The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-03-11
Ruthenberg Gave His Best
Energies to Build and
Strengthen Workers Press
BY ]. LOUIS ENGDAHL.

marble or granite They will not be reproductions II
bronze
These monuments will be the living, active weapons
of the social revolution in the United States of America
They will be the Communist Party the Communist
press, nIghler Young Workers (Communst) League
broader and militant left wing in the trade unions
and other organizations of the workers. growing
ment of the Pioneers
Today let us take up the special problem of rearing
the Communist press to the fallen leader
of our Parv esnecay the building of the party organ
The DAILY W0RKER-that Ruthenberg instru-
mental more than anyone else, in founding and in build
ing
There is incident that stands out wildly in my
mind, review the many years of my close associa-
ton with Comrade Ruhenberg since the year. 1902 when
both Joined the revolutionary movement. 1t in
June, 1917 that met him accidentally in the city Of
Washington, D. c.. altho had both to the cap
tal city of the American mpefast government the
same errand.
1t was the month that the espionage act had been
passed and gone into effect seeking gag the utter
ances printed and spoken Of the nation attempting to
force the masses to walk bndfoded into the slaughter
pits of the world Seective CONSUMPTION had also
gone into effect The lottery of death, that very
being played under the dome of the capitol
the numbers being selected that would determine which
of the youth of the land should make up the army
millions to cross the Atlantic to help fill the trenches OF
death that had been prepared for them thru the three
years that the had already ragged
1t was in this crisis that the post office department
headed by the bourbon reactionary Albert Burleson,
the socialist and labor press Notices broad
cast commanding editors to appear before Postmaster
General Burleson and state why the mailing privilege
should not be withdrawn 1t was polite way of ask
ing why the press that opposed the should be
crushed Ruthenberg had been called defend his pub
location, the Cleveland Socialist had been sum-
moned to argue for the American Socialist published in
Chicago.
1t was no accident that Ruthenberg the editor of the
Cleveland Socialist, should be among the first believe
the very first to be summoned. His statement, made
off is
of the records of the United States 1t
clear the language that he forced into the ST. Louis
Anti-War Proclamation of the Socialist Party, the
special Socialist convention in the Missouri metropolis,
held in the week that declared. 1t clear
the speeches he made to the multtudes in the public
square of Cleveland Ohio, calling upon the workers not
register not to allow themselves to be conscrped for
the
Ruthenberg was not appalled, by the mighty capital
list state that organizing every atom of strength
for the imperast at hand its task in face of its
growing struggle to build its place in the sun" He
had not yet been placed trial and sentenced to
years Imprisonment in Ohio for opposing the draft;
he had not yet been placed trial and sentenced
long years the prisons of New York state for
helping to frame the manifesto of the left wing of the
socialist party he had not yet been arrested and put
on trial in Michigan charged with assembling with other
Communists at Bridgeman Mich. But the courage and
sefconfdence with which he faced the capitalist state
in Washington, D. c., in the of 1917, fighting
for the right of the working class press to exist
only steeled by all his later experiences.
Through every struggle, Ruthenberg held among the
foremost tasks of the forces of revolution the building
of the revolutionary In spite of persecution and
Imprisonment, the Socialist News" the new name of
the cleveland Socialist continued to be published up
to the very moment that Ruthenberg broke w4cn the
socialist party and helped establish the Communist Party
in 1919
While crushed away within the walls of Sing Sing
Prison. in New York, Ruthenberg continued to con-
tribute articles to the Communist press that he had
helped establish. When he released from prison
he among those most anxious to enhance the pres
tge and influence Of the Weekly Worker the first Of
fical organ of the Workers (Communist) Party. It
Ruhenberg who led in the effort to establish the
firm foundation that has alone made the continued ex
istence of The DAILY WORKER possible these past
difficult three years.
When many other very important party activities
needed attention badly, something that Ruthenberg
knew better than anyone else he turned aside
theless the continued existence of the party
organ Daily giving every possible effort in the
struggle to establish 1t the mouthpece Of of
the American working class.
No less than other party activities, The DAILY
WORKER will suffer through the loss of comrade,
Ruthenberg
When finances are needed to keep sour Daily" going
in the face of its daily needs, it will not be possible
to draw upon his resourcefulness to each
curing crisis
To meet this loss new forces must be drawn into
action. The army of workers that is continually seeking
readers for "our Daily" must win new recruits in
large numbers.
But one plan that is already being urged success
fully especially at the many memorial meetings now
being held is the building of the Ruthenberg DAILY
WORKERS Sustaining Fund, as a growing monument
to our comrade who wac taken from us when he was
most needed.
The Ruthenberg Sustaining Fund for The DAILY
WORKER as it grows in proportions, should take "Our
Daily out of all danger from being wrecked on the
rocks Of a financial crisis.
Here is opportunity especially, for those great
numbers of party members that should be anxious