The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 22, 1924, Page 6

x The March Meeting of the Workers Party Central Executive Committee (Review and Comment.) By ALEXANDER BITTELMAN. | Fiennes are moving pretty fast nowadays. ne might safely say that the rapidity of development of our political life is fast approach- ing that of Kurope, altho our own class reiations, looked at from the point of view of the direct prole- tarian struggle for power, are not as yet as sharply defined as are the European. However, the rapidity and frequency of political changes, which merely reflect the sharpened conflicts within ~ the e€onomic ‘struc ture of America, are all here, which necessitates a frequent recasting cf our plans and policies with a view for readjustment wherever and when- ever necessary. The last (March) meeting of the Central Executive Committee of the Workers Party of America had oc- easion to register and evaluate a number of very important facts in the present volitical situation. The result is the new statement of policy published elsewhere in this issue. What are the new developments? New Farmer-Labor Center. First and foremost the new na- tional center of the Farmer-Labor Party forces in the Umted States. This center has been definitely es- tablished at the March 12th confer- ence in St. Paul which issued a call for a National Farmer-Labor con- vention on June 17th to be held in Minnesota. The organization com- mittee, elected at the above confer- ence to realize the convention of June 17th is in effect such a national center, Up till March 12th the Federated Farmer-Labor Party has been serv- ing in this capacity. It was the only national ‘center of the labor and farmer elements working conscious- ly-and consistently for the forma- tion of a class party of workers and exploited farmers. Now basis of this ational center has been broadened. and extended. The Fed- erated Farmer-Labor Party has joined hands with the farmer-labor forces of Minnesota and a number of state farmer-labor parties of the northwest and West with the result that a real national crystallization has taken place, and a political body has come into existence which will inevitably lead to the formation of a powerful class party of workers and exploited farmers. Third Party Pressure. Second, the- multiplication of probabilities for a third party split. Teapot Dome is surely undermining the foundations and prestige of both capitalist parties. The old reaction- ary gang in the two cold_parties is on the run for its very life. The closer we approach the elections the more threateningly is looming a the political horizon the probability of a third party ticket. For the purpose of bringing the Labor-Party policy of the party in accord with the latest political de- velopments, the C. E. ©. has found it necessary to restate. the party position. and, therefore, adopted at its last meeting a statement sub- mitted by Comrades William 2. Foster, James P. Cannen and Alex- ander Bittelman, A study of the document will show that our immediate political task remains now the same as it was prior to and at the time of the last party convention; which is to work for the formation of a~ mass party of workers and exploited farmers. It will be noted, however, that particular emphasis is now laid on the proposition that the class Farmer-Labor party must be built on_as broad a foundation as possible. This is very important. ~The Workers Party was instrumental in bringing into existence the Federat- ed Farmer-Labor Party. In doing so, our party has rendered a great service to the American labor move- ment and to the exploited farmers. The formation of the Federated Farmer-Labor Party on July 3rd, 1923, meant the coming together of the more militant and politically mature elements among the workers and exploited farmers for the pur pose of arousing still wider masses and bringing them into the stream of independent political action, All the time the Federated Farmer- Labor Party has been working to- ward this end. Real Achievement. The results are really magnificent. Within a short period of seven months a mass movement has been created. We have come to the point where nearly all the politically or- ganized Farmer-labor forces of the country have joined in one single, mighty effort to realize a Farmer- Labor ticket in the coming presi- dential elections. And why was this possible Mainly because the Workers Party and the Federated Farmer-Labor Party have not per- mitted “organizational fetishism to develop which would interfere with any necessary or advantageous re- grouping of labo party forces” (quotation from present statement of C. E. C.); and because our party and the “Federated” have ready to co-operate with and make all kinds of concessions to the other Farmer-Labor greups in order to re- alize the broad, all-inclusive class party of workers and exploited farmers. > It is known, for instance, that the Workers Party ond the Federated Farmer-Labor Party have been fa- voring May 30th as the date for the national convention of the Farmer- Labor forces. And for very good reasons. Reasons that had their basis in the very life interests of the class movement for a mass farmer- labor party. But there were elements in this Introducing Senator |B ee 2 STATES SENATOR THOMAS J. WALSH, who is now in charge of the Teapot Dome investigation, has given many people - the impression of being a zealous guardian of the public domain and a devoted conservationist. Senator Walsh’s record in this re- Spect is spotless perhaps only when compared with the transactions of Mr, Fall. ‘The senior Senator from Montana has himself played some Teapot politics tho not with oil in- terests directly. The Butte Electric Company is a subsidiary of the General Electric Company, which is one of the two concerns controlling at least 90 per cent of the water power in the state of Montana. The water power in- terests along with the copper inter- ests are the real driving force in capitalist circles in this state, Mr. Walsh has played Teapot poli- tics with the power interests. After he was re-elected to the Senate in November, 1918, Mr. Walsh intro- duced what is known as Senate bill No. 274 of the Sixty-sixth Congress. bill provided for the “erection and maintenance of a dam across the Yellowstone River in the State of Montana.” April ll, dak wea Ga bh tee hh TO ——s— 1921,' of cial session of the Sixty-seventh Congress, Mr. Walsh reintroduced his bill and numbered it Scnate bill No, 275. Played for Power Interests. What this bill meant ta the pres- ervation of the country’s great power resources is made clear by the following statement printed in the bulletin of tht Ma*ional Parks Association dated May 23, 1921. We quote in part: “The important duty now before this nation is the eat of the Walsh bill, just introduced in the Sixty-Seventh Congress, calling fur the damming of Yellowstone ke, Yellowstone National Park. “This constitutes the most insid- uous and dangerous blow ever aimed at American conservation, because it seems to ask for so little while really demanding thé entire National park’s system. For if Congress grants Senator Walsh his way with Yellowstone it cannot refuse to grant others their way with other national parks.” ‘ This bill was sed to have gone to the Com Lands but Senator yers in the country. cnet eden eesti nh SD ey movement that were opposed to the May 30th date, and for bad reasons. Bad, that is, from the point of view of the workers and farmers. ‘These elements favored July 4th as the proper date, Two Views Clash. These two views came to a clash at the St. Paul conference on March 12th. For a time it looked as if no agreement were possible. But at the critical mornent the Federated Farmer-Labor Party accepted a compromise, and it was then unani- mously agreed that the national convention be called on June 17th. It is on a strategy allowing. for such tactics’ and policies as were applied by the “Feaerated” in St. Paul on March 12th that the pres- ent statement of the C. E. C, is based. And what does this strategy consist of? It is this: “Drive with all your might for the formation, of a class party of workers and ex- ploited farmérs. But at the same time make sure—doubly sure—that you get all the politically organized farmer-labor forces in it.” Another important feature of the present document of the Central Ex- ecutive Committee is. the manner in which is restated our attitude to- ward the third party movement. Its general nature and economic basis have been known to us right along. What has become apparent only of late is that this third party movement may assume such propor- tions as to make it worth while for the capitalists to come in and at- tempt to secure control over it. And then this third pafty—if it ma- terializes—may differ very little from either of the two old parties. The present statement of the Cen: tral Executive Committee proposes to make our attitude towards a third party dependent also upon the attitude that the capitalists will assume towards it. And then the reasons for our sup- port in case the third party crystal- lizes as a clear-cut mass revolt against the economic and politica! domination of big capital. The pres- ent statement of the Central Execu- tive Committee gives four reasons for it. The comrades will do well to study these reasons carefully. Basis of Attitude. The basis for all of them lies in the tremendous and favorable effect that the third party movement has upon furthering and accelerating development of the class struggle in general and the movement for a Farmer-Labor party in particular. Our general attitude toward this third party movement is expressed in the document in the following words: “It remains one of the most important problems of strategy for the Farmer-Labor forces to steer a course of action which, while retain- ing contact with the broad thirl party movement, will at the same Walsh of this bill he used all the cunning at -his command ag a first rate lawyer. Public | Senator In framing! perts. Albrights’ Protest. Preparatory to his launching a drive for the enactment of this water power grab, Senator Walsh arranged i: February, 1921, a meet- ing with the promoters of the Liv- ingston power interests on the ground. Had it not been for the fact that the officers of the National Park Association learned of this meeting, Superintendent Horace M. Albright, of Yellowstone National Park, and George E. Goodwin, chief engineer of the National Park Serv- ice, would not have been present at the ings which lasted four days. It was only thru the efforts of the National Park , Association. that the esence ‘of these experts at the osm was guaranteed, Superintendent Albright emphati- cally declared that the proposed dam would submerge a part of Yellow- stone Park. Engineer Goodwir gee the whole project imprac. Despite this expert testimony Walsh k his dn forthe enactment of thls bil the members of a mein ees testimony of the ex- time bring about the crystallization of the workers and exploited farm- ers into a separate party of their own,” Third, the sensational investiga- tion of Attorney General Daugher- ty. For the so-called Progressive groups in Congress this is merely one phase of their general “house cleaning” campaign in the two old parties. But for ‘the labor movement as a whole and for our party in par- ticular this Daugherty investigation, because of the vicious and damn<« able part played by the Department of Justice in breaking the Shopmen’s strike and in persecuting the Com- munists, - presents a first-class op- portunity for exposing the capital- ist class nature of the American government and for arousing the workers to an independent political struggle against their class ene- mies. In dealing with this question the Central Executive Committee adopted. resolutions submitted by Jay Lovestone: Unemployment Situation. f Fourth, the unemployment situa- tion is becoming clearer. The con- tention of come of our leading com- trades, that an acute and widespread crisis of mass unemployment is already making its way into the lives of the American workers, have not been justified by events and further investigation. We are in for a crisis of unempleyment in but a few in- dustries (mining, textile), which calls not for an immediate national campaign of organization of the un- employed, but rather for a campaign of education and ideo'ogical prep- aration for the crisis that is bound to come in the near future. The thesis on unemployment by Comrade Earl Browder was adopted by the Central Executive Committee. Co-ordinating Party Activities, Fifth, the acute need of a balanc- ed program of party activities. This need is a direct result of the recent political and organizational growth of our party and of’ the growing complexity of the tasks confronting us. We have reached a stage where balance and proportion in the mani: fold activities of our party have be- come the basie prerequisites for our further development. Such a pro- gram, subn:itted by Comrade Wil- liam Z. Foster, was adopted at the last meeting of the Centra] Execu- tive Committee and will be pub!ish- : in the next issue of this maga- ine. June 17th is our next milestone. The Central Executive Committee of the party has given us the neces- sary directions and instructions, It rests now with the party member- a and with each party unit to make that day a great day of achievement for the Farmer-Labor movement and for the Workers Montana Significant comment on the Walsh proposal is found in the following excerpt from the Bozeman, Montana, Daily Chronicle, of May 15, 1921: Oil and Water Don’t Mix, “Whether or not the granting of the special “privilege in this particu- lar case would result in detriment to the beauties of the park is fot to our mind the issue at stake, but rather the fact that a granting of this paricular request would form a precedent, and the head of the camel would then he inside the tent, and it would be time for the family to move out. The Chronicle is unal- terably opposed to the granting of any vested rights within the park to pr bre corporation, association or combination of individuals whatever.” * In view of the above tireless ef- forts on the part of Senator Walsh in behalf of -