The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-05-11
BY 7. AMTER

THE republicans are none too anxious to pro-
l coed with the investigation of the Tammany
Hall machine They know that they are open to
attack in their provinces, that corruption Is as
rife there as in the democratic districts. There
fore in the State legislature, the republican lead
ers had to naneuver some time before agreement
could be obtained among their own forces to
put through the bill for the investigation of the
City administration of New York.
Walker, knows that the best defense is coun-
ter offensive Therefore, he announced that an
investigation would be made of the Queens
county administration republican stronghold
Borough President Harvey Of Queens, imme-
diately declared that he would not tolerate an
investigation of his balliwick The republicans
know that whether Manhattan or Queens, both
IRE controlled by the capitalists. that racketeering
is a government institution, and that an exposure
OF the republican regime of Queens at the same
time as of the Tammany Hall of New York
would arouse resentment of the workers throug-
out the city who have been suffering hunger and
starvation for more than a year with hundreds
of millions of dollars appropriated for city adj
ministration, for raises in salaries OF Walker
the borough presidents the police, etc, and that
an administration that tolerates such conditions
is rotten to the core, is anti-worling class and
must be swept away.
Therefore the investigation has no fire behind
1t. 1t will not proceed very energetcally as FAR
as the republicans are concerned for when the
kettle calls the pot black when the exposure goes
too deep the whole system is endangered.
The socialists, on the other hand, who see in
the situation an opportunity to appear before the
pubIie-not the workers-aS the cleaners of the
stable of CapitaliSn-not to remove the cause,
not to destroy the system of capitalism, but
to save capitalism and institute clean govern
ment"-these people jump on the scene, in the
person Of Norman Thomas, and the City Affairs
Committee"
What do these people propose? They pro-
pose an investigation with lawyers of their own
What do they charge? They charge Walker with
malfeasance of Office; that he was aware of the
situation in the city of New York; that if he was
not aware of what was going on, he shows his
incompetency, and therefore must be removed.
And then what? That the system which pro-
duces such scores must be destroyed and work
ing class system, controlled by the workers,
should be put in its place? That capitalism is
rotten to the core, that no capitalist representa-
tive in government can be trusted to provide
clean" government? That a government of the
capitalists does not and cannot represent the
workers, and that therefore, being founded on
capitalist principles and morality, every capital
list government must be a racketeering govern
ment?
Nothing of the kind. Norman Thomas and the
socialist party see in the present situation the
possibility of establishing themselves more openly
the third party of capitalism-as the party
that comes forward at time of Tammany Hall
and Hoover republican corruption to save the
face of capitalism. Norman Thomas proposed
that the investigation should not be two-sided
affair, of the republicans and democrats alone,
but that all three parties should be involved.
Norman Thomas saw in this investigation an
opportunity to establish himself and his party
as the clean" party of capitalism as the party
which the bosses could trust to conduct their
affairs in an honest manner, in a manner that
would still retain the faith of the workers in
capitalism.
Is this a far-fetched conclusion? Look at
Germany, where the social-democrats fellow
socialists of the American socialists, today are
the bulwark of the capitalist regime-they are
the party on which the Bruening dictatorship de-
ponds for its very existence. The government,
that has cut the wages of all the workers, has
taken hundreds of thousands off the unemploy-
ment insurance list, has voted for new cruisers
with the support of the al-democrats-Wh
100000 workers are unemployed Look at the
British Labor government, fellow socialists of
the American socialist party, which has helped
to cut the wages of the workers 10 per cent, has
denied independence to the Indian Masses, and
instead has slaughtered thousands and jailed
5000 workers and peasants
From country to country one can proceed in
order to demonstrate that the socialists are the
third party Of capitalism, intent upon establish
ing more strongly the structure of capitalism
which is tottering.
And looking at the socialists at home, with
Norman Thomas, Morris Hillquit, as their fascist
leaders, what do we find? The clubbing of the
unemployed by the Tammany police was ap-
proved by Norman Thomas. The jailngs Of the
Unemployed Delegation of March 9Th was APP
proved by the socialist party The clubbing