P...
...The result would have been, not that the particular thing ostensibly at issue would have been achieved, but that, such good work as was being done ivould have been wiped out...
...We suspect that only recently our distinguished friend had sat comfortably in the editorial tower of the "liberal" Nation that for years has been weighing the "moral defects" of statesmen like Hoover and Smith and is now informing its readers of thetvirtues of a nice bourgeois lady for *e proletariat to Rupport as Governor of Colorado, The author is "left...
...Was it worth while, for the sake of the little they could do under such a handicap, to face up to a position -of inability to implement any of their larger purposes...
...If it has been it has now entered a period of ideological disintegration with a bedlam of voices never beforo heard in a working class movement...
...That was never the real issue in these votes...
...i In the event,'as...
...So a moral maladjustment is one factor that makes the system of capitalism untenable...
...The men who followed this line were as good Socialists and as loyal to our full purposes as the I.L.P...
...Jit .-is, just this: that Wh.lt thl last Labor Government was in office, its offense was not merely that it did not establish Socialism in Britain...
...But it is the setting in which they occurred that makes the I.L.P...
...If elected, such official, however, would still be merely a member of the company union and would be tied and hamstrung by all the restrictions and control of company unions...
...for the purpose of demonstrating, abroad as well as at home, its repeated assertion that the Labor Party does not possess the confidence of the mass of the workers...
...The government still'has the vast mechanical majority in the House of Commons which the 1031 general election gave it...
...ana the whole united force of workingclass opinion here has, as the facta show, stood firm against the disruptive tendencies which might easily have put us out of effective action for a generation but for this saving quality of working-class unity in the re»%uilding of our strength...
...Their choice was between taking office under that handicap or leaving the whole administration of affairs in the hands of a capitalist government...
...The I.L.P...
...Let me try and make clear why it is that the British worker, having such a case put to him with all the eloquence and power that Fenner and /his I.L.P...
...Do We Want to Have a War...
...The whole international outlook, with Arthur Henderson at the Foreign office, was improved...
...Its membership was depicted by the war with the Communists and then "left" collegiates came to the front...
...And so the experiment of a Labor Government larger purposes was...
...He was an enthusiastic motorcyclist to the end of his life...
...Comrade Endres is survived by his wife, and by two daughters and two grandchildren...
...quotes as betrayals, the real thing on which the House of Commons had to vote was not the merits of that particular question at all, but whether or not it was worth while throwing the government out of office and abandoning such opportunities as were within its power, for the sake of something which was, in fact, out of reach...
...goes on to argue, there must be a definitely Socialist fighting force kept in being which will not pledge itself to act unitedly with the Labor Party in Parliament,, which might commit a similar betrayal in future...
...Back to the editorial writer of the World Tomorrow...
...is quite correct...
...In West Ham the government candidate polled less than hnlff the vote given to the successful government candidate at the general flection...
...lands Firm for als of Its Party Anderson fees, and you Irselves how m what I dinting out ibor Party rt*;from the ««ral Elec§« vitality I'fhe possi'etnment in «t election POwer, and Hire], into %Wnts...
...but everybody now recognizes that it no longer represents the public opinion of the nation...
...These socalled "betrayal" incidents did, in fact, occur...
...We have the sad example of a city where the party local once swarmed with several hundred proletarians...
...indictment...
...Perhaps the most vicious of the publicity is that given to the wholly false notion that company union elections held this week repudiated the Amalgamated...
...A few samples from the bulk...
...This Y the older men (well that once Key cannot find T On the other hand, many of the workers heretofore reluctant to join an A. F. of L. union because of their dislike for some of its leaders are becoming more sympathetic to a strike move, especially if its direction is placed in the hands of the younger and more liberal element...
...We would like to find it and direct th* class-conscious proletariat to occupy It when the final conflict begins...
...There is much more of this in the article that parades mysticism as erudition...
...In a thousand ways the influence of the Labor point of view at the centres of administration was being made effective...
...for supporting them...
...The Labor vote was 11,998, against 8,534 polled by the government candidate, and 748 by the I.L.P, nominee...
...We have had to face Communist opposition...
...The really •interesting point in these two bye-elections is the test they have given us of how we stand in relation to the efforts at disrupting the united working-class front of the Labor Party frdm Communist and I.L.P...
...I know that a good many of you in America felt that to be a plausible and a real case...
...What it meant was that whenever any such detailed matters arose as those which the I.L.P...
...Comrade Endres, a native of Wilrttemburg, was a tool and pattern maker in various parts of Germany, and cathe to Utica as a machinist in 1891...
...Otto Endres remained in excellent health until he caught the cold that developed into pneumonia, from which he died...
...In spite of all experience and the indisputable facts of history, we have prominent public men who declare that armaments help to keep the peace, and who take such a pride in national power that they seem to see security in making other people feel afraid...
...We wonder whether it would be more workable if its "moral defect" were given special treatment...
...Editors Corner Review of and Comment on Events Here and Abroad, Critical and Otherwise By James Oneal Ideology and Metaphysics A DELIGHTFUL editorial on "Th* Socialist Party Comes Alive" appears in the World Tomorrow of June 14...
...The fact Is that no group can be clearly defined because of the disintegration of Ideas since the intelligentsia moved to the front with their pens.and typewriters...
...Armaments may delay the date of war, but they make it certain that that date shall arrive...
...Before intervening in a parliamentary contest the I.L.P...
...For two years we have hail those who...
...But West Ham gave us the first real test we have had with the I.L.P...
...waited until a vacancy arose in a constituency where they believed they could make such a demonstration, and they put up one of their foremost fighters, Fenner Brockway, with confidence that if they could not win the...
...launched, without real power for its own Now, consider the necessary consequences of that upon all matters of policy which miw-ht arise while such a government was in office on such a footing...
...The indictment of erroneous judgment in peristing on that line after its futility had been demonstrated and its limitation* had* become intolerable, standi against them...
...No great united working-class party will, I suppose, ever be free from attack by little fringe groups...
...seat themselves, they could keep the Labor candidate out and poll a sufficiently strong vote to make good their claim 'to i ..represent a real working-class dissatisfaction with the Labor Party...
...Let us get that quite clear...
...The capitalist forces in Parliament, which dare not throw the government out on its administrative work, were eagerly on the look-out for some1 such opportunity as these I.L.P.1 excursions would have given them...
...The "Revolution" Meets WE turn to the editorial which is written as though the author had tolerated the party long enough and his patience had become exhausted...
...My own personal feeling, as you know—I hammered it in in these columns during all that last year of the Labor Government's existence on such sufferance—was that we should have gone out of office and gone to the country with our full Socialist purposes...
...The aspect of this matter which it is of reallv serious importance that the American movement, if it is to judge of the British movement might, should clearly understand, was made clear beyond any possible-misunderstanding at this election, ¦¦' j You in America know very well what the case is which the I.L.P...
...The recently revised company union plan provides that "there shall be no restriction or limitation in the choice of representatives...
...0. L. Endres, Pioneer Socialist, Dies at 63 UTICA, N. Y.—For the second time within less than two weeks the Socialist Party of this city has suffered a great loss...
...colleagues can put into a case, nonetheless turns it down unhesitatingly, and with such a climax of emphasis as this united working-class vote at West Ham manifests...
...Whatever future dangers there are to be guarded against, the safeguards must be inside the United workings!Vavg movement) and not in the self -righteous isolation of a hundred add one sects claiming to be the ohly sanctuaries of Soeteditt faith...
...We believe that the World Tomorrow has contributed to this bedlam...
...quotes against it was whether all this should be surrendered to the enemy by a defeat of the government...
...There the "revolution" gathered in swell dress as a party branch and the workers found themselves uncomfortable) in the gilt and tinsel of the bourgeois inn...
...I had it put up to me over and over again when I was with you...
...Here we may observe that th* historical meaning of "left" and "right" has been lost in our party...
...In its detailed statements, the I.L.P...
...We commend this sample to tho proletariat...
...The party generally decided that it was worth while saving the small things rather than hsnd over everything to capitalist control...
...Now, what precisely did that mean...
...The press seized upon this fact as an indication that the steel workers repudiated the Amalgamated...
...We won the seat, as you know...
...Much good work was being done...
...The Amalgamated Iron, Steel and Tin Workers union was not seeking to enter the company union and the workers, therefore, in no way attempted to write the names of their union officials...
...They "do not regard historical materialism (certainly not materialistic metaphysics) as basic to a socialistic politics" and "they see much in the Christian belief in the prevalence and persistence of si'it and selfishness that is fully compatible with the Marxian emphasis...
...Just where the periphery of the class struggle is located within the capitalist system w* do not know, but the word implies a line bounding a rounded surface or the outward surface of a sphere, Where Is thst line...
...It is clear to the editorial writer that "the Party was undergoing an ideological stagnation...
...AH this was going steadily on...
...was candidate for Mayor in Utica*last year, and often ran on the local and state ticket...
...and the real issue upon which the party in the House of Commons had to vote on every such occasion as the I.L.P...
...But to turn that into an indictment of- betrayal and' bad faith is mere Pharisaism and self-righteousness...
...It is representative of th* intelligentsia now influential in the Socialist Party...
...in a parliamentary fight...
...in previous bye-elections, and wa had got th* measure of that disruption even before Hammersmith confirmed it...
...It has been put to you eloquently and powerfully by I.L.P...
...A long catalogue of such occasions, described as betrayals of vital Labor Party pledges, Is put up in evidence of the j/uth of this indictment...
...Being in a minority in Parliament, it is admitted that it could not have done that...
...The next worst thing to war is active preparation for war, with a competition in armaments giving work wherewith to live for the moment, but soon spreading death and devastation on a horrifying scale...
...case is that, in a multitude of minor but serious and vital matters, when the I.L.P...
...He was also a member of the Society for the Propagation of Cremation, and an ardent Cooperator...
...Can any Socialist conceive of 'Gene Debi, Victor L. Bergcr, Meyer London or Ben Hanford writing or talkiag to this magisterial manner...
...Like so many of his comrades he was an enthusiastic "turner"— that is, member of the German workers' gymnastic society—and a member of the Socialist singing society...
...The last Labor Government took office without having a majority of Parliament...
...Incidentally, the same press left unexplained the fact that many ballots were cast for Mae West and such well known comic strip heroes as "Popeye" and "Andy Gump...
...By John R. Clynes tit Aic Presidential Address opining the reeent Congress of the National Union •/ General and Municipal Workers of Great Britain, IF millions of young men in the * countries of the world allow their elders to continue on the ruinous road of present international policy, these young men will be butchered to no purpose, ss were their fathers or brothers twenty years ago...
...The dirty proletariat had been meeting In th* vulgar quarters of a centrul labor union* and it wa* decided to meet in the most fashionable hotel in the city...
...There will always be such tiny disruptions, mainly indicative of disappointed personal ambitions of leadership, around the margin of every big movement...
...But we not only are provided with a peripheral I in* J wo also have a "realistic technique," W* must all have a "realistic technique" if we are to march out of«ur Egyptian bondage and we are assured that w* now have it...
...And this election definitely places the I.L.P, in that category...
...The movement here has learns* the lesson of that experience...
...The capitalist press has done much to add to the confusion and to "talk down" the union...
...quarters...
...Indeed, this same issue carries an article on "The Fellowship of Socialist Christians" that is representative of the confusion brought into the movement by that publication...
...conclusions about them a complete misunderstanding of the position as a whole...
...It was no surprise to find the Communist candidate there polling only the most negligible vote...
Vol. 17 • June 1934 • No. 71
