The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-09
By MALvINA GOODMAN

Inc Partisan ReFOlOClOQdry
Journal Of Art, Literature and Opin-
ion" organ of the West Coast John
Reed Clubs, has, in its second issue,
made definite effort to turn its face
toward the propaganda shops Of Hol-
lywood. The three front-psge articles,
two cartoons, and some smaller items,
deal with the moving picture indus
try.
Hollywood on the Skids," by John
Chaplin, makes clear the inevitable
complete sell-out Of the moving pic
tWe industry to the government and
its fascist propaganda machine, and
Arthur Fairchilds Three Little Ad-
shows how the NR.A.
administration for the movies is COM
posed ideally for this purpose.
But where is the movie strike? The
most dramatic moment in the history
of the workers in this industry, their
first large-scale organization for strug-
gle, and its almost immediate open
betrayal by the American Federation
of Labor, receives no mention in the
journal. This strike was so clear an
example Of the inadequacy Of the
craft form of unionism that it is serv-
ing as g. warning to workers in many
other industries in this section, which
are being organized along industrial
lines and without the control Of the
American Federation Of Labor. For
the movie workers, their experience
has only served to disgust them with
all forms Of organization, and so plays
into the hands Of the bosses. It is the
opportunity of the John Reed Club
of Hollywood, particularly, to take UP
the challenge, to show to the movie
workers the successes possible through
industrial lnionism under and
file control.
The John Reed Club appeals to
artists primarily on the basis of their
art, and offers new subject and
new inspiration in the revolutionary
theology. But to do so by way Of
MARKHAM theory alone, without refer
ence to the immediate economic de-
mands Of the artists, is fatal.
The same passive attitude is re-
fected in the conclusion reached by
Chaplin in one part of his otherwise
excellent article He describes the
threat of a movie executive against
any of the workers who fail to submit
to the drastic cuts in the cost Of pro-
duction and the consequent lessen
ing of artistic scope. None Of these
artists says Comrade Chaplin, de
Tended the integrity OF the industry
by reaching for resignation blank;
none felt his reputo Jon worth the
sacrifice Of salary" To sacrifice; to
resign. This is rot the line of class
struggle. Organized action is the
proper answer to an assault on a
workers integrity as artist or artisan,
as well as on his means of living. 1t
was the continual protest of workers
on county jobs against the insult to
their productive abilities in being
forced to "scab against the steam
shovel that forced the government
to put them on construction work, or
to promise to do so.
The two short stories in this issue
deal with the same theme-the COM
ing of foreign speaking American
worker into the revolutionary move
ment. In this sentence in one Of the
stories lies the secret of the basic
difference between them: There is
an old saying that you have to sleep
with a man really to know him. That,
at least. is how I know Serio FeroG -
Charles Coppock has slept with the
situation with which he deals; he
knows the working class movement
from the inside. For him the Com
munist Party is assignments, and the
Hunger March, and the districtoffice,
and the winning of all the seats in
The Municipal Council Of Sofia
To Michael Qui1l it is a man speak
ing from the back of an automobile
in an empty lot And his story "A
Mexican Comes Home" suffers struc-
turally from this lack Of close knowl-
edge; it is naive and thin, where Cop
pock's reaches into a rich background
OF reality for a casual abundance OF
life. Slight as is the story, Each In
His Own Way" the blood Of the
workers movement flows through it
from sources implied
This ssue Of THE Partisan" has i'm
proved in makeup. The cartoon "Hol-
lywood Does Its Part" deserves par
ticular mention