The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-02-02

x@..s,x Se..1
BY T. J. o'FLAHERrv

hNE OF the socialist party papers,
~ one the few still in existence in
the United States is publishing letters
supposed to have been written by
political prisoners in Soviet prisons.
Tho the letters bear every earmark
Of antiSoviet connections they are
issued between elegant covers headed
by Mr.. Roger Baldwin, director of the
Civil Liberties Bureau and very per-
soma grata in the columns of the
New York Times since he began ito
expose" Soviet Russia to the salts
faction of the American capitalist
class.
TIME ex-revolutionists who are now
4 associated with Mr. Baldwin may
take to heart the statement made by
Daniel O'Connell, the Irish nationalist,
when a British government official
complimented him after delivering a
speech. Il must go home and examine
my conscience" said Daniel. The ex-
]. W. WIS who are cooperating with
Mr. Baldwin and the Jewish Daily
Forward should look with jaundiced
eye on compliments coming from the
New York Times and other organs of
Wall street.
THE letters from so-called political
i prisoners that appear between the
covers of the $500 pamphlet are
written in the lurid style affected by
the dime novel detective or the stool
pigeons of the Palmer red raid period.
They leave nothing to the imagina-
ton. Mr.. William Burns, the gentle
man who discovered the perpetrators
of the Wall street bomb plots ninety
nine times, could not improve on
them. It is the most improbable
congeries of pipe dreams ever syndi-
Gated The letters are the work OF
experienced sensational fiction writ
ers. But what if they are true?
TIME important point to be consid-
L cred is whether or not the Rus
sian workers and peasants have a
right to the produce of their labor OF
whether they are guilty in assuming
that those who produce should rule
and act on that assumption. 1t
might be noticed that those worship
pers at the shrine of democracy and
pacifism seem to ignore the fact that
capitalism, being the system of private
ownership of the means of life and
the exploitation of the many in the
interests of the few is inherently un.
democratic, in the sense that demo
cracy is understood, j. e.: the rule OF
the majority.
IF the Russian workers and peasants
L are the only classes entitled to rule
their country thru the fact that they
are the only producers of wealth, II
follows that they are morally right In
using any effective means to safe.
guard their power. If those who are
charged with the serious, responsible
ty of guiding the destinies of 100000
900 workers and peasants allowed the
czarists and their capitalist sup
porters to return to their old diver
sion of exploiting those 130,000,000
the BoIsheviks would not have to
worry much about filthy jails, lustful
wardens and brutal jailers. The work
ers and peasants would have them
hanged drawn and quartered.
TNACTS are hard-boiled propositions
l. Undoubtedly there are some coun
ter-revolutionists in Soviet prisons
because they have actively opposed
the Soviet government. And let it be
understood that there was nothing
platonic about the activities of those
gentry. Everything went from assas
sination to lying propaganda and ne
gotiations with capitalist governments
looking towards the overthrow of the
workers and peasants rule in Russia
Mr.. Roger Baldwin and his liberty
having associates who seem to ignore
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