The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-08-21

IA CrltIclSm OF the "LeTG SOCIALIST pOSlJlOn
towards Hillquit's suit to recover Soviet Baku
Oil for the czarist owners,)
Concluded from vesterda US issue)
when the storm over his Oil suit broke around
H uits ears, the cowardly Thomas sent his
letter to the New Leader doubling the wisdom
of Hillquits action. This is precisely the dan
ger Of Thomas treachery. His position is basic
ally no different from Hilquit's. But under
pressure of mass sentiment he mouths phrases
concerning the good Five Year Plan, ETC.. only
to be in better position to undermine the First
Workers Republic. In action and in theory as
well Thomas is just as reactionary as Hillquit.
In answer to the first criticism levelled at him
Hillouit issued a statement in which he de-
clared that the right of a government to ma
tionaLze industries with or without Compensa-
ton is not questioned in the complaints" He
pointed out that his suit is based on the legality
of the Soviet Government itself. But Norman
Thomas that famous left-winger, does question
the right of government to nationalize indus
tries without compensation. In his book Am
erica's Way Out he says:
There is much to be said for compersating
those who are first singled out for the
cialization of their property-after all, great
many owners are guilty of worse crime
than playing the game by the established rules.
In the face of all these facts how can the
granting of the demands made by the Socialist
party branches and in Comrade Hendersons let
ter against Hillquit help in the least. Suppose
Hillquit is removed and Thomas put in his place
as Chairman of the Socialist party, will that
solve the problem for the workers? Not at all.
On the contrary, making such a change under
the illusion that it does away with the coun-
ter-revolutionary position of the Socialist party
can only further betray the workers into the
hands of the bourgeoisie and their heutenants
in Socialist" masquerade The characteristic OF
"FIillquitian Socialism" Socialist party Social
ism" and Norman Thomas Socialism" is that
none of it is really Socialism but only bourgeois
propaganda in a form aimed to nislead the
masses. Socialism can only be built under a
workers dictatorship.
Also there are some who think that it is only
the American Socialist Party which has become
SO resctionary. They believe that the interna-
tonsl socialist movement is true to the princi-
pies of socialism, or at least to the interests of
the working class Nothing could be further
from the truth
In the Vienna Congress of the End Interna-
tional the first point on the agenda was "the
fight for disarmament and against the war
danger" The reporter on this main report was
Senator de Brouckere of Belgium. The chief
point in this main report was obviously to point
out the source of the war danger, SO as to be
clear as to where to direct the attack Of the
socialists Senator Brouckere did this. With
great flow of oratory he declared-the Soviet
Union Cd to be the creator Of the menace of a
new world war for reaction. We quote:
Where do we hear in the world today the
most challenging words about howitzers, ma
chine guns and submarines? There in those
countries where an enemy band from the very
midst of the people themselves has seized
power and where the feudalism of former
day has given way to the feudalism of the
banks and the big industries. We forces
everywhere working cynically for war and they
are the same forces as preparing for civil
war.
Can this be any palmer? Could the Social
lists" serve their capitalist masters any more
than this? The End International says the
Ssviet Union seized power and is now using this
power in order to provoke a world war in order
to establish the "feudalism of the banks and
big industries" 1t is also obvious from the
above that this is the theoretical justification
for the nterventionist attacks on the U. s. S. R.
And it is still more obvious that the foul source
of these words, the Labor and Socialist Inter-
national, is the enemy of the worlds workers
to a. degree matched only by the imperialists
themselves.
This is the position of the Congress itself
The position of its individual leaders and sec
tons is even worse. Listen for example to a
line in the hymn published by "Robotnik." the
central organ of the P. P. S. polish Socialist
Party)
"Workers! TrampIe the Muscovites under
foot like reptiles, SOW their ground with their
corpses!"
Yes, indeed! The workers will treat their
enemies as reptiles but they will know that
these gentlemen are their enemies! Senator
Brouckere Morris Hillqut and Norman Thomas
are silent and open partners to this provocation
to pogroms and intervention. Yet they have the
gall to talk of peace" and the danger of war
from the U. S. S. R.
Are there any sincere workers who support
the socialist" party? If there are do you know
that the Mensheviks, the political blood broth
ers of Hillquit and Thomas, oh yes, and Of
Haywood Broun, called in the inperialist armies