America Gropes for Utopia

...either they are Utopias in cellophane wrappers, or they are programs of practical change...

...We*do not fear" the battle," writes the Prague Sozialdemokrat...

...The communal elections of last December proved that our army is unbeatable...

...They belonged to a group of 150 arrested several months ago...

...Schocnfeld...

...On February 11...

...All those who came to pay him their final tribute of respect and love did so at the risk of life and liberty . Little is known of the fate of the other 38...

...Many social philosophers devoted considerable energy toward planning well-ordered.'perfect swial states, at least to approximate, if not to match the idyllic existence of our famous forefather...

...The sincerity of a Dr...

...It is no accident that at trials •. of Socialists under the Nazi regime wo find whole families—fathers, mothers, brothers and daughters— Mining the accused...

...but doing the most for a Socialist...

...Socialism and freedom, freedom and Socialism—the two are parts of one and the same thing...

...At a meeting of the fascist carpenters "union," the president declared t hathe union's budgetary deficit now amounts to 800,000 schillings ($60,000) "since almott nobody is willing to pay dues...

...But no matter how soulelevating these Utopias may be, they scarcely reveal how salvation is to be wrought...

...But in Nazi Germany the torture and persecution of Social Democrats continues unabated...

...It isn't even necessary to bother about the details of getting to its realization, since it is an acceptable suggestion...

...It remains the party of liberty and humanity...

...United on a program of democratic Socialism, the Czechoslovak workers and peasants are prepared to give battle to the fascists in a maimer more effective than our German and Austrian comrades, fighting against overwhelming odds, outside their control and betrayed by the Communists, were able to do...

...In fact, these visions may even harden* our people against listening to measures of practical value, and such a tendency is becoming obvious in American political life...

...but they are facing the issue boldly...

...The present Czechoslovak government is a coalition, in which are represented all the three Socialist parties of the country (the Czechoslovak Social Democracy, the German Social Democratic Party of Czechoslovakia, representing the German section of the population, and the Populist Socialist Party...

...Zelgner, former premier of Saxony...

...considerably reduced...

...Huey Long used litte time in which to slap his solution together...

...In Socialism, it is incidental...

...Among them is Dr...

...While in Germany IN free Czechoslovakia the Socialists are participating in the governI ment...

...Simultaneously voting will also take place in the provinces and communities, so that the coming election, in the light of the internal and external situation, will be perhaps the most important since the foundation of the Czechoslovak Republic sixteen years ago...

...Christian Ferkel, former member of the Saxon diet and leader of the printers' union, was also driven to insanity by constant physical torture...

...The Socialists have put forward a comprehensive program comprising further shortening of hours of labor, extension and improvement of unemployment insurance, and a program of legislation designed to facilitate in increased measure the welfare of the workers and peasants...

...In Utopian schemes, security is a primary demand...

...We enter the election year of 1935 in the consciousness that we need have no fear to give an accounting of our stewardship...

...and the number of players in this game is increasing daily...

...Necessarily, as things changed, the reappearing plans underwent some corresponding transformation, In our modern age it should therefore not be surprising to find similar dreams of and proposals for social reorganization...

...The Social Democracy remains the party it always was, the party that built a modern, cultural state upon the ruins of the defeated German monarchy, th«t.p§rty that built a stole of free and equal citizens...

...The cardinal principle of their strategy is to strengthen the democratic state and gain control over it, to mobilize behind them the economic, political and moral forces which, in the final analysis, determine the outcome of social conflicts...

...An American Pastime - "In the daily lives of most men and women," says Bertrand Russell, "fear plays a greater part than hope: they are more filled with the thought of the possessions that others may take from them than of the joy that they might create in their own lives and in the lives with which they come in .contact...

...By this we do not mean to say that the Czechoslovak workers are relying solely upon the ample physical weapons at the disposal of the democratic state in which they wield such great influence...

...Forty other members of the German Social Democratic Party, arrested last August, are awaiting trial iu Leipzig...

...Early in February a large group of Social Democrats from Regensburg and the Oberpfalz were tried for "treason" before the Supreme Court in Munich...

...To their adherents, these pictures of the perfect heaven inspire the spirit and quicken the pulse...

...That is one of the distinguishing features between Socialism and Utopian i measures...

...It remains what it was...

...Townsend, and the plausibility of Father Coughiin shunt attention away from realities...

...This could not be otherwise in a movement which in decades of hard work had driven its roots deep into the German .soil and which today still continues to command millions of followers...

...It is possible to jail several thousand Social Democrats, but there are millions of others, and among these millions there will always be new thousands' and thousands who will gladly do what their comrades now behind the bars have done...

...America Gropes for Utopia Utopians Fight Poverty as the Enemy, and as the Cause of Slavery,* 'Socialists Fight Slavery, the Cause of Poverty ¦y Julius Umaasky DMiINNING with Adam's de —--partura-ironi the- Gardejn^oj Eden there have been recurrent dreams of an ideal life, devoid of poverty and suffering...

...Workers' contributions to the social insurance system and its various branches are to be raised^ 50 per cent, while benefits will be...

...The Social Democrats, however, are confident of the results...

...There is nothing complicated about it...

...A program of this character falls within the second group of plans for social reconstruction...

...Should German and Austrian Nazis try to carry the fascist offensive into Czechoslovakia they will meet with a reception they are not likely to forget...

...We must combat the mental paralysis which cannot recognize that our society is chancing, thji it is in motion and will not reman leashed to stationary institution*Even where a plan serve* we8| as a sign post to suggest'iiie paam of attack, as Technocracy does, iM would still need the driving power...

...The "treason" of the Social Democrats consisted in the fact that they continued to tight, in the face of grave danger, for the restoration of liberty, humanity and decency in Germany...

...The Neuc Varwdrle, organ of the German Social Democrats In Prague, writes: "Between 7 and 9 million men and women had voted for the Social-Democracy in recent years...

...slavery the disease...

...It is reliably reported that the Federal Insurance Institute, which administers the present insurance system, will be unable to pay benefits in the second half of 1935...

...For this truth they continue to battle, and for this truth they are ready to live and die...

...Distinguishing Features Yet, in the contemporary Utopias, abolition of poverty is paramount...

...Socialists will agree with the purpose but not with the remedy, because, as Cole fays, "poverty is the symptom...

...While we cannot afford to mock the faith, hope and confidence which millions have placed in the prophets of a New Deal, we must prevent the damage which will follow from the fact that so many do take these prophets seriously...

...Despite the unwillingness of the Schu.-chnigg government publicly to discuss j these matters, certain facts have j already become known which will i further aggravate the almost unbearable economic conditions of the Austrian working masses...

...After one year of fascist rule the financial situation of the Austrian employees' insurance fund is desperate...

...These emotional solutions solve nothing...

...We may lose some camp followers, people who .vote for one party today and for another tomorrow, but our army is intact...

...The ( brilliant originality of his plan to redistribute wealth and make every man a king lured many applicants who understand clearly what Huey wants...

...The whole history of the Czechoslovak Republic shows that for fifteen years the German Social Democracy has toiled for the interests of the working people, of the democratic state and of peace among the various peoples comprising the republic...

...The "United Trade Union" or-* ganized by the fascists to woo the workers away from their former independent trade unions has also met with a similar disaster...

...Of these 7 toJLmillion only a few were 'casuals.'" Th| rest had been for years and generations closely hound with the': Social Democratic labor movement...

...In 1929 we adopted a new policy [entry into a coalition government], but we have done nothing for which we are not ready to assume responsibility...

...The workers and peasants of Czechoslovakia, regardleas of differences of race and religion, have been taught to understand this great truth...

...Leaders have inevitably sprung up, by the grace of God, Sold and Gab, to give assurance that the game will be played ac;ording to the rules...

...They frustrate organized effort which might be directed to ending our difficulties...

...More than 400 workers came to his funeral, although it was impossible to make public announcement...

...Albert Fichte and Kurt Gunther, former editors of the famous Leiptiger Volkszetiung...

...As the correspondent of the Manchester Guardian reports, many of them have been subjected to horrible torture in Nazi prisons...

...Manifestly, it would require far more thinking, testing and understanding to conceive and appreciate the second type than the first...

...The destruction of the Nazi regime continues to be the sacred objective of the Social Democracy, the paper adds...

...The Workers Abroad An International Review of the Socialist and Labor Movement ===== :—the World____________ _____ Socialism in Czechoslovakia ONE- of the most difficult and dangerous positions along the European political front is that occupied by the Socialist workers of Czechoslovakia...

...But it is more than holding its own...

...twelve others were condemned to long terms at hard labor and imprisonment...

...And the type of Socialist «m could and must do this effectively J Is one who is so close to the real experience of the working class...

...The prison blouse has now become the attire of honor in Germany, and the fact that so many have preferred to wear it is the best evidence that, the feeling for freedom, for justice, for truth and human dignity have not died in Germany, and that the 8o«,.l Demoor** live, and tight...

...Dr...

...former chairman of the Social Democratic Party in Leipzig, was sd beaten and tortured by Nazi gangsters that he lost his mind and has been sent to an insane asylum...

...They would answer POVERTY," says G. D. H. Cole, leading British Socialist writer, "when they ought to answer SLAVERY...

...The Nazi murderers may torture and drive to insanity dozens, scores and hundreds-, of Social Democrats, but they cannot destroy the Social Democracy, which continues to live in the heart and consciousness of millions of German workers...

...society...

...Wedged in among a group of fascist states, Czechoslovakia is a democratic fortress surrounded by reactionary forces...

...On February 4, the central executive committee of the Socialist Party held a meeting in Prague at which the internal situation and the problems confronting the party and the government were thoroughly discussed...

...He was condemned to six months at hard labor...

...Gustav Miiller, former member of the Saxon diet and secretary of the Union of Bank Employees...

...The Socialist Party, operating with the highest degree of efficiency, although it is Illegal and therefore underground, has issued orders that no Socialist is to pay due.* to a fascist union, or to any fascist-controlled organization, if at all possible to avoid such payment...

...The first group would include "Looking Backward," Technocracy, Utopian Society, Share Our Wealth Society, and others which have been treated in this series of articles...

...By agreement of all the parties comprising the government the parliamentary elections are to be held in the fall...

...An important political contest for which the Socialists are now preparing will be the parliamentary elections soon to be held...

...To eliminate the roots of this wage slavery, therefore, requires a constructive Socialist program based upon scientific principles which are applied to specific problems as these appear...

...For this objective thousands and thousands will be ready to don prison garb rather than the brown shirts of the victors of today...

...It is not so that life should' be lived...

...Among those sentenced is Alphonsc Beyrer of Regensburg, former deputy in the Bavarian diet...

...that he could afford not to> much time on theoretical distinctions, (The End) COLLAPSE OF AUSTRIA'S SOCIAL LEGISLATION WIENNA.—The reform of AusW tria's social legislation, the main object of victorious rqaction, is slowly taking form...

...The budgetary deficit jin 1934 amounts to 33 million schillings (about $6,600,000), arid thereserves' have been reduced from 60 million schillings in 1933 to 27 million in 1934...

...The extremes of riches and destitution follow inevitably upon the extremes of license and bondage...

...to attain the end...

...February 4, sixteen of them were sentenced to a total of more than 49 years at hard labor, and twenty to more than 20 year's imprisonment...

...They realise fully the difficulties they are confronting, that they will be called upon to fight on several fronts against the enemies of democracy and Socialism...

...Should it become necessary to use these weapons in defense of liberty they will know how to do it...

...Security would be as characteristic of a Socialist Commonwealth, as poverty is symptomatic of a capitalist society...

...It' these players or leaders were to be asked, What is the fundamental evil in our society which they seek to abolish, a simple answer is made...

...Townsend, Father Coughlin, Technocracy, and to some degree Senator Long (who would limit poverty), have given precisely that answer, and that answer is wrong...

...The official indictment said that they worked in contact wHth the executive committee of the German Social Democratic Party rtow located in Prague, and that they were engaged in organizing a secret Social Democratic organization in Bavaria...

...We must or-.' ganize for fundamental reconstruJH tion and not clamor for superficial renovation...

...While many are being circulated at least two general characteristics are outstanding...

...Face to face, every day with the shameful contrast of riches and destitution, high dividends and low wages, and painfully conscious of the futility of trying to adjust the balance by means of charity, private or public, they would answer unhesitatingly," continues Cole, "that the ystand for the abolition of poverty...

...The many are not enslaved because they are poor, they are poor because they are enslaved...

...The reason is that the profit basis of industry in a capitalistic state which produces wage slavery, will have been entirely expunged...

...He died in an insane asylum...

...It is not a matter of making the most of present society...

...We see then that a great American pastime has arisen, the search for security, that life may, be lived properly...

...The Fourth of November (when the German Socialists of Czechoslovakia staged their great mass demonstration near the German frontier] showed what forces are alive and at work within our party...