The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 5, 1924, Page 6

The Communist International in America By C. E. RUTHENBERG (Member of the Executive Committee of the Communist International) IVE YEARS of work are behindthe Communist International, What relationship has the Communist In- ternational had to the workers of the United States during those. tive years? What has been its contribu- tion to the struggles 6f the workers here? What has it achieved in this country? Has the Communist International been merely a name here, to be ap- plauded by the revolutionary workers and hated by the reactionary labor leaders, or is it a living force, leading the struggles of the workers as it does elsewhere in the world? These are questions which may well be asked on this Fifth Anniversary of the founding of the Communist international, It is a fitting thing that in celebrating the Fifth Anni- versary that the workers here learn that the Communist International is not an organization of Russian, Ger- man, Italian, or even of European workers, but a world organization which is guiding the struggles of the revolutionary movement in the United States as it does elsewhere in the world. : To make this clear it is necessary only’ to review some of the main de- velopments of the Communist move- ment in the United States. These will show, what every worker in_ this country should know, that the Com- munist International is the general staff, the leading organization of the struggle to free the American work- ers from exploitation and oppression of capitalism; that the American workers may look to it for help and guidance as to the workers the world over. When the news reached the United States about the historic meeting in the Kremlin in March 5, 1919, at which the Communist International was organized, a well-defined Left Wing was already struggling for con- trol of the Socialist Party. The mani- festo of the C, I., calling upon the revolutionary workers in every coun- try to unite under its auspices gave a tremendous impetus to the Left The Left Wing im- Wing movement. mediately initiated a referendum in iti Socialist Party for affiliation with ‘the Communist International, which received the overwhelming support of the membership. At least three- fourth of the close to one hundred thousand members of the Socialist |be Party supported this referendum, only to have their decision sabotaged by the ruling bureaucracy of the So- cialist Party. In the months which followed there came into existence the Communist Party of America, with over fifty thousand members, which openly an- nounced its affiliation with the Com- munist International. At the same time the Communist Labor Party was organized, which, while it did not as directly state its affiliation, was equal- ly a supporter of the Communist In- ternational. Only four months of open work were permitted these or- ganized answers to the appeal of the Communist International, until the government loosed its terror against them in an effort to destroy them. ; It Brings Unity. In the bitter factional struggles which tore asunder the Communists organizations during 1920 and 1921, it was the Communist International which appeared as the unifying influ- ence. It was the demand and influ- ence of the Communist International which unified the United Communist Party and the Communist Party in 1921. It was the repregentative of ithe Communist International who in 1922 led back into the Party the op- position which split away in the strug- gle over the founding of the open party. Had there been no Communist In- ternational, no deciding and directing body with authority to pass upon question of the principles and tactics for the revolutionary workers in the United States and to direct their movement into the right channels, the factional struggle might well have resulted otherwise than it did. It is not an exaggeration to say that if there is today in the United States one party—the Workers Party—in which all the Communist groups are united, it is because of the persistent effort and tactful guidance of the International. Establishes Correct Policies. _ The contribution of the Commun- ist International, however, has not en limited to solving the problem of factional divisions, guiding influence of the Communist International which helped the Com- unist Party in this couptry to formulate those policies which dur- ine the last year have enabled the Party to make such great gains in establishing its influence among the workers and farmers. It was the Communist International which im upon the party driven underground thru the Palmer raids the need of again fighting its way into the open. The Workers Party was established and the under- ground Communist Party was liquidated with the aid of the Inter- national. That so fundamental a change in the policy of the Commun- ist Party in this country was achieved without a split was due to the fact that the International clearly saw the need of the movement in this coun- try and used its disciplinary power to establish what probably not a single member of the Workers Party now doubts was the right policy. On the trade union field the Com- munist International was the deciding factor eliminating the dual union ten- dencies from the Communist Party in this country, and in securing the adoption of the policy of . fighting within the existing unions for amal- gamation and revolutionary tactics and leadership. In the United Front policy adopted by the Communist International in 1922, it made its greatest contribu- tion of the strengthening of the Communist party in the United States. During the last two years of work of the Workers Party, its guiding principle has been the United Front policy of the C. I. It is thru It was the]. the application of this policy that it has won its successes in crystallizing the movement for independent poli- tical action by the workers and farm- ers, which in the present year will find its expression in the organiza- tion of a mass farmer-labor party— an event of the most vital importance in the development of class action by the workers and farmers of the United States. In its letter to the Third National Convention of the Workers Party the Communist International called at- tention to a phase of work neglected by the party here—agitation against American Imperialism and for free- dom of its colonies—work, which has since been begun. Leads Revolutionary Struggle Here. In guiding the Workers Party the Communist International is guiding the struggles of the American work- ers, for it is upon the principles laid down by the Communist International and policies it has enunciated as the means to win the support of the workers for those principles, that there will. develop. the mass move- ment of the American workers thru which the struggle against capitalism will be won in this country. For the American workers, even today, the Communist International is not a far-away abstraction but a living, fighting organization which in- fluences their struggles and guides them along the road to victory. Today the slogan of the Commun- ist International for the masses of workers and farmers of the United States is, a mass Farmer-Labor Party fighting for a Workers and Farmers Government. To this slogan hun- dreds of thousands of workers and farmers are responding. On the morrow, when the time is ripe, the Communist International will raise the new slogan of a Soviet Govern- ment and the Dictatorship ‘of the Proletariat and lead the workers in their final struggle for Lower, even as it today leads theny in preparation for that struggle. Hail to the leadership of the Com- munist International. Five Years of the Communist International ##% sxowo:r N March 5, 1919, the Communist on rene and France the Socialist Par- International was formed i Moscow by delegates of the Bolshevik Party, newly come to power in Rus- sia thru the October revolution, and representatives of the left-wing fac- tions of Socialist parties over the world. That date marked not alone the burial of the dead Second Inter- national, killed in 1914 by the treachery of Social-Democracy; it was also the symbol of the international proletarian character of the Russian revolution and a call to the entire working class of the world to turn from the corruption of death, em- bodied in social reformism, and en- gage in the struggle for the establish- ment of a working class society thru- out the world. Foundation of First World Party. A profound cleavage took’ place thruout the labor movement from that moment. Almost all the oppor- tunistic, power-seeking careerists at the heads of the working class par- ties, together with the timid and pacifist elements, rallied to fight against this “‘menace” to their com- fortable positions as agents of capi- talism; while the healthy revolution- ary elements everywhere responded to the call of the Third International with tremendous enthusiasm. A bit- ter struggle began, with the class-con- scious working a as the partisans of the jIisheviks, Fear- ful of the surging rank and file be- neath them, and uncertain as yet whether or no they might not be able to turn the new-born Third Interna- tional into a duplicate of the Second, and thus satisfy their followers while sabotaging again the revolution, miany reformist leaders, Hillquit in the U. S., Dissman and Haas in Ger- many, Longuet in France, ete., formed~“center” groups which broke with the Second International and temporized with the Third. 7 Meanwhile the first great wave of revolution was sweeping Europe. Communist parties were being formed in every land. In Germany the Spar- takusbund united with the left Inde- pendent Socialists to form the Com- munist Party of Germany; in the United States the vast majority of the Socialist Party, faced by the dis- ruptive expulsions of the right-wing reformists, split and formed two Communist. parties, later united and merged in the Workers Party; in leaders everywhere; they were to be denied power to dispose of “their” ties, yielding to the mass pressure, ! workers as they saw fit, their sacred affiliated to the Third International nationalism was violated; they must while retaining their reformist lead-|proclaim a holy war against the ership intact; in almost every coun- | “Moscow dictators” or they were lost. try of Central Europe, Communist |So they began the campaign of slan- parties were formed. Between the|der against the Third International First and Second Congresses there |that continues unabated to this day. was a mighty mobilization of the rev- olutionary masses of the world in re- sponse to the manifesto of the Con- gress of March 5, 1919. Mobilization, Organizaticn, Action. If the First Congress mobilized the world party of the workers, the Sec- ond is equally memorable as firmly advancing the next step of revolution —organization. Within the parties and groups that professed adherence to the Third International were many reformists, opportunists, and carecr- ists, merely carried along by the mass movement and but awaiting an op- portunity to betray it. The Second Congress laid down the famous “21 points” as the basic principles of or- ganization of the world party. A The Road (By telegraph) called upon to cut down the cen’ Thus wrote its International that will final! trees of class privilege, class On this Fifth loss of the great founder and Nikolai Lenin. We send oe RCE ONC OE EE EE OES OEE OEE OEE OTE OED OND DO CNR CMEC ED: SS By LUDWIG LORE : Editor, The Volkszeitung, German Communist Daily 66’ T° HE International that will serve the of cause can be born only out of the self-criticism of class, out of the realization of its own power, of that power which was broken and shattered on August 4, 1914, but which yet will be and strength of social injustice. The road to this power is the road to the re-establishment of the International.” Rosa Luxembourg, February, 1915, and her prophetic eye saw the truth. The self-criticism of the class-conscious workers and their organizations made a new International possible. It created a new power. It builds the young, corruption, rottenness [and misery untold, in order to make possible a new world of happiness and equal opportunity for all humankind. iversary of our International, we feel deeply the of Communism in action, workers, seotiialnst ta work Gite of our energy for the tion of oyr common aims in these United States, But the “21 points” against which they fulminate have proved to be the armour-plate of the world party against the treachery of the agents of capitalism within the working class. The Second Congress defi- nitely broke the power of all the so- cial traitors within the new interna- tional. Again the Communist International proved that it embodied within itself the virility, intelligence, and iron will of the revolutionary proletariat, whpn the Third Congress met in 1921. Faced by the bitter fact that Social- Democratic treachery had gained a temporary breathing-space for capi- talism, and that the International must prepare for a protracted and bloody to Power New York City, March 4, 1924. interests of the proletarian working oaks of gigantic growth strong Communist movement with cut down those imposing looking tation, social injustice, teacher of true to his co- ppy realiza- ery of rage went up from the yellow the Third Congress clarified the strategy and tactics of the Com- - munist movement; formulated the trade union program that has since, crystallized in the Red International of Labor Unions, shaken the labor bu- reaucracy; sealed the alliance be- tween the revolutionary proletariat and the suppressed peoples of the East; and established the basis of the United Front program that has since penetrated the whole working class with Communist thought. In December, 1922, the Fourth Congress of the Communist Interna- tional found the world party mobil- ized, organized, and in action all over the world. No longer were there questions that threatened the funda- mental solidarity of the International. The army of the world revolution was consolidated; the problems were the myriad questions of strategy and tat- tics to fit the multitude of situations facing the workers in the 49 coun- tries where the Communist Party is established. And from the Fourth Congress went forth a great inspira- tion that, in tne year 1923, carried the world party onto a new stage of struggle. The Party gained almost a majority of the German proletariat during 1923, for example, and in the tremendous strides forward of the Workers Par- ty of America we see another witness of the vitality of the Communist In- ternational. Now, on the fifth anniversary of the founding of the Communist Inter- national, it is hard to realize that it is but five years ago that a little group of harden revolutionists, most of them exiles and some, like Boris Reinstein from America, Rus- sian revolutionists returned to their native land after years of wandering, eerig in the Kremlin to found the orld Party of the workers. Only five years—but what tremendous years they have been. Thru those five Fees working class of the world has reached its maturity and prepared itself to govern the world. ee RE AES OS PITTSBURGH, PA. DR. RASNICK DENTIST Rendering Expert Dental Bervies for 20 Yoor $45 SMITHFIELD @T., Near ‘th Ave. a n Communist -