Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-07-06
ONE TIME MEMBER OF IND.
SOCIALISTS-N0W LEAD
Err OF COMMUNIST
PARTY
Stayed Close to German Work
ers When Friends Urged
Him to Leave

Thaelmann was born in Ham
burg fOrty-eight years ago. His
father was a Socialist who knew
what 1t was to be blacklisted for
working class activities.
Ernst was a longsnoreman who
! Joined the Sociaf Democratic
Party at the age OF sixteen and
remained in that organization
for twenty-nine years until 1881
when he was expelled by the re-
fOrmist administrator - against
the wishes of the workers for
revolutionary activity.
Thaelmann has always been a
class conscious worker. Before
beginning his days work, he UNI
dertOOk to show his comrades on
the job why 1t was to their adj
vantage to throw themselves
into revolutionary activity .
and in the evening when the gang
was breaking up, all tired out,
he ran about here and there to
convince others about this"
Courtmartialed
Thaelmann was called up for
the army and conducted propa-
ganda there. His heart and mind
were in union with the heart
and mind of Karl Liebknecht!
During the war, he distributed
forbidden newspapers and IL
legal pamphlets. His unselfish
devotion to the cause finally
caused his exposure and he was
cOurtmartialed and sentenced to
prison.
After the war Thaclman was
a charter member of the Ind.
ependent Socialist Party of Ger.
: many and fought against half
way measures against petty
bourgeois anti-MarXian pacihsm
His aim was to push the organi'
cation toward Spartacus and the
Communist Party. when, after
the Congress of 1920, more than
80 percent of the numbers of the
Independent Socialist Party Of
Hamburg joined with the Comm
unist Party, it was a persona
triumph for Thaelmann."
In 1923 the most class cons
ciOus of the working masses OF
Germany were pressing for &c
ton. The revolutionary forces
:, were checked by the vacillatinl
action and conformism of social
, democracy. "The prOletarlet
was not defeated on the Ham
burg front (where Thaelmanr
was wOrking) but isolated in it,
, advance, it had to give up tho
> battle
Hang Thaelmann, Hitler Cry
When the faScistic Storm
, Troops came into existence
, they made up a battle song Will
, the refrain that Thaelmanr
: must be hanged He was sub
, jcct at this time to physical at
, tackS but refused to Diminish
his working class activities.
THE days of 1923 showed that
the Central Committee of the
=. Communist Party of Germany
y did not measure up to its task
and that, by its hesitancy and
, OppOrtunistic policy it was larg
! ely responsible for the defeat Of
! the labor movement. 1t was re.
, moved, changed, and Thaelmanr
was named the leader of the
; Party" He has fOughtunceas
ingly at this point since 1923.
Leads His Party
With his enthusiasm, his in
; compatibility and his intellig.
, ence- he elevated the German
Party and brOadened it. Stub
born and TesOlute, steadil!
drawn forward by his splendid
attracting idea, he considered
it a duty to enrich his mind be
cause everything one knows is {
! weapon" He was not satisfied
merely to educate himself alOnt
He was tireless in educating
others. He was patient will
l those who were sincere lever
with the ignorant), stimulating
l. their initiative, never angered
: except at intellectual pride, o.
!, indeed, at compromise, as stupiC
0 as it is cowardly, or at sectarian
: ism, which never achieves any
e thing because it is blind"
s In 1881 Thaelmann was forced
e out of the Transport Worker
Union because he conducted
revolutionary agitation and HI
t split the working class" Tha
n is to say he denounced thos,
}. Social Democrat leaders who
f later handed their entire trade
: union machinery over to fascism
a and, on May II, 1888 voted fOl
| the program of Hitler's Nation
( al Socialism.
Won't Run
= The morning after the NaziS
I burned the Reichstag in ordel
5 to offer an excuse for wholesale
e arrests and executions of work
r ing class leaders, Thaelmann
: with a price on his head, CAV,
e himself up. He had been urgeC
s to leave the country, but he re
h fused. He recalled the word!
: which Karl Liebknecht anC
!. Rosa Luxembourg had said il
/ January 1919, to their friend
u-hn hnd Elrn,rir. n1rnnd fhnnn 4,