lumbers Fascists " Take Over"
lumbers Fascists "Take Over" Made Alarming Inroads nmenr and in the Army isistent, mendacious and hateful iracter of this mental garbage. "We are sold on this stuff here," my friend told me....
...We sders...
...Stalin's policy of forced collectivization, his confiscation of the individual property of the farmers— their land, horses, cows, sheep and farm implements —brought a marked change in the attitude of the Bulgarian peasant...
...This development took place at Fond du Lac last weekend at a conference called by "the ?fadison ring" (as the LaFollette brothers and their closest political advisors are called in Wisconsin) to launch a third party...
...The problem of t h e propaganda paper is somewhat complicated by the fact that there already exist two such papers, both attempting t o get a national circulation, and neither directly under the control of the party...
...Fort Douglas is o n e of the major military posts...
...The other is owned and controlled by a f ew individuals who are party members...
...One is, published by an association of party members almost entirely from one locality, and has a board of directors which meets only in the c i t y in which the paper is published...
...A scattering of farmers ana workers did speak for the name FarmerLabor rather than progressive...
...All reserve officers in this vicinity are required to report at the fort several times a Week and are given regular instructions in handling "mobs...
...Shortly after this the Legion Alerte conducted an imaginary "rescue" of earthquake victims at the County and City Building and dined later at the Chamber of Commerce headquarters...
...They need not be fooled again if we will present our plan with confidence and without the defeatist psychology which has accumulated during t h e lean years...
...We have never set down on paper a sketch of what a Socialist government would do...
...Latvia had a Soviet Communist governr ent which for seven months controlled all the country (with the exception of the port of Libau) and for an additional eight months the part immediately adjoining th • Russian border...
...of Great Things St a correct and present, ictlon of the lad write it t permanent Pitalism f a l ls look back in lies and s a y : prophets...
...B u t that ain't a 11...
...It should show step b y step how a Socialist Congress and a Socialist President in 1936 would proceed, and it should appeal for a beginning on the Socialist Congressional delegation in 1934...
...Such a plan i s the Commonwealth Plan which, written originally by Paul Porter and modified in detail by others, should be adopted as our 1934 Congressional platform...
...The A r m y at Fort Douglas is Bold on it, too...
...And it in Stalin that deserves credit for this change...
...Two of the latter class told the writer that the Alerte is training "to take over the government" in case of emergency...
...The Bulgarian Communists, on the other hand, cannot boast of having ever exercised absolute control over the government, but they have a n it h e r , not 1 s significant, claim...
...He will be the n ew party's candidate for United States senator and will seek re-election on t h e b a s i s of a p proval for Roosevelt views...
...Some farmers and workers were in attendance...
...They are directed now largely toward the "capture" of the office-holding elements, the police and the army— the decisive mechanism of armed power...
...There are now 140 functioning branches of the Socialist Party in Wisconsin with new ones being formed every day...
...A National Office bulletin of the house organ type, financed from dues, should be authorised by this convention...
...PeajsHnts in the Russian Border States I T wi d, neveitheless, be a mistake to assume that the * "danger of Communism" was the cause, or even the excuse, of the latest victories of fascism...
...It is widely known that they had in mind the expected social earthquake...
...Many observers agreed that the farmers and workers who really want a change in the system will flock to the Socialist Party...
...taken that vague control very seriously, as the experience of the N.E.C...
...And in both lands the f a s c i s t revolution was realised, according to reports, In a machine-like manner, without a s i n j l s »' t be' - flred...
...This plan as a Congressional platform should ignore the N ew Deal with a simplicity and a constructive character which will in itself be an answer t o Roosevelt In these coming days of his declining support from workers and farmers who are realizing that they were fooled...
...M « l « Hj challenge from our decadent democracy and amorphous working class...
...The Balkan peasant is unfortunately not the only one on whom the present trend of the Russian Revolution is having such a disastrous effect The formerly very radical farmers of all the border lands of Russia—those of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Rumania, Serbia (Yugoslavia) and Bulgaria—all of them now turn their backs to Communism and the social revolution I They seem to feel that Socialism of even the Social Democratic brand may bring a privileged position to the working class and the white collar Intelligentsia, but for the farmers it holds the promise of annihilation—social and economlc«-and of the destruction of the Individual farmer, artisan and small trader "aa a class...
...This Soviet Republic was born after the German army of occupation had left the c o u n ' n 11419, and «' I after a year of terror and civil war, in which the Communists received all their h< from the " viet Union and their opponents from the British and French governments...
...Conversations with members disclosed that there are two classes of Alertes—one that is not so alert and looks upon membership and drills as a sort of boyish lark and exhibition of heroes to the public and another class that lives up to the name and knows what it is all about...
...in dealing with them has indicated...
...The convention should instruct the N.E.C...
...Neither ha...
...This city recently experienced a rather severe earthquake...
...And so in the radicalism of the Bulgarian peasants...
...Investigations s h o w ed that the garrison here, particularly the officers, a r e devouring l a r g e q u a n t i t i e s of t h i s p o i s on propaganda...
...The Workers Abroad An International Review of the Socialist and Labor Movement of the World Fascism Score* in Two More Lands T W » more countries ha\ joined the fascist band * wagon in one short eek...
...He follows very closely everything concerning the life of his "big brother," the Russian peasant The years of relative prosperity of the Soviet peasant, the years of "NEP" (1921-1928) were just the years when pro-bplshevist sympathies were on the up-grade among the Bulgarian peasants...
...They came innc .ntly believing that the conference might found a real Farmer-Labor Party...
...In Bulgaria this "danger" was, probably, not real even at the time of the counter-revolutionary coup d'etat of June 1923, when the dictatorship of the semi-bolshevist "peasant leader" Stambulisky was overthrown and its followers decimated by the thousands...
...In the municipal elections that foil d the relative superior strength of the Communists was brought out Cven more strongly...
...It is now by its own admission simply the tail to the Roosevelt political kite...
...The sranda type, sly the popu talus its own * present by Wnce or the Ms with the • by mail...
...For the Bulgar is, like the Russian, a Slav...
...The city was surveyed recently for the placement of effective machine gun nests in case . . . Most significant was the recent organization of an American Legion Alerte unit here under the open patronage of the local Chamber of Commerce, which circumstance unwittingly revealed the economic source of the f a s c i s t urge —a badly frightened plutocracy in the midst of the worst depression in the history of capitalism...
...This happened first in September 1928 and then in April 1925...
...Bulgaria is the, only European country, where Communism, and not Socialism, dominates even now the thought of the majority of class-conscious workers...
...Thus we reached a point when the great Russian Revolution, whose historical mission was to have been a stimulation of the revolutionary forces in the capitalist countries, is,, in its present phase, undermining the very same forces...
...In neither of the t w o countries was there any danger of a Communist insurrection or a Socialist attempt to realise immediately the full program of collective ownership and democratic management...
...The Congressional Platform Our platforms have not been very effective...
...This Communist influence is i > deep-rooted that at the last parliamentary elections, June 1931, t h e r e were elected 31 Communist deputies out of a total of 274, and only five Socialists...
...Ing many Ncause the **J sent to cornbranch secretaries is already too bulky...
...The LaFollettes said frankly tl...
...It can be stated in terms which are readily and sympathetically understood by people whose vocabulary has been v a s t l y enlarged by the daily newspapers during the last fifteen months...
...to publish a h s t of recommended or approved papers...
...For both of these countries played an important role in the revolutionary history of post-war Europe am at one time were looked upon as the outposts of the Soviet October revolution in Western Europe...
...organization illy t r u e that oning organcialist press, ation paper •s the party * what the out a pro paihundreds of ind sympa > sever know H We need, ot pipers with »• The one is t*, must be >1 Office, and tarn dues so •ember...
...But he trembles at the mention of the "Russian experiment" that eaptured his imagination in 1922-1923...
...In its essence American fascism constitutes a revolutionary movement toward the possession of the arms of the nation...
...The more Stalin spoke of "destroying the individual farmer as a class" the less did the Bulgarian farmer like the idea of a "proletarian dictatorship" in his own land...
...either t o g e t effective control over one or more of t h e e x i s t i n g propaganda papers or t o revive America for All f o r tbat purpose...
...The few in opposition were given scant attention by the r> a n a g e r s . The real tenor of the conference was shown in the light that developed over a name for the party...
...But small as they are, In comparison ith the older "totalitarian" countries, Sociali s t thought cannot afford to ignore them...
...Thirty-four complete Socialist county t i c k e t * are already assured and there are indications that practically e ary county in the state will have a full ticket in t he fall election...
...It must be a responsible paper, and "responsible" in this connection can mean only one thing: responsible to the Socialist P a r t y of America...
...Our Congressional platform in 1934 should consist of such a plan...
...Instead, they found a conference well organized in advance to simply found a new p 'itical home for the progressive leaders...
...Only a few opposed to the plans of the Madison ring were able to get the floor to speak in opposition to pre-arranged schemes of the LaFollette brothers and their closest supporters...
...A favorite pastime of the local unit is banqueting at the headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce under the benign patronage of its foster father, big and little business...
...Like they it i s anti Socialism, democracy, labor, Jew and foreigner, It is nation-wide and represents one of the more militaristic phases of American fascism...
...They conduct public "rescue" drill as part of a training for "emergencies...
...All opinions seem pretty well agreed that the new party will satisfy no one, s a v e the LaFollette machine...
...I t should show how the revolutionary result of these steps would be a Socialist system...
...11 i s undoubtedly having a pronounced effect upon the post L o c a l S i l v er S h i r t s boast that the Army at Fort Douglas and throughout the nation has gone fascist and will be "on the right side" when " t h e c r i s i s" comes, A t t h e post and among the office hold i n g elements a b e l i e f that a r e v c-11 of the "mob"—a Communist r e v o l t — i m p e n d s amounts to an obsession, espec i a l l y in view of t h e dissolution of the CWAThe Army post has been worked up to such a degree of fascist enthusiasm that the officers are holding several meetings weekly in which Silver Shirt "literature" and methods of handling mob riots are studied and discussed...
...The American Legion Alerte unit was launched several months ago at «t meeting in the Chamber of Commerce headquarters for the avowed purpose of "protecting property and government"—exactly the purpose behind the Silver Shirts, Nazis and Mussolini fascists...
...It will end t h e 57 verities which are still the mass impression of Socialism in America, and if carried forward with determination and confidence by a unified party, it may well be the turning point toward the building of Socialism in our own time...
...This should not be surprising to Soc i a l i s t s who believe that regulation of industry is a failure and that only ownership given real control...
...Since that time, however, the Communist Influence has been on the wane...
...The LaFollette machine has finally dropped all pretense at radicalism...
...Riot guns have been installed at the fort in case of an uprising of Communists...
...This i s the only kind of paper which every branch in t h e country can be expected to push heartily...
...We have never succeeded in making a Socialist program sound real to the .workers and farmers and disinherited middle-class citizens of this country...
...They point out that Socialist organisation has been g r o w i n g like wildfire throughout the state...
...In both cases the papers are controlled by the Socialist Party of America only through the power of the N.E.C...
...Senator Robert LaFollette, in a speech after the name Progressive Party was adopted, signified the new party would support President Roosevelt and h i s policies...
...If successful it will completely annul majority rule, voting and democracy...
...It should be fairly cornplete and somewhat detailed, and it should be a coherent whole...
...The LaFollettes Reject Class Party Ideas • y Andrew J . Biemiller J^|ILWAUKEE...
...The farmer may vote for T ankov against Liaptcher...
...Latvia and Bulgaria were am ng the very few European countries where Bolshevism, the Russian brand of Communism, was the most im ortant political a organizational force among both workers and farmers, in the years that followed the W o i ' War and t h ' Russian revolution...
...y did not want a class party...
...Now with the New Deal mirage dissolving—now i s the time for us to cease picayune criticisms of New Deal plans and policies and personnel, and present our own plan for building a workers' world...
...The two new members of the fascist family are not eacspi: nally big: the Balkan Kingdom Bulgaria has a population of six million, and the other—the Baltic - public I. tvia— two million...
...The i . re conference was steam ioil,-ted by t h e LaFollette machine...
...The alarming thing is that it has already gone a considerable distance in tbis direction without arousing any adequate popular understanding of its sinister purpose and without . ' i i c i u t . I . . . 11.1...
...He may even vote, as he did in 1981, to displace both dictators and g i v e the power to a "Democrat" Malinoff and his allies, the "Moderate" peasants and liberals, Mouchanoff and Co...
...The military post seems to have contracted a bad case of antireditis...
...In a few months it has acquired a local membership of 500—four companies of 125 men each...
...There can be no disputing the fact that we must have at least [ o n e paper, and preferably more than one, which presents the offi j cial Socialism instead of just one : of the 57 varieties...
...Only rapid popular enlightenment and unity on t h i s issue will save US...
...These local developments and others are g o i n g on in many localities on a nation-wide scale...
...Several years ago it would have been too early...
...Since then, the Communists, in league with the v e r y radical, at that time, Peasant Party, made two desperate attempts to overthrow the new clique of personnel dictators— L i a p - tcher, Tsankov and Co.—and failed both times...
Vol. 17 • May 1934 • No. 65
