The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-01-19
By JOHN PEPPER.

"s scSHo III cur KarCy ConVen-
ton. The chairman announced that
Joseph Manley would make the re-
port on the agricultural question.
Comrade Manley walked UP from his
place to the front of the hall. He
was received by giggles from many
delegates. Many comrades and good
comrades and good trade unionists
ct that, found it funny that Manley,
the typical city worker, tor twenty
years a member of the Structural
Iron Workers Union, should appear
before the Convention of the Work
ers Party to picture the bankruptcy
and misery Of the farmers, to describe
the political revolt of the modern
American peasants"
The giggling comrades could not
understand the fundamentally revo-
lutionary significance of the fact of
. city workers, typical trade un-
ionlst, appearing as an ardent adyo-
cate, Of the idea of the solidarity of
workers and farmers and of the revo-
lutionary resolution of the Central
Executive Committee on agriculture.
as a fervent exponent of the idea
that the Communists shall attempt to
assume leadership Of the rebellious
farmers.
Not . Temporary Bankruptcy.
Our Party must understand that
the most important revolutionary
fact Of our last Party Convention
was our stand on the agricultural
crisis in the United States and our
bold attempt to place ourselves at
the head of the farmers revolt.
/ know there is big opposition in
our Party to that idea. Many COM
rades think that we overemphasize
the Importance of the farmers, that
through our agricultural work we
divert precious forces from the work
In the labor movement, in the trade
unions, or from direct Communist
propaganda. Many comrades main
tain the opinion that the farmers are
born counter-revolutionary class,
inseparably bound to private prop
erty, and that therefore, an alliance
between Communists and farmers
will only soil our revolutionary vir-
ginity. Many comrades think that
the bankruptcy of the farmers is
something temporary. They say that
one or two good crops, and the farm
ers who are Disconnected today will
be again conservative citizens.
We must state emphatically that
these comrades do not understand
how to analyze the most elemental
facts of American social and political
life. The bankruptcy of the farm
ers is not something temporary. The
last crop was one of the best in the
history Of the United States. The
deepest cause Of the bankruptcy of
the farmers is the unbridgeable in
ternal conflicts of capitalism itself.
The final, the imperialist, phase of
capitalism has created, thru the
trusts, an absolute monopoly on in
dustrial products. The farmers must
pay for industrial products, the prices
dictated to them by the trusts, and
they are forced to sell their products
at less than the cost of production.
And ruling capitalism has no remedy
for the farmers President Coolidge
declared that the farmers must help
themselves. At the same time, the
government power, which is in the
hands of the trusts, concentrates its
gigantic and ever growing force,
for the deliberate ruination of mill
lions Of farmers,
The Chinese Wall Of the Fordney
McCumber tariff excludes the cheap
industrial products of foreign coun-
tries, and renders the monopoly of
the trusts impenetrable.
The Department Of Agriculture re-
ported that no less than 80 per cent
Of the farmers income goes for
taxes.
Secretary Of Agriculture Wallace
reported that Investigation has dis
closed that, Of the owner farmers in
fifteen corn and wheat-producing
states, on an average over per cent
had lost their farms through foreclo-
sure or bankruptcy, while nearly A
per cent had turned over their farms
to creditors without legal process.
making a total of about 8 n per cent.
In addition. more than 10 per cent