The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 1, 1924, Page 8

Answering Call of the Russian Revolution ency which thoitservedas the basis, By ALEXANDER BITTELMAN T was late in reaching our shores, but when the call of the Russian Revolution finally came into our midst it: found the “soil ready for a new beginning in the history of the American labor movement, That be- ginning was made and it found its immediate expression in the revoli- tionary left wing inside and outside of the socialist party of America, A little while later, after an intensive process of internal clarification and cementation, this left wing definitely crystallized into the Communist movement of America. Thus did the militant workers of the United States answer the clarion call of the Rus- sian Revolution. From Opportunist Socialism to . the Revolutionary Class Struggle. We have been moving for quite a while from.opportunism to revolution- lism, from class-collaboration and re- formism to class struggle and Com- munism, As far back as 1911 and 1912 there was already in existence in the American labor movement a widespread feeling of. discontent with the opportunist and reactionary poli- cies of Gompers, Berger, Hillquit, etc. Even in those pre-war days, when the Russian Revolution was yet to come, when the world looked so deceivingly peaceful, and capitalism quite secure, even then there was already in the making the elements of militancy from which we were to form later on the Communist Party of America, These working class elements in the trade unions and in the socialist party were painfully struggling for a clear revo- lutionary ideology and a consistent revolutionary leadership. Bolshevism ani Communism were as yet very lit- tle known in the United States. Still the process of differentiation and crystallization was slowly going on thereby preparing the ground for the stormy and creative days of 1918- 1919 when the Communist movement of America had finally come into ex- istence. Two Tendencies in the Left Widg. Prior to the November revolution in Russia the left wing could hardly be spoken of as something definite and homogeneous. The lefts, the militants, and the rebels were united only on what they opposed, namely, opportunism, reformism and class-col- laboration. They were united on the things that they didn’t want but there ‘was not a single common conception among them of the things that —_ wanted to be done. There were really two basic tend- ' encies in the left-wing of the Ameri- can labor movement in the days be- fore the Russian‘ Revolution. One was of the I. W. W. was in fact much wider than the I. W. W. in scope and in volume. The second tendency was the left wing socialist tendency which operated nYainly within the confines of, the socialist party of America. / The tendency which produced the I. W. W. was a healthy proletarian revolt against the deadening and stultifying influences of Gomperism on the one hand and against the futile, petty-bourgeois parliamentarism of Berger and Hillquit on the other hand. It was quite natural, in view of the conditions that prevailed in America in those years, that the rank and file revolt which crystallized in the I. W. W. should assume the objectionable features of anti-politics and syndical- ism generally. It was also natural and unavoidable that the “working Class” politics practiced by Berger and Hillquit should produce among real proletarian militants a feeling of revulsion against all kinds of politi- cal action. And only later, when the thundering voice of the Russian Revo- lution began to reverberate thru the immense spaces of our own continent, these anti-political proletarians got their first inkling of what real prole- tarian politics mean. It then became clear to many of these rebels that working class. political party, these were the two fundamental concep- tions that. were brot home to large numbers of anti-political labor mili- tants by the November revolution of the Russian thasses.’ Since the meii- orable days of 1917-1918 these ° two ideas have been: making. their~ way into the minds of ever larger numbers of workers in the United States. ‘And it was these two conceptions that have mainly contributed towards clarifying the anti-political tendency in the left wing and finally crystalliz- ing a good portion of it into an or- ganic part of what later became the Workers Party of America. A similar process of differentiation and clarification was taking place in the ranks of the political tendency of the left» wing. This latter .group, which had: been growing mainly within the: socialist -party, had been moving for a number of» years in. the right direction, namely, away. from ’parlia- mentary opportunism and toward a revolutionary conception of the class struggle, but it lacked clarity, con- sistency and determination. Besides it manifested the same indifference toward the economic struggles and mass organizations of the workers as lid the right wing of Hillquit and Ber ger. This left wing in the socialis THE FIRST DAYS OF THE REVOLUTION Attacking the Police there is a sort of working class po- litical action which is the yery es- sence of class struggle and. without which no effective, struggle .against | capitalism .is possible,.the sort. of po- litical action that has been practiced by the Bolsheviks in Russia. Revolutionary working class politi- party was hardly aware of the truth, which later became part and parcel of Communist.tactics «in; the .. United States, that «it is ‘the. duty .of ‘Com. munists (revolutionary socialists) to engage: and lead the everyday. strug- gles of: the workers and to win their economic mass* organizations for the social revolution, Only later, when. the. great tial wave of the Russian Revolution reached our shores, has the political tendency in the left wing come to ap- preciate the vital importance for the social revolution of a revolutionary proletarian mass party, rooted in and supported by the economic mass or- ganizations. of labor. Both Tendencies Merged Into One Party Then came the merger of. the two tendencies into a Communist Party. This merger would have been forced upon us by the logic .of the class struggle in the United States, but in- stead of three years it. might have taken three decades. The Russian Revolution accelerated the process. It is true that both tendencies were substantially the same. They ‘were moved bythe same basic: forces in the American «class: struggle... But they had different origins, and’ differ- ent experiences, which made-all the difference» in the world , between a rebel in a trade union. anda left wing socialist. The former was concerned exclusively with the building up of militant revolutionary unions, while the latter had nothing else in mind but the revolutionizing of the politi- eal parliamentary tactics of the so- cialist party. Both these tendencies had been developing for years along side of each other without ever real- izing that there is a common basis for the two upon which to unite into one aarmonious whole. The Russian Revolution, which, in the words of John Reed, shook the world to its foundations, has also shaken the left wing of the American labor movement, purifying its ideo- logy, strengthening its will, and ce- menting its various elements into one homogeneous body. of revolutionary workers. Under the stress of the Rus- sian upheaval, the shapeless discon- tent of the labor militants in America has taken on definite revolutionary form. Anti-political rebels became convinced adherents of class political action and of a revolutionary political party of the working masses. So- cjalist..left-wingers came to realize more fully the basic and organic con- nection between the economic strug- gles. of the unions and the political struggles of a working class party. As a result of these changes in the ideology of both tendencies in the left. wing, changes which were pro- duced mainly by the powerful ham- mering of the Russian Revolution, these tendencies moved closer to each other until, they met on the common basis, of international Communism. It was the merger of these two tendenc- ies that “produced the Communist movement in the United States and later on the Workers _ Party of Am- erica, the anti-political and syndicalist tend-|cal action, led by a_ revolutionary Soviet Russia and Oppressed Nationalities By HARRISON GEORGE Out of the peculiarly complex strug- gles going on all over the world three major conflicts stand out, according to G. Chicherin, commissar for foreign affairs in the Soviet Union. These are —first, the world-wide struggle be- tween capital and labor; second, the antagonisms between the great pow- ers, and, third, the increasing strug- gle between the mother “robber” countries and their colonies. These are often intertwined. It may be said that the greatest conflicts between capitalist powers arise, dur- ing this period of historical decline of capitalism, over the struggle for colo- nies. The great powers seek not only to snatch from each other the prize of colonial plunder, but to crush and subjugate each other. Germany, we see, has become a colony of, first, the entente, which, in turn, has been sub- jugated to the suave but arrogant im- perialism of America thru the Dawes’ plan, Germany definitely enters the list of oppressed nationalities. ~ But, laying aside the enslavement of Germany and its political conse- quences, we sée that the position of the colonial oppressed peoples are of tremendous importance, particularly as a strategic position in the class struggle of the proletariat against the forces of imperialist capitalism. The Great Siave Empires. The nine “Colony-holding countries, England, France, the United States, Spain, Italy, Japan, Belgium, Portugal and Holland, hold in colonial lands five times their own area, and, with their own total population of 320,657,- 000, hold as colonial slaves no less than 560,200,000 people. Britain has a colonial population eight and a half times her home population, while France exploits a colonial population of 16,600,000 more than the popula- tion of France itself. The Balkans and the Near Hast are imperialist satrapies. The continent of Asia (leaving out Soviet territory) has been a bound and blind victim of the vultures of the Oécident. Africa from end to end, from “Cape to Cairo” is a vast slave pen. With whiskey and opium, the bible and the repeat- ing rifle, the black and brown and yellow millions carry the burden of imperialist exploitation, of industry seeking raw material and cheap la- bor, of traders seeking markets, of di- plomats looking for oil and man pow- er, of bankers seeking export of capi- tal, of ali of these. seeking super-pro- fits from subject nationalities in, ex- cess of the profit rate in, domestic pro- duction, The program of the Communists is. comparatively simple. The solution of exploitation, of misery and oppression can be- shortly stated, even if the ac- complishment is long in reaching. It is, in one word—“revolution.” But be- fore elaborating upon it, a view, or a review, is necessary of the methods of imperialist capitalism in the oppres- sion of what are called “backward The favorite weapon of imperialism is plain brute force. It does, of course, moralize in the home country and be- fore the world. It is always “advanc- ing civilization, developing the coun- try, building good roads (a favorite pursuit of General Wood), stopping the slave traffic, (in the name of wage slavery), forwarding Christianity (and the opium trade) and liberating op- pressed races (from other ‘libera- tors’).” The Missionaries of Imperiatiem, The American imperialists have their peculiar method. Kalinin, prest- dent of the Soviet Union, speaking last year in Eastern Siberia, upon the expulsion by the red army from that region of all invading armies, includ- ing the American, mentioned the saintly imperialism of American inter- ventionists. “Not without reason,” he said, “did American capitalism appear as in the highest degree religious, bringing into the ‘occupied territory the bible, with America’s own preach- ers, including Baptists and Metho- dists.” “What led Americans to do all this? The only reason is the following: Thru these preachers America extablished her first advance posts, thru she will in the future exert influence and develop her commercial business. America takes this line not only with us, but in China. American capital in