The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-10-25
By ARNE swAsEcK.

issue amongst the Illinois miners in
this election. AS far as we are con
cerned the old parties are not consid-
cred, we are thru with them" He
was a LaFollette supporter.
This statement wildly illustrated
the distance traversed in rapid tempo
during a short span of political de-
velopment in this country. LaFol-
lette versus Foster-the representa-
tive of the small capitalists and GER
tain sections of the labor aristocracy
or the representative Of the revolu-
tionary proletariat-that is the issue
which demands a definite decision by
the workers, not only now but after
this election as well. It represents a
certain analogy with conditions Of the
politically more developed countries
of Europe. An intensive struggle for
the leadership Of the masses Of work
ers between the socialist traitors and
their supporters, the labor bureau
Gratis, and the petty bourgeoisie on the
one hand and the Communists on the
other, preceding the establishment of
a real united front for the victory over
capitalism.
Perhaps the beginning of this strug-
gle was more clearly indicated thru
the Chicago factory straw vote con-
Quoted by the local Workers Party.
First the general break away from the
old parties and secondly the heated
debates as to the issue-LaFollette
versus Foster.
The great majority of the factory
workers canvassed by this straw vote
and even a good proportion of office
workers employed by the same con-
Germs showed that they were thru
with such outstanding tools of CAPT
talist exploitation as Coolidge and
Davis. While many would step up to
deposit their straw, looking slyly at
the canvassers, indicating that they
had taken the great step away from
their old party" and voted for LaFol-
lette, whom some of the bosses call
radical, others would proudly an
nounce II am for Foster" knowing
that theirs was the class conscious
part. Those were also the ones who
would Immediately sat out to con-
vince their fellow workers that this
was class issue-Communism versus
Capitalism-even tho the latter may
wear the mask of LaFollette progress
sives.
Getting on the ballot by nominating
petitions is tedious work. Yet the cir
cularizing Of petitions offers splendid
opportunities to bring this issue to
the workers. One of our Chicago
party members confessed to me that
nine hours work on one Sunday for
one of the Communist congressional
candidates had netted him only 81
signatures, but he had missed no op-
portuRity to explain to the workers
the issues that were at stake. And
then-nine hours, voluntarily, of such
tedious work show the stuff that some
of our party members are made of.
Evenings, when our party workers
went out to get signatures, time was
too precious to allow for lengthy dis.
cussions. One respectable citizen
after having signed his name to a
Workers Party petition presented tc
him exclaimed, II will sign for any
body except these d. bolsheviks.'
Our comrade was in hurry to leave
but he managed to leave a DAILY
WORKER in this citizens hands and
get the promise that he would read
it. Butting into another family this
comrade had no sonner mentioned the
word petition than the man OF the
house CURLY informed him that there
was only one kind of petition that he
would ever sign his name to. "Whai
hnd?" queried our comrade. "Only 9
Communist petition will do for me-
came the reply. Well, all adults in