The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 8, 1924, Page 6

(Concluded from last Saturday.) 8. The Proletarian Dictatorship and the Classes. The struggle for the expropriation of the expropriators requires the most thoro study of all elements of this struggle. The’ big bourgeoisie and the rich landowners, as well as that part of the officers’ and army staff subject to them, are the most consistent enemies of the working class, and a bitter struggle against them is absolutely inevitable. As a rule it is only pos- sible to utilize the organizing powers of these circles after the dictatorship has been established, and all con- spiracies of exploitation and uprisings have been determinedly suppressed. The question of the technical brain workers plays a most important role for the projetarian revolution. Every counter-revolutionary action originat- ing in the ranks of the technical brain workers must be rigorously suppress- ed, but at the same time the prole- tariat must take into consideration the absolute necessity for these skilled workers, and carefully avoid any action which could injure them economically, especially those groups which have already suffered thru the war. These intellectual forces should be brought under proletarian influence by pointing out to thenr the prospects of building up socialist culture. With regard to the peasantry, the Communist Party is confronted with the task of winning over a great part of the peasantry for the party. The viétorious proletariat must differen- tiate strictly between the various groupings within the peasantry itself, estimate their specific importance, and aid the landless, semi-proletarian elements of the peasantry by every possible means, give them a part of the big landowners’ property, help in their struggle against usurious capi- tal, etc. The proletariat must utilize the middle elements by leaving their land and their possessions untouched, and by combating every attack made by the rich peasantry in combination with the rich landowners. In this struggle the proletariat should base its activities upon the or- ganizations of the poorer population of the country, which are under the leadership of the country proletariat in all countries where the system of agricultural wage labor is developed. The petty bourgeoisie of the cities, which has always wavered betwéen extreme reaction and sympathy for the proletariat, is also to be neutral- ized as far as possible. Their neutral- ity is assured if their property is not touched. if they are allowed liberty of economic intercourse, aided in their struggle against usurious forms of eredit, etc. ? In order to fulfill all these tasks the most varying organizations of the proletariat (co-operatives, trade, unions, and other associations, and chiefly the party as leading power in the revolution) must be actual organs of proletarian power. If is only when these organizations lend unlimited support to the proletarian power, only when the class will is perfectly united, and when the party has the leadership, that the proletariat can successfully carry out its part as organizer of society as a whole in the most criti- cal period of human history. 4. Abolition of the Bourgeois + Monopoly of Education. The proletariat, when abolishing the monopoly of the capitalist class of the means of production, must simultan- eously destroy the monopoly of edu- cation in the hands of the bourgeoisie, that is, it must take over all schools and universities. One of the most important tasks of the proletariat is to train skilled tech- nicians from. the ranks of the working class, not only in the sphere of pro- duction (engineers, mechanics, organ: izers, bookkeepers, etc.), but for scien- tific and military work, etc. This is the only way possible of enabling fresh groups of qualified workers to be continually added to- the prole- tarian power, so that this may in reality become a leading power in the ' development of society. To this task must be aided the fur. ther task of raising the general cul- Program of the Communist International DRAFT ADOPTED AT THE FIFTH WORLD CONGRESS tural level of the proletarian masses, the task of their political enlighten- ment, raising the level of their knowl edge and technical qualifications, their practical introduction” into social work, and further, the combating of vostiges of bourgeois and petty bour- geois prejudices, etc. Amongst the tasks of combating bourgeois prejudices and _ supersti- tions, the first place is taken by the fight against religion, a fight which must be carried on with all requisite tact and all caution, especially among those sections of workers in wh» « daily life religion has hitherto been deeply rooted. The proletarian state power must discontinue all state support to churches, prevent any interference by the church in state organized educa- tion and further fight against all coun- ter-revolutionary activity of church organizations or their individual representatives, 5. The Removal of Imperialist Pres- sure and the Organization of Voluntary State Associations of the Proletariat, The main supports of the gigantic imperialist state were and are the ar- tificially created relations between the colonies and semi-colonies, and im- perialist mother countries. The colonial and national questions thus play an exceedingly important role, not only from the viewpoint of the decay of capitalist relations, but also from the viewpoint of capitalist struc- ture. In this respect the program of the Communist International makes the following demands, in complete op- position to the policy of the bour- geoisie and of social-democracy: 1. The right of self-determination, under which is also to be understood the right of complete separation from the state. This principle is binding as a requirement to be demanded of the bourgeois state, where it serves as a weapon against imperialism, and is equally binding under the regime of proletarian dictaforship, where it serves a8 a means of overcoming the national distrust nurtured thru cen- turies of bourgeois government. 2. The liberatoin of the colonies, and the support of all colonial move- ments against imperialism. In the case of a proletarian state embracing former colonies, the latter are to be accorded the right of separation. 3. Unions of Soviet Republics, at first in the form of a federation. Besides these program-planks which relate to thé system of the state, the Communist International puts for- ward demands for the equality of na- tions, and for the abolition of all anti- racial laws. The Communist International also fights against capitalist immigration laws (for instance, the anti-Japanese immigration law in U. S. A.), and con- ducts propaganda against all kinds of Chauvinism and nationalism, even if such prejudice should exist among the working class. The Communist International is particularly energetic in its campaign against Chauvanism among the peoples of the great powers. In view of the fact that the power cannot be seized by the proletariat simultaneously in all, or even in the most important countries, and that, therefore, proletarian states exist be- side capitalist states, in spite of the enmity because of basic principles be- tween capitalist and proletarian states —compromises on the field of foreign diplomacy by the proletarian states are possible, permissible, and at times even obligatory. (Foreign commercial agreements, loans, policy of conces- sions, participation in general confer- ences, and other forms of agreements, including military agreements.) {V. The Road to the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. 1. The Party and its Role. The successful fight for the prole- tarian dictatorship presupposes the existence of a strong, solid, tried, disciplined, and centralizeé Commun- ist Party. ‘ The party is the vanguard of the working class consisting of the best, most class conscious, most active and | are courageous members of the class; it|the embodies the whole collective experi- ence of the proletarian struggle, based on the revolutionary theory of Marx- ism. Representing the general and permanent interests of the class as a whole, the party, embodies in itself the unity of proletarian principles, of proletarian will and of proletarian revolutionary action. Being a militant organization which leads the prolotariat to the conquest of power, it consists of active revolu- tionary fighters, everyone of whom fulfils some duty for the party. It thus represents a revolutionary party bound by an iron discipline and by the strictest revolutionary order of democratic centralism, attained thru the consciousness of the proletarian vanguard and thru its devotion to the revolution, thru its -ability of main- taining close contact with the prole- tarian masses and with the masses in general and thru correct and flexible political leadership, which is con- stantly tried and kept informed by the experiences of the broadest masses, In order to fulfill its historic task, the Communist Party must prelimin- arily undertake and carry out the fol- lowing strategical aims: Bring under its influence the major- ity of the menibers of its own class, including the women workers and young workers. Bring under its influence the broad masses of toilers in general (the poor of the towns and villages, the impov- erished elements of the intelligentsia, the so-called “small-men,” i. e., the petty-bourgeois elements in general), and thus to achieve the political hege- mony of thé proletariat, under. the leadership of the Communist Party. It must utilize the conflicts in the ruling classes, both in its own coun- try and on an international scale (i. e. utilization of war crisis). Discredit, expose and destroy the political influence of social-<iemocracy and of the yellow trade union bureau- crats, wlio are the most reliable sup- porters of capitalism, and bring under its influence the mass organizations of the proletariat (trade unions, co-oper- ative societies, factory and workers’ councils, and so on). In its struggle for the ultimate goal of the proletarian movement, the party must take into consideration concrete circumstances, the correla- tion of class forces; the degree of capitalist strength; the degree of pro- letarian preparedness, the attitude of the intermediate strata, and so on. The party formulates its slogans and the manner of its struggle in conform- ity with these circumstances. While advancing a whole series of transi- tional slogans and partial demands, which are determined by the given circumstances, the party must subor- dinate these demands and these slo- gans to its revolutionary goal of the capture of power and overthrow of bourgeois-capitalist society. Hence, it is.inadmissible for the party either to hold aloof from the everyday needs and everyday struggles of the work- ers, or to limit its activities to these working class beyond these limits, i. e., to lead the working class to the revolutionary fight for power. To neglect the formulation of the partial demands and transition slogans is incompatible with the tactical prin- ciples of Communism, for it unavoid- ably leads the party to passivity and : : i g i ! : 5 ; i E [i af | : : i | HL i [ i dit i a : RE 4 3 “ of leading the masses to the direct attack on the bourgeois state. This is achieved by the advancement of more marked slogans and the increasing intensity of mass movements, to which must be subordinated all branches of party agitation and propa- ganda, including parliamentary activi- ties. These comprise strikes, combi- nations of strikes and demonstrations, combination of armed demonstrations and strikes, and finally, the general strike in conjunction with the highest form of the direct military fight against the state power of the bour- geoisie. This fight is subject to mili- tary rules; it presupposes a military plan (the fixing of time and place, etc.), aggressive operations, and undi- vided loyalty and heroism on the part of the proletariat. Such actions pre- suppose the organization of the bread masses into militant bodiés, which by their very form should at- tract and set into motion the largest number of toilers (councils of work- ers’ and peasants’ deputies, soldiers’ councils, etc). A pre-requisite for victorious tactics is propagandist work in the army and navy. The process of uniting the masses under the Communist flag must be developed in all actual questions of daily life. Above all, the fight against the danger of fresh imperialist wars, etc, Other questions coming under this heading are those connected with the struggle against the economic results of the war and post-war crisis. (Fight against increased prices, against un- employment, against longer working hours, against higher taxation, etc.) The support of Soviet Russia, as a means towards strengthening it and towards mobilizing the masses about this anti-capitalist center point, con- stitutes the most powerful organizing instrument in the hands of the inter- national working class. For the coordination of actions, and for the purposeful leadership thereof, the international proletariat requires an international class discipline, which must above all be strictly ad- hered to in the ranks of the Com- munist Parties. This international Communist distipline must be ex- pressed by the subordination of all partial and local interests of the movement to its general and perma- nent interests, and by the unqualified execution of all resolutions passed by the leading organs of the Communist International. Being the united world party of the proletariat, the Communist Interna- tional makes it incumbent upon all its sections carefully to weigh all the pe- culiarities of the situation in their respective countries. Only by study- ing these peculiarities is it possible to conduct a real Marxian policy. The difference between the countries of highly developed capitalism, which are on the threshold of the proletarian revolution; the countries on the eve of bourgeois revolution, which must be transformed into the proletarian revolution; and finally, the countries which are stili colonies or semi-colon- ies of imperialist powers, and which must still inevitably pass thru the phase of colonial and national’ wars— this difference must determine the whole activity of the Communist Par- ties which are under the uniform and centralized leadership of the Com- munist International. ATTENTION, CANONSBURG and BENTLEYVILLE, PA.! Attend celebrations of the Seventh NOVEMBER 165th, at 7 p. m Miners’ Hall,