The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 11, 1924, Page 4

Page Four THE DAILY WORKER ‘ Monday, August 11, 1924 Fight MacDonald, Zinoviev Tells Communists CLOSES REPORT TO COMINTERN In the closing section of Zino- viev's report, given here, he out- lines the tasks before the Com- munist Par’ In England, Ger- many, France, Italy and other re- volutionary countries. Thru his en- tire report to the Fifth Communist International Congress is seen the program of co-ordinating the revo- lutionary movement of the world into a unified, Irrisistible body. o* * CHAPTER X. Concrete Tasks of Principal Parties. The English Party. NOW come to the final chapter: the concrete tasks of the most im- Portant parties. And here I agree with the German Party in its view that each separate party must be giv- en its own concrete directions. That will be the most important work of this congress. Politically, the most important sec- tion of.the Communist International at present, is not the German, nor} the Russian, but the English section. Here we are faced by remarkable sit- uations: a party of only three to four thousand members, wields far widér influence than would appear from these figures. For in England we are dealing with a different tradition. MacDonald’s party is not much stronger than ours. Their weekly paper the “New Leader,” has a cir- culation of 15,000; we have a circu- lation of 55,000. The tradition of a mass party is not known in England. Max Beer is quite right when he says that old Keir Hardie looked up- on the movement as a means of in- fluencing individual leaders. To form @ mass party in England is the chief task of the entire present period. The conditions are there. But the English Party ows signs of great weak- ness. For instance, it does not dare to criticise MacDonald. Now with regard to this, one must candidly admit that great masses of the Pnglish workers are still attached to MacDonald and speak of him with affection. Like Kerensky. I have the feeling that it is the same situation as we had in Russia so fe the first month of Kerensky’s g@ernment. Nobody could say a word against Kerensky. One had to criticise him indirectly; first for an hour to dilate on how Kerensky was a good fellow and almost a great man, and then de! ly hinting that he too makes mistakes. In England we have the same state of affairs. The workers are still attracted to MacDonald; they are still full of illu- sions and he has the advantage that he has not a majority in Parliament. This enables him to say to the work- ers: “I should like to do mueh more, but I have not a majority; the next elections, when we have a majority, we will soon show the stuff we are made of. We shall‘come forward and like lions we will make the forests ring.” The situation, therefore, is not so simple. The MacDonald Government 1s still on a rising wave of popularity. But if we wait passively until the tide turns, then we shall have no need of a Communist Party. The Social Democracy will go bankrupt anyhow. ‘We are there to hasten the process. That is the reason why our party in Angiand must already resolutely fight MacDonald now in order that the Mmasses when they at length realize MacDonald’s true character they wil! know that we, the Communists, told them the truth long ago. Need. of British Daily. In the year 1921 Lenin fought against Wynkoop and other “lefts” of that time, over the question of com- munists joining the Labor Party. But im the year 1924 we are face to face with a new situation. A “Labor” Government exists, and Mac Donald is in power. Therefore our little group of communists must follow its his- toric path. They must first become a mass party; and secondly begin to recruit workers into the Party and found a daily paper. When one talks to the English comrades about this they say that this is asking them to woar a hat, that is far too big for their head, and they worry about how this hat-will fit them. Thirdly! we must more thoroughly permeate the rank and file of the trade-unions in order to form a left-wing movement there. Fourthly, more attention must be paid to the youth. Until quite re- cently, there was no Young Commu- nist movement at all in England, and it is even now only at its beginning. Fifth, the eolonial question must be attacked with audacity such as be- fits Bolsheviks. Sixth, digressions to the right must be combatted where- ever they are met with; election cam- paigns must be conducted differently, the lines’ proposed by Rosmer must be followed; in their propaganda Prepared even for a is the most important important Party in International is the because of referred. = Jgreat progress. It is far stronger than it has been. It has a sound left wing which we are supporting. What was formerly the “center” must join the left wing in forming a common “left,” in the true sense of the Com- munist International, and without forming a fraction. The French Party must capture the large indus- trial centers in the country. At present its only stronghold is Paris. This is important. In Brand- ler’s old Central Committe it used to be said that they had everything elsq behind them except Berlin and Ham- burg. But then it turned out that “everything else” was also not behind them. The French Party now holds Paris but has too little support in the p.ov- inces. In Sweden, Comrade Hoeglund has “everything” except Stockholm. I don’t want to draw any conclusions from this; Hoeglund should do it him- self from various examples. The chief task of the French Party as present is to get out into the in- dustrial proletarian districts outside of Paris. In our activity we must take into account the illusions created by the victory of the left bloc. The French social democrats have tried to be very cunning! They have not openly formed the government, but they will vote for the Budget, the oc- cupation of the Ruhr, etc. Actually it is part of the Government. We will be cunning too. We will say to the social workers: this is not your gov- ernment, your people are not in it; why should you worry about it, it is only a bourgeois government; why should we not fight it together for amnesty, for the evacuation of the Ruhr, for higher wages, for the. rec- ognition of Soviet Russia, for the eight-hour day, etc.? We must con- duct the tactics of the united front skillfully. At the moment when the social democracy is becoming officially the “third” party of the bourgeoisie, there will be no development from above. The moment when the social democratic leaders enter bourgeois governments, their combinations pre- sent favorable opportunities to -win over the rank and file. While the social democratic leaders are engaged with their government combination, a favorable opportunity presents it- self to get among the masses of the social democratic and non-Party workers and get them to combine with us. Then the Social Democrats will be crushed between these two combina- tions. The masses will become more discontented, unemployment will con- think the French Party has mado|gers were tinue, the economic situation will grow worse, and the “Hxperts’ Re- port” will not help the workers. This is an ideal situation for winning over the best section of the workers, par- ticularly in France, Outside of Paris. The mbdst important task of the French Party is to win the individual centres outside of Paris and to ex- tend and strengthen the Party appa- ratus. In Paris we have 8,000 mem- bers and yet we have 50,000 subscrib- ers to “Humanite”; and we polled 300,000 votes at the elections. What does that mean? A decided backward- ness in the Party organization. What does this signify? The backwardness of the Party from,the point of view of organization. We must accustom the French workers to different meth- ods of organization. The federation of the Seine must in the near future have 25,000 members. The most im- portant task of the French Party is: To wipe out the last remains of Fros- sardism. What was formerly the “Centre” must boldly and sincerely march together with the “Left.” The French Party must utilize the excel- lent qualities of the Parisian workers to warn the workers in the provinces at the moment when the leaders of the Social Democracy are engaged with governmental combinations with the bourgeoisie, The factory-councils’ movement in France is still in its infancy. People are too busy talking about “high politics.” In the whole of France there are only about 120 factory councils; such progress can- not be taken very seriously. Party nuclei and factory councils are only the first requirements of the French Party. There is no country in the world to which the policy of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Government is better adapted than France. It must penetrate deeper into the coun- try, into the peasant cottages; we must have a good Communist press; @ strong party apparatus; better inter- national connections, Theso are the tasks. GERMANS ADVANCING Now as to the German Party, we have a special item on our Agenda: the German Question. Personally I am of opinion that we could quite safely strike out this item for the question is already settled. Germany has been most written and spoken about this year. I, at any rate, do not see a particular German problem before us at the present moment. The situation is difficult, the general polit ieal perspectiye remains unchanged. It is pregnant with revolution; al- ready giant conflicts have broken out. The German Communist Party is now on the whole marching along the route of the Communist International. The crisis went very deep, the dan- great, There was the danger of a split. Our Polish com- rades asked why we were in such a hurry to shake off the old Central Committee. Surely it is obvious that if we had hesitated at all the split would have become inevitable. The crisis was so severe that we may con- sider it to have been solved fairly easily. (Severing: Quite true!) Then as to the other controversary with. the “Extreme Left.” At a mo- ment when we had no idea how things might turn out we had to act, and even to over-rate the dangers a bit. Even now we do not know its nu- merical strength but we do know that they are mensheviks turned inside out. At the moment, part of the prob- lems have been solved. The new Cen- tral Committee will repulse this liqui- dation from the “left,” and I hope it will successfully manage them. German Trade Unionism. There are still very great difficulties in connection with the question on the Trade Unions. The Central Commit- tee must resolutely suppress any at- tempt at “revising” the Frankfurt res- olutions, and to speak of leaving the trade unions. Nor is the parliamen- tary position simple. In both the French and German parliaments, we have a situation similar to that which Lenin used to call the “Pendulum” situation, where our-group can at times have the decisive vote. This is bound to produce tactical difficulties for us both in France and in Ger- many. The Germans have also neg- lected the work among the peasants. This must be made good. I could quote a number of other minor tasks, but I shall not do so. The German Party has proved itself tc have a robust constitution which has with- stood the onslaught of serious dis- eases. If the body had no: been so sound and proletarian, we would have had still greater difficulties. If the ultra left again try to emerge, we will resist it. If the old “left” deviation on the trade-union question arises again, we will also resist them. The situation between ourselves and the Central Committee of the German Party is amiable and satisfactory, but there are no reasons why we should not combat any errors if they arise. ‘We combatted the “lefts” and we will do so in the future. The German Party like every other party has the right to criticize the executive. It has made more than good use of this right. We have no use for blind followers. But the German Party also has no use for an executive which does not openly say what is to be said. The executive may and will criticize and rectify what it thinks necessary. I believe that the left elements, which are in the majority in the German Party, will admit that we acted cor- rectly when the question of new tac- tics in the trade-union movement was raised. Some may have believed that the executive intended simply to hand over the German Party to the ultra- lefts, but they will now realize that they were mistaken. The executive did no such thing and will never do such a thing. We did always fight for Leninism even in the German Party. We are quite pleased that the new Central Committee agree with this. The Czecho-Slovak Communist Party. Now for the Czech Party. I have already touched on this question and have not much more to add. I\have the impression that the Czech Party lacks constant energetic revolution- ary leadership. They work spasmodi- cally. When on elections or some- thing of that sort—there is a revival; when it is finished—they go to sleep again. There is no constant revolu- tionary leadership. I think that the Czech Party has much to learn. The Central Committee should have fresh proletarian forces infused into it. The revisionist elements which are still in existence must be rooted out. While I have some hopes that Comrade Hula will rectify the errors, I have no such hopes for Vanek. There are elements in the Czech Party that are almost incorrigible centralists. We need have no doubts about the good inten- tions of Comrade Smeral. But we must demand the elimination of the errors exposed in the passage of the Polish resolution which I quote, an error which has been uprooted in Ger- many and in the whole Communist International. And this error has also to be eliminated in the Czech Party. More attention than hitherto must be paid to the national and peasant ques- tions—this applies particularly to the Czecho-slovakian party. POLISH COMMUNISTS And now for other countries. I will begin with Poland. You know that for quite a long time, we regarded the Polish Section as one of the best Bolshevist sections of the Communist International. This is true with re- gard to the working-class revolution- ary traditions, and the splendid pro- letarian elements in Poland who are bearing all the burdens of illegal party-work. I must openly state that things are not so well with the lead- ership. The leadership of the Polish Party indulged in too much diplomacy on the most important questions—de- termining the tactics of the Comin- tern, the German and the Russian questions. This gives food for sad reflections. The Polish comrades are most familiar with the Russian condi- tions, and they also know the German conditions very well. Now, they completely accept the standpoint of the Central Committee on the Rus- sian and on the German questions. This statement has only one draw- back—it comes a little too late, tI is like bringing the mustard after the meal is cleared away. Perhaps mus- tard sometimes may be good after a meal, but we would rather enjoy it during the meal. As regards the application of the tactics of the united front, the Polish comrades have admitted at their own conference that they made great mis- takes. The work of Comrade Kruli- kovski..in the Diet was repeatedly criticized in the press. I must say that as far as I can follow his con- duct, I consider it heroic (Radek: “Quite right!”), correct, and revolu- tionary. One must not chide a com- rade for an isolated minor digression; one must not forget the difficult posi tion of the party in a White Guard parliament. In general, Comrade Krulikovski is making use of parlia- ment in the spirit of Karl Liebknecht. The restware petty details. Polish Leadership. I cannot refrain from saying a few words about the leadership of the Polish Party. Whére was our party during the rising in Cracow? It was not there at all. I do not say that a party must always be in the major- ity, but, comrades, when at a moment when regiments mutiny the Commnu- nist Party is completely absent, it gives us something to think about Yes, it is true that the difficulties for work in Poland are immense; we know perfectly well what it means to do illegal work under such circum- stances. We know the heroic work done by the members of the Central Committee in Poland. But the politi- cal head of the Central Committee indulges in diplomacy. The Central Committee is not homogeneous, I am convinced that as soon as the Polish Communist workers learn where the shoe pinches, and where the leader- ship has been at fault, when they grasp what the real controversy is, between their leaders and the Commu- nist International, and particularly with the German Party, they will be on our side, on the side of the Com- munist International and of the Rus- sian Party, and not on the side of diplomacy. Yes, diplomacy against our bourgeois enemies, the social dem- ocrats, is a fine thing; of course we do have to employ diplomacy some- times against our enemies and there is nething to be said against that. But within our own fighting commun- ity, within the Communist Interna- tional we need no diplomacy. I think in order to restore the good name of the Polish Section as one\of the best Bolshevist parties, it is necessary to correct some of the faults of the Po- lish Central Committee. Now, comrades, we come to Italy. There we have two practical ques- tions. First the relationship towards the so-called “Terz” International; secondly, the relation to the Socialist Party. I think we must decide upon an immediate union between the Terzi with the followers of the Third Inter- nafional. The time is ripe for it. Whether the “Terzi Internationalists” should be represented on the Central fusion I regard as a secondary. ques- tion. Of course, they must -help to form the Central Committee. We are not going to insist too stubbornly upon the 21 points where they are con- cerned. These comrades have been wanting to join the party for two years, and we said to them: Stay in the old party! Capture it from within! With regard to the Italian Socialist Party, we must stand by our old decisions, that is, to leave the door open in order that they may come in as a sympathizing party. During the fliseussions it was proved that behind “Avanti,” behind the Italian’ Socialist Party, there are still considerable sec- tions of the workers. Yon will re- member that at the Fourth Congress it was said by the “ultra lefts” that there were no workers sup) this party, but only clerks, pe’ bour- seoisie, etc. But the last elections have proved beyond dfspute that be- hind the Italian Socialist Party stand hundreds of thousands of good prole- tarians. Lazzari, Clerici, ete., are not Communists; they are sentimental revolutionaries. Not long ago I re- ceived a letter from old Lagzari in which he wrote that it was a question of conscience; on the one side there was his party, on the other the exectd tive of the International; he could not commit @ breach of discipline but he remained loyal to the cisions. It has been proved extreme “left” Communists in Italy were wrong when they said that were no workérs behind the Party. The thousands of behind it, and they still the Socialist Party half Strong Communist Party. With regard to the Italian Com- munist Party itself, the elections showed that it was, in spite of all a very strong Communist Party with a sound political core. It deserves all our support. It is our hope; it is the only representative of the Comintern in Italy. But the weaknesses which we have criticized, are still there. Re- cently it has again been proved that the views of the Communist Interna- tional Executive were correct. You are aware of the fact that we have there three fractions. I don’t know which of these fractions is actually in a@ majority. We must not be hasty in our judgment. But I do know that the extreme left fraction 18 politically wrong. Bordiga is asking us to con- firm the Rome theses of 1922, dealing with the policy of the Italian Commu- nist Party with regard to the “Ardititi del Populo,” i. e., the very theses we criticized twenty times together with Comrade Lenin. For instance, one of Bordiga’s friends, Rossi, writes: “A tactic is not a Communist tactic if it waits upon the situation for indi- cations as to what its tactics are to be.” Doctrinaire Lefts. I ask, to what should we adopt our tactics if not to the concrete situa- tion? Some of the “lefts” are so doc- trinnaire to believe that we can get together and make decisions on prin- ciples alone which will serve as a sort of “elixir” that would serve for all oc- casions,, Of course we must not change our tactics with every wind. But on the other hand, we must take facts into consideration. We remain Communists; Communists ir all situ- ations. That we must suit Commu- nists tactics to facts is so obvious that there is no need to talx about it. And only those comrades who have no feeling for the mass movement, who are not Marxists, will hold the contrary. The Italian question is 8 delicate question. Bordiga and his close friends are good revolutionaries, loyal supporters of the International, but they have not yet got rid of those shortcomings which Lenin criticized. In this case, it is not the International but Comrade Bordiga and his follow- ers Who must give way. When they abandon their dogmatism they will be- come an asset to the Italian revolu- tion. International Before Bordiga. Just one more word on this ques- tion. Bordiga said recently\that if the International did not improve and did not sccept his standpoint, he would be compelled only to use party discipline as a matter of form and that he would endeavor to form a left fraction on an international scale. I do not think that the International will allow this. We like Bordiga, but we like the International bctter still. It is not for the International to adopt itself to Bordiga, but for Bordiga to adapt himself to the International. There cannot be a question of dis- cipline as a “matter of form” in our Communist International. We are a Communist world-party, we want to progress and not to retrogress. The more we progress the more we be- come a Communist world-party. Permit me to pass over the other parties. It is late, and what I said about some parties, you will be able to apply with some modifications also to other parties. peenineeeereeesenneurssaneiieuenntossatiuaisisansy| [communist YouTH _ | Just a few remarks on our Aux- iliary-International and on the ques- tion of organization. The Young Communist International is our pride and hope. It is an organization which will give us a new generation of real Communists and real Communist lead- the necessity of bringing up this ques- tion again at the Sixth World Con- gress. In conclusion just a few words on the future leadership of the Interna- tional. Here again I must quote Com- rade Bordiga because he showed com- mendable courage in raising the fol- lowing questions. He says literally the following: “Where is the guarantee that the International will become a world Communist Party? The fact that tho best comrades of the Russian Party take part in the executive will) not suffice because we have to deal. with the historical situation. Deeds upon which we dared hitherto because we enjoyed the leadership of the genius of Lenin, we must now give up as dangerous to the Commurist move- ment of the proletariat.” Comrades, we need no ceremonies. ‘We must say frankly,that Bordiga is partly right on this question. We have no grudge against him if, now that we no longer have Lenin beside us, the universal confidence can not be so boundless as it was, forwe our- selves do not feel so confident as we did when our decisions were, so to speak, ultimately ratified by Comrade Lenin; when we knew that his deci- sion would be so right, so objective, so wise, and so Marxian. It is our misfortune that we have lost the best head, the best man, and the most farsighted leader. This is bound to have tremendous effect in all respects. We have also become more circum- spect. Filling Lenin’s Place. But what are the conclusions to be drawn from this? We no longer have our Lenin with us, nor anyone to take his place, but the struggle of the world proletariat must be led. The conclusion to be drawn is this:. The international leadership must be more collective. All the parties must give to the executive the best disciples of Marx and Lenin, the best heads and the best organizers. What other means than these can we apply? Yes, we miss Lenin. To fill his place, we must draw the best forces from all of our parties to organize the leadership of the International. But after hav- ing brought about this organization, after having put the executive on a more international footing than hitherto, we should enforce not merely “formal” discipline, but truly prole- tarian, Communist discipline. We have-no grudge against Bordiga; we are not so foolish as to imagine that although Lenin is dead everything will go on as usual. We ourselves appeal to you, comrades of all fraternal par- ties: Lenin is no longer with us, we must make collective efforts to re- place him at least to some extent. We need+the International for the emancipation of the working class; we must achieve a collective leader- ship, a steel leadership, which will really lead and which will embody the collective wisdom of the whole working class. Cases of Violation of Discipline. During the period, we had cases of lack of discipline, some of which were left unpunished. For instance, from the Right, Comrade Hoeglund, who was backed by Tranmael, and from the Left from Bordiga, who refuset to stand for parliament, although the party and the executive insisted on doing so. We tried to liquidate these cases quietly, because of the high esteem in. which we held these comrades per- sonally. Hoeglind, during the war, and Bordiga after the war and now, have shown themselves to be good revolutionaries. I say frankly that if no guarantees will be furnished by the Congress, against a repetition of such breaches of discipline, we cunnot take all the responsibility. The discipline ers. In this we have already left the social democrats behind. In Russia the Young Communist League has in- creased its membership from 400,000 to 700,000; in Germany from 28,000 to 70,000. The German League has done excellent work in the Ruhr. The fight our youth is putting up is worthy of all praise. We are justified in saying that the Young Communist Interna- tional is the right hand of the Com- munist International. Here too we have important. work before us. A few more remarks on other aux- iliary Internationals. The Red Aid has done satisfactory work, and the same applies to the International Workers’ Aid. You are aware that the social democrats commenced a crusade against it and have decided to leave it. The Sports International has also some successes to record. We must strengthen our women’s move- ment; we have done little in this con- nection. Organization Questions. As to the question of organization, I think that the time has come to be- gin in all seriousness to reorganize our parties on a factory-nuclei basis. We are told that we shall lose mem- bers by it. But the workers must be must be even more stringent than it was when Comrade Lenin was alive. We must not look backwards, we must look forwards and try to grow into a World Party and to have an International Executive with an In- ternational adership. Henceforth no one should dare talk of “formal” discipline, For this would put us on a level with the Two and a Half Inter- national. We would not be ‘the heirs to Marx and Lenin; we would not be much better than Crispien. We must fight for a unified Communist Party, without fractions and groupings. RUSSIAN COMMUNISTS In so far as our Russian Communist Party is concerned, I may say in full consciousness that, such as it is, it is not liked by some: Souvarine does not like it, Radek does not like it at times (Radek: I like it very much!) You see, even Radek likes it; it is a disciplined party, and to it, it regards as a great honor to to the Comintern of its best. All we ask you is to do likewise. Lenin is no more, but Leninism has remained. In order to make Leninism victorious throughout the world, we need firm leadership, and we must urge on all comrades to observe greater and i for the moment. But one must also be disciplined when one is in a mi- nority. At one time, even in the Sec- ond International, we voluntarily sub- mitted to discipline towards it, but later on it became our duty to form secret factions (Wyncoop: Hear, hear!) to fight with all our might jagainst opportunism and later even to split it. That was quite proper. | But this must not happen in a Lenin- ist International, a world Communist |Party, which must be firm and solid jas a rock, That was quite proper. We do not say that everything is as it should be in the Russian Party, but jwe shall gradually do away with all jour defects, But when the opposition |Says: “Just wait until October, we will see who was right, there will be a deficit in the Soviet budget of 400 mil- \lions,” the Communist International |must make such a speech impossible, | doud aplause). ‘ The Communist International must declare that it knows, just as well as any of us, what difficulties tke First proletarian government, surrounded by enemies, had, has, and will have to contend. (cheers). If we really desire to follow the teachings of Lenin, if we want to cre- ate a truly Communist-Leninist Inter- national, if the resolution on the Bol- shevisation of the party is not a mere phrase, we must have iron discipline, we must exterminate all traces of so- cial democracy, referendum, democ- racy, ete, ¥ Third International in the Ascendant. Comrades, we need not be afraid to avow that we did not drop down from the skies, that we were born out of the womb of the Second Interna- tional. Here and there bourgeois and petty-bourgeois ideology is pressing in on us. This is the misfortune of our class. Had this not been so, we would have conquered the bourgeois social democrats long ago. We must combat this danger with all vigor, with firmness and perservance, worthy of revolutionists. Leninists must not fall into a panic when opportunism emerges from the right. We must ox- plain errors, créate a real Communist International; fight and .you will win. The Second International 1s numer- ically strong, but historically it is doomed. We used to state the case quite simply: the epoch of the Second International is at an end; the epoch of the Third International’ has com- menced. Historically this is true, but sociologically it can not be stated so simply. For a number of years the true International will live side by side. The Second International will depart from the stage. It is destiny; we are in the ascendant. We shall win. But for this we must have iron discipline, a real Communist world party, which the Comintern must be- come. It wasinot in vain that we have pledved ourselves to work and fight in the spirit-of Lenin. Like a real Communist world party, we must fight the opposition of, and point out the errors of the left. We must have a steel Communist leadership, be- cause we have a great fight ahead. At the IVth Congress we had no ink- ling that in the following October we would have seriously to discuss the question of the German revolution. Matters are coming to a-head more quickly than we think, altho it seems as tho there is slow progress. It is quite clear that in the period between the Vth and VIth World Congresses we shall have to face decisive fights in many parts of the world. We must be ready to do everything, in order to become, not in words but in deeds, a real world-wide invincible Commun- ist Party. (Loud, prolonged applause, developing into an ovation. Delegates rise from their seats, singing the “In- ternationale”.) PITTSBURGH, PA, DR. RASNICK tt AND ITS LESSONS” The story of the steel workers fight for organization and necog- nition, led by William Z, Foster, AN AUTHOGRAPHED of this wonderful vera The Second International is Declining, ‘