The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-05-16
The Forward"
Rev. Thomas
|AndMr. MaurerI
By PAUL NOvICK.

the circle of Jewish readers. Decent"
socialists usually claim that they are
mot responsible" for the Forward,
and the story goes that Messrs. Nor
man Thomas and James Maurer are
among them. These socialists con-
veniently forget that the Forward /
crowd is the backbone of the New
York socialist organization, and in
that way the backbone of the Socialist,
Party of America. They also like
to forget that the money that comes
from the Forward helps maintain the
New Leader and whatever there is
left of socialist activity.
The recent convention of the So
cialist Party, which gave up the idea
of class struggle and has fully ex-
posed that party as petit bourgeois
another valuable task of tearing off
the mask of "deeency" from gentle
men like Thomas and MaureF:
Thomas Speaks in Forward.
The Forward of April 18th carried
on its front page special message
| lIOln NIL INO1llldIl LOlIlhS W Zig
Jewish workers. Mr.. Thomas there
fore does not mind identifying him.
with the Forward and using it as his
mouthpiece, The same issue of the
Forward also carries a resolution
which the Socialist Party convention
had unanimously, as that paper says.
adopted acknowledging the good so
cialist work the Forward is doing
1t will therefore be worth while tol
examine this "good socialist work"
By exposing this yellow paper wei
will throw light on those who APP
preciate its work and on those who
use it as their mouthpiece.
We need not go back too far. We
need not tell the gentlemen who APP
pear as the friends of the Soviet
Union what means the Forward en-
ploys to besmirch and Islander the
Workers and Peasants government.
Mr.. Maurer is probably also aware
of the fact that the Forward has sup
pressed all news regarding his reports
on his trip to the Soviet Union. We
will just cite few very recent ex+
amples of the "good socialist ac-
tivity" of the Forward.
Capitalist Propaganda.
On Sunday, April 10, while ths
Socialist Party Convention was iru
session, there appeared in the For
ward an editorial headed: "The Price
of the World War and the Price of
the Russian Civil War" In that
editorial which was merely clumsy
translation from recent editorial in
the New York Times on the same
subject, the socialist paper tries tn
''show" that the civil war in Russia
was more costly than the World Was
with regard to the number Of lives
lost. This idea is based on the figures
the committee of the League of Ma
tons has recently published. With
out going into the details of Theses
very questionable figures, it is WORTH
while noticing one feature of the
''good socialist" editorial: The For
ward very innocently omits such
names as Koltchak, Udenitch, Deni-
kin, Wrangel, Pilsudsky, Petlura, etc,
as well as the blockade and all direct
intervention by the allies and tho
United States. 1t seems that these
good people and their humanitarian
internationalism played no part in
taking away the lives of millions of
men, women and children on the terri
tories of the Soviet Union. :.
Is that the kind of "good socialist
work" the Socialist Party Conventions
has endorsed?
Now let us go back one week. On
Sunday, April 8, we find in the For
ward more striking example of good
socialist activity, i. e. the activity of
that paper against the rank and fla
of the trade unions.
Supported All Corruptionists.
We will not cite the ignominous
work of the Forward in the needles
trades, where in alliance with Mat
thew Vol and the needle manufac1
turers it has helped abolish the forty
hour week and other good union con-
ditions inaugurated by the left wing
leadership, and has helped bring back
slavery for the needle workers and
misery and suffering for tens Of
thousands of workers families. We
will not cite the support the Forward
had always given corrupt union Of
ficials, even such officials as Bres~
lauwer of local 35, I. l.. G. w. u, who
was openly exposed by the report of
Stuart Chase in 1926, the Zausner
gang of the Painters Council whose
Wall Street activities with union
funds) were recently aired in the
courts of New York, etc, etc. Tha
editorial of Sunday, April s deals
with the rank and file movement
among the miners. The stand Of the
Forward on this question is Indicative
of the general attitude Of the For
WARRIOR the corrupt officials and
against the rank and file, against,
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