The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-05-31
On the
World Front
Some Navy History
Britain, Chile, Holland
From 'POtemkin" to "AurOra'f
By HARRY CANNES

L airy greetings to the sail"
ors!
We want to recall some Of
the stirring struggles of the
sailors throughout the world
during the present crisis. Do
you know that since 1881, there
have been three mutinies in capi-
talist navies? The deeds of the
sailors is one of the brightest beacon
lights in working class revolutionary
history, pointing the path for
speediest travel.
No matter how hard the exploit
ers may try to burn out the mem-
DRY Of it, neither the British work.
ing class, nor the ruling crust will
ever forget the Invergordon naval
''mutiny" The proud British navy,
where from time immemorial the
sailors were supposed to be auto
nations, answering every command
with an AYE Aye Aye, sirl', where
hearing was obeying, was the scene
of class action that sent shivers to
the very foundations of the Admir-
atty.
On September IA. 1881, after the
British government had ordered
wage cuts for the sailors, the men
of the fleet, refused to obey orders.
The fleet was just preparing for
! some gigantic war maneuvers. The
men held secret meetings in the
fo'castle. There wasn't much ado
about it, With the feWest words the
sailors had decided on their tactics.
their form Of strike" or "mutiny"
against the wage cuts, against the
policies of British imperialism.
1t was not an uprising, as were
the two others about which we shall
relate. 1t was not even strictly a
/ mutiny. The sailors sat around on
the decks and smoked their pipes.
They Knocked the officers to their
faces. They whistled and sang the
Red Flag and the 'Internationale."
The officers could do nothing about
it.
The discipline in the navy had
cracked completely 1t does not
matter that later, when the sailors
won a return of their wage cut, the
fleet sailed out, apparently as un-
furnished as ever, with every man
doing his duty" British imperial
ism now must reckon with this deed,
and the sailors will never forget it.
1t is forerunner of what the Brit
ish fleet will do when the British
proletariat enters into mortal and
final combat with its oppressors.
MORE drastic was the seizure Of
lN the entire Chilean fleet by the
sailors in 1882. The workers on land
had been carrying on a series of the
sharpeSt battles against the Wall
Street and British supported native
puppet government. The starving 8
unemployed set up barricadeS. So 1
viets we're formed in some parts Of |
the country. The unrest reached the
fleet. Spontaneously, and without
detailed, preliminary organization,
the rank and file on the ships, with
the support Of the petty officers,
seized command. They put the
chief officers in irons. But then,
with the fleet in their power, they
did not follow up this step. They
lacked strongly organized Commu-
mist units. They lacked close con-
tact and plans for action with the
armed workers and peasants on
shore.
They were at loss what to do.
The workers in the chief ports and
industrial centres along the coast
were already going into action
against the armed forces of the
capitalist state; and the well-organ-
lied and determined help of the
navy might have resulted in the first
Soviet power in the Americas. But
the sailors did not follow up the
logic of their deed They merely
steamed around in circles, refusing
to surrender the ships, demanding
economic and political concessions.
They negotiated with the naval
bases on land, offering to sur
render, but only under terms favor
able to the men, Then the fascist
|
fleet picked out the flag ship of the
mutiny and began an aerial bonn
bardment. The men on the ships
did not resist, because they were
not ready to go the full way, and
did not want to cause unnecessary
bloodshed. They finally surrendered.
THE most recent nlutiny was that
l of the Dutch armored cruiser DE
Zeven Provincien." The IndoneSian
sailors together with the white
sailors and petty officers seized this
cruiser near the Dutch East Indies
and steamed away, broadcasting
radio messages to the entire fleet to
join them in the uprising against
Dutch Imperialism. Tremendous
sympathy was aroused among the
entire navy, and the Dutch author
tiles had the greatest difficult in
finally capturing the mutinouS ship.
All Of these actions are of the
greatest Importance in the revolu-
tionary struggles of the workers
everywhere, and are part of the liv-
ing history Of capitalist navies that
every sailor should know about. 1t
must be remembered that the 1905
Revolution in Czarist Russia began
with a similar action, the seizure by
the sailors OF the cruiser "Potem-
kin The proletarian revolution in
Russia began with the signal from
the cruiser Aurora" and the sailors
of Petrograd played a decisive and
brilliant role in winning power for
the Soviets.
Referring to the naval mutinies
that occurred during the capitalist
crisis COnrade n 2 Mao1,i1cl.{, IL,