Young Spartacus
CONTENTS BY ISSUE
(1934)
Volume III, Number 1, March 1934 (Full pdf version)
Young Spartacus
Published by the National Committee of the Spartacus Youth Clubs of America, New York, NY
Associate Editors:
- Martin Abern
- Max Shactman
Defend the Heroic Austrian Working Class Its Militant Struggle Against Fascism Shows Bankruptcy of Socialist Reformist Program
Get Ready For War Service
("The capitalists are ready for war for more profits!" The only effective way for young workers to resist being cannon-fodder is to find out the fundamental causes of the coming war and the next one. Join with like minded people in your shops, schools and factories to resist the bosses' wars. Join the Spartacus Youth Clubs!)
Child Labor Thrives Under N.R.A.
(Many child workers fake their ages.)
Youth Support Hotel Strike
(The demands are for union recognition, a maximum 48 hour work week, a minimum wage and a scale for different kinds of work.)
"Young Spartacus" in Danger
(This March issue is the first since last November. The paper's existence as a regular publication depends upon the financial support of the readers.)
Students' Activities Against Reaction
(Students have been expelled for refusal to take military training and engaging in anti-war and anti-R.O.T.C. activities. Conscientious objector applications have been denied. There were student group conferences in Washington D.C. in December which attempted to create a united front against the coming war.)
Take Steps to Unify S.Y.Cs.
(The clubs should support the International Youth Conference and Young Spartacus.)
Y.P.S.L. Conference Shows Left Trend
(Disagreement among factions and the equating of Communism with Stalinism prevents the development of a full revolutionary Communist position.)
New Cuts Hit High Schools
(Spartacus Youth Club issues a pamphlet listing educational demands.)
S.P. Supported World War
(By 1918 it had reversed its position against the war and clearly favored it.)
C.C.C. Boys Report their Experiences in the Camps
(There was low wages, bad food, lack of athletic equipment and discharges for organizing activities.)
Prepare for the Coming War
(The ultimate goal is to turn the imperialist war into a civil war which will lead to a workers' dictatorship and a classless society.) "Forgotten Men"
(A film about World War I which shows the realities of the conflict in all its horror and sordidness.)
Liebknecht's Anti-Militarist Struggle
(He stressed the education of youth as the essential part of anti-militarist propaganda. In his pamphlet "Militarism and Anti-Militarism" he shows the functions of capitalist militarism, which are to suppress the workers at home, to oppress the colonial people and to fight against other capitalist nations.)
In Defence of the Paris Commune
(Called a "deadly menace" in a "New York Times" editorial printed Feb. 8, 1934. Marx in his pamphlet defending the Commune sees it as a menace to the system of wage slavery and oppression.)
Spartacus, The Rebel Leader
(A history of the slave rebellion and a discussion of the character of Spartacus. The article also discusses slavery, feudalism and capitalism and comments that suppression of one class by another is common to all three.)
Socialism and War
(An article by Lenin taking the view that we must understand "causal interconnection of wars with the class struggle inside the country, and that the abolition of wars is impossible without the abolition of class society and the victory of socialism." He also sees civil wars carried out by oppressed against their oppressors, slaves, serfs and wage earners against slave owners, landowners and capitalists, as "lawful, progressive and necessary.")
Discussion Resolution on Tasks of Spartacus Youth
Book Review: Ten Years of Struggle For Marxism
(A review of "Ten Years" by Max Shactman, which is the only book or pamphlet that tells the story of the Left Opposition in concise form and is filled with facts about historical events.)
What the Heck Is Television
(It is unknown except to a few that the satisfactory transmission of a moving scene by means of television is now an accomplished and reproducible fact. Even difficult scenes such as football and baseball games can now be successfully sent out and received in perfect shape. The total picture is broken up into a great many squares. This is called scanning and it is done electronically without any mechanical moving parts. Although this technology is currently commercial it is not on the market because the cost puts it beyond the means of most workers at their current depressed wages.)
Science Notes-
(The science column has brought more comments, both praise and criticism, than any other single feature. The view that the study of the sciences is a waste of time for the revolutionist is false. In the recent uprising in Austria the socialists used home made grenades (chemistry) and short wave radios to communicate between different sections of the city that had been cut off from each other by government forces.)
New Photography Aids War Dep't
(Newly developed infra-red photography can take pictures based on heat waves in the dark through smoke screens. Militarily it will allow airplanes flying low over enemy territory at night to photograph the position of enemy guns and detect war ships hidden by smoke screens.)
How Human Guinea Pigs Are Made
(A review of "100,000,000 Guinea Pigs," a book that exposes untested and unsafe food and drugs and the false and misleading advertising used to sell them. The liberal authors call for more laws instead of pointing to the capitalist model of production for profit instead of use, which is the heart of the problem.)
Lenin on Pacifism
(Lenin says a lasting and democratic peace can only occur through a civil war against the governments and bourgeoisie.)
On the Snow Gang by S.L. Solon
(A story about workers on line to get day labor from the municipality shoveling snow and the cruelties and hardships that occur at the hands of police and officials.)
"To the German Workers"
(An anonymous poem)
Just Off the Press! "The Soviet Union and the 4th International" by Leon Trotsky
(Advertisement by Pioneer Publishers)
Pacifism Aids War Plans
(Disarmament does not disarm the exploiting class but workers are disarmed by illusions and false hopes, for workers armaments are the instruments with which they will be able to overthrow the capitalist class.)
Engineers Enlisted For Army Reserve
I Cover the War Front
(By "Spartacus." Everybody is preparing for war. In Europe six million men are under arms, in the U.S. army chief General Douglass MacArthur calls for an immediate increase of 33% in the strength of the Regular Army. Roosevelt calls for numerous gunboats, submarines, destroyers and naval aircraft to be built. Japan appropriates its largest peace time appropriation ever, 44% of the budget, for "defense." William Randolph Hearst is conducting a campaign to put the CWA under the control of the U.S. Army.)
Volume III, Number 2, April 1934 (Full pdf version)
Young Spartacus
Published by the National Committee of the Spartacus Youth Clubs of America, New York, NY
Associate Editors:
- Martin Abern
- Max Shactman
Four German Youth Deported
(Delegates to the international youth conference deported by Holland authorities to Fascist Germany.)
Militant Youth Call for Fourth International World Conference Organizes Committee to Win Young Workers for this Great Task Spartacus Youth Must Carry On the Work In U.S.
Trotsky in Danger!
(He has been deported from France and Russian counter-revolutionaries are planning his murder. Militant workers and their organizations must demand he be granted asylum in the U.S.)
New Drive for C.C.C.
(10,000 in Chicago respond to the call for new enrollments.)
Warships Ready for Action
(Naval authorities oppose modernization of the California and the Tennessee because they are needed as fighting units at this time. This shows the Roosevelt government seriously expects war in the near future.)
Plan United Front for Four Germans
(Youth organizations meet to plan defense of the four deported German youth.) Dental Mechanics Win Strike
(More than 900 out of a 1,000 striking dental mechanics in N.Y.C. are now back on their jobs under closed shop conditions. Their demands, which include union recognition, a 40 hour work week and wage increases have been agreed to.)
Student Notes-
(Anti-war conferences abound, taking pacifist positions and being ineffectual. The conferences were initiated by the National Student League and participated in by the Student League for Industrial Democracy and various pacifist student groups. Organization Notes: Spartacus Youth Clubs)
(On March 18 comrade Glotzer, the American delegate to the World Youth Conference spoke at a meeting in Brownsville and a resolution was adopted in solidarity with the four German youth who were deported from Holland to Nazi Germany. The next day evening he reported on the conference to a membership meeting of the New York clubs. Also, the article discusses the activities of the S.Y.C.s in Kansas City, Newark, N.J., Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and Toronto, where the publication of the two clubs, "
Young Militant," has a circulation of 300 copies a month.)
A Challenge to the "Challenge"
("Challenge," the official organ of the American Yipsels, claims, in the April 1934 issue, that the Socialist Party and the Young Peoples Socialist League were the only large organizations that resisted the war and continued to point out its true nature and its results. The article states that while this may have been true in 1917, by the middle of 1918 "important sections of the party were no longer seriously, if at all, opposed to the war.")
Students Get Federal Relief Jobs
(The federal government allocates funds, organizing activities begin.)
Lessons of Austrian Events
(Austrian workers fought heroically but without preparation for armed struggle. With Socialist leadership that told workers they must not fight, when they did rise up in defense of their rights, unions and co-operatives they were outgunned and martyred. Things might have turned out very different with true working class leadership.)
To All Young Workers
(A statement from the World Youth Conference in Holland, signed by organizations in attendance, urging, among other things, ideological and physical struggle against Fascism, defense of the Soviet Union and support of labor rights for youth.)
Philippines Get Fake Independence
("Sphere of influence" status will benefit U.S. commercial interests and military strategic needs.)
Editorials: Organize the Young Workers
The Child Labor Amendment
(Roosevelt supports it but children falsify their ages and work illegally making them unable to demand the minimum wages provided by the codes. The American labor movement should raise two additions to the amendment. These are state maintenance of children replaced and no cuts in school budgets.)
Dr. Wirt Exposes "Red Plot"
(Gary, Indiana schoolmaster and red-baiter accuses various public figures of plotting to overthrow the U.S. government.)
A Letter to Youth Organizations
(From the Provisional National Committee Spartacus Youth Club of America, calls for mass protest and a united front in support of the four German youth deported from Holland to Germany and the holding of a conference in N.Y. with two representatives from each organization to consider definite plans for joint action for the freedom of the four German youth.)
Y. S. Circulation
(Details concerning circulation and payments.)
Young Spartacus
(General comment on the March issue was very favorable.)
Fascism in America The Silver Shirts
(Among newer Fascist organizations inspired by Hitler's ascension to power is the anti-Semitic Silver Shirts.)
I Cover the War Front by "Spartacus" Anniversary of U.S. Entrance Into World War
(Parades, press coverage and patriotic talk, while arming for war under the guise of "defense." An effective counter-move would be demonstrations against imperialist war and American war preparations by all workers' organizations and radical youth.)
Will War Come?
(Yes, according to H.R. Knickerbocker, well-known American journalist who has discussed this question with leading diplomats of Europe for a series of articles.)
Fascist Germany Rearms
(Munitions production is sped up in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.)
Increased Profits For Munitions Producers
(The result of war and rearmament. "Democratic" countries export arms impartially in violation of the Versailles Treaty.)
Why Complain, Senator Nye
(The complaint is that American armament producers foment war and revolution in order to increase profits, just as European ones do.)
War Over Chaco
(Paraguay and Bolivia, backed by the U.S. and England in support of their oil magnates, are at war over Chaco. England's munitions firms are supplying both sides. Perhaps America's munitions firms as well?)
Japan in the Far East
(While consolidating its strength in China, Japan is making overtures to the U.S. so as to make it neutral in case of a Japanese-Soviet war. It plans to then fight the U.S.)
British Question Berlin
(They have made "inquiries" about the rapid rearmament. The article speculates that this was done to appear to be for peace and as an excuse to increase military spending.)
New C.C.C. Camps Open
(Twenty new sites granted to New York State.) Write for Y.S.
(Most articles written by New York members. Reports and articles from other cities are needed.)
Young Workers, Mobilize Against Bosses' War Plans
(Modern wars are the direct outgrowth of capitalism. War is coming, the Soviet Union is in danger. To struggle against war we must struggle against capitalism.)
French Workers Resist Reaction
(They storm the Chamber of Deputies and call a general strike against Fascism.) 7 Crisis Hits Schools
("Schools and the Crisis," by Rex David, is a factual account of the economics of education, and suggests a program of action. It is limited by being a small pamphlet on a large subject.)
Pelle the Conqueror by M.A. Nexo
(This article is a book review by Mimi Daniels. Pelle is a novel that tells the story of a Danish Social Democrat and trade unionist which takes place during the 1890's and the turn of the century. Through the experience of class struggle he arrives at many of the fundamental truths of socialism including international solidarity and the meaning of patriotism. He discovers that "there were only two nations--the oppressors and the oppressed!" The conclusion is disappointing because Pelle becomes a coopertivist,hy starting a shoe store with capital from an eccentric millionaire he has befriended. The history of Social Democracy is embodied in the story of Pelle--its progressive and its reactionary role.)
At the Movies
("Massacre," while having a Hollywood plot and being no cinematic masterpiece, presents a clear picture of the exploitation and oppression the Native American is subjected to.)
European Youth Defend Deported Austrians
(The four youths deported have numerous European progressive youth organizations calling for their release. The Young Communist League, however, is standing aside because the "Trotskyites" are involved.)
Play Ball
(Big League baseball opens its 1934 season on April 17)
Song For Courage
(Poem by Quentin Parker encouraging struggle against oppression.)
National Strike Wave Defies Roosevelt's N.R.A.
(The story reports on the Detroit Auto strike, the N.Y. taxi strike and called or possible strikes by San Francisco longshoremen, naval shipyard workers in Camden, N.J. and railroad workers.)
Students Strike Against War
(Students in N.Y.C. struck for an hour near their high schools and colleges in response to a call from the N.S.L. and S.L.I.D.)
Speed Up Munitions Production
(Munitions companies are busy with new orders from the government in preparation for a coming war. Workers are being exploited as well as youth in the C.C.C. camps. Lenin said: turn the imperialist war into a civil war. Revolution and insurrection are called for.)
Volume III, Number 3, May 1934 (Full pdf version)
Young Spartacus
Published by the National Committee of the Spartacus Youth Clubs of America, New York, NY
Associate Editors:
- Martin Abern
- Max Shactman
Unite youth Against War and Fascism Why Two Demonstrations?
(Because of differences in positions preventing an S.Y.C. proposed united front one demonstration is organized by the Youth Section of the American League Against War and Fascism controlled by the Y.C.L. and other Stalinist youth groups. The other is under the auspices of the United Youth Committee Against War and Fascism which includes the Yipsels, S.Y.C.s, Communist Youth Opposition, S.L.I.D. and other non-Stalinist Communist and Socialist groups.)
Protest the Naval Maneuvers; Demand the Freedom of the Four German Youth
Troops Fire On Striking Workers
(Two strikers were killed and 200 injured in Toledo, a young longshoreman murdered on the west coast and in Lauringsburg, N.C. several workers were shot and one, 18 year old Aubrey Waters, is not expected to recover. The government and bosses are using the National Guard to put down strikes.)
Principles of Internationalist-Communist Youth
(This document, among other things, calls for a revolutionary internationalist road which will bring about the end of capitalism and the establishment of a new social order. Because of the subordination of the Young Communist International to Soviet bureaucracy and to Socialism in one country there is a need for a Fourth International, a new youth international and a new party.)
Book Review: The Arms Racket
(Often soldiers are killed by armaments supplied by their own country's munitions companies. This article reviews three pamphlets, "Arms and the Men," "Patriotism Ltd," and "The Secret International" which deal with this issue. The munitions producers sell arms to the enemy country before or even during war. Their only motive is profits. The three pamphlets cover the main munition firms in the world, which are all connected with bankers, steel magnates and politicians. They ignore treaties and ship arms through a neutral country or by secret shipments. Small wars are encouraged by propaganda and the sale of weapons to both sides. What is not addressed in these pamphlets is that capitalism causes war because of its search for new markets and greater profits and the connection of the munitions producers with the powerful business, industrial and banking interests of the country.)
I Cover the War Front by "Spartacus" What? No More Arms For the Chaco War
(Roosevelt's true motive is to prevent a Paraguayan victory in the war which would endanger the oil fields of the Standard Oil Company of Bolivia, owned by Rockefeller.)
Japan Issues Warning It told the other imperialist powers, particularly the U.S., to keep hands off China. When Roosevelt's government objected Japan "explained" that its interest in China was equivalent to the U.S. interest in Latin America. Washington has not yet replied.)
Roosevelt's Real Reply
(Fortifying Alaska, building numerous ships, preparing for war.)
Munitions Producers Know No Fatherland
(Dupont is helping build war industries in Japan. It sells arms impartially to Japan, China, Bolivia and Paraguay which allows it to make big profits and pay big dividends to its shareholders. Some DuPont financial figures are included to show a very dramatic increase in profits and dividends compared to the prior year.)
Who Fights the Wars?
(Not the sons of the rich.)
August 4, 1914
(Poem by Ralph Chaplin, 1914, concerning the foolishness of fighting for nations when labor has only one true enemy.)
Two Spartacans Arrested
(The arrests took place during the west coast longshoremen's strike, during which there was intense fighting. The two arrested, Eleanor Booth and Florence Wyle, both 21, had been distributing handbills calling on strikers to "stand firm and united." They are members of the Communist League and Spartacus Youth Clubs.)
Young Workers Protest Nazi Rallies
(Counter demonstrations against Nazi Rallies were held in N.Y. and Philadelphia. In both cases the Yipsels and Spartacus Youth Clubs participated, initiating a closer bond between the two organizations.)
Mooney Plea Rejected
(He is denied Habeas Corpus by a Federal District judge of California. The case is going to the Supreme Court.)
Volume III, Number 4, June 1934 (Full pdf version)
Young Spartacus
Published by the National Committee of the Spartacus Youth Clubs of America, New York, NY
Associate Editors:
- Martin Abern
- Max Shactman
Fascism or Communism, Says General Johnson Is Conclusion of Darrow Committee's Attack on N.R.A. As Tool of Big Business and Its Demand for Non Profit System
Youth Protest War Plans
(On May 30th in N.Y.C. close to a thousand militant youth marched against bosses' Memorial Day, imperialist war preparations and Fascism under the banner of the "United Youth Committee against War and Fascism." Yipsels, Spartacans, and Lovestoneites participated in a united front action.)
Two Spartacans Arrested in Frisco
(They were passing out handbills during the longshoremens' strike. See identical article in the Special Anti-War Issue.)
Follow Toledo and Minneapolis
(Strikes for union recognition and increased wages spread across these and other cities despite the use of National Guard, State Militia or Army.)
Special Anti-War Y.S. Issue Distributed
(The issue was distributed at the May 30 United Youth Demonstration Against War and Fascism. The major part of its contents are in the present issue.)
Student Notes: Students and Workers
(The capitalists have before, and will again, use students as a strikebreaking force. Schools are compelled to provide scabs because the capitalists subsidize the schools. The aim of the Communist on campus is to make the student realize the necessity of uniting with the working class.)
Students Strike Against War
("The Campus Strikes Against War," by Joseph P. Lash. This pamphlet provides us with a factual summary of the strike movement. It does not examine the view that only by fighting alongside the working class in the revolutionary war against capitalism that humanity can be saved.)
Our Student Program
(What is our position on existing student organizations? We have no position because the matter is still under discussion with a draft for a student program before the National Committee.)
Organization News With the Spartacus Youth Clubs
(Within the last month three new Spartacus Youth Clubs have been formed in San Francisco, New Haven, and the Bronx, N.Y. In San Francisco and New Haven the clubs are already involved in a united front with the Yipsels for demonstrations against war and Fascism May 30th. The article reports on club educational activities, preparations for May 30th demonstrations and other news in Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York City and Philadelphia.)
Chicago Debate Spartacus Youth Club vs Young Peoples Socialist League Subject: Resolved that the organization of a Fourth International is indispensable to the victory of the World Working Class over Fascism Affirmative: Nathan Gould and Albert Glotzer (Members National Committee S.Y.L.) Negative: Arthur MacDowell (National Chairman Y.P.S.L.) and John Rienner Friday, June 29th, 1934 at 7:45 P.M., National Socialist Institute, 3322 W. Douglas Blvd.) 3 Great Strike Wave Spreads From Coast to Coast Longshoremen, miners, auto workers, meat cutters and butchers, iron and tin workers, drivers and railroad workers are joining unions and striking.)
Working at Looking for a Job
(The state Employment Agency involves endless waiting, no jobs, futility and boredom.)
Principles of Internationalist-Communist youth
(Reprint, see volume 3, May 1934, special anti-war issue, page 2.)
Book Review: The Arms Racket
(Reprint Volume 3, #3, page 3)
I Cover the War Front
(Reprint, see Volume 3, issue 3, page 3.)
Go Fight, You Fools!
(Poem by Ralph Chaplin, printed in Volume 3, number 3, page 3, under the title "August 4, 1914.")
Why Two Anti-War Demonstrations on May 30
(Reprinted from Volume 3, issue 3, page 1.)
A Guide to the Communist Manifesto
(In part one, Bourgeois and Proletarians, the authors trace the decline of medieval economy through the period of geographical discovery that gave an impetus to the newly-born bourgeoisie through the manufacture of hand and machine made goods. The second part, Proletarians and Communists, deals with the relationship between the Communist Party and the working class. Then comes a chapter on Communist and Socialist literature. The last chapter expresses the relationship between the Communist party and opposition parties. The Communists never placed themselves under the leadership of the bourgeoisie, broke with the united front and declared war to the end with their former allies.)
God's Angry Man – The Life of John Brown
(A review of God's Angry Man, by H. Erlich. The book is a highly dramatized account of John Brown's life, particularly his deeds in "Bloody Kansas" in the anti-slavery cause and at Harper's Ferry in Virginia during his attempt to lead a rebellion of the Negro slaves. It falls short of a complete historical picture and focuses on the personalities involved, but the facts are so fascinating and the manner of describing them so powerful that the book is well worth reading.)
Recruits
(Poem by Francis Becker about injured WWI veterans on the subway.)
World Youth Movement Belgium
(On May 1 the "Leninist Youth of Belgium put out the first issue of their new paper, "La Voix des Juenes (Voice of the Youth.)
(The Young Socialist Federation of Spain are very critical of the Socialist party and often take independent positions. In their newspaper, "Renovacion," they call for a "united front on the following points: Freedom of the press, assemblage, organization; amnesty for all revolutionary political and social prisoners; unemployment at the expense of the state and employers," a general strike for 48 hours against the reactionary parliament, its dissolution and a new election with voting rights for all above 18 including soldiers and prohibition of the Fascist press. While they accept the need for united action to them "the objective is victory, the revolution.")
Rosa Luxemburg On Imperialism
(Capitalism, in the last period of its life, has the economic tendency to change the whole world into capitalistically producing nations through imperialistic expansion and turn the masses of all zones into wage slaves. Through this establishment of capitalist world rule the conditions are created which allow the Socialist world revolution to follow.)
Strike Struggles Continue Militant Traditions
(In 1877 a strike of railroad workers turned into a national general strike which was put down by militia and then federal troops, the first time they were called out in peace time. When President Hayes sent troops to kill the workers because they dared to strike against wage cuts and starvation wages the strikes became not just economic but also political. After the strike 24 different workingclass newspapers sprung up and Socialist Labor Party membership grew to 10,000, expressing the increased workingclass solidarity that had arisen.)
Students Support Longshoremen
(The main demand was union recognition. Most ports were tied up 100 percent except San Pedro and a few others. Although some fraternities of football players scabbed in San Pedro delegations of students from every university in Southern California came to the strikers with messages of solidarity.)
Organize support for Young Spartacus
(An appeal for support from every member and sympathizer to enable the continuation of at least monthly issuance.)
Young Workers Protest Nazi Rallies
(Young Socialists and Spartacans massed together in Philadelphia to demonstrate against the Fascist tendencies of the Friends of New Germany. The result of the mobilization was to initiate a closer bond between the S.Y.C. and the Y.P.S.L. In New York on May 17th a 1,000 militant workers paraded in the counter demonstration to the Nazi's Madison Square Garden meeting, shouting "Down with Fascism." The Y.P.S.L., S.Y.C. and the Communist League of America participated.)
War Sec'y States Aims of C.C.C.
("The C.C.C. mobilization demonstrates that the Army is ready to defend the nation...if this nation should be threatened with foreign war, economic chaos, or social revolution.")
Volume III, Number 5, October 1934 (Full pdf version)
Young Spartacus
Published by the National Committee of the Spartacus Youth League of America, New York, NY
5 Oct 1934
Youth Rebel Against Poverty Bravely Face Bullets in Textile Strike Battles
Franz Bobzien Murdered by Nazis
(He was one of the four German youth arrested last February in Holland while attending the world youth conference and turned over to the Nazis. He is reported to have died in a Hamburg Nazi prison while serving a four year sentence.)
Cops Help Fascists
(They brutally dispersed peaceful anti-Fascist pickets in front of the Academy of Music in N.Y.C. where Mussolini's Blackshirt Band was giving a performance. This was done by order of Commissioner Valentine, Mayor LaGuardia's newest appointee.)
Help Sustain "Spartacus"
(The paper was compelled to skip three issues. Such infrequency decreases the value of our paper.)
On Anti-Militarism
(By Karl Liebknecht, 1907. Militarism constitutes only a part of capitalism, a specially pernicious and dangerous life manifestation of capitalism.)
Student Notes: Anti-Fascism In the Schools
(Fascist nuclei have formed in cities such as Los Angeles and Newark. Fortunately the weight of student sentiment is at present balanced against Fascism. In City College, New York, five students were suspended by President Robinson for their opposition to the visit of Italian students acting as emissaries of Mussolini.)
N.S.L. Blocks Action Acting as a pawn of the Stalinist Young Stalinist League, the N.S.L. refused to enter the united front because there were Trotskyites in it.)
Role of the S.Y.L.
(The S.Y.L. has always been insistent on a united front. Where the N.S.L. refuses, the S.Y.L, by working with the Student League for Industrial Democracy, must compel it to alter its stand.)
United Front Youth Pact
(Calls for common demonstrations countering Fascist meetings of Italian Fascists and common action against Italian Fascist propaganda and the release of all Socialists, Communists and other anti-Fascist prisoners in Italy. The participating organizations, S.Y.L., Y.P.S.L., S.L.I.D. and Communist Youth Opposition will have one representative each on the steering committee and two each on the arrangements committee with places left open for the Young Communist League and the National Student League in case they decide to enter the united front.)
Organization Notes: Spartacus Youth League Activities
(Minneapolis, Chicago and Harlem, N.Y. have each formed new branches. The article reports on activities of the Minneapolis, Chicago, Newark, New Haven and New York City branches.)
Y.C.L. Members Question Leaders
(The questions involve why a united front cannot be made with the "Trotskyites.")
Strike Wave Shows the Need For a Left Wing
(In every strike "a despicable, cowardly leadership has broken the strike from within!" It is not the rank and file but the American Federation of Labor whose motivation is to get dues.)
Jobless and Strikers Co-operate
(During the successful Minneapolis truck drivers' strike two people were killed, a worker from Local 574, and John Beior, an unemployed member of the Minneapolis Central Council of Workers, the unemployed organization of Minneapolis. 45 people were wounded by police guns, of which 11 were members of the M.C.C.W. The Communist League played an important role in the strike, with its members occupying leading positions in the M.C.C.W.)
Jugoslav King's Death Shakes Europe
(King Alexander, who ruled with a bloody fist and squeezed millions out of his subjects for his personal benefit, was assassinated by a gunshot from a Croatian. Now the oppressed Croatians and other ethnic minorities within the country threaten to revolt against the tyrannical government. The Fascist governments of Italy and Austria neighboring the country from the north, south and west would welcome any internal disturbances as an opportunity to restore "peace and order.")
U.S. Fleet Practices
(It will sail through the Panama Canal to California and practice to be ready for any emergencies that may arise.)
Textile Strike Renewed
(Textile workers are preparing for a new strike with 30,000 having already left the mills. The demands include union recognition and a minimum wage of $1 an hour.)
N.Y. Regional Youth Conference planned
Hearst the "Liberator'
(Hearst writes from Germany: "If Hitler succeeds in pointing the way of peace and order and an ethical development which has been destroyed throughout the world by war, he will have accomplished a measure of good not only for his own people but for all humanity.")
With the World Militant Youth Movement
(The International Bureau of Revolutionary Youth Organizations, since the world youth conference held in Luxemburg last February, has been communicating with its sections, the Socialist Youth League of Germany, (connected with the Socialist Workers Party,) the Socialist Youth League of Holland, the Mot Dag group of Norway, the United Socialist Youth League of Rumania, and the national youth sections of the International Communist League (Holland, France, Belgium, Spain, Canada and the United States.) Because of technical and financial difficulties only a limited amount of material has been sent to the branches of the S.Y.L. In Spain, France, and Belgium youth organizations are reported to be moving away from centrism and reformism toward a revolutionary international and support for the armed overthrow of capitalist rule and the establishment of a workers' dictatorship.)
Book Review-
("Fontamara" by Ignazio Silone is the story of a village in Italy's southern Appenines dealing with the new Fascist government. Though farmers know little of politics they do understand higher and higher taxes and their exploitation by wealthy bourgeois who claim to represent them but instead collaborate with the Fascist government oppressing them. They learn to resist and eventually rebel. The authenticity of the depiction of the life of the farmers and their way of speech results from the fact that the author was a Fontanamaran for twenty years until he was compelled to leave Italy. The reviewer sees it as a rare book that is good propaganda at the same time it is an excellent literary work, calling it a "great revolutionary document.")
Italian Intellectuals Under Fascism
(A review of a pamphlet published by the Student League for Industrial Democracy. The review calls it a "valuable and timely"..."expose of Fascist repression and regimentation." Although it gives numerous examples of tormenting of liberal intellectuals and creative artists it fails to make an organic criticism of Fascist culture, which is anti-intellectual and "substitutes brutality for intelligence," making it "a cult of ignorance." For the basic analysis of Fascism that this pamphlet fails to do see Leon Trotsky's article "Portrait of National Socialism" published in "Yale Review" and "The Militant.")
The Lessons of the Spanish Revolt
(The Spanish workers who fought so heroically against reaction have been defeated for the time being. Our duties to them are to understand what happened and to help reorganize their fighting ranks and help those who have been imprisoned. Among the lessons were that "peaceful revolution" and peaceful and legal means did not work. After the events in Germany and Austria united fronts (Workers' Alliances) were formed. They included the Socialist party, the trade unions, the Anarchists and the Communist Left ("Trotskyites") The Communist party (Stalinists) refused to join until the last days, and the Socialists until the last minutes. Places where the Worker's alliances had been in place for a while, like Catalonia and Asturias, were best organized and put up the greatest amount of resistance during the armed struggle. From this we relearn the lesson taught by German events, a united front of all workers' organizations is needed to defeat Fascism. Further, the Socialists, although supporting a "workers' republic" rejected any struggles for partial economic or political demands, even those for the most elementary needs of the workers, like wages, hours, living conditions and freedom of speech, press and organization. The Russian Bolsheviks, the only workers' party to lead a successful revolution, had systematically defended the smallest needs of the workers and peasants. Also lacking in Spain was a clear cut Marxist revolutionary party. It is only such a party which could have forged an effective national fighting united front, conducted partial struggles, and won peasants and soldiers for the revolution.)
The Y.P.S.L. at the Crossroads
(It has broken from Soviet reformism but has not yet adopted a clear-cut revolutionary program. The National Committee of the Yipsels as well as the majority of its members accept the declaration of principles adopted at the Detroit Convention of the Socialist Party. They believe that capitalism can be overthrown not only by forceful and violent means but also that a classless society can be achieved peacefully. The great need of the moment is a new revolutionary party and youth league which will be an integral part of the Fourth International. The S.Y.L supports the elements of the Yipsels moving in this direction and a united front of the radical youth organizations including the Yipsels, if possible.)
Draft Resolution on the Student Problem With 900,000 students in the U.S. today they are a considerable force. Reactionaries, presently Fascists, have always made a bid for this force in order to direct it against the working class. Because the majority of students come from classes other than the working class, revolutionary education is especially necessary and the primary task of the S.Y.L., which can provide clarity. The S.Y.L. must be active and lead on student issues, such as supporting student aid, financing for schools, free education, and racial equality. It must also lead in the struggle against Fascism and militarism, for example R.O.T.C.)
War
(A poem by Hendrik Ibsen, the playwright, about the class struggle, capitalist exploitation and revolution.) Arise!
(Poem recited by Albert R. Parsons, one of the Haymarket martyrs, about workingclass aspirations, encouraging uprising for liberation.)
Two Letters on the Youth Committee Against Fascism
(The S.Y.L. believes in a united front and criticizes the committee for not taking any action to fight Fascism. The Y.P.S.L., in its reply to an S.Y.L. letter, stated that it did not seek affiliation with the Y.S.L. in this endeavor without stating any reasons.)
Y.C.L. Offers Fake Reasons for Rejecting United Front
(The Y.C.L. stated they could not enter into a "united front agreement with the renegades from Communism--the Lovestoneites and Trotskyite grouplets--without sacrificing our revolutionary principles and deceiving the masses." The article then lists 5 instances of actions in N.Y. which included the Y.C.L. in united fronts with the S.Y.L. and other groups, albeit despite the reluctance of its leadership.) 8 Roosevelt Calls For "Industrial Peace"
(Representing Wall Street Roosevelt calls for peace by which he means submission to higher prices, lower wages and company unions.)
New Workers Party to be Formed
(The Communist League of America and the American workers Party have joined forces to create a new revolutionist Marxist party. It is needed to ably defend the interests of the working class. The two organizations have been leaders in the strike struggles and the Spartacus Youth warmly greet this step on the road to a Bolshevik party.)
Delegation Protests Students' Expulsions
(A delegation from the Columbus Day Anti-Fascist Committee, a united front body in the activities of which the S.Y.L. has played an important role, will call on Mayor LaGuardia to protest the suspension of anti-Fascist students at City College of New York and to demand the removal of F.P. Robinson, its president, and the reinstatement of the suspended students.)
Spanish Workers Fight Reaction.
(The Spanish field and factory workers have fought a heroic revolutionary struggle against reaction for the past few weeks. The conservative elements have made constant advances, taking away from the workers and poor farmers one after another of the advantages they had won in the revolution of 1931. Workers' organizations have been persecuted, their newspapers suspended and their leaders thrown into prison as Fascists advanced toward power. The Spanish workers, divided among Socialists, Syndicalists, Anarchists, Stalinists, Trotskyites and others, studied the lessons of Germany in 1933. They realized that Hitler had been able to defeat the workers' organizations because they had been divided. They set about organizing Workers' Alliances against the common enemy of Fascism. The Socialist leadership hesitated to join the National Alliance while allowing their local groups to join. The Stalinists opposed the united front until a few days before the outbreak of the civil war. The Anarchists and their union stayed aloof because as individualists they did not want to tie up with other groups, although many of them fought valiantly with their class. The storm broke when three members of the extremely reactionary Catholic Fascist "Popular Action" party were included in the government. The working class organizations took this a signal to declare a revolutionary general strike. The strike was very solid and the country was plunged into a bloody civil war as the national army and the Civil Guards attempted to subdue the rebellion. The insurrection was finally put down with great loss of life on both sides. The errors of the various groups helped make victory impossible, but on the basis of a real analysis and criticism of these mistakes a workers' vanguard party will arise and triumph.)
United Front Forged Against Black Shirts
(As a counter-demonstration to the pageant given to Mussolini's picked students visiting the U.S. 1,500 New York workers met at Columbus Circle on October 12 and twice that number rallied near Yankee Stadium. The united front, initiated by the Yipsels, S.L.I.D., Communist Youth Opposition and the Spartacist Youth League developed into a
common action of all workers' political organizations except the Stalinists.)
Volume III, Sepcial, October 1934 (Full pdf version)
Young Spartacus
Published by the National Committee of the Spartacus Youth League of America, New York, NY
Rally Against Italian Fascist Student Envoys United Front Committee Calls Mass Demonstration for Yankee Stadium
(Radical youth groups, trade unions and workers' political organizations joined in a united front under the banner of the Columbus Day United Committee against Italian Fascism to plan a counter-demonstration on Columbus Day against the Yankee Stadium pageant to greet Mussolini's select 300 students conducting a "good will" campaign in the U.S. They plan to appear before high schools, colleges and universities to bring the message of Fascism. The Italian government has murdered militant workers, imprisoned fighters and suppressed democratic rights of the Italian people. Mussolini and Hitler have been unable to supply the workers with food, clothing and shelter or to maintain power except by violence and suppression. Here in the U.S. the government is using increasing violence from the National Guard to deal with strikes and building war equipment as quickly as possible to prepare for yet another war for profits. We must unite with our fellow workers all over the planet to combat Fascism and capitalist reaction.)
Tyrant's Death Shakes Europe
(The sudden assassinations of King Alexander of Jugoslavia and the French Foreign Minister Barthou has destabilized Europe and ignited war talk throughout the Old World leaving millions to wonder if these events will be the start of another Sarajevo. The king was a bloody tyrant who oppressed his people and squeezed millions out of them for his own benefit. Now the subjected Croats and Serbs threaten to revolt while Italy, Austria and France have designs on Jugoslav territory. Only workers' rule can lead to freedom for Jugoslavia's workers and peasants.)
Notice
(Members and sympathizers of the S.Y.L. and the Communist League of America will assemble at 113 Second Avenue in Manhattan at 8:00 A.M. for the Columbus Day Demonstration which will also include the Socialist party, Communist League, Communist party (Opposition,) I.W.W., Anarchists, Yipsels, S.L.I.D., Communist Youth Opposition, trade unions and other worker organizations.) Special Issue of Y.S.
(Despite a lapse of three months we are issuing this special New York Columbus Day Y.S. Support our strenuous efforts to get the paper out every month by subscribing or donating.)
Heroic Spanish Workers Revolt
(An intense civil war rages in Spain. The Spanish workers are fighting for their existence and conducting intense street and barricade fighting against Catholic Fascists and troops and police of the regime dominated by reactionary elements. In Andalucia peasants have seized and divided large estates.)
Stalinist Y.C.L. Rejects United Front Fears Common Action of Young Peoples Socialist League and Spartacist Youth
(Reprint of article titled "Y.C.L. Offers Fake Reasons for Rejecting United Front," Y.S. Volume 3, #5, page 7.)
N.S.L. Supports Disunity of Youth Over Protest
(The N.S.L. refuses to support the Columbus Day United Front.)
Y.C.L. Members Discuss United Front
(Dissension has arisen in the ranks about the explanation of why a united front cannot be made with "Trotskyites." Reprinted from Volume 3, #5, page 2, under the title "Y.C.L. Members Question Leaders.") Appeal to Members of the N.S.L. The S.Y.L. Student Faction and the American Workers Party, Student Faction have appealed to the N.S.L. to abandon their position of refusing to join the Columbus Day united front because it contains the Communist Youth Opposition and the S.Y.L. Their position is based on the sectarian interests of the Y.C.L. and not the common interests of the working class and the organizations working to combat Fascism on its behalf.)
Strike Wave Shows the Need for a Left Wing
(Reprint from Volume 3, #5, page 3, under the same title.)
Jobless and Strikers Co-operate
(Reprint from Volume 3, #5, page 3, under the same title.)
Jugoslav King's Death Shakes Europe
(Reprint from Volume 3, #5, page 3, under the same title and this issue, page 1 under the title "Tyrant's Death Shakes Europe.")
N.Y. Regional Youth Conference Planned
(Reprint from Volume 3, #5, page 3, under the same title.)
Hearst the "Liberator"
(Reprint from Volume 3, #5, page 3 under the same title.)
Textile Strike Renewed
(Reprint from Volume 3, #5, page 3, under the same title.)
U.S. Fleet Practices
(Reprint from Volume 3, #5, page 3, under the same title.)
Cops Help Fascists Beat Up Workers
(Police cooperated with Italian Fascists last week in brutally dispersing anti-Fascist peaceful pickets in front of the Academy of music on 14th St., where Mussolini's Blackshirt Band was performing.)
Hearst the "Liberator"
(Reprint from page 3 of this issue.)
New Workers Party to be Formed
(Reprint from Volume 3, #5, page 8.)
Students Protest Fascist Receptions
(At C.C.N.Y. the reception turned into a battle with reactionaries and the Italian students were sneaked out the back door. At Hunter the reception was cancelled to avoid a confrontation with well organized students.)
Volume III, Sepcial No. 2, October 1934 (Full pdf version)
Young Spartacus
Published by the National Committee of the Spartacus Youth League of America, New York, NY
Associate Editors:
- Martin Abern
- Max Shactman
Draft Resolution of N.C. for First National Convention of S.Y.L.
Inadequacies of the Existing Workers' Political Youth Organizations and the Need For a New Revolutionary Youth League
(The first national convention of the S.Y.L. will be held in early December. The major draft resolutions are presented. Others will follow. The main task of the Spartacus Youth League is to aid the Communist League of America in building a new revolutionary party. To accomplish this it is necessary to analyze the inadequacies of existing workers' political youth organizations. Neither the Young Communist League or the Young Peoples Socialist League have been able to reach or organize the masses of young workers and students. The main defect is their organizational and political domination by the traditional workers' parties, the Stalinist Communist party and the Socialist party, respectively. Both parties reject revolutionary Marxism and cannot develop youth organizations which can win the young workers against capitalism.)
Young Communist League
(Of the 3,000 members in 1931 and the 15,000 that joined between then and June 1934, only 6,000 remain, which means 12,000 have left the organization in three years, some expelled, others stifled by false politics. The Stalinist youth are completely isolated from the current strike wave. They have abandoned the anti-miltarist program of Lenin and the struggle against pacifism and disarmament. They call everybody except themselves "fascists" including the Yipsels and the Y.S.L., then propose a united front with the Yipsels demonstrating inconsistency and a lack of any clarity. They do no educational work, their leaders fear internal discussion and stifle the democratic rights of members. However the mass of youth in the Y.C.L. want to become revolutionaries. It is an important task of the Y.C.L. to attract them to the new revolutionary youth movement.)
Young Peoples Socialist League
(They are an even greater potential source of recruitment. The organization has taken on new life under the impact of events in Austria and Germany, the sharpening class struggle in the U.S. and the failures of the Y.c.L. It is a centrist organization with no clear program on militarism and war, Fascism, trade unions and students. The leftward drift within the Yipsels offers excellent opportunities for the S.Y.L.)
Spartacus Youth League
(Building a revolutionary youth organization is the foremost task of the S.Y.L. Through clarity and action it can win the youth for the new party, and the revolutionary struggle against capitalism.)
Dates to Remember
(Important dates from the Young Socialist International in 1907 to the World Conference of revolutionary Socialist and Independent Communist youth organizations in 1934.)
General Character of the S.Y.L. and its Relation to the Communist League
(The C.L.A. is building a new party composed of workers who are conscious of their goal. The S.Y.L. aims to attract young workers and students who are yet to be made conscious of that goal. The S.Y.L. accepts the political program of the C.L.A. but unquestioning acceptance of the party line is not demanded and the S.Y.L. maintains its organizational autonomy. It is not a difference in fundamental interests that makes a youth organization necessary but the special needs of youth that must be satisfied by a revolutionary youth organization, and because the youth who join are not yet Communists, the task of educating them becomes the primary duty of the S.Y.L.)
The Need for a Revolutionary Youth International
(The S.Y.L accept the declaration of the Communist League of America on the necessity to create the Fourth International and a new party. The danger of war and Fascism is acute. The 2nd and 3rd Internationals and their youth organizations have led the working class to defeat after defeat and trampled on the banner of internationalism when it must be raised higher than ever. The present Stalinist and Social Democratic organizations are controlled by bureaucrats. It is necessary to build the world youth movement united with the workers' movement under the banner of the 4th International and Marxism. The first step was the Declaration of Four (O.S.P., R.S.P., S.A.P. and I.C.I.) which correctly characterized the present world situation and called for the creation of the 4th International. A second step was the Luxemburg conference of independent revolutionary youth organizations in February 1934 which supported a new international based on a communist program of principles and recognizing and stating the impossibility of reconciliation with reformist and bureaucratic centrism.)
Study Past War Experiences
(From "War and the Fourth International.)
Karl Liebknecht Said...
(A quote about socialism and world revolution, Jan. 1919.)
The Economic Conditions of The Youth and S.Y.L. Tasks
(American capitalism cannot place the mass of young people and they have become part of a permanent army of unemployed. The New Deal, the N.R.A., C.C.C. and the Industrial Codes have not improved the status of youth. Our demands are abolition of the C.C.C. and transient camps, trade union wages for work camps, settlement houses in the cities for homeless youth, unemployment insurance and a voting age of 18, among others. Capitalism will cease to exploit only when it ceases to exist, only its revolutionary overthrow will free the working class from wage slavery.)
The Revolutionary Education of Young Workers
(Education and propaganda are the most important phase of S.Y.L. activity. Young workers and students are given a political education that will enable them to become leaders of the working class. We teach an understanding of the class nature of historical events and the revolutionary struggle of class against class. We also educate in the sciences and arts because we can use this knowledge for the class struggle.)
The Youth in the Struggle against American Fascism
(The Fascist movement in the U.S. has a particularly fertile field among disillusioned youth because of their growing dissatisfaction with traditional American institutions arising out of their hopeless plight. To prevent this movement from assuming significant magnitude and to prevent its ideology from influencing the minds of youth we must understand it and work out a program to attract youth to proletarian revolution. Fascism is a product of post-war capitalism that destroys workers' organizations and their previously won democratic rights. Arising in the period of the general decline of capitalism the Fascist movement is fostered by big business to crush the revolt of the masses and to divert the middle classes from joining forces with the revolutionary working class. It is a movement of reactionary despair to which the middle class is attracted because the working class movement does not possess the power to attract and lead them because it is indecisive and disorganized. In the U.S. the situation is similar to the one which gave rise to to European Fascism. The Fascists are using clever demagogy to attract the discontented layers of American society. Under current conditions which are very difficult for both the proletarian and middle classes the Fascist youth organizations will experience growth unless there is a Communist youth organization capable of organizing them and molding their discontent into revolutionary action. The adult ant-Fascist movement is also weak and disorganized. The Yipsels and Stalinists have created anti-Fascist youth groups which serve as an excuse for a genuine united front of already existing working class organizations which is what is needed. Our conception of the united front is that the organizations retain their own independence and the united front is organized around concrete and specific actions. In the united front the youth play a valuable part and will be found among the most active fighters. Since the Fascists are beginning to arm themselves and conduct military training camps the struggle against them necessitates the arming of workers, armed defense and a workers' armed guard. we can begin with the organization of sports groups whose aim will be training in self-defense.)
Work in Bourgeois Youth organizations
(The S.Y.L is in transition from a small isolated group to a mass youth organization. To accomplish this we must make contact with working and student youth, hundreds of thousands of whom are in bourgeois social, sports, religious and military or semi-military organizations. There our members will work from within, form factions and advance revolutionary propaganda resulting in individual and mass recruitment. The knowledge we gain from this work will allow us to employ the positive features of inner life and correct organizational methods they practice.)
War and How to Fight It
(From "War and the 4th International.")
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