Path for "Progressives"
POST, LANGDON W.
Path for "Progressives" New Party Must Build From the Bottom Up LAFOLLETTES NEED MORE SPECIFIC PROGRAM AND LESS PERSONAL APPEAL TO GET MASS VOTES AS PROGRESSIVE THIRD PARTY—SHOULD AIM AT LOCAL...
...the decadence of existing parties and they provided a method of protest for the intellectuals and, the liberals who were tired of the do-nothing policies of the Democrats and the Republicans...
...BEGAN Mow come the LaFollette...
...by Andre Martin Seeker and Warburg, London...
...One would like to disbelieve this figure, but how is one to kavet.De*1 Duranty himself reported it as running into millions...
...Gide's explaaatiac was simple...
...This happened in 1933...
...I agree that their new organization must not be a temporary expedient and that those who join it do so" with complete conviction and without reservations...
...v- * • * LABOR GOVERNMENT OYER BALANCES BUDGET WELLINGTON, New Zealand.—With the mad rush for arms sky-rocketing the budgets of nearly every other nation, New Zealand, ruled now for almost three years by a Labor Party government, is unique...
...They were great gestures made by great men, but as a real threat to the two major parties they were futile...
...To be successful a new party must have a strong appeal to the rank and file of the voters, and must give them a realistic reason for that support...
...The fact that these parties have been born only to die thereafter is no measure,of the part they have j)layed in shaping the destiny of this nation...
...He traveled widely...
...Will the deaf hear...
...Vague theories and idealistic principles may be all right for window dressing, but votes are the foundation upon which parties are built...
...On March 16, some 30 S.A...
...A bit too simple...
...It does not pretend to offer a haven for those who are seeking temporary shelter...
...It cannot, like the older parties, be content with a catch-all platform supposed to appeal to everybody and hurt none...
...Today it has five seats in the State Assembly and a majority on the Fusion side of the City Council...
...J-" • * ? * AUSTRIAN WORKERS USE PASSIVE RESISTANCE PRAGUE.—Shortly after Hitler invited himself into Austria ; and" Nazi soldiers, tanks, guns, munitions, and field kitchens, ready for war, jammed all roads leading to Vienna, the press bureau walked into headquarters prepared in advance, issued Orders for the expulsion of anti-fascist foreign correspondents and Started to grind out pro-Nazi propaganda to convince the world that the Austrian rank and file had gone over to Nazism Overnight...
...The "Afterthoughts" are Gide's answer to the pro-Communist squeaks aroused by "The Return from U.S.S.R...
...Citrine's book "I Search for Truth in Russia...
...There may be individuals who, thinking that one of the major parties can he captures1 for their own ambitions, but as a whole the voters wili welcome the LaFollettes and their leadership in the formation of a new party with life, vigor, virility and purpose...
...Books • • • and Writers By EMAS L. TARTAK A Frenchman and a Russian on the Soviets npHESE are two sad volumes...
...It is prepared to compromise with its objectives if such compromise merely means delay in time...
...This new party," says Philip LaFollette, "is no popular front, no conglomeration of conflicting, opposing forces huddled together for temporary expediency...
...Comrade Maurer has a very special place in our hearts, but he has also been a grand fighter for the cause of labor and Socialism, a fearless defender of the rights and liberties of the workers for many years...
...By LANGDON W. POST Former Chairman of N. Y. City Housing Authority...
...He was A. Preobrajenski, one of the founders of the Russian Socialist movement...
...This so far marks the only difference between this effort and those of Theodore Roosevelt and the elder LaFollette...
...Belgian Workers Party) recently approved the policies of Spaak and other Socialist ministers who follow him, despite the protests iff-Emil Vandervelde and De Brouckere, president of the Labor and Socialist International...
...It must be direct...
...The movement is too young to form an opinion of its prospects at this time, but at least we analyze the possible courses it should take...
...Far Eastern and New.Zealand organizations were approached...
...by Ivan Solonevitch...
...Stalin ordered the Soviet organization to make stipulations prerequisite to entering the IFTU which the Executive Committee considered unacceptable, and at its January 13th meeting the committee recommended to the General Council that it reject the Soviet proposals...
...He had the courage to confess his mistake and to tell the wodji that he doubted "whether in any country in the world, even a Hitler's Germany, thought was less free, more bowed down, awn terrorized" than in Soviet Russia...
...As is well known, Andre Gide, during the en tin course of his literary life, has never been afraid of ranging hue...
...He fek ashamed for his credulity and would not be silenced...
...But the neasha, sin in his eyes is the deadly, totalitarian "conformism," the e*r#r ,; tude imposed upon the intellect, the very soul of the Russian peopa, Anyone who read "The Return from Soviet Russia" wiD real Gide's "Afterthoughts" and recognize the same'Voice, ike east sincerity and masterly grasp of the fundamental problem: Where there is no intellectual and political freedom for the individnd, there is slavery and nothing else-^-both for the individual and •f*'1 collective...
...They are often the greatest asset a party can have...
...Such was the Bull Moose party of Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive party of the late Senator LaFollette...
...Nasi "plebiscite" commissioner, hesitates to use force against the Austrians to collect the funds needed so badly by the Hitler regime, because of Berlin's "reconciliation" policy...
...Memoirs of the Death House0 IVAN SOLONEVITCH'S book is startling reading...
...Under the best circumstances it is a laborious process requiring patience and a high degree of organization...
...By its name, it alienates certain people and attracts others...
...Be was charmed by the Russian people...
...Again they were htSDT-They were together...
...self with the rebels and heretics...
...Before doing this, it is only fair to point out that both parties have stated that this is not a movement pointing only to 1940...
...The other two parties will talk about that just as convincingly as will a new party...
...An interesting sidelight on the "enthusiasm" revealed by the Austrian workers towards annexation to Germany is reported 'secretly from Vienna...
...The lucky trio drew prison sentences, the two older men esjkt years each, the boy a three-year term...
...STALIN KILLS ANOTHER LENIN COLLABORATOR DARIS.—Another close friend of Lenin and active fighter in the •revolution was shot last week in Moscow, at the order of Stalin as usual, presumably because he was sufficiently strong-willed to refuse to testify against himself in the manner now made world-famous by the Moscow show trials...
...The International guarantees the competence and efficiency nf any technicians supplied through its offices and makes the suggestion in view of the fact that the foreign companies withdrawn their technicians from' the country...
...Look not so much toward the White House as toward the Legislative Halls...
...t'.''' ' The "no" votes came mostly from Brnssells and Liege which are the industrial centers of Belgium...
...A new party must have more...
...It is willing to endorse that which is good in either of the established parties...
...The food, or the lack of it, the congested barracks, the rigors of the northern climate, the seventies of the regime and the punishments for infractions, of dtofl-pline—it is not a pleasant picture...
...are only too well known...
...They depended upon one individual and not upon the mass of voters...
...In 1936 the Seventh International Trade Union Con- " Kress decided to make strenuous efforts to include all trade aniens in the I.F.T.U...
...Recently the American Federation of Labor, the Finnish National Trade Unions, and the Swedish affiliates all vehemently opposed entry of the Soviet organization into the I.F.T.U...
...The very circumstances surrounding their creation left but little room for realism...
...IncrJnWW Well, believe it or not...
...It was said with sincerity, but the LaFollette brothers must know that unless they appeal to the disgruntled of the two major parties, they will be bankrupt of votes, for where will they seek their support except from the ranks of existing parties...
...At the same time national* headquarters in every affiliated country were asked for their views, all of which were given wide publicity.' At the meeting the next week Walter Schevenels, secretary of the I.F.T.U., will report on the consensus of opinion of the member organizations...
...The first book comes from a world-famous pen, Andre Gide, tat author of "The Caves of the Vatican'' and "The Counterfeiters.-The second was written by an obscure member of the Russian intelligentsia who had the good fortune to eseape from s Soviet concentration camp...
...They recognize ?he liberal qualities of President Roosevelt and even submit to his leadership but they fear that his leadership of the Democratic Party is slipping and they know that once it disappears, the conservatives will have complete control...
...They were built from the top down and not from the bottqm up...
...In 1934 Gide proclaimed himself a Communist...
...His wife Paulina, unneryed by the constant persecution and final 'state murder of her husband, went mad and has been committed to an asylum...
...Labor everywhere should be grateful to its New Zealand comrades for two things...
...Those policemen who weren't smashed ran for reinforcements...
...There we're numerous "refutations...
...Books wiH heps» bered in order of the vabem0*% received...
...In short, he has a.wsyi upheld that beautiful French tradition of intellectual courage sad independence which has made France the country of Veitairt, Hugo, Zola, and Anatole France...
...In the smUkU of 1936 Gide went to see the Soviet paradise for himself...
...It must be inspirational...
...Hh portraits of the Cheka or G.P.U...
...Path for "Progressives" New Party Must Build From the Bottom Up LAFOLLETTES NEED MORE SPECIFIC PROGRAM AND LESS PERSONAL APPEAL TO GET MASS VOTES AS PROGRESSIVE THIRD PARTY—SHOULD AIM AT LOCAL SUCCESS FIRST RATHER THAN THE WHITE HOUSE...
...It is the seamy side at the Soviet paradise...
...TO PICK UP THE FIGHT ? t : F.D.R...
...They were lucky, for e few months later a new law made.an attempt to escape from Soviet Russia a capital offense, punishable "under aggravating circras-stances," i. e., at the discretion of the court, by death...
...It is not merely an attempt to put a LaFollette in the White House...
...After turning Bolshevik he became a collaborator of Lenin which work created a close personal friendship and intimacy between the two men...
...r"' A.F.TM...
...Either a new party must be created to pick up the fight which Roosevelt has begun or a surrender to the conservatives of both parties...
...n» The trio were caught by the G.P.U...
...It is true that new parties have sprung up around an individual whose personality and prestige is sufficient to attract huge blocks of votes...
...No independent parties in this country can either ' afford to or wish to deny them cooperation...
...They are hooks on Soviet Roans...
...This is what I believe is the course that should be adopted by the new Progressive Party...
...They assume that the Democratic Party will not dare to nominate the President for a third' term and they fear that the President will be unable to influence the nomination of a man with sufficient strength to carry on the fight...
...He tells of the slums in which so many Russia workers live, of workers' wages which are lower in their ps> chasing value than even under Nicholas II (he quotes Wale...
...But the Moscow triah and bloodbaths, which came after Gide's book, were a grim eos> mentary and made things hard* for the pro-Stalin fraternity, Stalin has proved Gide to be too fair, too mild in his exposure if the poverty and the subjection in which the masses of Russh live today...
...Will Publish Mourer Book Comrades and friends will be glad to know that the Rand School Press has undertaken the publication of James H. Maurer's autobiography "IT CAN BE DONE...
...Two hours later detachments of German troops arrived, mounted machine guns, occupied the factory and forced their way into the section held by the workers...
...the Holland Communist, Jeff Last...
...The author estimates the total population of the concentrati* camps at the time of his imprisonment at about five millions...
...But these two parties, the only two in the 20th Century which have been of any great importance, disappeared as fast as they appeared and they have left but little mark upon American history...
...Its name signifies its purpose...
...They have died only after they have served their purpose and they live, just so long as they fulfill a need...
...out of the ashes of their father's gesture, at least out of the inspiration of his memory Like him they base their plea upon the bank-., ruptcy of the two major parties which are controlled by the conservative elements in the country...
...Jim Maurer has lived a crowded, eventful and colorful existence and in "IT CAN BE DONE" he has given us the flavor of his background...
...a leader of the Amsterdam trade union movement, expressing confidence in the Socialist ministers and the policy they were supporting, was adopted by a 73 to 17 vote with seven abstaining...
...brothers to renew *^ Jhat challenge and to create a new party, if not...
...i Reports, now slowly seeping through the strict Nazi censorship, reveal that the Austrian workers, who have fought clerical fascism for the past four years, are using the tactics of passive resistance against the Hitlerites...
...It does hot attempt to invite the conservative...
...We do not seek, indeed we shall not accept, individuals or groups who seek us out because they are embittered or disgruntled...
...This has happened time after time in the course of our history...
...American, Russian, Australian...
...Their success rested almost wholly upon their emotional appeal and the enthusiasm engendered by their leader...
...This is the basis, so far, of the new party launched by the LaFollettes...
...and the secretary of the Belgium Party, DeBuk...
...He has, challenged official morality...
...Matouschek and 54 of the others are >4m0lAeAhe horrible Dachau concentration camp awaiting treason trials...
...The suther, the son of a country teacJber, himself a well-known specialist SB physical training (and champion runner) in Soviet Russia, It-tempted to escape from his native paradise, together with kb young »son and his brother, a physician and also a well-knows ¦ sportsman...
...It is the sane urbane, amazingly restrained Gide, but, this time, he is more sen of himself, he lashes out with an irony which is stinging, for sB its urbanity...
...In 1937 the American Federation of Labor joined...
...It appeals to' those voters who are not only sick and tired of the old party lines, buf who honestly believe that they can be best represented by a party which frankly espouses the cause of those who work for their daily bread...
...Confronted with fascism, with hi savage threat to the freedom of intellect, Gide sided with revolutionary Russia...
...He evoked a star* of patriotic disapproval by his "Travels in the Congo," when he pointed out that the Negroes of French Equatorial Africa wen not altogether happy under French rule...
...They trusted each other implicitly...
...In fact, you can trace almost every re-f o r m in our political development back to its original e s p o u sal by minority groups or third party m o v e-ments...
...And human hypocrisy, let us add...
...The pro-Communists raged and tie still raging...
...This statement has been pounced upon by many commentators as indicating the high standard which this new party is setting...
...Then vtt great joy among the friends of Soviet Russia...
...No two persons in this country have a better background of tradition and integrity than the LaFollettes for the leadership of a new party...
...GIDE'S "AFTERTHOUGHTS" A NDRE GIDE'S book is a sequel to his "Return from U.S.S.R," *"* which aroused such a storm of praise and vituperation mm than a year ago...
...Many recent arrests were climaxed by an early morning visit of the GPU, when he was dragged from his bed, rushed to jail, and after several weeks rewarded by Stalin for his revolutionary activity with a dose of cold lead in the back of the neck...
...jailers, the whole "Infernofrjes** of his picture, the dejected and crushed prisoners—one woolttl9* to think the picture exaggerated...
...But is it...
...That raised quite a question: Was intellectual hit fn Soviet Russia freer than in Hitler's Germany...
...It is the only country in the world which has-been able to provide social security, full health and education facilities for workers, and wipe out unemplyoment, and still an-aounee a surplus of more than $2,000,000...
...Be not afraid ¦ of making enemies...
...The election machinery is so completely in the control of the two dominant parties that any attempts to organize a third party are made difficult...
...Gide was told that hi "didn't know," that he "didn't understand...
...In the meantime conversations were being held with Moscow...
...A? ceipt will be mailed imnesufch* giving the number of the has* «** served for you...
...He was horrified llf realities of Russian life, by the dictatorship in practice...
...That as* naive...
...Vandervelde later stated that since his appeal was turned down by the General Council, ' he will carry it to the National Party Congress...
...j...
...The author makes no secret of his monarchistic views...
...and they have proved that a well-balanced program of Socialism and immediate social reform can be carried through without the sacrifice of either part...
...SOVIET PARADISE LOST...
...They were sent to a «to> centration camp in Northern Russia...
...THE history of new political parties in this country is the history of progressive* democ* racy "on the march...
...He was lavishly entertained and flattered...
...They constituted a temporary, not very serious challenge to...
...As co-authors he and Bukharin wrote the "A B C of Communism...
...Establish in the minds of the public the idea of a party with a bread base...
...Three mere prominent European Communists recently resigned from the Communist Party—the leader of the Rumanian Communists...
...His Pennsylvania Dutch shrewdness, his salty good humor, his courage, his indomitable will-to-live, are all in his autobiography—a fascinating, personal^ tory written in Jim's own sets** inimitable way...
...It believes that in the beginning it is more important to win skirmishes in Assembly and Congressional Districts than to lose majcrr objectives such as Governorships and Prcsidencies...
...The number of new factories and the output of pif>ill|fr cannot atone for terror, tyranny, and semi-starvation wages...
...But this new organization must have a definite direction and a realistic appeal...
...We are asking those eo*tt»** who wish to reserve an graphed and numbered copy oN* Maurer's "IT CAN BE DOKEr * please do so at once, by ssooW the Rand School Book Stars *** since only two hundred aad *w such copies will be available...
...It must be specific...
...JJ^.offer has been transmitted to President Cardenas for .appropriate action...
...They spring up as the result of the failure of the two majjfr parties to meet the demands of a large section of the population or to keep up with the march of progress...
...THAT is why in this country you cannot meas* ure the success of a new party by the length of its existence...
...BELGIAN WORKERS BACK SOCIALIST MINISTERS BRUSSELS.—The General Council of the Belgian P.O.B...
...The men in the .plant plunged into the S.A...
...an the ground that the Russian conditions are unacceptable and incompatible with the rules of the International...
...the CTM (Confedera-f»r* tion of...
...This, I believe, and this constitutes the one real basis upon which we can pin our hopes for the success of the movement...
...Nor are the phrases *^ uttered and the broad principles laid down by Philip LaFollette sufficient...
...TTHE American Labor Party organized in the State of New York a little" more than a year and a half ago, offers an illustration of what a new party can do when operated on realistic lines...
...They have drawn their being and their inspiration from burning issues of the day, from great leaders who have been repudiated by the older parties, from the creation of inequalities and injustices of our laws and, finally, from the desire of certain groups and elements in our society to protect or to further their own particular interests...
...By this time, the most entho-siastic "friends of Soviet Russia" will possibly understand '•If precisely the champion runners of Soviet Russia should try to run away from their dear' fatherland...
...The life of the unfortunates in the camps is described by ft* author in none too pleasant detail...
...guards and German police appeared at the gate of a Vienna branch of the Siemens and Halske corporation to arrest Matouschek, chairman of the elected staff representatives...
...An emotional attack upon the inadequacy and the decadence of the two existing .parties is not sufficient to wean them away, nor are generalities about multiplying our wealth and giving everybody the opportunity to get a job...
...What is more amazing, is that the anther managed to escape together with his yoang sen and his brother...
...It may recognize that new parties get their strength from the voters and not from political leaders...
...OFFERS AID TO MEXICO H|EXIC0 CITY.—In a letter received by...
...Therefore, they argue, one of^two things must happen...
...Negotiations between the Russians and the represents tires of the International have been going on for some time...
...It must be prepared to alienate many in order to get the devotion of many...
...He has always been suspicious of the accepted, of the official version...
...The Ps*> ley Press, New York...
...The world listened...
...Vice-Chairman, Public Affairs Forum Committer of the A.L.P...
...Organize for a long time pull...
...It is a Mf *•* running well into 360 pages, uhs> trated, and The Rand School Pre* is taking particular pains t» hs* it as good-looking a book as r* sible...
...Buerckel...
...They die when one of the two older parties, faced with extinction, a c c epts the new principles and thus gives the new party no further excuse for existence...
...At the that Gide's answer to the question was in the affirmative...
...One fears stjffsB* After all, Victor Serge, Eugene Lyons, even Duranty, have •sW • pretty much the same thing...
...I After a long and heated discussion over foreign policy, a motion by M. Mertens...
...MUST DARE TO OFFEND SOME OUT this is not enough...
...group swinging crow bars...
...Chief interest in the Council's gathering centers on the question of admission to the Soviet Trade Unions to the LF.T.U...
...They have shown that great and imaginative social reforms can be carried through with the complete maintenance of budget stability under a progressive tax system...
...Almost 100 per cent of the men and women formerly organised in the Austrian Trade Union Association have refused to -pay dues to the fascist Labor Front since March 11...
...It must appeal to those who are benefiting from neither of the two existing parties...
...THE WORKERS ABROAD By DICK REYNARD PARIS._More than 20,000,000 free trade unionists will be repreJv seated when the General Council of the International Federation of Trade Unions meets in Oslo next week from May 17 to May 21...
...Mexican Workers), the International Federation of -Trade' "Onions has offered to supply the Mexican government with experienced oil technicians, should their services be necessary in ,t$j»v"current reorganization of the Mexican petroleum industry...
...Matouschek, before 1934, was one of the chiefs of the Socialist Metal Workers Union...
...The intelligentsia tried to look away...
...It is true that the physical obstacles placed in the path of a new party trying to organize in forty-eight states in the Union has much to do with the failure of new parties to establish themselves nationally on a permanent basis...
...In some states, it is almost impossible...
...y» The subsequent events...
...Voltairs sees that infinity is a very difficult concept for the human mind t» grasp, but that there is a good illustration of infinity: baseSS stupidity...
...AFTERTHOUGHTS ON THE US.S.R...
...Will the blind "friends" of this regime of concentration csesf* and firing squads finally see...
...John Bujar...
Vol. 21 • May 1938 • No. 20
