The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-09-26


Russian films out of the storage vault
and actually before the broad masses.
Many are the means by which this
can be done and we win briefly con-
slider some Of them.
I 1t is possible for workers or
4 CARNATIONS possessing proletari-
an films to make contact with small
theaters in single cities, and to show
them there. Not yet have all small
theaters been gobbled up by the trust.
Especially in the provinces are there
numbers of small and relatively indie
pendent theater owners. It is possible
to make contact with them and to
book working class films occasionally.
The German l. w. A. did this success
fully in the Rhein district and in cen
trail Germany. This method is parti-
cularly promising in industrial sec
tons, or also in cities and villages
as in Czecho-Sloyakia or France,
where the Communist Party Yields
considerable influence or is perhaps
actually in control of the local adj
ministration. In many cases this has
been successful. But it is not the
basis for extravagant hopes, at most
perhaps per cent Of the theaters
can be approached in this way. ALI
the remainder are served exclusively
thru the big film bureaus tightly
bound by long-term contracts.
. Other means must therefore, be
Ia found to actually bring the films
before the broad masses, and despite
all obstacles and administrative and
organizational difficulties, the method
of direct arrangements is as yet the
most promising. This is the method
used by the l. w. A. in the United
States. In New York, Chicago and
other principal cities theaters were
rented for periods of day to more
than week, and with typical large
scale American publicity methods, the
proletarian Russian films were shown.
The first films, among them Russia
Through the Shadows" proved SEN
sation and achieved tremendous agi-
rational success. Hundreds of thou
sands of workers have seen these
films. and, the. financial surplus OF
$4,000 can be cited as an added ia
vorable result. But after the first two
pictures the sensation waned, inter-
est tagged, and financially and agi-
nationally the success was less.
Similarly, the British 1. w. AIS ex-
perience; during the last years labor
party congress they ran several Rus
sian films in a rented theater in Lon
don. Additionally, they met with ex-
cellent success, altho financially the
result was less satisfying.
Under this method Of showing our
pictures in rented theaters there re-
main a large measure of possible con-
flicts with theater owners who try
to enforce personal censorships, high
rents, dependence upon dates set sole
ly by the owner, etc. The method In
augurated by the l. w. A. in Germany
France and Czecho-Sloval1ia seems to
me to be the one applicable and best
. In Germany and in France, the
u l. w. A. decided to organize its
tilm activity Independent of the bour-
geois exchanges OF theaters. In both
countries the l. w. A. Central Com
nittee decided in the beginning to
purchase several motion picture film
projectors. This is a measure strong
ly recommended to all working class
organizations. Our own apparatus
makes us Independent of the theater
and of question of show places. In
recent years apparatus has been per-
fected to such an extent that one can
show pictures in any available room
irrespective of electrical facilities OF
sources of power What makes this
apparatus particularly valuable to the
Communist Party is the possibility OF
projection in the open air, making
feasible its use in times of election
campaigns or other major activity in
night meetings in the market square
to complete and support the address