The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-03-27
By MANUEL GOMEZ.

THE soldier has no vote. The slogan,
1 Keep politics out of the army!"
represents a time-honored and jealous
ly guarded tradition. Every precau-
ton is taken to cut the army off from
the rest of society so that it will be
an unrefiecting agent Of the ruling
class. With the increasing centraliza-
ton of state power this becomes more
and more necessary, for frequent use
Of the military against the workers in
strikes tends to revive any vestiges Of
class feeling lying dormant in the sol
diers and carries with it the danger of
determination with the enemy"
The court martial that sentenced
Paul Crouch and Walter Trumbull to
prison terms of 40 and rs years res
pectively for organizing a Communist
group among the U. S.. soldiers in
the Hawaiian islands, no doubt con-
sidered Communism in the army as
akin to mutiny. 1t was not hatred of
the abstract doctrines of Communism
that dictated the original savage SEN
fences (later reduced, under pressure,
to years for Crouch and for Trum-
bulD, but rather the knowledge that
the Communist movement has become
a world force. In the minds of the
military judges was the hidden fear
that the army cannot permanently be
isolated from the influences sweeping
over the social class to which most
soldiers belong by origin. They were
confronted by the fact that every i'm
portant revolution of masses in his
tory was participated in by the mill
tary. Presidents Of the most discon-
certing nature exist-as for instance
the revolutionary activity of the ma
tional guard in Paris in the days of
the 1871 Communards-or the action
of the cars cossacks who refused to
fire upon the tumultuous workers of
Petrograd and made common cause
with them one historic day in 1917.
Possibly the judges would have been
less severe with Crouch and Trum-
bull had they not committed their
crime" of Communism while station
ed at an overseas colonial possession.
Modern governments are extraordina-
rily sensitive about their colonies and
semtcolonies. Morocco, Syria and
China are constantly before their eyes.
The Philippine Islands are close to
China. The Hawaiian islands are sew
eral thousand miles away, but the in
iuence of Chinese events spreads ra-
pidly among the Hawaiian working
class, made up predominantly OF
Filipinos and Asiatics. The judges
were not ignorant of this.
When Communism appears in an
army OF occupation, Notwithstanding
all the efforts at political segregation
OF the soldiers, II is sure danger
signal for Imperialism. It is a sign
OF decay in the inner organism of the
imperialist SYSTEM so widespread as
to stimulate the national liberation
movements in the very territories
which the imperialist armies are re.
quired to keep subject.
III.
Big changes have taken place in the
United States army thru the $50 years
OF It's existence. Qualities required OF
the ragged rihemen OF 1916 were the
exact antithesis Of the contemporary
military ideal. washington's army
was revolutionary. There was no talk
Of keeping politics out" The ranks
were supposed to be imbued with a
deeply felt political purpose. Today
the army is typical auxiliary force
Of parasitic capitalism-expected to
serve with equal equaxImity, in az.
gressive warfare. IN dsfenss. or in