The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-09


merce dropped AZ per cent.
The first bombshell fred into the
camp of the FiGpinos was the re-
port of the Wood-Forbes mission
denouncing "the dangerous way in
which the Filipinos Elad involved tho
State in business" Then General
Woods entire policy to date has been
resolute and aggressive, highhanded
and militarist, with the object Il
driving the Philippine Government
out Of business and having it stay
out Of business for good.
The choice Of Wood as Filipino
Governor General is in itself the
best indication Of the economic and
naval Importance attached to the
Islands by the American imperial
lists and of the serious concern with
which our capitalists viewed the en-
try of the native government into
national business. General Leonard
Wood has the unenviable record If
being the most tyrannical and eff
Gent servant of our employing class.
The strikebreaker, General Wood has
left his bloody imprint on the strug-
giles Of the West Virginia miners, en-
the 1919 steel strike in Gary, on
the race troubles in Omaha, and on
the Cuban people.
Governor General Woods imper-
ialist policy is aggravated by his
being in a position to hand out valu-
able concessions to some of the to-
bacco, railroad, and oil millionaires
who invested 100000 in his disas-
trous 1920 presidential primary cam
paign. In April, 1923 Colonel Proc
ter, who spent close to $750,000 on
Wood in 1920. organized in the Is
! lands a special corporation called the
"Procter and Gamble Trading Co.,"
to exploit the cocoanut oil possibili-
ties Of the Philippines.
Here we have the conflict of i'm
perialist capitalist interests with the
needs and demands, and with the well
fare and existence, of the Filipino
nation. Here we have the lie given
to all the sham pretenses at the self
determination of nations so gran
diloquently mouthed by our ruling
class in the last world war slaughter.
In the case of the American impeT-
ialist attempt to uproot the most
| substantial basis for Philippine ma
tional freedom, the economic basis,
| the workers and farmers Of the
United States and the world are pre-
scented with a view of what our
capitalism really is-stripped to the
skeleton in all its naked brutality.
Salvation Lies in Unity Of Oppressed
1t is plain therefore that the very
economic conditions of capitalist I'M
perialism initiate against the FIJI
Pine people being given freedom
from our employing class exploita-
ton and oppression.
It is likewise clear that because
twice as much British capital is to-
day still invested in the Philippines,
the American imperialists will not
dare to throw away the inestimable
| political advantages at their disposal
thru the present political domination
of the archipelago by Wall Street.
The spectre of Anglo-Japanese unity
in the Pacific still haunts our I'M
perialists.
The inestimable value of the PHI
ippines as a source of new raw ma
terials, as a naval base, as the COM
mercial gateway to the Far East,
is uppermost in the minds Of our
capitalist rulers.
| Consequently the Philippine crisis
is bound to develop and grow ever
more acute. Our exploiters WIN
never surrender the bargain they got
from the decrepit Spanish govern
ment when they paid S20,000,000 for
these treasure islands. The best that
can be forced out Of our employing
class, the most the Filipipos can
hope for as long as the capitalists
dominate our political and economic
life, is some incomplete, limited ma
tional autonomy of some form or
other.
The salvation of the Filipino peo-
pie lies only in their union with the
oppressed Of the world, under Com
munist leadership and for Commun-
ism.
Complete economic and political