The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 25, 1924, Page 10

Workers Party Educational Department Conducted by James P. Cannon, Educational Director “Without a Revolutionary Theory a:Revolutionary Party is Impossible,” Principles of Communist Education I. The Crises in the Communist Parties as Ideological Crises. 1. The political and organizational crises arising in the Communist Inter- national are at the same time ideolo- gical crises in the respective parties.» All right and left deviations are due to deviations from the class ideology of the proletariat, from Marxism-Len- inism. The crises that arose at the second congress, and subsequent to it, were caused by the “infantile sickness of leftism” which betrayed an ideological deviation from Marxism-Leninism in the direction of syndicalism. (Dutch Marxism, Communist Labor Party of Germany, anti-parliamentarism, etc.). The present internal conflicts in sev- eral of the Communist Parties, which became evident at the time of the Ger- man October defeat, are the result of the influence of the remnants of the old social-democratic ideology which has been brought over into the Com- munist Parties. The way to overcome this, fs: To bolshevize the Communist Parties. The bolshevization of the parties in this sense means: The final ideological victory of Marxism and Leninism (or in other words: ot Marx- ism in the period of imperialism and the epoch of the proletarian revolu- tion) and to reject the Marxism of the Second International and the rem- nants of the elements of syndicalism. 2. ‘The complete and rapid bolshe- vizing of the Communist Party can be attained in the process of the deliber- ate revolutionary activity of the sec- tions of the Communist Intérnational, by more deeply hammering Marxism and Leninism into the consciousness of the Communist Parties and the par- ty members. Only by the theoretical understanding of revolutionary: prac- tice in this way can the Communist Parties become real leaders of the masses, conscious of their aims. Only by_a real and organized assimilation of Marxism-Lenifiism can the parties reduce the possibilities of political, tactical, and organizational errors to a minimum and bring about the eman- cipation of the working class. ‘With- out a revolutionary theory, a revolu- tionary movement is impossible.” Af party can play the role of the van- guard only if it is guided by a “van- guard theory” (Lenin). One of the first tasks of the Communist- Interna- tional and its sections consists in pop- ularizing this vanguard theory—Marx- ism-Leninism—among the members. Cadres of party members must be formed who have complete command of this theoretical weapon and are able to train the widest circle of the party membership in the use of it. Particularly important is the greatest possible’ assimilation of this theory by the youth. Hence all necessary organizational measures must be tak- en by the sections for furthering the development of these cadres and this training for the youth. The condition precedent for the de- velopment of propaganda work is that every Communist Party must realize the importance of. theoretically mas- tering Marxism-Leninism. All Com- munist Parties must be careful to see to it that the activity for attaining practical results is not carried on to the neglect of the theoretical prob- lems of the emancipation of the work- ‘ing class and of the demands of the theoretical struggle. On the contrary: the precedent for attaining practical results in the revolutionary struggle is a clear theoretical understanding and theoretical clarity among as great a number of members as possible. 3.. The ideology quality of the lead- ing cadres and of the masses in the Communist Parties demand continual self-control. Altho the organizational pre-requisite for such a control on the basis of concrete facts and material are not yet possible, it is neverthe- less true that the extent and depth of Thesis Adopted by Fifth Congress of Communist International. inism idea is not keeping pace with the rapid growth of the influence of the party. Stagnation on the field of theoretical work in the spirit of Marx, Engels, and Lenin is observable in all sections of the Communist Interna- tional. This is all the more dangerous because theeretical work by facilitat- ing analysis of concrete conditions, and more definite formulations of the conditions and perspectives of the re- volutionary upheaval, would render greater results achieved in the politi- cal work, of the parties. Only these circumstances and the indifference of some of the leading comrades towards the theoretical question make it pos- sible for “theories” to arise within the Communist International, which stand in sharp contradiction to Marxism-Len- inism. The immediate result of these “theories” is the confusion which reigns in the minds of the leading cadres and of the masses in the party on philosophic, theoretical-economic questions. Later they are naturally ob- served on the field of policy and tac- tics, in the form of “left” or “right” deviations. (The attitude of certain leaders of the Swedish party.on the re- ligious questions; the false concep- tion held by certain leaders of the Ger- man party on the nature of the bour- geois state and on the class roots of opportunism among the labor aristo- cracy; the philosophical deviation of certain groups of intellectuals of the German Communist Party, who are seeking to rob dialectical materialism of its materialist aspect and put ideal- ism into its place; attempts in the Communist Party of Italy to reyise the economic theory of Marxism). Even the propagandist training of the party masses is also far from satisfactory. This is a natural result of the fact that the necessity of this propagandist work has not yet been understood by the party leadership. A very great percentage of the masses in the Com- munist Party joined the party because they became convinced empirically, in the midst of their everyday political and economic struggles, of the treach- erous character of opportunism and reformism, and of the exclusively pro- letarian class character of the Com- munist Party. This fact represents a great advantage for the Communist Parties, and indicates the superiority ofthe Third International, overthe Sec- ond International; it means neverthe- less that the proletarian masses of the party may themselves still be im- bued with remnants of social demo- cratic ideology. This social-democratic heritage cannot be eliminated mechan- ically, particularly among the party masses; it must be overcome, in addi- tion to instruction in the principles of revolutionary practice, by systematic propaganda of the ideas of Marxism- Leninism, and of thoroly imbuing the minds of the broad masses with at least the fundamental principles and methods of Marxism-Leninism. 4, In the person of Lenin—the most lox of Marxists, who continued the theoretical and practical work of Marx—the Communist International and all the Communist Parties pos- sessed a reliable guide indicating ev- ery “right” or “left” deviation.on the field of theory and political practice. Only Leninism, which Lenin and his co-workers, the old bolshevist guard, developed as the theory of the prole- tarian revolution, can take Lenin’s place. The death of Lenin must give as great an impetus to the propaganda of the theory of Marxism-Leninism, and to the diffusion and intensification of this propaganda ih all the sections of the Communist International, as it did in the Communist Party of Rus- sia. In view of.the ideological condition of the parties in general and especially because of the absence of cadres in the party capable of effectively guid- ing the work, this task must be as- the dissemination »f the Marxism-Len-' sumed by the Communist oe al. As-against the pseudo-Marxism of the Second International, Leninism the revival of revolutionary Marxism, does not contain a single sentence which is not of practical importance_in the re- volutionary everyday struggles of the proletariat. Thus one of the most im- portant and urgent conerete tasks of the Communist International is the concentration of energy in the widest possible propaganda of these teach- ings and establishing organizational guarantees for the systematic develop- ment of this propaganda. Il. General Organizational Measures on the Field of Propaganda. 5. The most characteristic feature of the present state of propagatida ac- tivity is that up till now the Commu- nist International and the various Communist Parties have not set up special organs for propaganda work, or where-they have, they are inade- quate. Too little has been done so far to carry out the decisions of the Fourth Congress on educational work, consequently no concrete results can be expected. In default of suitable or- gans, it was out-of the question to speak of gathering and examining the experiences of the various sections, of summarizing, generalizing, and ex- changing these experiences, or of sys- tematically putting the propaganda work into shape; consequently the de- velopment of party organs and party institutions, of departments for agita- tion and propaganda, which must or- ganize the propaganda of Marxism- | Leninism, will still be a fundamental task of the Communist International after the Fifth World Congress. 6. A further obstacle to the propa- ganda of Marxism-Leninism is the in- sufficient. dissemination of Marxism- Leninism literature. There is a dearth of original writings as well as of suit- able popular text books which would facilitate the work. The classics of Marxist literature are biblidgraphical rarities in a great number of western countries. There are almost no new editions. Only very seldom do new books appear which indicate new de- velopments of Marxism thought or of the broad popularization of the theory. In order to consolidate the propaganda of Marxism-Leninism, it is absolutely necessary that the literary works of Marx and Lenin (at least the most im- portant standard works) for study pur- poses, and text books, supplementary books, and popular writings which dis- cuss the methods of party training and study, be published in as many languages as possible. 7. Another obstatle to this work in the Communist International, is the in- adequate co-ordination of the energies devoted to theoretical Marxian study work. There is not sufficient contact between the Marxists in the various sections of the Communist Internation- al active on the field of theory or deep- ly interested in theory, to render di- vision of labor possible-or an exchange of experiences, and consequently a fruitful development of the work. This circumstance, as well as the isolation from each of the few theoretical and propaganda periodicals that do exist, render impossible the utilization as propaganda of the results of the Marx- ian-Leninism investigation and the mu- tual examination and utilization of re- sults obtained. The work of co-ordi- nating the Marxian-Leninist forces in the international Communist mové- ment and the division of labor among these forces is also necessary to the organizational dissemination and in- tensification of propaganda work. It is necessary also to encourage the sec- tions of the Communist International to publish theoretical and propaganda periodicals which would be suitable for satisfying the needs of education- al work. 8. The immediate concrete tasks of the Communist International in cen- trally guiding and furthering propa- ganda activity are: a) cemanaiien: “and — ie EN AS etl WANK Masked SDD AARON - of the department for agitation and propaganda. Furnishing this depart- ment with forces trained in Marxism- Leninism, and skilled in the organ- ization of propaganda work. System- atic control of the propaganda activity of the parties. Generalization and ex- change of experiences. Support of the parties in developing concrete me- thods and forms of party trainings. b) Rearrangement and extension of the publication activity of the Com- munist International with the view to furnishing the parties not only with political literature, but also with the- oretical and propaganda literature, Publication of the most important works of Marx, Engels, and Lenin, and the production of popular litera- ture consisting of text books and sup- plementary books on the fundamental questions of the Communist program and of Communist tactics and or- ganization. ‘ ¢) Publication of a monthly propa- ganda periodical for the purpose of instructing party officials and above all, the propagandists. The task of the monthly must be to act as a me- dium for the exchange of experiences, in elaborating questions of program, in generally guiding and systematizing the educational work of the party, in elaborating papers and introductions. in investigating and working out the best methods and forms of propagan- da work, in communicating systematic bibliographical material, and in suit- ably utilizing for propaganda the re- sults of the Marxian-Leninist investi- gations. In providing instructive ma- terial, the periodical would also sup- ply the needs of the agitators. The periodical should appear in German, French, and English. d) In order to supply at least the most important parties with qualified theoretical workers, the Communist International will co-opt 4 number of party workers for some length of time from the German, British, American, Czecho-Slovakian, Italian, and French sections to Moscow, where they will devote themselves solely to the study of the theory and practice of Marx- ism-Leninism. Comrades will be selected for this purpose (workers, if possible) who, under general instructions, will be cap- able of doing scientific work and of further educating themselves inde- pendently in Marxism-Leninism. The purpose of the study is to assimilate a more thoro Marxian-Leninist train- ‘ing and to equip these comrades for independent, theoretically well-ground- ed political work. . e) Convene and prepare for a con- ference of officials entrusted with propaganda work in the most import- ant sections, and of conductors of the party schools, for the purpose of work- ing out the most important concrete tasks of party training, and adequately specializing and co-ordinating the me- thods. f) Effective support of the- Young Communist International by properly oa the training of Communist STARVATION WAGES DANGEROUS EVEN IN . NEW YORK, Oct. 24.—A mild Credit Men here when J. Henry president of the Ameri- soxtiedous canpuadiiteg tooe een recently visited Germany, said: “A modern nation cannot contin- ue with its workmen getting $7.50 a week. German labor is already in a disturbed condition and there will certainly be trouble if these starva- tion wages are not increased.” I me i ee +