The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-09-27
BY ]. LOUIS ENGDAHL.

SylNanla offers an excellent OPP
portunity to investigate the obstacles
confronting the building Of a Labor
Party in this country.
Here is a highly industrialized com
munity. The workers are concentrat-
ed to very great extent in one in
dustry and, insofar as American trade
unions 60, they have strong organi-
zation.
To be sure there are the many con-
flicting nationalities and the power
Of the church (catholic) is strong.
The highly developed capitalist poll
teal organization, so peculiar to Penn
sylvania, prevails here as part of
''the machine" that dominates the
state.
The big fact to begin with is that
the slightest beginnings of Labor
Party are lacking.
This does not mean that the miners
union is not in politics. It's officials,
and to a very large extent the mem
bership, is head over heels in old
party politics. This I learned as I
spent the last days before the recent
Pennsylvania elections in the hard
coal field.
I had been told that there was
labor candidate" in Old Forge, near
Pittston. When I went to Old Forge
to speak at q Sacco-Vanzetti mem
orial meeting, I got in touch with the
italian coal miner who was running
for alderman in the Fourth Ward. He
had no conception Of the building Of
a Labor Party, as far as l could learn.
He gave me q copy of Manifesto"
he had Just issued, on his own initia-
tive, in both the English and the Ital-
ian languages.
Italians use the word Manifesto"
in referring to any form of leaflet,
even handful announcing a mass
meeting. The contents Of this Mani
festo" are well worth reproducing, as
they typify what is in the mind of an
Italian mine worker as he views an
American election campaign.
The "Manifesto" is addressed to the
Citizens of Old Forge" and says:
with the primaries near Tuesday,
Sept. Goth, you will be called upon
to Mark your Ballot and name your
candidate. Let that mark be your
genuine expression and not the influ-
ence of the same guileful merchants
of humanity. Let this system of slav-
cry be over with. Let no money buy,
in fact against them, your contempt
for they deserve it. Men elected by
deceit, trickery, violence and fraud,
can never look to the economical in
terest of all, but of very few, also to
the moral loss of all. Let us put aside
Nationality. Elect men who are quail
flied, responsible and independent. Eet
not the names of Italians be used to
deceive you, likewise the names Eof
other nationalities. We are American
Citizens, and as such, let us do our
duty. Remember that when you vote,
you implicate the interests Of every
one. Be not guided by friendship, fear,
religion or favor. There is nothing
in the world so low as the person who
sells his or her vote, thus such people
should never be allowed to vote. Ex-
perience should have taught you that
they buy you for that day and then?
"Oh! What disgrace to hear say:
He who has most money will be elect
ed! Let that saying disappear; let
he who is most qualified, hoaest and
independent, be elected Therefore,
you shall see our economic and moral
interests will be appeased 100 per
cent. Let no one but yourself con-
troll your vote. Do not take upon
yourself the responsibility of voting
for a candidate you do not know.
Those who want you to vote for Who
evvr hey want, are those who are
expecting favors. money, jobs and
you? Think"
This is a strange mixture, to be
sure. Yet, believe, it is the sincere
though feeble effort of a worker to
raise the banner of his class in the
electoral struggle in strange coun-
try using an Unfamiliar language.
The sentence, 'Let this system Of
slavery be over With" seems to have
slipped in almost by accident. 1t is
almost lost amidst the verbiage usu-
ally used by the vote-catching CAPT
talist politicians who plead for an
"honest vote" while they spend mil
lions to corrupt the electorate, who
denounce nationalist and religious pre-
judice while they energetically explicit
them, who pirate about moral inter
ests" while they lead church-goers
and underworld habitues alike to the
ballot box. The flag waving appeal
to american citizens" must not be
forgotten.
All this poison has no doubt been
inbibed by this wcrker-candidate from
reading the daily kept press, which,