The daily worker., 1930-03-19
SOCIAL-FASCIST SPORTS
INTERNATIONAL AND ITS
LACKEYS IN THE U.S.A.
BY w. BURKE.

the middle of last October showed the COM
pete capitulaton of the Isl to the bour-
geois sports movement AMI the bourgeolsle
This Congress also showed to the interna-
tional working class that the Isl is not
workers sports organization but political
tool of the second yellow international The
congress proved to the international working
class sports movement that the leaders of the
Lucerne follow the road of joining hands with
the international bourgeoisie in the prepara-
tions for an attack against the Soviet Union.
The Lucerne Sports International is the sport
international of the social-fascist party-the
Second International.
This Congress of the Lucerne to which the
delegates were hand d-pcked, met in period
of intense class struggles period when the
bourgeoisie, in order to compete in the inter-
national market, has begun and is continuing
to carry out an attack against the interests
of the working class on all fronts. In these
attacks of the capitalists, the brunt of the
burden is centered upon the millions of young
workers, many of them sportsmen, who be-
cause of their youth and good physical
dition are more fiercely exploited than the
adult workers. This Congress met in per-
iod of capitalist naturalization, which results
in millions of workers being thrown into per-
manent unemployment. Above all, this Con-
gress met in period of preparation of an
open attack against the Soviet Union by the
international bourgeoisie.
Social Fascist Leaders.
To these burning questions of the day for
the international working class and the work
err sportsmen, the Congress gave answer.
1t did not take note of them in the old
social-democratic way by passing resolutions.
1t maintained complete silence, because the
Congress was not the congress of the worker
within fho hutt tho
gress of the social-fascist leaders of the Lu-
cerne.
The congress confirmed the policy of the
executive committee of the Lucerne by break
ing off all sport relations with the worker
sportsmen of the Soviet Union 1t further
confirmed the mass expulsion policy of the
Lucerne as carried out by the executive COM
mittee. 1t also decided to break off all sport
relations with the Red Sports International.
On the other hand, it endorsed the joint COM
petition of worker sportsmen with the bour-
geos sport organizations. The whole line of
the congress was to isolate the worker sports
men from the revolutionary movement and
from the class struggle.
AS manifestation of the pressure of the
rank and file membership within the Lucerne,
| the vote on the breaking off of sport rela-
tons with the Soviet Union was 26 in favor
and 25 against, with two abstentions. Those
voting against the motion were not the better
but the worst part of the congress, represent
ing the cleft" Austrian social-democracy. They
voted against this decision not because they
are against breaking off relations with the
Soviet Union but because they did not wish
to see the Lucerne unmask itself before the
masses of the working sportsmen. These ele-
ments must be fought against than the
open social-fascist leaders of tho = --"-
since, while standing on the same platform
with the other leaders, they, with tne..
phrases, teni to deceive the worker sports
men. The hesitation of several of the leaders
only goes to show that the masses of the
worker sportsmen, united by the L. S. l., con-
tnue to stand on the platform of revolution
ary sports, platform of the RSI, which will
unite in the near future all the worker sports
men into one working class sport international,
! an instrument of irreconcilabe class struggle
| against the bourgeoisie.
Following the decisions of this socia-f
| congress, the officials of the Workers Gym
| nastic & Sport Alliance, (WGSA), an Amer
| lean section of the Lucerne, have also begun
| a campaign of terrorism and expulsion of
! those members of this organization who stand
| on the platform of real class sports, on
| platform which was originally the platform
upon which the Lucerne was organized but
| which it has abandoned.
| bership of the WGSA from the general revo-
| lutionary working class movement, the lead
| ers of this organization, with the help of ly-
| ing and slanderous bulletins of the Lucerne,
were able to keep the membership in ignor-
ance of the real conditions in the international
working class movement However, with the
!, intensification of the class struggle and with
| the Lucerne following more and more anti
working class line, the workers in this organ
ization began to demand more militant line
from their leaders. They demanded that the
organization participate in the every day
struggles of the workers. They demanded
| closer relations with the Labor Sports Union
| of America, which is section of the Red
| Sports International. The leaders answered
these demands with contempt and silence.
However, not until the January 18th Con-
gress of the WGSA did the officials begin to
openly carry out the line of the Lucerne and
the Prague congress. To this congress, these
social-fascst leaders invited Mr.. r. G. Palm,
secretary of the Labor Sports Union of the
United States," to speak on the WGSA join
ing their ranks.
The Right Wing in the U. S.
Before we go further, let us see who this
R. G. Palm is and what his L. S. U. of U. S.
represents. r. G. Palm was member Of the
National Executive Board of the Labor Sports
Union Of America (note difference in name),
now section of the Red Sports International,
for about six months until he was suspended
in March, 1928, for his disruptive tactics and
his attempt to split the L. S. l.. of A. At