The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-11-20
By euNMlAueUR RJoRNsoN

Iceland, 1t Would be desirable 10 note
the historic development of the coun-
try and It's relationship to the outside
world This, however, Is no mean
task; Justice to it could not be ae-
complishsd In short article Of this
Kind But there ara some main fac
tors Wa must ioach upon if there Is to
be any comparison drawn between
the Communist movement In Iceland
and the rest of the world One might
say that this is "much ado" about an
insignificant country. The answer Is
that nothing Is too small for Com
mnnlst point OF view If It widens our
knowledge
In Iceland there Is no Industrial pro
lstardat to speak Of Industries are
few and have no possibilities OF deVel
opment beyond a certain amount OF
home production, excepting the fishing
Industry and dairy farming, which
form the principal exports OF the
country The population OF approx
mafaly 100,O is scattered over an
area larger than that Of Scotland or
Ireland, an area OF which probably
four-fffhs In uninhabitAble-
Transportation Is mainly by horse
back riding, automobiles and small
coastal steamers, under municipal or
government ownership Roads are
good. but costly Of building and up
kesp.
Since 1906 a network OF telephone
lines connect the remotest villages IN
the country, and about the same time
a cable communication between the
Shafland Islands and Iceland brought
Il IN daily contact with the whole
world
As already mentioned, the majority
of the population is engaged in the
fishing industry and dairy farming, the
farmers comprising as a whole
struggling, hard to meet both ends,
weather-beaten and frostbitten indi-
/, vidHRls, with here and there an "ar1s-
tocrHt" who gets enough to eat with
oua working for it himself usually
the municipal representative OF the
community Not so with the sea man.
He Is the big brother of the Land
crab" wage worker, and. like him, is
organized into one of the strongest
unions. These union men have a
score or two marked on the butt OF
thesr arms, Indicating victories over
the bosses The building trades, COM
mon labOrefs and harboT workers form
another main section of the working
class, part of which is comprised of
boating wage laborers, shifting ac-
coraing to seasons from the towns to
the agricultural districts In the sum-
mere, and back again to the towns in
the fall and winters.
Common education In the island per
mits of any comparison The Ian
guage is one And iIliteracy is I'M
known
Early in the year 1915 the workers
of Iceland created their own political
party for the first time in history.
This is now a mass party, capable Of
a real opposition TO the old parties
and, in fact, the only adversary to be
reckDned with by the conservative
party in power Unlike other labor
parties, or perhaps it is the only one
Of a kind that serves the double pur-
pose Of a federation Of labor and a
political party at the same time. The
unions are members by affiliation, and
are the backbone of the party.
An auxiliary committee to the gem
erai party apparatus heads the affiE
lated unions in capacity Of fedora
ton executive, which has the power
to call and terminate strikes, formu-
late the general policy, etc. AT the
present tima one-third Of the votes on
this committee are Communist
The general executive committee Of
the labor party is dominated by the
social democrats. There Is only one
Communist ON the G. Z. c., Comrade
Olafur Fridriksson, one OF the fore