davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-09
Free Speech in Denper

The arrest of Ella Reeve Bloor on the streets of
Denver last Friday has raised storm of protest
in that city, which is forcing the reactionary
labor officials to line up against the police prac-
tice of arresting speakers, and of attempting to
censor their talks. Ella Bloor is one of the veteran
agitators of the Communist movement and wher-
ever she goes there things begin to happen. 1t was
so in Denver, and while the free speech fight draws
in larger and larger circles of workers, incensed
at the police suppression, the Workers Party is
growing in that city
Colorado is state-that has long been noted for
its brutality and stupidity in handling the labor
movement in all its phases. from the days of the
Cripple Greek fight thru the Ludlow massacre,
down to the deportation of Foster by Pat Hammock
and the arrests Ella Bloor, Stanley Clark, and
William Dietrich, it is a long record of cynical
disregard of their own laws by the hirelings of
capital brutal suppression, and iron dictatorship.
All of which is part perhaps necessary in the
education of the working class. Every such Incl
dent in a text for Communist lecture, and enlists
more soldiers under the banner of revolution.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-09
40 WE OEFx ByT. OFhherty

and the whole business did not augur
any too well for his prestige as the
Shah of organized labor. So he took
out his gimlet.
INTITH Gompers to think was to act.
wv Being spurned like faded pros
titute by the pimps of the Republican
and Democratic parties, Sam acting as
If he was LaFollette's foster father,
bestowed his blessing on the new
crusaders, at the same time warning
all other takers that he was speaking
for labor. A strange silence surround
ed William H. Johnston, and it was
suddenly discovered that Warren S.
Stone found the job of handling the
c. P. p. A. LaFollette campaign fund
too heavy for him. Leave it to Sam.
And If any disgruntled LaFollette sup
porter talks of organizing a Labor
Party. or even Third bourgeois party
after next November, he will have to
reckon with Gonpers. Sam is a clever
boy, II nothing else.
N sympathizer with the author of
n this column) suggested that il
might be a good idea IL our readers
were invited to send in contributions
to "As We See It." The author of the
suggestion halls from Detroit and an
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-09
The WAY of Counter-ReUolution

Because the Communists have set their faces
like flint against any splitting of the miners OF
Canada away from the United Mine Workers OF
America, the so-caed One Big Union of Winnipeg
has begun to pick up and reproduce the usual CAPT
talist and anarchist SANDER against Soviet Russia.
In addition they announce, in the current issue
of their Bulletin, that they will split the miners
of Nova Scotia at any cost That these adventures
who run a ''union" on the profits of a gambling
game will do all the mischief they can is granted,
but now that they exposing their hand so open
w. the damage will probably not be so large as
threatened a few months ago.
The traitoriOus reactiOnaries, at the head of the
U. NJ W. of A.. of whom John L. Lewis is the king
PIN are deliberately provoking all the militant
miners everywhere. Lewis has openly boosted that
he will force the fighting miners to secede, or else
he will throw them out. Lewis wants the militants
out of the union in order that he shall have free
hand to sell the miners again and again to the coal
operators.
In spite of any good intentions that may animate
individual members of the o. b. IT,, there can be
no question that the split policy they advocate fits
exactly into the plans of Lewis. In its effects IL
is equally betrayal of the interests of the miners
And that the split policy brings counterrevolu-
tionary effects in its train in other issues besides
those of the union, is proved again by the o. b. U.
Bulletin which, because Communists in Nova Scotia
and the United States fight against their split de-
sires turns around to SANDER the revolutionary
Russian workers who have established the only
workers. government of the world, cementing its
structure together with their blood
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-09
What Will Peoria Do?

When the 600 delegates of the Illinois State
Federation of Labor gathered yesterday at Peoria,
they faced a terrific responsibility. They are
charged with the duty of organizing and carrying
forward the struggle of the labor movement against
the enemies that beset it. They must face the heart
rendering suffering of the miners $4,000 of whom
are totally unemployed while the rest are on part
time They must take a stand on the Ku Klux
Khan, which is being used by the employers to
break strikes to terrorize the workers. and to sup
press labor generally. They must rally the labor
movement against the statewide 'open shop" move
ment which is devastatingly riding over the unions
These are only some of the most burning and I'M
mediate problems at Peoria.
How will these problems be faced? There are
two points of view at Peoria One it that of the
officials, such as Walker Olander, Harrington, and
others 1t declares against fighting policy; it
wants to form an alliance with capitalist poll
ticians like Len Small, and win the bosses sup
port on the industrial field by producing more than
the scabs, as Harrington proposed to the miners
convention 1t is the policy of class collaboration
that these propose, and it is the most destruc
tive policy for the labor movement that could be
brought forward. 1t deserts the struggle and
abandons the rank and file to the tender mercies
of the employing class.
Against the class coaborators there will be
brought forth the policy of the leftwing elements
led by the Communists and the progressive miners
This calls for fighting policy; it demands relief
for the unemployed to be forced from the EN-
ployers and the state government thru series OF
gigantic mass demonstrations, rousing the entire
working class; it declares for war against the
unionwrecking X. X. K. it calls for great or
ganizing campaign to bring into the labor move
ment every working and woman in the State
of Illinois 1t denounces the alliances with the
capitalist politicians, and call for class political
party of the workers and poor farmers. 1t asserts
that the workers must begin preparations for TAX
ing over the government for the overthrow of the
power of capitalism, and the institution Of work
ers' and farmers government
What will Peoria do? Upon the lineup in the
Peoria convention future history will judge the
Illinois labor movement and the rank and file will
learn who are the agents of capitalism and who
are the fighters for the working class.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-09

as little as possible. or course, Sam
uel would make an important excep-
ton. If labor, for instance, wanted to
change places with capital, that is,
become the ruling power, Sam would
then not alone excuse the government
for butting in on the side of capitak
but would head a deputation urging
the army to take action in defense Of
the status quo. But in ordinary cir
cumstances, Sam as one who arro-
gates to himself the right to pose as
chief labor manager, one whose job
it is to sell the workers to the highest
bidder, he resents the interference of
tn government. 1t should act as a
refereel
Il AFOLLETTE slams the trusts. He
- wants us to go back to &c. He
would repeal the Sherman antitrust
law. He would do other things. "Pif-
fiel" snorts Gompers. Sam says the
trusts are alright. The Sherman anti
trust law is all wrong. Go back to
rs. Well, perhaps he might be will.
ing to go back when there are no re-
strictions on the sale of booze, but
otherwise Sam is travelling with the
big tent. He may grind his teeth once
in while at some particular capital
list, but the system is alright. Mark
Hanna was not bit out of the way,
when he called Gompers one of his
trusted labor lieutenants." That his.
toric phrase was uttered some twenty
or more years ago. It's still good.
THE DAILY WORKER was of the
/ opinion that Gompers jumped on
the LaFollette bandwagon in order to
capture the show. His own circus was
losing its novelty, and William H,
Johnston, manager Of the G. p. p. A.
outfit, was running away with the
crowd. Johnston did not serve his
time in the Salvation Army for moth.
ing. He was a good circus performer
Gompers might have some ethical
scruples against stealing the show, be-
ing a vigorousu opponent of the dor
ing a vigorous opponent OF the dor
unions. But LaFollette was the class
ic "borer from within" in the Repub
lican party and the socialist party was
boring from within the LaFollette
party, and Johnston and Warren s
Stone were boring from within in the
Gompersian non-partisan camp, SC
Sam could see augurs In all direction
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-09
CONTINUED from page l.

CONTINUED from page H.
the private monopoly system over the
political and economic life OF the
American people" During all these
years the Wisconsin Senator has
looked upon John Sherman, father of
the still-born Serman antitrust act,
as his god. Even in the July 4th let
ter accepting the presidential nomina-
ton by the Progressive Conference,
LaFollette spoke of Sherman as "The
clearest-visioned Republican states
man of his time" and called the Sher-
man Law, enacted by Republican
Congress in 1890, "the most effective
weapon that the ingenuity of man
could devise against the power of
monopoly"
This weapon has proved ingenious
indeed! The trend of economic de-
velopment in the United States has
for some time proved and proves to-
day that the economics on which the
LaFollette movement bases its politics
is hopelessly wrong. Concentration OF
industry and finance has been making
strides in seven league boots. No
amount of indignant yapping could or
can prevent this tendency. Assuming
that all the witch-doctors' remedies
against trusts proved successful, the
very day on which free, capitalist
competition could be restored, would
be the day on which this competition
would start to dig its own grave and
thru elimination and mergers would
continually beget concentration of
ownership and Capitalization of con-
Reconsideration.
Trusts Go Forward.
Despite years of hunting the trusts
with whips and torches, the giant
corporations have steadily gained in
strength. The march of the forces
making for large-scale production has
gone on apace. The thirty-three power
full Standard Oil subsidiaries whose
oil wells and pipe lines overflow and
undermine the country are thirty
three living monuments to the inefi-
cacy of antitrust legislation and to
the uselessness of judicial dissolution
suits. The tobacco, steel, copper,
coal, and other monopolies tell similar
stories.
But it is the dull, dreary, and APP
parently uninspiring figures of Amer
lean economic development that
plumb the depths of the economic fall
lacy of trust-busting.
We find that, in the manufacturing
Industries, the proportion of establish
ments employing SOL and more work
ers increased from 2S percent in 1909
to 1916 percent in 1919. At the same
time the proportion of manufacturing
establishments employing from one
to fifty workers fell from 26 percent
in 1909 to 1914 percent in 1919.
In 1909, only 1853 percent of the
manufacturing industries employing
rs percent Of the workers and account
ing for 70 percent of the total value
of the committees produced, were cor
poration-owned. BY 1919 the proper
ton of corporation-owned manufac-
turing establishments rose to Bis per-
cent; the percentage of workers en-
ployed reached S6.5 percent; and the
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-09
LaFolIette Program Opposes Labor's Rule

value OF the commodities produced by
these workers mounted to SIT per
cent OF the total.
During this decade, 1s0s-1s1S, the
proportion of individually owned
plants declined from 62.4 to Ats per.
cent; the percentage Of the workers
thus employed fell from 1872 to 6.S
percent; and the value Of these pro
ducts sank from 99 to 81 percent OF
the total.
And Wisconsin, the citadel Of La
Follettism today ranks fifth in the
proportion of its manufacturing in.
dustries which are corporation-owned
The Badger State has 926 percent OF
its manufacturing plants owned by
corporations.
Concentration Goes On Apaee
From 1914 to 1919 the number OF
manufacturing concerns producing
less than $4,000 year declined from
81 ,06O to 65,4S5. In this period the
plants producing from $4,000 to $780,.
900 annually rose from 56,S14 to H.
Oil; plants turing out from 100000
to $500 900 rose from 25,S47 to 39,647;
plants producing from 100000 to ST.
900 900 yearly mounted from 1920 to
9,20S; and factories producing more
than one million dollars advanced
from 1919 to 1914. Thus, the most
concentrated industries show gains in
strength from 200 to 300 percent:
Then, the number of wage workers
employed by corporations producing a
value of less than one million dollars
fell from 4,560,241 to 3,923,662. On the
other hand, theatotal employed in man
ufacturing industries increased in this
period At the same time the number
of workers employed by manufacture
ing establishments producing one mil
lion dollars or more rose from BATS
OO6 to 5,172,712.
Finally, in 1914 less than half Of the
total value of manufactured products
were turned out in plants producing
more than one million dollars. BY
1919 the proportion Of the total value
of manufactured commodities turned
out in plants producing more than
one million dollars annually was well
over two-thirds.
Hurting Workers
Indeed, in so far as the effective
ness of the antitrust laws matters,
they have proved their mettle only
against the organizations of the work
ers. Such bitter experiences have
thes anti-tru> edicts proved to the
workingman that, today, even the
American Federation of Labor is for
their repeal. 1t is significant that
the Clayton Act, once called by Com.
pers the Magma Charta" of Labor
has lost nearly all of its favor with
its worshippers of yesterday.
But even if LaFollette's program
were realized, would it be desirable
The answer is decisively No! 1t is
not large-scale production. it is not
highly centralized industry that is
responsible for the suffering and hard.
ships of the great mass of population
Small-scale competitive capitalist pro-
duction, assuming that it could be
perpetuated, is socially undesirable.
1t would deprive the masses Of many
of their gains achieved by them thru
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-09

tacks and outrages perpetrated by the
LaFollette group against the move
ment for indepenent working class
political action, and the very cam
paign LaFollette himself is now lead
ing, all give the lie to this unfounded
proposal.
The best way in which the greatest
number of the members of any econ
omic group can achieve the maximum
politico-social advantages is thru CO.
ordinated disciplined political action
on broad scale against the opposing
economic group. This, of course, is
class action. This is exactly what
LaFollete is attempting to do in be-
half of his own class of small manufac-
turers, petty businessmen, and mush-
room bankers.
More Empty Gestures
Hence Point Eleven Of LaFolIette's
program asking for the Election of
all federal judges without party de-
signation for limited terms" is an en-
PITY gesture. With the press, the
means of government, information,
and misinformation, all being in the
hands of the exploiters; with the very
men running for Office having been
trained in capitalist class law and
institutions, it is a travestry on the
workers intelligence to expect them
to accept such noisy but worthless
phraseology.
Last but not least, it is natural for
so energetic a spokesman of the
middle business interests as LaFol-
lette to denounce any attempt that
might be made by the workers as a
class towards asserting their political
power Such action by the workers
would take them out of the Wiscon-
sin Senator's political camp and
would in time bring them into
a sharp clash with the exploiters of
all dimensions and all intentions, as
class. Defeat, for all capitalists of
all sizes is the much-dreaded outcome
that LaFollette foresees in all moves
towards independent working class
political action. This explains LaFol-
lette's undermining the st. Paul Con-
vention and his attack on the Com
munists.
Workers Do Organize
But no wholesale dabbIing in the
gloriication of the non-partisan ap-
peal by fraudulent progressives can
change the course of economic de-
velopment. Capitalist industry itself,
and not evil men or bad spirits, gives
rise to an increasingly sharpening
class struggle. Capitalism itself tends
to lay the firm foundation for the or
ganization of the workers as a class,
along political lines.
1t is the very experiences Of the
workers in their struggle with all
strata of the employing class that
give rise to and prepare the ground
for the working class setting up it's
own governing. state apparatus. These
conditions and such experiences de-
termine, the character of the new state
machinery organically and best suited
to guarantee the rule of the working
class towards the end of building
social order free from the economic
class divisions of exploiters and ex-
ploited-Communism.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-09

years Of bitter struggle for higher
standards Of living.
Standing On Its Head
LaFollette's economic program is
standing on its head. Marx would
say that "It must be turned right side
up again, II you would discover the
rational kernel within the mystical
she'll" The trouble with the present
system of production and exchange is
not that 1t is highly developed. The
basic trouble is that the highly con-
centrated, large-scale means Of pro-
duction and exchange, all socially
used, are privately owned for private
profits. The way to end these anti
social conditions giving rise to unem-
ployment, long hours, degrading work
ing conditions and numerous other
causes of suffering among the masses
is to end the private ownership Of
capital.
But this is precisely what LaFollette
is inveterately opposed to. LaFollette
is a determined defender of the
private ownership of capital, of the
means Of the production and exchange,
socially used. The specialization Of the
trusts, the specialization of the we'll
developed means Of subsistence, is
anathema to LaFollette, for it would
mean the end of the private profit, the
capitalist system.
Useless Immediate Detectives
Consequently, no one will swallow
La-Follette's antitrust proposals, at a
gulp. In the light of the story of our
economic development aim Number
1 of the Progressive" platform striv-
ing for 1.-THE use of the power of the
federal government to crush private
monopoly, not to foster it, holds out
no hope to the workers.
And so long as private owners, cap
italists, are with us to coin the advan-
tages of large-scale production prim-
arily for the enhancement of their
profits, point Number Four of La
Follette's program, 1.-The repeal of ex-
cessive tariff duties especially on
ltrust-controlled necessities of life"
becomes a meaningless phrase.
Point Seven, seeking Legislation to
control the meat-packing industry" is
simply another instance of flying in
the face of facts. For years LaFol-
lette has been after the packing in
terests. Yet, today, their hold on the
government is a strong as ever. This
is due to the facts that the owner
ship Of so vital a necessity is permit
ted to rest in private hands. This is
just what LaFollette refuses to dis
turb.
Misleading Politics
Turning our attention to the second,
the political phase of LaFollettism,
we are not surprised to find the
strongest opposition to working class
action.
When the Progressive" platform
says that "class gains are temporary,
it is merely befogging the issue. His
tory's verdict on this point is as much
opposed to LaFollettism as the science
of economics is to his antitrust pro-
gram. The story of the American Rev
dictionary War, the outcome of the
Civil War, the gigantic strikes waged
by our workers, the demoralizing at
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-09
By T. J. O'Flaherty

idea coming from such an up-to-date
Communist balliwick is not to be
sneezed at The invitation is hereby
generously extended But certain
rules must be observed. First: Our
readers must not try to be funny"
tho humor and sarcasm will be re-
ceived with open arms. Second:
Don't feel sore if your contribution
should land in the waste basket. We
expect to do land office business and
the competition will be fierce. Third:
Be concise. Being tedious and long
winded is the prerogative. of the col
umn conductor. Fourth: Do not send
poetry unless it has propaganda value.
Poems about blades of grass, snails,
electrons, atoms or ectoplasm will be
frowned upon. Vermin however
should prove an inexhaustible source
of inspiration, as the supply is almost
unlimited. This is not to be taken
personally however. Under the head
ing of vermin come capitalists and la
Dor takers.
THOSE wishing to assist in turning
l out a good cooperative column
should address all communications to
THE DAILY WORKER, 'As We See
1t" Editor, lib Washington Blvd. Chi
cago, Illinois.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-09

increase the competition which Ameri-
can products will meet in world mar.
kets. The restarting of German indus.
try at which the bankers are aiming
will mean an increase in the produc-
tive power of German labor without
corresponding increase in their con-
suming power. For payment of repair
ations means that they must give
away a large part OF their product
without receiving goods from other ma.
tions in exchange.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-09

panic is on among the reactionary labor Of
fcials Each wants to Guido the other, in showing
how respectable and how collaborationist he is
But the class struggle goes and will throw them
on the scrap heap of history.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-09

Thus In the metal industry 0ne-sixth
of the workers are wholly unemployed
and nearly one-third are partially un-
employed. II is this situation which
underlies the prediction that settle
ment along the Dawes plan will vastly
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-09

Gompers was dragged into the LaFollette move
ment-only after he had received the price of his
own dictatorship in the approval of congressional
and state candidates on the republican and demo.
cratic tickets
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-09

Dawes fights against the socialists-whch is
ungrateful considering that the socialists are the
instruments by which his plan is being put across
on the European workers.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-09
DAWES PLAN WON'T GIVE HUNGRY
GERMAN WORKERS CHANCE TO EAT

The extent which
awaiting the
OF the leading
This shows that onennh the
wholly oneh partially
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-09

Spread the DAILY WORKER in this campaign
and watch the big results in stronger American
Communist movement-a bigger Workers Party.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-09

Join the Workers Party and subscribe to the
DAILY WORKER
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-09

DUT Sam Gompers. Trusts are his
- meat, even tho he skins" the
Beef Trust once in a while. But must
he not show the enemy that his toma-
hawk is still sharp? Gompers does
not like to have the government inter
fere between labor and capital except