The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 15, 1924, Page 8

Shop Nuclei: Only Road to a Mass Communist By JOHN EDWARDS. F ORWARD to a revolutionary mass organization, has been the watchword of our party, the Workers Party of America, Within the past year, we Have made mighty strides towards our goal. Our work within the existing craft unions for amalgamation into industrial unions, our campaign for a labor party, the launching of a daily paper, has connected us defi- nitely with the organized mass of workers in this country. This has been done principally by setting up systematically of factions within the onion. Since then, every forward step we have made on the political and economic field—all. our cam- paigns towards the ends enumerated, neglect. While so far as the bosses are concerned, they can mobilize their forces, whether thru the state, or within the shop, almost momen- tarily, and thereby frustrate any at- tempt on the part of the workers themselves to organize for action during and after the crisis. The Russian Communist Party, or- ganized along the lines of shop nuclei, can place the entire working population of Moscow in the street, ready for any kind of action, in five hours time. : A good-sized volume could be writ- ten on the weaknesses and the anti- quated state of our present branch structure. Our present form of or- ganization is a heritage from the old, decrepit and outworn, socialist move- ment, following the lines of the so- have been advanced and furthered!cial ‘democratic party of Germany. among that section of the workers; The Communist movement with its which we union factions (especially by the aid for the party committees, city, dis- trict and central executive). The greater proportion of our membership, which has no union offil- iationa, has-been able to do little in the way of mass activities, outside of distributing and selling literature. Our successes in the past have been, for the most part, among the organized workers. Now it so hap- pens that the great mass, the vast majority of the workers in America, are not organized, either industrially or politically. For example, the real proletariat, the factory hands and the unskilled workers, steel workers, metal miners—have practically no or- ganization. They are at the complete mercy of the master class. Yet these machine slaves, according to Marx, are the most revolutionary strata. of the modern capitalist society. For a Mass Party. In order to become a mass Com- munist party, in the true sense of, the word, we must press the slogan: Organize the unorganized into action! The Workers Party must definitely connect itself with the most ex- tremely exploited section of the working class. Our party must lead them in the every day struggle for better living conditions, and thereby gain their confidence. We have to prove by deed and action that our slogans and revolutionary words are not empty phrases. A positive influ- ence: must be left upon the working class, which must transform itselt into an organizational form in order te establish the progress of our activity. How are we to go about a sys. tematic work among the unorganized masses? Factions is an impossibility where there is no working class or- ganization. Is our present form of territorial party structure suitable for such a task? Let us examine our present form of party structure. The branch, the lower unit of the party, made up, as it exists, of men and women who live in a given ter- ritory, without regard to their occu- pations, may- have in it building trades men, machinists, clerical workers, clothing workers and “in- tellectuals,” and other kinds of workers, too numerous to mentipn. It is not far fetched to say that a branch of 40 members will represent over a dozen occupations. It is next to impossible to discuss intelligently all the problems met with “on the job,” in the shop, let alone to map out any kind of work for the com- rades within the work place, Another thing must be taken into eonsideration, and that is that the branches usually meet but twice a month. At these semi-monthly meetings of the branch, is taken up routine business, such as reports of branch official, reading of minutes and communications, orders from higher bodies, education in the form of lectures and discussion. There is no time for the discussion of work in the shop. Mobilizing The Workers. Now let us consider another thing, which is essential for a Communist party. That is, to be able to mobil- ize our membership in the shortest possible time for work. In the case of any crisis within a shop or indus- try, our party could not bring to- gether ifs members (if it had any within the particular shop), within less than several weeks’ time for the following reasons: The branches do not meet at the same time each month; and when they do meet, not half of the members attend, due, in part, to other activities within the party, and many times out of sheer!rades work In the same shop, they have reached, by our] different methods, tactics and aim, must have a different and distinct structure of organization, Altho our present territorial branch does not fit precisely the needs of a Communist Party, we cannot simply say that it is of no value whatever, and drop that form of organization and immediately proceed on a new basis. To do so without preparation would be political suicide Our en- tire organization would be destroyed. Comunists are not utopians. We re- alize if we wish a ney party struc- ture there must be a transitional period, a bridging over from the present form to the new form. Any great change in the structure of any organization, whetker politi- eal, industrial, or social, can be brought about only by a gradual process. : Our present party structure is in- adequate for the task of reaching the great mass of workers. We must have a new form to meet the new needs. What shall it be? The answer is: The party struc- ture must be built on the place of work of the membership, rather than where the comrades live. As one of our comrades puts it: “The party is at present organized where our mem- bers sleep rather than where they slave.” This is not a new idea. The Com- munist Party of Russia is organized on the basis of the work shop; not only since it has taken state power, but many years before. It was this form of organization which made it possible for the Bolsheviki to mobil- ize the entire working class. against the ruling class of Russia. The form of party structure based on the work place is called the shop nuclei. It consists of members who work in any given shop. Method to Reach Workers, The advantage of the nucleus over the territorial branch is this: Mod- ern capitziism has brought together thousands of workers urder the same roof. The class struggle finds its sharpest contact right in the shop where the worker is reduced to the pesition of a machine and where he feels mostly his exploitation and can be reached on the basis of the mis- ery of his conditions, while to reach him after work, when he is trying to rest from his bitter exploitation, puts our members at a disadvantage. The minute the whistle blows the worker hurries home, either to do the little job around the house, or else to spend the time he has look- ing for pleasure in the picture show, the saloon, etc. In the factory a job agitator meets his fellow worker every day; the workers know one an- other; the workers feel they have something in common; they are more inclined to listen to a shop mate. Whereas, if he meets a Com- munist he does not know, he is sus- picious of him and thinks him at best some poor misguided fool. The worker outside of the shop is hard to propayandize. To make job agitation effective it must be systematic; it must shop, using the bad shop conditions to point out to them the nature of capitalist explojtation. The agitator must point out the necessity of the workers being organized industrially to carry on the “every strugg' for the betterment of their condi- tions under capitalism; also, the ne- cessity of political organization for the conquest of ied 9 to taking over ustries owned and operated by the oh Ded themselves, Where two ar more of our com- le pt ‘Ver, the prelude} should consider the matter of actual- ly forming a shop nucleus. They should get together and work out a systematic course of shop agitation based on the above outline. When they have succeeded in gaining néw adherents to their ideas, they should call a meeting of the interested members within the shop, and form the shop necleus, which becomes & regular part of the party. No Time Wasted. Not nies | does this new nucleus take up the problems of the shop, but it also acts as the lower party unit receiving orders and instructions from higher bodies in carrying out the campaigns and work of the party. It affiliates itself to the nearest’ ter- ritorial branch, reports regularly to that branch, receives orders and in- structions from the branch. This has another effect, it stimulates the in- terest of the territorial branch to which the shop necleus is affiliated in the problem of building more shop units. It makes the branch a live and driving force in the labor move- ment, Especially has the nucleus this advantage over the branch: It can meet at almost a. moment’s notice. Instead of putting nights into barren braneh meetings, the members. have more time for party work, as they confine most of their activities di- rectly on the job where they come in contact not only with a few work- ers, but thousands whose conditions and psychology they understand. In the territory of the shop where the first nucleus is formed, when one or more nuclei are created, the nuclei come together as a nuclei branch; that is, about three or more nuclei consolidate themselves into a larger form of organization, the nuclei branch which is a higher unit of the party than the nucleus: itself. Com- rades who are not in large industry, as, for instance, building trades workers, small office workers, who live in the territory of the nuclei branch, shall belong to the nucleus branch... The branch composed of nuclei does not usually comprise members working in the same in- dustry. j : The new form of nucleus organi- zation means that we have our roots buried among the masses of the workers and have a_ continuous, strongly-linked chain to the highest unit of the party. It does not require a very vivid imagination to see what this would mean to us as a Communist organi- tion. We could rapidly mobilize our entire party ‘for work and action and could betted meet the immediate problems of the day. When our party, for the most part, becomes a nuclei organization, it becomes «a mass organization, and cannot be ex- terminated by any amount of op- pression and persecution by the com- bined forces of the capitalists, thru their state or otherwise. No Harm to Federations. To those comrades who have rais- ed the bugabxo in their minds that to stuart the furmation of nuclei will hamper the federations and weaken the branches, the writer would like to point out that just the opposite would be fact. In no case will we] find in any branch more than one or two workers who work in the same shop. In most cases, not even that. Our problem is not so much the reorganization of the branch as the organization of new nuclei. We start at the factory, where there may be four or five Communists who belong to different brancheg of the party. For them to establish a nucleus, with more members now not in the party, strengthens our party structure; and the nucleus, at the same time, becomes affiliated to a territorial branch at first, which tre- mendously strengthens this branch. In no case will it hurt the branch to transfer several comrades to the factory unit, for that is already be- ing done in some instances to form new territorial branches. If there are foreign speaking members within the nucleus, they can maintain their connections with the present federa- tion branches. They will need lan- guage propaganda for the shop. The comrades who express fears against the nuclei have conceived of the idea of setting up separate shop shop apparatus with no regard to changing the présent structure of the party. In the first place, if this was to be done, we would have to set up separate apparatus all thra the party—district, city units, branches, which would be a dual or- ganization and unworkable. This sort of an apparatus would, in the second place, have to confine itself only to the problems on the job or, if it attempted to take up the rdzu- lar work of the party, the members would have to repeat such work again in their branches, which could not be effectively done. Again, workers joining the nucleus, if they happened to be Italians, Greeks, or of other nationalities, would have to be sent into the branches of that particular federation, or might have to be sent miles away from the fac- |tory to some territorial branch. The new members would think this a very strange procedure, and probably could not be induced to join our party under such circumstances, : The nucleus must be an integral part of the party, or else it is not a nucleus, Shop factions, industrial branches, ete., are impossible, and attempts to establish such forms of organization would be syndicalistic and hamper the political activities of our party. ; We must never lose sight of the fact that our party is a political or- ganization; and that all our cam- paigns and work should be directed toward the strengthening of our party organizationally, VETCHERINKA AND BALL Harlem Russian Branch, W. P. SATURDAY, MARCH 22ND at,.8 p. m AT THE Harlem Educational Center 62 East 106th Street MUSICAL PROGRAM. Dancing till 2 A. M. ADMISSION 50 CENTS GRAND C (2 W. P. Branches, Society MU All Proceeds for the ONCERT AND BALL Will Be Given By - JOINT COMMITTEE OF FIVE RUSSIAN ORGANIZATIONS Sunday Afternoon and Evening, March 23 SCHOENHOFEN HALL (Milwaukee and Ashland Avenues) DANCING (RUSSIAN and AMERICAN DANCES) UNTIL MIDNIGHT MOSCOW BUFFET and BAR ' Concert starts at 3:30 P. M. sharp Tickets 40 cents in advance—50 cents at the door —, In advance the tickets be obtained at the National Office, al, Beate Bi, ond Homsian Tockaheat sebeol 190 We ets ae Russian Official Organ of the Russian for T. A. to USSR, “Zvukee ederation, 0 Rs Party S