The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-11-27

(C0nCt1nUu from rage IL
operate in drawing up a plan for
the full utilization of the resources
of the United States, and declared:
Speaking for the revolutionary
workers, I issue this challenge to
the technicians: Answer these ques-
tons for us, and we, the workers,
will find the answer as to how to
carry this plan into life"
The full text of Browder's speech
follows:
Paper BY BrOwder
Economic plan" has become the
current magic phrase. 1t is invoked
as the answer to all current diff
culties. 1t sanctifies all sorts of
policies, no matter how insane. Of
all the current talk about planning,
about 80 per cent can be classified
as either ID idle chatter, or 90 pro-
posals for planned destruction, that
is, a form of economic suicide.
Roosevelt's New Deal policies give
the type of current economic plan"
which requires our evaluation. Mr..
H. G. Wells, in his recent auto
biography, expresses the current
idea when he places the New Deal
alongside the Five-Year Plan of the
Soviet Union, as the two outstanding
examples of planning" How such
a phantasy could gain mass cur
rency is a tribute to the capacity
for myth-making and uncritical
faith that still exists. The slightest
examination of the New Deal re-
vealS such depth and sharpness of
inner contradiction; such studied
Indebtedness of its parts, to one
another and to the whole; such
complete absence of any unifying
principle, or even viewpoint and ap-
proach, as to secure for the New
Deal the rightful position, not as an
example of social-economic plan
ming, but rather of its antithesis.
PLANNED" Destruction by New Deal
This is true whether we approach
the question from the point of view
of production, that is, with a de-
mand for the fullest possible
utilization of the productive forces;
or from the angle of distribution,
that is, with a demand for guar
anteed minimum standard of de-
cent living for the masses. The New
Deal moves not a step toward either
demand, but rather in the opposite
direction.
The outstanding characteristic of
the New Deal is its planned de-
struction of accumulated stocks,
planned limitation of production,
while simultaneously big section
of the population, from one-fourth
to one-third, is excluded from eco
nomic life, continues to live only by
grace of charity doles, which reduce
living standards to point hitherto
associated only with Asiatic coolie
labor.
Thus, the New Deal planning"
does not overcome the crisis, but
only intensifies it. Where the spon-
taneous forces of the crisis destroy
blindly, the New Deal tries to sub
stitute planned destruction; that is
a difference, but it is not differ
ence in direction or of fundamental
quality. Along with this necessarily
goes systematic reduction, abso-
lutte and relative, of living stand
ards of the masses. The New Deal
does not plan to overcome the crisis,
but tries only to give the crisis it
self an organized character.
Contradictions in New Deal
The New Deal is shot through
and through with contradictions.
Roosevelt's right hand must not
know what his left hand doeth.
The N. R. A. cancels the results
promised by the A. A. A. The R.
F. c., P. w. A, c. w. A, ETC., cancel
the economy program" The in
flation cancels the promised in
crease of mass purchasing power.
Out of the conflicting policies
energies the net result of greater
monopoly of riches at one pole,
deeper poverty at the other;
stronger organization of predatory
finance capital, with deepening
chaos and disintegration of econ
omy as a whole; mounting volume
of talk about cooperation Of
classes, of civil peace, but in life
more and sharper class struggles.
Are these contradictions avoid
able, or are they inevitable?
They are inevitable-so long as
the premise is taken that the CAPT
talist system must be maintained.
They are voidable-when the
premise is taken of the full utiliza-
ton Of all productive forces, and
the removal of all influences and
controls which hinder this full
that is, the removal of
capitalist private property in the
means Of production. Not Roose-
welt, nor any other, can overcome