ing their gains. But the joeratic Party leader- h commanded influence ‘Jargest section of the 4 the trade union move- ulsed all overtures for we union and political fainst the fascists. And Hal allies of the working peasantry, long since tied by successive social wg: policies which had bei the big landlords, “od passive or else were : by Hitler's lying ce inti-Fascist Unity Con- ‘d in Berlin, July 10, simann declared: ‘‘The e | of the United Front iscism is a question of soe German people.’ In ‘91932, Thaelmann con- ; address to the Com- tty conference with the } words: ie must develop prole- Prmationalism as against #nistic spirit stirred up masses. The Commun- ef Germany fights var preparations and # e war policy; it de + the billions that are 4% t upon the Reichswehr 9¥er to the fund to help #ictims and the unem- 30, 1933, the negotia- between the German the finance magnates iscists ended with the = appointing Hitler as silor of Germany. But $ could not yet consoli- Political position, and 2d of Some provocation ii help isolate and com- + Communist influence sections of the Ger- 47 the sky was crimson Games in the dome of tag. The Reichstag was ier declared: “It is the od. Now we will strike mmunists.’ Eyen then wires were busy telling that the Communists the Reichstag and that d been found ‘for a , § cists themselves fired stag. The torcHes were | by Goering. And the (4 hand which first fired tag has never ceased to Pillage, rape and ruin eples of Europe. The #ichstag lit up the path iscists to the bloodiest ) brutal autocracy ever pihe world. The most re- the most chauvinist, OSt imperialist sections Capital had seized a of political power in t savage blow fell upon the Communist Party fade union movement. Campaign of persecu- remmenced against the jace and culture came axe, Millions of books, ets_ of the most ad- ads, were lit in bonfires ¢ Germany. And many a class mother’s heart as she heard the ‘sirens of fascist trucks + working class districts Bb and drag her sons and daughters off to jail. Hitler let loose the dregs of society in storm-troop- ers uniforms, who with whips and revolvers set out to smash the militant sections of the German working class with an unprece- dented mass terror. At the same time Hitler at tempted to give a legal face to his monstrous farce. Indictments were prepared against Ernest Thaelmann and other working class leaders. To make more com- plete their conspiracy the fascists arrested Georgi Dimitrov and ERNST THAELMAN two other Bulgarian Communists, who were at this time resident in Berlin, and charged them with “complicity in the firing of the Reichstag.” TANDING alone, the left wine labor movement, led by Thael- man, was unable to prevent the establishment of the fascist dic- tatorship and suffered a severe defeat. The gigantic working class organizations built’ upin decades of struggle were destroy- ed. The surrender of the large body of trade union leaders, and the erayen fear of most of the Social Democratic leaders to undertake struggle against Hitler, kept the German working class disunited. Those leaders who fondly imag- ined that it was only the Gom- munists who were to be eliminat- ed as a political force, were soon disillusioned. One by one, Hit- ler crushed the working class or- ganizations He then turned on the most of his allies of yester- day, who also suffered from the strange thought that Hitler would Share political power with them. They too were smashed. HE rulers of Germany have since hurled Europe back to the dark, barbarous, terrible twi- light of the Middle Ages. They have reared in their army a pack of cannibals, beasts of prey, whose savagery is unsurpassed in the annals of society. They have bru- talized, corrupted, nazified and bribed large sections of the Ger- man people. They have reared the German youth on national chau- vinist poison. They have ruined and undermined the great cultural traditions of Europe. And this scum has been spawned in the political gutters of civilized Europe, at one time OPLE LIES TO HITLER the world famous centre of cul- ture, which has given to the world masters of science, music and art —Harl Marx, Frederick Engels, Liebknecht, Luxemberg, Mendel- ssohn, Bach, Handel, Wagner, Beethoven, Hegel, Kant, Fuer- bach, Goethe, Einstein, and Heine, Schumann and Schubert. Ue aeeerep are the atroci- ties which the German army have visited upon the Russian people. The Roman persecutions of the Christians, the cruelties of the Torquemadas of the Inquisi- tion, and the Black Hundreds of the Czarist Russia, pale into in- significance compared with the unspeakable deeds of the Hitler fascists, The following are common or- ders of the day in the German army: “Stamp -out of your soul all feeling of pity or compassion, kill every Russian, every Soviet citizen. Do not falter even though an old man or woman, a girl or a boy stands before you,’ as stated in the “Handbook for the German Soldier, written by Goeb- bels. Or: “It is necessary to in- culeate a feeling of pitilessness into the German soldier: No mani- festation of soft heartedness in relation to anyone whomsoever, regardless of age or sex is ad- missible.” Inspired by such documents, the Commander of the i3th Army Corps on Nov. 29, 1941, ordered his two-legged beasts to: ‘Exter- minate all boys and girls of 12 to 16 years of age.” Such is the face of fascism—cold, calculated mass murder of all who stand in the way—terrorism, rapine, plun- der. 4 pees interests of humanity de- mand the destruction of Hit- ler fascism. For centuries, at every crucial stage of historic conflict between progress and re- action within Germany, the strug- gle has always been decided in favor of reaction. The anti-demo- eratie forces have always retained State power and dished out piece- meal the measure of democracy and progress which the German nation were to enjoy. It depends upon the German nation itself whether they will take this his- toric opportunity to once and for all rid themselves of such re- actionary ruling classes. ODAY the German people stand at the cross roads. One road leads to new depths of dis- honor and national degradation through continued support to the fascist adventurers which have violated their country and the rest of Europe; the other, with the as- Sistance of the United Nations, to the overthrow of this monstrous gang.of child killers, and the re- turn of a wider form of democ- racy to the German people than has ever been enjoyed. Let the German people remem- ber the stirring words of Karl Liebknecht: “Tet thousands of voices shout: ‘Down with the shameless exter- mination of nations! Down with these responsible for these crimes! Qur enemy is not the English, French, or Russian people but the great German landed propri- etors, the German capitalists and their executive committee’ ” Germany under Hitler is now a vast prison camp where prisoners such as these are forced to work under condi- tions of semi-starvation and under the most brutal supervision. We Pledge... Below is the text of a pledge read to a great Massey Hall meet- img in Toronto last week by Tim Buck. The pledge, Buck declared, would be taken at hundreds of similar meetings across Canada. es EH, 3,000 Toronto citizens, pledge ourselves anew to devote all our energies to active support of the speediest launch- ing of the urgently needed in- vasion of Europe, as promised by Premier Churchill, President Roosevelt and Premier Fong; - “We undertake to help clear the decks of Canada for action, by vigorously supporting the policy. of the offensive and ruthlessly combatting the saboteurs of vic- tory, the obstructors and the ad- vocates of delay; “We pledge our fullest support to the men of our Army, Navy and Airforce; we greet our men in Britain under Canada’s Mc- Naughton; we will work untir- Ingly to increase the flow of arms and ammunition to them; “We denounce the attempt of certain circles of Big Business and its agents to disrupt national unity and imperil the earrying through of the offensive. These elements, through the Canadian Manufacturers’ Association, are seeking to defeat the adoption of collective bargaining lezislation in Ontario, and to provoke 3 wave of disastrous strikes at the most crucial moment of the war; we call on the people of Ontario to unite the press with all their vigor for the adoption of a demo- cratic labor-relations Act by the Ontario Legislature; “We greet the stand of Premier King in condemnation of the Gar- din-Chaloult quislingism in Que- bec; and urge the Government to strengthen democratic unity by lUfting the ban on the Com- munist Party. of Canada; “We pledge ourselves to fight for the unbreakable unity of the United Nations, and in particular for unity in common fighting ac- tion with our glorious Soviet Ally, whose heroic sons and daughters are still bearing the brunt of nine-tenths of the murderous Nazi war machine—a unity which must and will be expressed in joint action on the battlefields of Europe, in the speediest invasion of the Nazi-held continent and the joint victory and peace which shall be ours.’