The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-12-12
BEFORE THE FISH
COMMITTEE

put out naked in the cold, so degrees below zero.
Those who refused to work were shot forthwith.
! Once $500 prisoners were sent to neighboring
lumber camp; two months lated only 500 sur
vivors returned. He was quite sure the lumber
| cut came to the United States. He produced
| fantastic figures as to the number of prisoners,
starting at 1000 for his unit he mounted easily
| to $4,000 for the surrounding country, 10000 for
the district and 100000 altogether. At the last
figure, even the Committee members demurred.
This was laying it on too thick. Their perjurer
had out-Fished FISH But the capitalist re-
porters drank up the 1urid fable. To such absurd
extremes do FishWon and Co. go in the at
tempt to bar Russian lumber from American
markets and to create war sentiment
The reading of the sharp and incisive Party
statement, right in the heart of the imperialist
government center, made the Fish Committee
reactionarieS vince Manifestly they would have
been glad to refute our terrible picture of crisis
unemployment, wage cuts, speed-up, 1ynching,
war preparations etc. But they were quite I'M
able to do so. They could not even begin an
attack upon it. Their approach to the document
that of political illiterates We had heard
that they were such, but the reality surpassed
our expectations. Bachnian made feeble effort
to refute our figure of 100000 unemployed and
to deny our charges of Negro persecution in West
Virginia, but he collapsed at once under our
further barrage of facts. Likewise, Eslick of
Tennessee in his childish attempt to defend"
the rights of Negroes in his state.
Our PartyS terrific indictment of American
injustice went practically unchallenged. Before
it. the prosperity Shouters had nothing to say.
The best they could do was to put to us few
stupid questions about the flag, religion, and
violence, for use later in the campaign of ter
rorism which they hope will protect American
imperialism from the awakening masses
1t was highly interesting to watch these fas-
cst defenders of capitalism under the attack of
our Party. In addition to the fiery Party state
ment, Amter, Cannes and I repeatedly charged
their entire capitalist system bankruptcy; we
demonstrated that the United States is a whole
social era behind the Soviet Union: we excori-
ated capitalism in the South, stating that its
social, political economic and cultural levels can
be measured by the Ku Klux Klan lynching,
$500 a week workers, child labor, and the Dayton
trial. But there was little response. The old
time militancy of such red-baters, their violent
100 per cent, trigger defense of American
capitalism from the slightest criticism, was
not there. This was not because relying on ter
roristic measures, they do not consider any argu-
ment necessary. On the contrary, they listened,
obviously disturbed. Their attitude reflected The
alarm and uncertainty which capitalists the
world over feel at the deepening crisis of their
own system, while Socialism makes such gigantic
strides in the Soviet Union. In their hearts, the
Fish Committee were suspecting the validity of
their own system and were truly alarmed at the
prospect of an awakening working class under
the leadership of the Communist Party.
In the next weeks, the Fish Committee will
make their recommendations to Congress. Their
proposals will incorporate the most extreme forms
of the capitalist attack against the American
working class and against the Soviet Union.
Seeking to Great terrorism that will break the
growing resistance of the workers, they will
aim at illegalizing the Communist Party and the
T. U. U. L. In view of the sharpening economic
crisis. 1.-THE growing rehabilitation of the workers,
and the growing power of Our Party, the govern
ment, supported by the A. F. of L., will go far
in the direction demanded by Fish. The pro-
posals of Fish constitute menacing danger to
the workers and they must be fought with the
utmost resolution by every working class organ
ization.