The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 6, 1924, Page 12

The Marx-Engels Institute in Moscow One of the questions which engaged the attention of the V. World Con- gress was the question of interna- tional scientific propaganda of Marx- ism, which is to be carried on in the first place by an international critical collected edition of the works of Marx and Engels, that is, an edition in the language of the original text, with critical explanations. The guarantee for the realization of such a big pro- ject is offered by the Marx-Engels In- stitute in Moscow, which would have the main share in the carrying out of this task of such wide political. and scientific. importance. What are the circumstances which qualify the M. E. I. for the carrying out of this task? The Marx-Engels Institute possesses the printed and written remains of Marx and Engels in a more complete form than any- where else. The M. E. I. possesses al- most all the newspapers and period- icals on which Marx and Engels col- laborated. The M. E. I. is to a great Gegree richer in sources than the Social- Democratic Party archives in Berlin, to whom the posthumus' writings should have come. Besides the writ- ten remains in the Social-Democratic archives, Comrade Ryasanov has suc- ceeded in obtaining much material on Lafargue, Bernstein (the “German Ideology”) and in addition the letters of Marx and Engels»to Wilhelm Lieb- knecht, Bernstein and Kautsky, partly in the original and partly in photo- graphic reproductions. The M. E. I. is also in-the position to undertake a textual crjticism of earlier editions of the works of Marx and Engels, on the basis of the manuscripts. Of much greater importance, however, .is the fact that the unpublished material in the possession of the M. E. I. is of such a quantity and quality that its pv hlication pv btication ie calculated to introduce a new epoch into the investigation of Marx, The publication of such a critical collected edition of the works of Marx and Engels with objective historical commentaries, which are necessary to faciliate, or even to make possible for the first time, the spreading of these works and their scientific populariza- tion, is however, a very’ great scientific -and organizational task. It can only be undertaken with the assistance of an equipment rich enough in theoretical and historical documents to correspond with the encyclopedic scope—both political and ‘theoretical—of Marx’ and Engels’ ac- tivity. Workers thoroughly trained in scientific Marxism are equally necess- ary. No doubt the apparatus possess- ed by the Marx and Engels Institute still requires completion and enrich- ment, but the materials and the train- ned workers which it already possess- es are enough to enable it te begin this vast work at once. The Institute was founded in 1920 by Comrade Rya- sanov, who is still its director, the Sole aim of the institute being to fur- ther the ends of Marxian research. Its whole organization, its collection o fbooks and periodicals (it possesses a library of more than, a hundred thousand volumes), the work carried on within the institute and the publi- cations it issues, all serve the aim of reconstructing the practical and theoretical life-work of Marx and En- gels on a critical historical basis. The work of the Institue is organ- ized from two points of view. On the one hand it deals with the chief coun- tries influenced by the political ac- tivities of Marx and Engels, the his- tory of these countries being inten- sively studied, and on the other hand with the various branches of know- ledge comprised in their theoretical work. It follows that the chief de- partments of the institute—setting| aside the Marx-Engels department it- self where the MSS. and printed edi- tions of Marx and Engels are kept, and the reading roont which has a splendidly equipped reference library on the history of Socialism and on the labor movement—are on one side the German, French, English and Russian departments, and on the other the de- partments for philosophy, comparative law, political economy, the history of socialist and anarchist theory, and the department for sociology. It is en- ough to point out here that all these departments are planned solely ‘in order to meet the requirements of Marxian research. They contain a complete collection of all the authors by whom Marx and Engels may have anywhere quoted, and in fact of the whole literature relating to Marx and Engels. The historical departments make a systematic collection of all the numerous sources and descrip- tions from which knowledge can be gained of contemptorary conditions, and persons, which bore even the slight- est relation to the lives of Marx and Engels, and which may be of use in forming a critical judgment on them, or on the historical problems touched upon or fully treated in their works. The departments devoted to the history of ideas and to the theoretical side in general are likewise organ- ized, not in a piecemeal fashion, but in a way corresponding to the needs of Marxist research. In the philo- sophical department the majority of books deal with the history of mate- rialism, and the tendencies developed from Hegel, including the young Hegelian tendencies. A special col- lection in this department consist of literature devoted to the dialectics of materialism—this is certainly the most complete collection of this kind in existence. The-section devoted to political economy is organizea espe- cially to illustrate the problems of Marxism. In the department of the history of Socialism the collection of ' literature relating to St. Stmonism, Fourierism, and Owenism, can only be equalled in the bibliotheque Na- tionale in Paris and in the British Museum, and is to be found nowhere else all collected together in one place. The works already published by the institute, and those which it is pre- paring may be regarded as prelimina- ry studies for the international edi- tion of Marx and Engels. Among these we would mention: the great edition of the Communist Manifesto with detailed commentaries taken from the historical and _ theoretical works of Ryasanov, Lafargue and Kautsky; the complete edition of the works of Plekhanov; the collection of documents illustrating the history of the older West-European labor move- ment; the selected works of Hegel; the “Library of Materialism”; A. De- borin’s monograph on Feuerbach; the Marx-Engels archive and—last put not least—the Russian edition of the works of Marx and Engels which is Planned to consist of thirty-five volumes of which four volumes edited and annotated by Ryasanov have al- ready appeared. Altho the organisation, the equip- ment, and the work already achieved by the Marx-Engels~ Insitute will make the production of the inter- national, complete and critical edition of the works of Marx and Engels con- siderably easier, the Communist In- ternational must take _ energetic measures on a large scale in order to . develop both deeply and widely an international and _ scientific propa- ganda of Marxism. Only by doing this can it claim to be the true heir of Marx and Engels in .the scientific sphere. By so doing the Communist International will fulfil a duty to- wards itself, and have the full right to claim its position as the heir both of the political and the literary and scientific remains of Marxand Engels. The National Council of the Communist Party of Germany By ARTHUR ROSENBERG N the 19th and 20th July there was held in Berlin the session of the National Council of the C. P. of Germany, in order to decide on the Party’s attitude towards the decisions of the World Congress and to for- mulate the practical tasks which the Party at present has to solve. It was a very important moment: in Ger- many there exists all the pacifist cackle, the comedy of the Experts’ Report and the renewed cry of the German social democrats as to rescu- ing the working class thru the good will of international capital; at the same time we see a growing economic crisis, closing down of factories, unemploy- mént, the coming into force of pro- tective tariffs, and in order to con- ceal all this, a furious persecution of the C. P. of Germany, the terrorist sentences of the criminal courts in or- der to protect the so-called republic, the monster trial against the central of the Communist Party, the suspen- sion of immunity against Communist members of parliament, the hair-rais- ing stories of the Tcheka, cholera- germs ete. The present situation is ’ characterised by increased persecu- tion of the Communist party at a time of increased illusions of the working class. Thus the present situation is one full of difficulties. Such a period of acute persecution and temporary depression forms a special testing time for revolutionary parties. In such a situation differ- ences of opinion and groupings within the party very easily arise. In ad- dition to this there came the discus- sion of the decisions of the World Con- gress, which are of a very important character, and especially in the trade union question, raise quite a number of very important problems. This session therefore constituted a fiery test as to how far the Party is consolidated, whether the Party is really capable or not of carrying out the program decided on Frankfurt-on- Main, regarding the overcoming of fac- tions and the bolshevisation of the Party. It must be said that the pro- ceedings of the National Council fur- nished wonderful testimony to the stability of the C. P.. of Germany. Among the numerous delegations com- ing from all parts of Germany there was to be seen-an absolute unanimity regarding the fundamental questions. All the important decisions we.® un- animously adopted, including the po- litical as well as the trade union de- cisions. Never since the existence of the C. P. as a mass party has there been a National Council so entirely -free from groupings or any essential dif- ferences as this one. One can state without any hesitation that there are no longer any groupings or fractions in the German Party. Already at the Frankfurt Conference the Brandler tendency was quite unrepresented. But nevertheless we had beside the 90 delegates belonging to the left party majority, 30 representatives of the so- called central group. Although already in Frankfurt we had succeeded in establishing unani- mity on all the practical tasks of the day, there were still left some rem: nants of group differences. Already in Moscow it was seen that the German delegates to the Fifth World Congress were completely united. For the first time there appeared at Moscow a German delegation, which was entire- ly free from groupings and was the right in the international, the Radek- Brandler group, was dealt with. It approved in the sense of the Frank- furt decisions the new formulations of the united front and the workers’ government, which made impossible any opportunist interpretation. The National Council declared with parti- cular satisfaction that the dispute ver the workers’ government in the frame of bourgeois democracy, which had prevailed at the Leipsig Party Conference, was now finally decided ‘in the sense of the German Left. In the trade union question the Na- tional Council likewise adepted the decisions of the World Congress. The National Council emphasised the ne- cessity of the Communists again re- suming trade union work along the whole front. This revival of our trade union work, in spite of all confusion which still prevails among some of our members, is one the chief prac- tical tasks of the Party. As regards the question of international trade union unity, the National Council de- clared itself in favor of a mass cam- paign for unity, with the obvious pro- visions that this unity could only be realized on the basis of the revolu- tionary class struggle. The practical daily tasks of the Party were defined by the National Council as an intensification of the mass struggle against the Experts’ Report, in mobilizing the proletariat uniform representation of the Germafi|against the new employers’ ‘offensive Party. The delegates from the Chem-| with their closing down of factories, nitz district were on all fundamental|in reviving the slogans of control of questions in agreement with the del-| production and socialization in the egates of the party majority. The|fight against the food profiteers, pro- same picture was presented at the/tective tariffs and fresh direct taxes, National Council. To all the spite and in the closest relations of the prole- hatred of Social Democracy to all the|tariat with the poor peasantry, who persecutions by the authorities of the are suffering more and more severely Ebert Republic, we are able calmly to|under the present crisis. reply: “The Communist Party of Ger- many is a homogeneous, iron block, and no one will succeed in splitting ie” The National Council in its political resolution fully approved the decisions of the V. World Congress, It special- ly welcomed the way in which the The National Council calls to the opportunism. The National Council unconditionally endorsed the outlook of the V. World congress that we must at all times reckon upon new de- cisive struggles for power, but that it is impossible to fix the definite date for these new decisive struggles; un- der certain circumstances we must al- ways reckon with a longer transition period and precisely in this period we have to show the greatest commun- ist firmness. .The National Council reaffirmed the close alliance between the C. P. of Germany and the C. P. of Russia, as was shown at the V. World Congress. To make use of all the experiences of the Russian Revolution to convert the German Party in a true bolshevist party and, regardless of obstacles, to draw a clear unequivocal bolshevist line, and in this sense to lead and win the masses, that is the task which the National Council has placed be- fore the Party, NE FURNISHED ROOMS, APARTMENTS AND BUNGALOws. SR 2th tte i,t ee REDS COMING TO WASHINGTON, D. C. Furnished Rooms, $10 to $25 a Month, Apartments, $25 to $60 a Month, Bungalows, $45 to $75 a Month, Mrs. Bateler, 32 G Street, S. W. Washington, D. C. ror INSURANCE o- ANY KIND CARL BRODSKY 1123 Broadway, New York City Tel. Watkins 3626, party: Into the masses! But the Com- MAC’S BOOK STORE mnnist must go into the masses pre- ciely at the time of depression, with- out allowing himself to be influenced by the hesitating moods of the masses. Practical workers’ politics, but without the least compromise with democratic DETROIT Full line of Seciological and Labor Literature. Periodicals and Newspapers 27 JOHN R STREET —_———