Burns, The Poet and Rebel

...Ruling groups have opposed and have approved the dogma...

...The Department of Justice compiled a list of thousands of social, political, and economic dissenters during the World War, classifying them, indicating their opinions, and spying upon them...

...A MOTHER GOOSE TALE CERTAIN suggestions made to a Congressional committee which is investigating commercial aviation are of peculiar interest at this time...

...The battle will go on...

...And she supplies it with her accustomed aplomb: Liberal—the worst Foe of Progress...

...EDUCATING THE WORKERS IT WAS three years ago that the International Fur Workers' Union took up the matter of workers' education and today its educational department represents one of its most important activities...

...Hir°ed~ - r There i* no peace in my dreaming...

...They have yet to learn how important and how valuable it is to have a Government which will serve them...

...And all that is removed is the snow of Wall Street and Fifth Avenue...

...THE STATE RIGHTS DOGMA THE revival of the State rights dogma in opposition to the child labor amendment recalls the fact that all the controlling 'parties throughout American history have supported the dogma and also opposed it...

...This cooperation between the union and the oldest workers' university in this country is a cooperation that should extend to many more trade unions...

...The Southern states have been the old home of State rights, yet with the rise of textile capitalism there is no longer the old State rights argument against protective duties...

...Donald G.King, ox-Corporal, U. S. Army, A. E. ft -o—ISong of a Hall-Room Girl 0 when I build my city, There will be no alleys...

...But there it no peace in my dreaming...

...Relief is urgent and many of our friends can help with little sacrifice on their part...

...Moreover, there is reason for believing that the Powers interested in the opium traffic have no objection to the physical deterioration of the Chinese people, for this would tend to perpetuate China as a helpless ward of these Powers...

...Wha wadna ting "God save the King" Shall hang at high at the steeple...

...Five more States, Texas, North Dakota, Kansas, Ohio and Delaware, have rejected the Child Labor Amendment, making eight ranged against it...

...died in poverty and Want with the spectre of a debtor's prison hanging over him should he be so fortunate, or rather unfortunate, as to recover...

...The workers of the nation alone have not shared in this control...

...And when I weary of their grace and rest, 1 I ttill have her of the bewildering toe...

...Whether they approved it or opposed it depended upon the changing views of the particular class interests which they represented...

...Lea H. Kaufman...

...A prince can mak' a belted knight A marquis, duke and a' that, But an honest man's aboon his might Cnid faith he mauna fa' that, For a' that an' a' that, Their dignities an' a' that: The man o' independent mind He looks and laugh* and a' that...

...In virtue train'd, enlighten'd youth Will love each fellow-creature...

...It isn't lying in a shell hole In mud, rain and filth, With coots running wild all over you...

...III...

...Proceed no further— God won't accept your thankt for murder...

...The New Leader therefore urges that every reader who can spare anything in the way of shoes and clothing give generously to the sufferers...

...Without a strong Government that can knit the provinces into a Federal solidarity adequate control of poppy culture is impossible...

...On the contrary, there is an increasingly strong protective tariff sentiment in the South...

...Like the above, "Is There For Honest Poverty," was writen during the French Revolution...

...The theory of the professional economists and politicians belongs to the literature of Mother Goose tales...

...F.xruse mn French...

...Why Should We Idly Waste Our Prime...

...If I'm designed your lordling't tlave, By Nature...

...i e We have been feeling a trifle French* all week, what with the glad news that one of Europe's most reactionary countries, France, is coming ou) strongly for the repudiation of her national debt...

...Not one.of the great corporations in this country has developed Without some valuable aid from the Government...

...Ye »ce yon birlcie ca'd a lord Wha ttrutt an' ttares an' a' that, The hundreds wonkip at hit word-r He'* but a caif for a' that, For a' that an' a' that, His riband star and a' that: The rank it but the guinea'* stamp— A man'* a man for a' that...

...In harmony we all shall live, And share the earth together...

...The suffering is intense, but the spirit of these soldiers of Labor solidarity remains unbroken...

...o ¦ The war's over, and we would like Is wipe its malodorous memory out of mind forever...

...Throughout our history practice has been in conflict with the conventional theory of American capitalism...

...He had carefully selected excerpts from Burns' poems calculated to give a totally false view of the poet...

...1 am at the call of another . . . I mute in a garden of ivy and azelia, ¦And litten to the zip-zap of the fountain...

...Some day the story of the West Virginia class struggle will be written, a struggle that has continued for more than thirty years...

...Three live* I live, and eaek with fitting teet, Since one brings peace and one an even glow...

...The State rights dogma is a swindle and never has been anything else...

...Now it is the commercial aviation crowd that are asking the Government to serve as a kind father to them...

...Steel, textiles, oil, coal, railroads and other capitalistic dynasties have been favored...

...No cellar hole* called basement room...

...nition for Liberal w,as omitted...

...And tee hit lordly fellow worm The poor petition spurn, Unmindful though a weepin' wife And helplest 6ffspring mourn...

...The Jacksonian party in the matter of internal improvements advanced the dogma, but its modern successor has abandoned it...

...A proviso would require that international control be made effective when China is able to cooperate...

...An Ode to our Column with exactly the same adulation might get by...

...And she adds, that while some might say a Liberal is the bridge between the conservative and the radical, the trouble with all liberals is that they remain on tho bridge entirely too long...

...Congress has for several years been developing a merchant marine with the view of turning it over to private exploitation...

...The golden age we'll then revive: Each man will be a brother...

...CAPITALISM AND OPIUM IF AMERICAN investors had funds tied up in the opium traffic we doubt whether the American delegate would be so opposed to the British position at Geneva...

...Just an ounce of diplomacy «'ou*" have saved Ruosia tons of propaganda tor recognition...

...Jackson himself, one of the popular products of a State rights party, took an extreme nationalist attitude when suppressing the South Carolina nullifiers...

...Naturally the rest of the esteemed gentleman's lecture fell somewhat flat...

...Before a monarch's face Ev'n there I winna flatter, • For neither pension, post or place Ami your humble debtor" "Man was made to mourn" is fairly well known in Scotland and is one of Burns' best poems...

...It's rnmin' yet for a' that, 77,n' ihoii to man the world o'er 4V*aU brother* bo far •' that AN AMERICAN CHEKA COMMISSIONER EN RIGHT'S suggestion that every inhabitant of New York City should be finger-printed and carry an identification card is in line with a propaganda that has been going on for a number of years...

...In these three stanzas Burns' politics cannot be mistaken...

...No matter where American dollars are invested across frontiers they have shaped American foreign policy...

...Th* interesting thing about this proposal is that China is weak, divided into warring factions, her territory parcelled out into "spheres of influence" by the Powers, and is deprived by the Powers themselves of the power to levy import duties that would enable her to get on her feet...

...law designed, Why was an independent wish E'er planted in my mind...

...Today 'tis theirs...

...They mil" have kept talking about paying the...

...For a' that an' a' thul...

...Today these organized capitalists are subsidizing a vast propaganda in favor of the State rights dogma and against the na-l tional child labor amendment...

...Not on your existence, Red Mike—"Les neiges sont tou j ours—uptown...

...But every now and then comes s cry out of the darkness Into our well-lit office that jabs us into attention...

...When the tu . shine* I want it to make »1 room glad with it* brightne...

...Muscle Shoals is now practically certain of being turned over to private interests after millions of Government mon y have been spent in its development...

...To murder men, and give God thanks...

...Whatever your contributions may be, they may b» delivered either to room 505, 7 East 15th street, New York, or sent direct to Will C. Thompson, Secretary-Treasurer, District 17, U. M. W. of A., 1201/2 Summers street, Charleston, W. Va...

...0Harold Berman, the famous essayist, looks over towards us from his Jersey City baronial estate long enough to remark, "Where is the Slush Fund of Yesteryear?* Costs of removing New York's snow and slush requires $1,000,000 saya the Mayor...

...There will be no doted court-yard...

...For this reason we are not much impressed by the "moral" pose of the American delegate...

...It isn't the fall of your buddy Or the shame of killing, That seems like hell to much, now— It's the kind of a life you're up against When you're, broke in civie* back home, Out of work, slighted like And looked on with contempt— And it* the yellow way The patriot* act, with their dough And their eoft job* and all— It'* the way you're made to feel back KotU That'* Hell—if you want to know...

...Last Sunday a meeting in Cooper Union realized a substantial money contribution and a truck load of clothing and shoes for the miners and their fanvlies...

...It was also the South that supplied the big group of states in favor of the national prohibition amendment...

...At a later period, when representing the maritime interests of New England and fearing the effect of the War of 1812 on New England commerce, they embraced the State rights dogma to such an extent that they seriously considered secession from the Union...

...While only one branch of the Legislature in Ohio and North Dakota is recorded against the amendment, it is practically certain that the other House will concur...

...Tit now the time To punith past transgrettiont...

...Its heroism and sacrifice has not been duplicated in many countries...

...The Secretary of Labor advised this course nearly three years ago for aliens...

...Tomorrow we Shall don the Cap of Libertie...

...Transportation, manufacturing, trading, financial and commercial interests have shared in running the Government and have shared in important favors...

...There would seem to be a conspiracy among the conservative elements in Britain to surround Burns with a halo of respectability...

...In the days of the old regime cotton, rice, tobacco and slaves received fatherly consideration...

...Those despots long have trode ut down And Judges are their engines...

...Come, route to arms...

...o 1 To understand this it is necessary to understand "a leetle beet, Franch—comprenez...

...It also provides lectures by competent authorities on subjects of, importance to working people...

...Now eaek true patriot'* song skull be: •'Welcome death or Martial" II., Proud Priests and Bishops we'll translate And canonise as martyrs...

...Tit taid that kingt can do no wrong— Their murderout deeds deny it, And, since from us their purer is Sprang, We hair a right to try it...

...The present tendency appears to be against the amendment, but even if more than onefourth of the States required to defeat the amendment are obtained, the fight is not lost...

...It simply means that hopes of ratification this year will be disappointed...

...Then let u* pray that come it may (As come it will for a' that), That sense and worth o'er a' the earth Shall bear the quee and a' that...

...Here the patriot stopped and went on to another poem, but a voice came from the floor, "Finish it...

...The National Association of Manufacturers advanced nationalist arguments against State legislation to prohibit child labor a few years ago...

...What is more important is its recognition of the Rand School of Social Science and cooperation with this institution so that its educational facilities may be at the disposal of union members...

...I am at the call of another . . . Anna Steffens...

...The trouble with the Bolsheviks, apparently, was their hurry to announce repudiation of debts without, even the emboli""* ment of a qualifying adjective...

...How the satirical Scots poet would smile at the hosts of sleek and well-fed individuals who, ignorant of Burns' philosophy, rise at Burns' supperB to propose the "Immortal Memory...

...and <ert talking, for five or ten years, until the world would have said, as we *¦ eventually say to France, "Pay up or snos up...

...Whether this propaganda in "free America" will eventually be successful is a question that only the future can answer...

...Exploiters of Labor favor or oppose the dogma not because of any fundamental convictions, but because support of or opposition to it at any particular time will serve their material interests...

...There is nothing more insincere in our history than this hoary old dogma...

...While on the subject of monarchy, the following, from "A Drram," is illuminating: "f srr yr're eninplimriitcd throng By "my a lord nnd lady...

...I remember at one Burns gathering in Glasgow a eulogy on Burns was being rendered by a gentleman who prided himself as being a patriot...

...And one should be So careful not to tangle day* and wiv**i And turety I *hould be quite careful, too, Did 1 not know how all my maid*, are you, -0 Blanche Watson says she likes Riley's Dabster's Dictionary, except that the defi...

...The Federalists were the nationalists before the ascension of the Jeffersonians to power...

...Men, women and cltiid and the sick, have been I thrust back into primitive conditions of living...

...The suffering of these heroes of the West Virginia mine fields brings an urgent call for aid...

...British citizens have funds invested in the trade and British revenues are also involved...

...The Chamber of Commerce of New York State recommended it in 1922...

...They formulated the classic arguments against State rights...

...If not, why am I subject to Hit cruelty and tcornt Or why hat Man the will and pow'r To make hit fellows mourn...

...S«s yonder poor, o'erlabour'd wight, So abject, mean, and vile, Who begs a brother of the earth To give him leave to toil...

...The guillotine on peers shall wint...

...Desist for thame...

...It has its sacred memories and its martyred dead as well as its living heroes who are now carrying the torch which others had to lay down...

...The assumption that capitalism is based upon individual initiative without any aid from the Government is nonsense...

...For these reasons Lord Cecil takes t; position and presents a program that would require a Commission to study the problems bound up with the opium trade...

...Their parties have executed surprising changes of opinion also...

...There will be no skylight room...

...Many of the old slave states prescribed some system of identification cards for slaves to carry when they left the plantation...

...Such wretched minions of a Crown Demand the people's, vengeance...

...I have gathered a few of Burns' poems, which throw some light on the mind of the man who, in his simpleness, sent a gun through the post to the French Revolutionists and imperilled his own livelihood by doing so...

...Like this one: Hefl No, it isn't the shot and thell that'* KeU, Nor the slushy long hike...

...And future years shall prove the truth That man it good by nature: Then let ut toast with three time* three The reign of Peace and Libertie...

...The Jeffersonians, who had formulated- the classic arguments in favor of State rights against the centralizing tendencies of Washington and the first Adams, abandoned the dogma and justified the purchase of Louisiana with Federalist nationalist views...

...o A. J. Y. sends.us in a lovely Ode to a Good Cigar, which we refrain from publishing, first because we are trying to give up smoking, and secondly because we haven't smoked a cigar in all our twenty years of nicotining that really deserved such praise...

...When the wind blow* I want it to *tir tk* curtains of my window...

...And Knights shall hang in garters...

...Without a national revenue a national Government is impossible...

...I give in full...

...What would Burns have said if he had lived during the World War...

...By special arrangement with the school, members are able to take any lecture or study course provided by the school...

...It is a dirty mess and offers an interesting example of what profiteering capitalism is capable of doing...

...Knowledge, training, discipline and effective organization are essential to the organized working class, and to the extent that the organized workers take up workers' education will they increase in power...

...And *o I fill my day* a* hurriedly Ae one muet do who live* to many live...

...Hyman Waldman, who is hibernating in Washington this frigid season, attended one session of Congress, and immediately mounted Pegasus, and spurted forth some verse, which we regret being unable to print on account of space this week...

...Thirteen will defeat it...

...For which, many gracias...

...For the member in need of instruction in English and other elementary matters the union provides courses of immense value to adults...

...Here is how he hits off a British naval victory: Ye hypocrites: Are thete your pranks...

...So long as they accept the Mother Goose story of a Government that serves all alike they will continue to vote that Government into the hands of those who will use it for their class interests and against the workers themselves...

...I- '< Why should we idly waste our prime Repeating our oppressions...

...With rendezvous and tryst...

...Enright's suggestion is made ostensibly for the purpose of better checking up on criminals, but that it leads to espionage and persecution of opponents of the present order is verified by every experiment of this kind...

...What this _ as in severe win' r weather may ined...

...God save the King's' a cuckoo tang TSmt't erase easy omH, af/ . . * For me...

...The organized workers of the nation have most to fear from this despotic bureaucracy and unless they range themselves against it they may wake up some day to find themselves caught in the spider's web of an American Cheka...

...This is a good beginning, but it is only a beginning...

...THE Chatter-Box PoIygu.y * % ' Three maid* I woo at one* with pagan greed: j On* timid «« a zephyr in th* dawn, On* gracious and a* supple a* a rted, And one the daughter of a leprecaun...

...The fur workers are to be congratulated on their success of the past three years in this field of workers' education...

...The lecturer took no heed, and a youngster jumped up and exclaimed, "Well, if you won't finish it, I will...

...The British delegate and every other delegate at Geneva know this, and to present a program contingent upon China herself effecting control of opium is to indulge in hypocritical evasion...

...HELP EVICTED MINERS IN the hills of West Virginia are found thousands of miners and their families who have been '•jcted from their "homes" by order the mine owners...

...Ruling classes who fear that their rule cannot be defended in the arena of free discussion always turn to these despotic expedients...

...Representatives of private interests in New York advised Government encouragement and even financial assistance in the development of commercial aviation...

...Money contributions are also acceptable...

...Thanks, just the same...

...While we of The Bronx nod our heads with Villon and sigh, "Ou sont les neiges—downtown...

...We will aay for Hyman, that any poet who can write anything less than a suicide note and last will and testament, after attending a Congret* sional meeting, deserves a high place among Les Immortels...

...But ivhile ye sing "God save the King," Let's not forget the people...