The Washington times., 1924-08-13
GOMPERS GIVES
WARMING ON
REDS
They Would Inaugurate Class
Rule in Lieu of Democracy,
Declares Labor Leader
BY ROBERT s. THORNBURGH,
International News Service.

By ROBERT 8. TH0RNBURGH,
International News Service.
Real cooperation between farm
ers and wage earners is not helped
by the multitudinous fiascoes in
the fiald Of so-called .farmer-labor
political effort, according to Sam
uel Gompers, president Of the
American Federation Of Labor.
| In q statement Gompers declared
that the convention held in St.
Paul, June II, was an example OF
the kind of fraudulent farmer
labor pyrotechnics that hamper true
cooperation between agriculturists
and wage earners, because they
tend to creates Misunderstanding
on the one hand and arouse sus-
picion on the other"
"Who can be blamed seriously
IL, after such a spectacle as that
in st. Paul, he concludes that talk
of farmer.labor cooperation is
futile or waste?" asks Gompers in
the current issue Of the American
Federationist.
Community Of Interest.
There is a great and growing
community Of interest between the
filters of the soil and the wage
earners Of the cities, but that in.
terest is not going to be served by
the soap.box brigade that peddles
its nostrumS from almost every
corner in these parlous times"
GomperS pointed out that "as
producers, farmers and wage earn
ers stand in precisely the same po
sition. AS consumers they also
stand in the same position.
I'm the great democracy Of
America there Is no division alone
distinctly proletarian or class lines
either in politics or in industry
Gompers declared. There IL q
distinction between the useful and
the useless, those who serve and
those who are purely parasitic
That Is quite different from q dis
tinction among proletarian lines
the latter benig one Of the DOGGY:
Of the ridiculous Communist propa
ganda."
Gompers feels that the kind Of
cooperation that American farm
ers and American wage Garner.
want IL the kind that leads Il
constructive betterment Of Ameri
can life for the masses of the
American people.
1.-THE st. Paul convention Dc
clared itself for a workers anC
farmers government which would
mean the end Of democracy II
America" the veteran head Of the
American Federation said.
Viewpoint Of Reds.
"Of course the Reds set up thu
shout that we have always had 9
Wall Street Government, and upor
that assertion they partly resi-
their claim that 1t Is right to gel
the other kind if they can.
"The argument Is specious II
| the extreme. Granted that Wal
Street has exercised a powerful
and at times dominating Influence
upon American national govern
ment, there never has been any
real bar to an ousting Of that gov
eminent or to popular influence or
that government, or TO a voice FOL
everybody who could make him
self heard--and 1t has never beer
a Wall Street Government in thu
sense that the communists demand
a workers government.
THE machinery of democracy in
political life has been and is avail
able to the people, and they may
take advantage Of It as they choose
and as they are able to unite on q
program Of action"
What the st. Paul platform pro
poses, according to Gompers, ia "a
capture Of the Government and its
subsequent destruction. They want
he said, government Of those two
groups alone-Farmer and Labor
to the exclusion of all others--a
class government instead Of a dem
ocratic government.
Slow To- Believe.
"Some Americans" Gompers went
on, 'are slow to learn the true
meaning and purpose Of Communis
propaganda. They are slow to be.
lieve that dictatorship Of the prole.
tariat means what It seems to mean
They are slow to believe that real
destruction of democracy Is in.
tended. They are slow to believe
that the Communist machine Is JUS
as sinister as it seems to be, that
1t Is in every country a part of an
international organization dedicated
to the destruction Of democracy
Everywhere.
1.-THE st. Paul convention has
come and gone. Like every other
move on the part Of the Communi
lists, 1t has taught its lesson for
those who are willing to learn"
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