davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-07-20
with Lenin
BY MAXIM GORKY

Are all people victims of history,
for you? We know history, and
we say to the victims, "Overturn
the affairs! Break down the
templesI Down with the godsl"
And you want to convince me that
the militant party of the working
class is bound first Of all to make
the intelligentsia comfortable
I may be mistaken, but it seems
to me that v. Ilyitch liked talking
to me. He almost always sug-
gested, "Come and see me-rina
up, we will meet" Once he said:
cts curious to talk to you. You
have a varied and wide circle Of
impressions" He would ask about
the attitude of the intelligentsia,
he was especially interested in the
scientists. At that time I was
working with N. B. Chalatov on
the COMMITTEE for improving the
conditions of the scientists"
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-07-20
Reflections of Mr.. Pickens

syndad recently released by William Pckens Field
Secretary the National
People
the tactics of defense which instrumental thus
that exposing
Scottsboro the deou national of the
Negroes has resulted unfortunate and edc sentiment that has
been stirred up Alabama against
deliberately suppresses
of the bowling
demanding boys
Swapping Day
the verdicts greeted celebration
that the band furnished by local mill bosses.
preudica
deliberate codbooded institution
Scottsboro
which
of the hdeous
preston of the Negroes Scotsoro verdcts but
that have into the the would
the fact that
the most elementary rights feeced robbed held
down IN the bondage Of a lynch system
miscarriage of Justice simple
mistake flair
of the technical eify the
the capitalist
in the the widest reaction
NAAcP to place confidence
ital justice nothing echery Nothing
thrust into the face the capitalist
their
Pkens brays theology
ing class attacking the
the Scottsboro boys He virtually the
blood the special oppression
And thus to the criminal sabotage
Pkens adds the additional
the Negro People The fight
gained will
their by the bourgeois
firmly toward their goalto
Scoboro boys and to destroy the haces capitalist bondage
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-07-20
The Third Degree

TwENTY-YEAR old youth Enn Stark was 10 death by
gang police county police headquarters
inquiry purpose covering
third degree is an established institution The courts the prose-
cutting attorneys the police would
believe that the tortung ja this country
are isolated events, "perversion" Of police powers
purpose report
dealing with enforcement which that
ventyght of the cities the police inflicted
Holy inqion
exposures only the OF foong the public
the elimination policemen police officials
to effectively the institution of prison torture
The third thing in the United States decades
there been aaist this praicebu still
cause it component part OF the institution OF capitalist democracy
weapons
the decaying capitalist ssytem
jas subject
Investigations proof ruling
its class character
example police sugged Breezy
the 48 workers connection with the
and Whewashed this codbooded class murder In Tampa Florida
prisoners subjected the torture of the sweat box
that precious symbol of American democracy.
Degree against working
with special ferociy workers
South Consider the Orphan
by Maryland police who reported that they had obtained confession
of the murder of white his family
mngham jail Willie Peterson framedp Negro worker and exsode
white
to the third degree by the sheriff police and the family of the
Williams
capitalist democracy maintains the third degree as
weapon against Party political
Inc socialists TOO Will add their voices the deceptive talk about police
excesses In this they will make their contributions to the covering
the CHASTITY democracy they
babble about political freedom"
organize corps against
brutality the police oppression
While fighting every resisting every
ruling trying by terror to
its oerlng mobilize
struggle against capsm-the
evolutionary capitalist
workers farmers then will the
degree along with the whole capitalist apparatus that fin
ally smashed.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-07-20
Letters from Our Readers

emit AL other workers organizations
knew about the affair, and tickets
we're distributed among them all. But
none of them showed up. Only four
or five comrades of unit II, including
the L.S.N.R. organizer came. CUnit II
has % memberS. From the. other
units only one comrades showed up.
The As Negro workers who came to
the affair felt that they we're iso-
lated even in the Communist move
n1ent. Only the presence of a few
Pioneers and Y. G. L. members saved
the affair from being total failure.
This affair should serve as warn
ing to all comrades of the three I'M
its that they must from now on pay
more attention to the important ac-
tivities among the Negro masses In
Brighton Beach.
Edith Hunter, Agit-Pron Unit IL.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-07-20
Beautiful Ohio?

OHIO is wonderful country, but
" under the present system it lies
like corpse in the claws OF those
carrion crows, the capitalists.
The flat fields which raise fine
truck, grain, fruit and dairy prod
ucts are as good as shriveled
breasts to the hundreds of thou
sands Of unemployed workers
throughout the state. Boats are
rotting at the piers of Lake Erie.
Hundreds of freight trains are
empty in their intricate web of rail-
road tracks.
Farmers are seldo many better
off than the jobless in the cities.
Go out on the country roads. Milk
will not get them at the best more
than three cents a quart. Off the
main roads, the farmhouses are I'M
painted shacks. You can Sc echil-
dren, knee-high to grasshoppers,
ticking all day under the fierce sun
with hoes too heavy for them to
handle. Near Trilby, in northern
Ohio, children work in the green
houses for five cents an hour.
Farmhands, however, can not even
get a job for board. Eggs sell for
eleven cents dozen. Truck is dirt
cheap. In Toledo, where the farm
ers sell much of their produce in
the Civic Auditorium, prices are
away down. The unorganized
farmers are helpless before the
hucksters and racketeers.
Conditions in the cities are I'M
bearable. One out of three of the
population are dependent on public
charities. Toledo offers the job
less six cents slop for seven to four
teen hours of grueling work. The
slop consists of beans and prunes
hard as leather. In Cleveland the
Associated Charities keeps way
farers lodge in the backyard of
the American Legion building. You
are fed soup three times a day,
stuff the worst kind of belly wash.
The men are handled like sheep
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-07-20
(Installment Nine)

Would it be impossible to form an
automatic connection between the
mounting of the barrel and the in
dications of the mechanism" He
asked how far the dangerous space
extended, and something else. The
inventor and the generals gave
eager explanations, and next day
the former said to me, II had told
my generals that you were coming
with a comrade, but didn't say
who the comrade was. They didn't
recognize Ilyitch and probably
would never have imagined that he
could appear without a great deal
of ceremony or bodyguard. They
asked me, "Is he a technical engi-
neer or professor? What? Lenin?
What a surprise! How is it pos
sible? How does he know so much
about these things we're concerned
with? He asked those questions
like technologist. What mystif1-
cationw
Apparently they didn't really be-
lieve that it was Lenin. On the
way from the c. A. D. Lenin kept
chuckling, and talking about the
inventor. "See how easily you can
be mistaken in a mani knew that
he was an honest old conlrade, but
qui ma pas invente la poudre! But
that seems to be precisely in his
line. Good fellow! But didn't the
generals go for me when I ex-
pressed my doubts as to the prac-
tical value of the apparatus? And
l did it on purpose, wanted to know
what they thought of the ingenious
continuance" He shook with laugh
ter, then asked, "Tell me, has L any
more inventions to his credit? Well,
he oughtn't to work at anything
else. All, if only we could give all
these technical engineers ideal con-
ditions for their work! In twenty
five years Russia would be the fore
most country of the world"
Yes, he often praised the COM
rades in my hearing, even those
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-07-20

with whom he was not personally
in sympathy. Lenin knew how to
give what was due to their energy.
was very surprised at his high
appreciation of L. D. Trotsky's or
ganizing abilities. v. Ilyitch noticed
my surprise. Yes, T know there
are lying rumors about my attitude
to him. But what is, is, and what
isn't, isn't-that know also. He
was able at any rate to organize the
military experts" After a pause
he added in lower tone, and
rather sadly, "And yet he isn't one
Of us. With us, but not of us. He
is ambitious. There is something of
Lassalle in him, something which
isn't good" These words with us
but not of us" he used twice b. my
hearing, the second time abo'.o an
other prominent man, who died
soon after v. Ilyitch himself. v.
Ilyitch understood people very well,
as was natural. Once when I went
into his study, I found there man
who was backing to the door and
bowling at the same time to v.
Ilyitch, and v. I. continued his
writing without raising his eyes.
do you know him?" he asked,
pointing toward the door. said
1 had come into contact with him
twice-over the Universal Litera-
ture" business. "Well?" Gan ig-
norant, uncultured person, L should
say" HIM, HIM, certain toady
and probably a scoundrel.
But this is the first time I have
seen him, and may be mistaken"
v. Ilyitch was not mistaken. Sew
eral months later this man justified
Lenin's description to the full. He
thought a lot about people on ac-
count of his concern because, as he
said, Our apparatus is very I'M
equal. Since October many ele-
mentS have crept in. Your piouS
and beloved intelligentsia are to
blame for that-that in the result
of their mean sabotage He said
this to me when we were walking
in Gorky. I began speaking about
Alexinsky, I don't remember why,
probably he was up to one of his
dirty tricks at the time. "You can
picture it to yourself. At our first
meeting had feeling of physical
repulsion to him. / couldn't con-
quer it. No one has ever given me
such feeling before. We had to
do some work together. I had to
use every method to keep myself
in check-it was very awkward. I
felt simply cannot stand this
degenerate" Then struggling his
shoulders in amazement, he said.
"But I never saw through that
scoundrel Malinovsky. That was
a very mysterious affair, Malinov-
sky"
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-07-20
Proletarian
Literature

He was interested in the prole-
tartan literature. What do you
think will come of it?" I said
that 7 expected a great deal, but
considered it necessary to organize
a "Litvuz" Institute for the study
of literature), with chairs of phil
ology, foreign languages-Western
and Oriental, of folklore, of the
history of universal literature, and
of Russian literature separately.
HIN, him." he said screwing up
his eyes, and chuckling. every
wide and very dazzling! I am not
against its being wide-but if it is
to be dazzling-eh? We haven't
professors of our own for these sub
jects, and the bourgeois professors
will teach such sort of history.
No I don't think we must set
about that yet. We must wait for
three or five years"
Then. he would complain, Have
absolutely no time for reading"
He frequently and with strong en-
phasiS referred to this value Of
Dsnlyan Bedny's work for propa-
genda, but added: at is some-
what crude. He follows the reader
whereas he ought to be a little way
ahead"
He mistrusted Mayakovsky, and
was even rather irritated by him.
HE shouts, inyents some sort OF
distorted words, and doesn't get
anywhere in my opinion-and be-
sides is comprehensive. 1t is all
disconnected, difficult to read. He
is talented? Very talented even?
HIM, HIM. We shall see. But
doesn't it seem to you that people
are writing lot of poetry now?
There are whole pages of it in the
newspapers and volumes of it ap-
pear every day." I remarked that
it was natural for youth 70 be at
tracted to poetry at such a time,
and that in my opinion it is easier
to write mediocre verse than good
prose, and poetry takes less time.
In addition we have many good
teachers of the art of versifying.
Il don't believe it's easier to write
verse than prose. I can't imagine
it. I couldn't write two lines of
poetry if you flayed me alive"
Then he frowned. 1--WE must spread
among the masses all the old rev.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-07-20

On March 6, 1880, at the begin
ming of the great unemployment
movement, there was a demonstra-
ton of the unemployed in Milwau-
kee. In France and Germany such
marchers were led by Communist
mayors in their cities. But in Mil
waukee the police dubbed the
marchers cruelty. They arrested
60 workers, including nine children.
Fred Basset, leader, was sent to
Jail for a year, and others got
shorter terms. The Communist
Party headquarters were raided in
real fascist style. Desks, chairs,
tables were smashed and thrown
out of the windows, records de-
stroyed"
"Got What They Were Looking Forr
81 was against the clubbing"
said the mayor about this, yet the
Communists got what they were
looking for. For months they had
been provoking the police. The
raids and beating were due to the
pent-up anger of the police. 1t is
a fine police force, but the Commu-
nists provoked them"
eyes," said a reporter from the
Jewish Daily Forward, who was
present during the interview, 81
myself have seen it. 1 was pre-
sent at one outdoor meeting once
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-07-20
Michael Gold Interviews Mayor of Model City
and Asks Some Pointed Questions

For years the socialists have boast
ed of Milwaukee's low tax rate and
sound financial conditions. Their
hearts are really in the task of
running "clean, graftless, honest
business administration"
Against Jobless Insurance.
Mayor Hoan is as much obsessed
with horror of unemployment in
surance as is j. P. Morgan, w. R.
Hearst, Herbert Hoover or any
other rugged American individual
ist who doesn't want his ill-gotten
millions taxed to help the poor.
But Milwaukee, despite all the
boasting, is bankrupt now, and must
borrow from the bankers to carry
on. Rather than increase unem-
ployed relief, Mayor Hoan is work.
ing out plans to cut it cut alto
gether. He is offering as substi-
tute the forced labor plan that is
so popular today among capitalists.
IT am against any payment of
relief" said the Mayor, because
it is nothing but a dole, and demor-
allies the workerfs." doesn't
$13,500 a year also demoralize a
socialist mayor?) What I would
like to do is make jobs for the
workers and keep up their morale"
Forced Labor in Model City"
Recently this forced labor plan
has gone through, it has been re-
ported, and workers are earning
something like 81 for an eight
hour day, thus cutting the wages of
other workers still having jobs. If
Hoan's forced labor plan is fol-
lowed universally the whole nation
will soon be working at 81 a day,
or starving to death-for there will
be no dole"
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-07-20
Old Russia
From Afar

He was Russian who lived for
long time away from his native
land, and had examined it atten-
tively-from afar it appears
brighter and more beautiful. He
estimated accurately its potential
forces, and the exceptional talents
of it's people, which feebly ex-
pressed as yet, unawakened by a
history monotonous and oppressive,
yet cleaned everywhere like golden
stars against the sombre back
ground of the fantastic life of Rus
sia
Vladimir Lenin, profoundly and
greatly man of this world, is
dead. His death is a grievous blow
to the hearts Of these who knew
him, greivous indeed.
But the darkness of death only
emphasizes the more strongly to
the world his great Importance as
the leader of the working class Of
the world.
And if the dark cloud of hatred,
of lies and calumny, were even
denser than it is, it would matter
not at all. There is no force which
can put out the torch which Lenin
raised aloft in the sitting dark
ness Of mad world.
And no other man has well de-
served the eternal remembrance Of
the world.
Vladimir Lenin is dead. But
the inheritors of his thought and
will are alive. They live and carry
on a work which is more victorious
than any other in the history Of
mankind.
(THE END.)
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-07-20
Work Among Negroes
in Brighton Beach
Dear Editor:

Dear Editor:
For the last two years the work
among the Negro masses is one of the
main activities of the Party units in
Brighton Beach. There are quite a
number Of Negro workers in that ter
lritory.
After strenuous work in which only
h few comrades participated we sue
Iceeded in organizing the Frederick
boughlas branch of the LS.N.R. with
rs members.
On July 1, the branch arranged its
b~~t annual dance in the Brighton
+, Se- All the three units were not
/ :. and we're supposed TO be pres
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-07-20

about to be dipped against bugs.
Thehospital is full. All day long
the men mill about, dragging their
swollen legs and feet. Their faces
seemed to have turned to ashes.
The legtcnnaires rush about in
their helmets and fine uniforms,
Juggling flags and bayonets.
Mass terrorization is in full blast.
In Millersburg two brothers were
found guilty of stealing refriger-
ator and selling it for So. The
judge ordered them to be given 20
lashes at the whipping post in the
public park. Two whips were
broken before a "blacksnake" Ga
woven leather whip could be found
to do the work without breaking.
In Toledo demonstrations under
the leadership of the Communist
Party and the Young Communist
League take place frequently. At
a Hooverville in Cleveland Negro
watched the American Legion men
after their poorly attended parade
rushing around like cockroaches.
Getting ready for another WARP"
asked white worker. "If it's war,
it amt going to be across the sea-"
said the big, strong Negro. "We
amt got nothing against the fell
lows across the sea. Appears to
me like it's going to be war right
here. And 1 got notion against
who, too. got good strong no.,
ton and suspicion" He looked at
his hands, two tough oak knots, and
then at the legionnaires as if sizing
them up. Such is the feeling of
the oppressed. Bitter hatred
against war. OF course these fell
lows will be gotten if war breaks
out. But they want to fight.
The proletariat, black and white,
is seething from below.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-07-20
Strict Teacher

To me he was a strict teacher,
and devoted friend. you are an
enigmatical person. he said to me
jokingly. I'm literature you seem
to be a good realist--and in your
attitude to people, a romanticist.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-07-20

The workers of the verdi are
rallying to the Scottsboro boys, and
demanding "They Shall Not Die"
The fight against terror is one of
the basic demands of the Com
munist Party election program.
Read and spread "They Shall Not
Die" the story of ScOttsboro in
pictures, cents.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-07-20
BY MICHAEL GOLD.

MILWAUKEE, Wis.-History says
that whenever socialists have been
in Office, they have done nothing to
help the workers; in fact, they have
gone to the contrary extreme, and
have sided with the bosses.
This is easy to understand if one
visits a socialist city like Milwaukee
Tt has long been the pride of the
American Socialist Party, their
miracle city," their model of pro-
gress.
Milwaukee has been hit by the
crisis, like the rest of the country.
According to a capitalist sheet
there, Milwaukee has over 100000
people living on county relief, out
of population of 725, 263-in other
words, one out of every seven lives
on charity.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-07-20

Study the 14th Plenum Resolutions.
Get copy of the new Pamphlet,
Toward Revolutionary Mass Work"
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-07-20
"Out of Their Own Mouths"

when the Communist speaker
pointed at a cop, and yelled, kill
him! Take your guns and kill him.
Another time I saw Communists
take a cop, fine handsome mar
ried man who is liked by every
body, and threw him in fountain!
And these lies of a cheap scrib-
bier and the lies of a police
captain were enough to justify
our Socialist mayor that the Com
munists and unemployed deserved
to be dubbed, manhandled and
jailed
In socialist Milwaukee there is a
nominal "free speech" in the pub
lie parks, as there is in Chicago,
New York and other cities, tenn
porarily. But nobody can talk for
five seconds in front of factory
gate without being arrested. Mayor
Hoan had a ready explanation for
this: it violated the traffic and
health ordinancesl
Spread Anti Soviet Lies
In socialist Milwaukee the lead
ing socialist paper, the Milwaukee
Leader" prints daily lis against
the Soviet Union. Us viciousness
is unbounded, and is really worse
than that of the worst Czarist or
American patrioteer. 1t says that
the Soviet Union is not building
Socialism, but sis a bloody and
violent tyranny that should be de-
stroyed."
On every page of the Milwaukee
Leader, also, there are two or three
large engravings of the American
flag. Not even the capitalist sheets
of Milwaukee go in for such fren-
zied flag-waving, but the socialist
paper does.
1900 Evictions Month
In socialist Milwaukee there are
something like 1900 evictions
month = all under the benevolent
eye of the Socialist Sheriff, AL Ben
son, the hero who rushed to buy
hi scoops riot guns, even though the
appropriations had not been made
for these guns.
In socialist Milwaukee one-fourth
of all the able-bodied workers
wander the streets idly, with empty
bellies and fear-stricken hearts.
Homeless men sleep in the parks.
And old women, children, husky
war veterans, fathers and grand
fathers line up with little toy carts
every two weeks at the relief sta
tons and get some $3.50 worth of
scientific" food for their families.
|. In socialist Milwaukee the mayor
prides himself on the marvellous
sewer system and on the low taxes
factory owners pay. He also is
proud of cops who beat up the I'M
employed.
In socialist Milwaukee the forced
labor system, so highly regarded
by Hoover and Morgan, is being
put into effect.
Yes, this is Socialism, Socialism
as practized by Ramsay Mcdonald,
Noske, Scheidemann. 1t misleads
the workers, by making every kind
of social promise, then fulfilling
not one. 1t holds back the work.
ers from effective protest and or
ganization. 1t is a blind alley, a
delusion, through wich thousands
of workers must grope before they
awake to their full consciousness
and power.
I would recommend to every
honest worker who still has a weak
ness for socialist promises to visit
Milwaukee and study the system
there. Let him, especially, go
there hungry and looking for job,
and see what appens to him. Let
him speak at a factory gate, and
be taught at the end of cops
big club the real meaning of the