The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-08-16

ma plotting have become world
wide calamity"
In other words, there is no menace
of war, and the blame for the present
situation is to be placed not on the
British conservatives, but on the
Russian methods" Thus the Ger
man social-democracy reacted to the
rupture of Anglo-Soviet relations.
The same spirit of hostility to the
workers republic, and of anxiety to
whitewash the world bourgeoisie and
to absolve it of the charge of pre-
pairing for war, pervades the COM
ments of the ociaI-democratic press
in connection with the murder Of
Comrade Voikov. In "Vorwaerts" of
June 7 we read that the murder of
the Soviet ambassador was IAN act
of individual terror, of Individual
vengeance" and on the following day
the reformist newspaper took up, the
defense of the Polish government
against the attacks" of the Soviet
republic. 1.-THE Soviets have no
grounds to saddle the Polish govern
ment with responsibility for the muir
der" says "Vorwaerts." And it goes
on the po6-poo the idea of any i'm
plication of the British tories in the
assassination of Soviet representa-
tives:
''The assertion that British diplo-
macy was acting by means of muir
der and assassination is nothing but
the raving of feverish magma
ton" (''Vorwaerts," June 10, 1920
On the other hand, the shooting of
20 imperialist agents, necessary act
of self defense of the proletarian
state against imperialist plots, brings
the reformists into a state of fury
After mourning the shooting of "the
hostages" to which it devotes a lead
ing article under the melodramatic
headline of Twenty" the organ of
the German reformists speaks about
the restoration of the reign of ter
ror" and about the "recrudescence of
civil war in Russia"
Most of the social-democratic pa
pers re-echoed the central organ of
the social-democratic party. In the
whole campaign of the reformist
press engaged in theological prepara-
ton for war, one cannot help feeling
the presence of a definite aim and a
singular purpose.
1t is quite obvious that the leaders
of the German trade unions, whose
proud boast it is that they are "bone
from the bone and flesh from the
flesh" of the German social-democra-
cy, maintain in principle the same
position on the war question as the
latter. They too are filled with
boundless devotion to the interests of
their bourgeoisie. Nevertheless, bear
ing in mind that passiveness on the
part of the trade unions Just now is
tantamount to directly supporting the
bourgeoisie, the reformists of the
free trade unions of Germany have
chosen the position of silence and alb
solute ignorance of the war menace.
So far not a single word about the
war menace has escaped either the
General Federation of the German
trade unions tADGB) not the indivi-
dual trade unions. This is all the
more criminal, since in the prevention
of war a responsible part is to be
played by the German trade unions.
The German transport workers, rail-
waymen, chemical and metal work
ers may compel their bourgeoisie to
withhold support from the interven-
tionists. But to this end they must
be modified right now. An intensive
campaign for the 8-hour day, higher
wages, and for the general everyday
demands of the workers, would con-
siderably hamper the war prepare
tons of the capitalists, but this is
precisely what the reformists refuse