The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 27, 1924, Page 5

“The idea becomes power when it pene- trates the masses.” —Karl Marx. SPECIAL MAGAZINE SUPPLEMENT SEPTEMBER 27, 1924. THE DAILY WORKER. SECOND SECTION This magazine supple ment will appear every Saturday in The Daily Worker. Karl Marx to the Communist League (ADDRESS TO THE CENTRAL AUTHORITY OF THE LEAGUE IN 1850) EDITOR’S NOTE. At this time in | the development of the American class struggle, when petty bourgeois liberalism and progressivism is mak- ing a bid for political power, and, in order to achieve this end, is attempt- -ing to sweep the labor movement and the poor farmers into supporting this middle class LaFollette movement, it becomes supremely necessary that every. worker understand clearly the nature .of the petty bourgeoise, the significance. of its political ambitions, and the correct working class attitude toward them. The following “Address to the Com- munist League” by Karl Marx, altho it dates back to 1850 and is dealing primarily with the petty bourgeois lib- .eral movement in Germany at that time, yet there is a whole world of truth for the American workers of today to be used to great advantage in the solution of their immediate problems. What is it that every ‘politically conscious American worker wants to know now? He wants to know whether the workers should support the LaFollette movement, whether the workers can derive any benefits for themselves from uniting politic- ally with the so-called “progressive” middle classes, and generally what is the best way for the workers to par- ticipate in politics. These are the supreme questions of the moment: And to these questions the Workers Party of America has given its answer. It said: No alli- ance with the movement of small capi- tal. No support for LaFollette. In- dependent political, action by labor. An independent class party of work- ers and the poorest sections of the farmers, These answers are based on the accumulated experiences of the workers thruout the world, on the history of our own American class struggle, and on the burning needs of the American working class of today. Karl Marx is dealing in the follow- ing address with a set of conditions and problems that are in many re- spects similar to the ones confronting the “American workers at present. A careful study of this document will open the eyes of many a deluded worker to the real proletarian class position to be taken by the workers in this campaign. * * # We have told you, brethren, as far back as in 1848, that German Liberal- ism would soon come to power and would at once use it against the working class. You have seen how this has been fulfilled. It was the bourgeoisie who after the victorious movement of March, 1848,. took the reins of government, and the first use they made of their power was to force back the workingman, their allies in the fight against absolutism, to their former oppressed condition. They could not achieve their purpose with- out the assistance of the defeated aristocracy, to whom they even transferred governmental power,. se- curing however for themselves the ultimate control of the government thru the budget. . . . The part which the liberals played in 1848, this treacherous role will at the next revolution be played by the democratic petty bourgeoisie, who, among the parties, opposing the gov- ernment, are now occupying the game position which the liberals oc- cupied prior to the March revolution. This democratic party, which is more dangerous to the workingmen than the liberal party was, consists of the following three elements: (i) The more progressive ~ mem- “ . bers of the upper bourgeoisie, whose object it is.to sweep away all remnants of feudalism and ab- solutism; : (ii) The democratic-constitutional petty bourgeoisie, whose main ob- ject it is to establish a democratic federation of the Germanic states; (ii) The republican petty pbour- geodisie, whose ideal it is to turn Germany into a sort of Swiss re- public. These republicans are call- ing themselves “reds” and “social democrats” because they have the pious wish to remove the pressure of large capital upon the smaller one, and of the big bourgeoisie. up- on the petty bougeoisie. All these parties, after the defeat they have suffered, are calling them- selves republicans or reds, just as in France the republican petty bour- KARL . geisie are calling themselves social- ists. Where, however, they have the opportunity of pursuing their aims by constitutional methods they are using their old phraseology and are show- ing by deeds that they have not changed at all. It is a matter of course that the changed name of that party does not alter their attitude towards the working class; it merely proves that in their struggle against the united forces of absolutism and large capitalists they require the support of the proletariat. ‘The petty bourgeois democratic party in Germany is very powerful. It embraces not only the great ma- jority of the town population, the small traders and craftsmen, but all the peasantry and the agricultural la- borers, in so far as the latter have yet come into contact with the prole- tariat of the towns. The revolutionary working class acts in agreement with that party as long as it is a question of fighting and overthrowing the aris- tocratic-liberal coalition; in all other things the revolutionary working class must act independently. The demo- cratic petty bourgeoisie, far from de- siring to revolutionize the whole so- ciety, are aiming only at such changes of the social conditions as would make life in existing society more comfortable and _ profitable. They desire above all a reduction of national expenditure thru a decrease of bureaucracy, and the imposition -of: the main burden of taxation on the landowners and capitalists. They de- mand, likewise, the establishment of state banks and laws against usury, so as to ease the pressure of the big capitalist upon the small traders and to get from the state cheap credit. They demand also the full mobitiza- tion of the land, so as to do away with all remnants of.manorial rights. |For these purposes they need a demo- cratic constitution which would give MARX them the majority in parliament, mun- icipality, and parish. With a view to checking the power and the growth of big capital the democratic party demand a reform of the laws of inheritance and legacies, likewise the transfer of the public services and as many industrial un- dertakings as possible to the state and municipal authorities. As to the working man—well, they should re- main wage workers; for whom, how- ever, the democratic party would pro- cure higher wages, better labor condi- tions, and a secure existence. The democrats hope to achieve that partly thru state and municipal manage- ment and thru welfare institutions. In short, they hope to bribe the working class into quiescence, and thus to weaken their revolutionary spirit by momentary concessions and comforts. The democratic demands ean never satisfy the party of the proletariat. While the democratic petty bour geoisie would like to bring the revo- lution to a close as soon as their de- mands are more or less complied | with, it is our interest and our task to make the revolution permanent, to keep it going until all the ruling and possessing classes are deprived of power, the goyerhnmental” machinery occupied by the proletariat, and the organization of the working classes of all lands is’so far advanced that all rivalry and gompetition among themselves has ceased; until the more important forces of production are concentrated in the hands of the pro- letarians. With us it is not a matter of reforming private property, butof abolishing it; not of hushing up the class antagonism, but of abolishing the Glasses; not of ameliorating the existing society, but of establishing a new one. There is no doubt that, with the further development of the revo- lution, the petty bourgeois democracy may for a time become the most influ- ential party in Germany. The ques- tion is, therefore, what should be the attitude of the proletariat, and par- ticularly of the League, towards it: (i) During the continuation of the present conditions in which the petty bourgeois democracy is also oppressed? (ii) In the ensuing revolutionary struggles which would give them momentary ascendancy? (iii) After those struggles, during the time of their ascendancy over the defeated classes and the -prole- tariat? (i) At the present moment when the democratic petty bourgeoisie are everywhere oppressed, they lecture the proletariat, exhorting it to effect a-unification” and conciliation; they would like to join hands and form one great opposition party, embracing within its folds all shades of democ- racy. That is, they would like to en- tangle the proletariat in a party or- ganization in which the general social democratic phrases predominate, be- hind which their papticular interests are concealed, and in which the par- ticular proletarian demands should not, for the sake of peace and con- cord, be brot forward. Such a unifi- cation would be to the exclusive bene- fit of the petty bourgeois democracy and to the injury of the proletariat, The organized working class would lose its hard-won independence and would become again a mere append- age of the official bourgeois democ- racy. Such a unification must be reso- lutely opposed. Instead of allowing themselves to form the chorus of the bourgeois de- mocracy, the workingmen, and par- ticularly the League, must strive to establish next to the official democ- racy an independent, a secret as well as a legal organization of the working- class party, and to make each com- munity the center and nucleus of working-class societies in which the attitude and the interests of the pro- letariat should be discussed independ- ently of bourgeois influences. How lit- tle the bourgeois democrats care for an alliance in which the proletarians should be regarded as co-partners with equal rights and equal standing is shown by the attitude of the Bres- lau democrats, who in their organ, the Oder-Zeitung, are attacking those workingmen who are independently organized, and whom they nick-name socialists, subjecting them to severe persecutions. The gist of the matter is this: In case of an attack on a common adversary no special union is necessary; in the fight with such an enemy the interests of both parties, the middle-class democrats and the working-class party, coincide for the moment, and both parties will carry (Continued on page 8)