The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-06-05
On the
World Front
L. By HARRY CANNES -
Drought and Capitalism
Two Famine Sources
Same Sun; Different WorlEv
. Rv HARRY CANNES

"A crisis, is q world drought,
one of the worst in recorded
history, that will have far
reaching political cone
sequences.
In ancient days, droughts,
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, or
floods constituted the chief cause
Of human crises, Under capitalism,
they become an additional plague
to intensity the crisis of the capi@
talist system Of economy.
With the world divided into two
camps, that of decaying capitalism
with the poisonous mold of fascism
around its fringe, and the land of
the proletarian dictatorship and
rising socialist construction. the
drought with its supreme Impartial
ity strikes them all. But with en-
tirely different consequences.
Following nearly five years Of
crisis in the capitalist countries,
when too much wheat, too much
food and other goods we're pro-
duced, the sun now bakes the
worlds farms, cracks the earths
crust and destroys the delicate grain
crops. Starvation from plenty Is
about to be turned to famine from
scarcity, Natures bounteousness
and destruction alike under capi-
talism bring catastrophe to humans
kind.
We have space here to examine
the effect of this unprecedented
world calamity only in three coun-
tries; % Fascist Germany, % the
New Deal" America, and 90 the
land Of Socialism, the U. S. S. R,
In Fascist Germany the perspec-
tive for the toiling masses is eX-
tremely black. First, the whole
economy of fascism is driving the
workers to starvation. The gold re-
serves disappear. Initiation threat
ems. Markets decline. The drought
bids fair to bring back not the
medieval lore that Hitler desires,
but the medieval fanines in which
millions died. Twenty-Five per cent
Of the German crops have already
been destroyed, and there is only
$3.50 chance that the other rs per
cent may be saved. The cattle, as
in the United States, are starving;
and soon more people will be starv-
ing. Nevertheless, the Hitler govs
eminent has a war reserve of be-
tween four and five thousand tons
of grain, and rather than open
these to the masses, thousands will
starve.
HINDER RooSevelt's New Deal"
v the criminal insanity Of capital
ism in the present drought most
clearly stands out. The Roosevelt
government, in its efforts to save
the bankers mortgages, in its eff
forts to make profits for the rich
grain Spectators, is risking FAM
inc catastrophe of the first magni-
tude. The Republican Senator Lynn
j, Frazier of North Dakota. argu-
ing Sunday against an adjournment
of Congress in view of farm dis
tress, declared that in every state
touched by the drought farmers
"are already starving" Fearing
that this declaration would be too
alarming, the Hearst New York
American" yanked it out of its
later editions on Monday,
How did the Roosevelt govern
ment meet the possibilities of a bad
crop and its consequent suffering
for the whole toiling population7
He destroyed crops, cut down acre
| age, slaughtered cattle. Now what
is the consequence of this capitalist
policy plus the drought? THE situ-
alton is acute. Conditions are be-
coming more alarming hourly. The
truth is, the United States is
threatened with food shortage"
Dean w. G. Coffey, federal
farm relief director for a dozen
states, quoted in the World Tele-
gram, June 2, 1934)
Roosevelt is further meeting the
drought by Slaughtering 100000
cattle, and paying the farmers just
enough to cover the bankers mort
cages on their stock. The whole
effect of this, of course, will be to
ruin the farmers, save the bankers
| profits, and raise the price of meat
for the workers This course of
slaughtering the cattle on the farm
Is admitted as being wantonly de-
structive by capitalist stock experts,
With unimportant notifications,
the picture of the drought in Ger
many and the United States is the
same for the Balkans and the Baltic
countries, for Italy, for India, and
for China
WHAT about the Soviet Union2
w Has the drought hit? Yes, it
has, though because of the wide
expanse of the Soviet Union, it has
hit unevenly, and some places have
escaped. But planned, socialist
economy makes it possible for man
to fight and defeat natural catas-
trophies. First, instead of reducing
acreage to raise prices, as was done
in capitalist countries, acreage has
been increased some Is per cent in
the Soviet Union. Secondly, coll
lective farming, with centralized
direction, with Bolshevik machine
and tractor stations, make possible
the taking of measures on a large
scale to remedy Immediately the
effect of the drought. For example.
in some places where the drought
hit heaviest, the grain was re-
planted, or watered by collective,
mass effort. Where cattle we're
starving they we're driven to richer
ma cty1rec