The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 15, 1924, Page 10

Workers Party Educational Department: Conducted by James P. Cannon, Educational Director “Without a Revolutionary Theory a Revolutionary Movement Is Impossible.” Developing the Party Educational Work HE propaganda theses of the Fifth Congress of the Communist Inter- national, which have been published in this department during the past three weeks, have had a noticeable and wholesome influence on the party. The results are already to be observed in the greatly increased interest in the party program for systematic educa- tional work. It is to be hoped that every active member of the party will thoroly familiarize himself with these propaganda theses, since they consti- tute a clear guide for the whole of our educational activities. The more thoroly the contents of these theses are assimilated by the party, the more certain will it be that our educational work will start off on the right track and that its fundamental importance for the health and growth of the party will be recognized. A firm grasp on_ revolutionary theory, without which a revolutionary party is impossible, is not a gift which will fall to us from heaven. The propaganda theses of the Fifth Con- gress lay great stress on the fact that party members can acquire theoreti- cal’ knowledge only thru the process of deliberate and systematic study, which has to be combined with the practical activities and struggles of the party. To this end it lays it down as a prerequisite that special organs must be established in the party for the supervision and conduct of edu- cational activity, and for the mainten- ance of it in a uniform manner. The periodical printing of theoretical lit- eratnre. the establishment. of party sat or We a variegated series of classes, de- signed to serve the needs of cémrades needing instructions in elementary principles, as well as those who already possess a knowledge of Com- munist fundamentals and who require a further and higher development of this knowledge. To this end, the educational depart- ment of the party has already worked out a comprehensive and flexible pro- gram of work, which is already being put into actual practice. An explana- tion of this program will undoubtedly be of interest. in this article, the broad outlines of the program as a whole will be dealt with. Other ar- ticles, which will follow in this de- partment, will explain each item of it, in detail and at length, in order that the comrades affected may have a complete understanding of the aims of the Central Executive Committee Educational Department in respect to that phase of the work which they are carrying out. Our Educational Program. 1. Publication of Theoretical Works. DAWES ASSUMING CHARGE This will consist of a number of vol- umes containing the most important writings of Comrade Lenin and giving a complete outline of his teachings. They have already been printed under this title in Russia and are now in organized on a~permanent basis and have fairly comprehensive curricula, process of translation for publication in America. 2. Party schools in the larger cities. In New York, Chicago and Boston, Party Schools are being established which are to give systematic courses of study thruout the year. They are with a number of instructors. Such schoels will undoubtedly grow into powerful institutions for stabilizing the party and giving it a uniform ideology. Only in the larger cities, which have a number of leading com- trades capable of successfully teaching classes, is it possible to develop schools of this character at the pres- ent time. 3. Self-instruction Classes in the “ABC of Communism.” A whole net- work of local self-instruction classes present indications are that at least forty or fifty such local self-instruc- tion classes will be in full swing in the near future. This is a promising beginning indeed and will undoubtedly lead to greater achievements. By the time these classes finish their ele- mentary studies, plans will be com- pleted and outlines provided to guide them to more extensive study. 4, Study Class Circuits in the Dis- tricts. The Circuit System of Study Class work, conducted by a profes- sional teacher, which was successfully developed in the Chicago district last fall and winter is now being organized in two separate districts of the party. In the Ohio and Philadelphia districts the necessary organization plans are nearing completion, Instructors have been assigned \by the Central Execu- tive Committee and the circuits will be in operation in the very near future. . Under the circuit system, a travel- ing instructor covers five different cities in the district, conducting a class one night each week in each different city for eleven weeks. These classes are based on the lecture-qies- tion method and are calculated to give the students a general outline of Com- munist principles and tactice and to prepare them for wider study. In order to stimulate the interest of the party members in the educa- tional work and to give a general .ead to it, the Educational Depart- ment of the Ceneral Executive Com- mittee will conduct a weekly depart- ment in the DAILY WORKER Maga- zine. In this department the progress of the educational work will be re- cools and classes, the ereaueemany of lectures and discussions on th ical questions—these are the means whereby the teachings of the theses can be realized in life, ‘ In line with the directions of the theses, a special Educational Depart- ment has been established within the Central Executive Committee, and the same procedure is being followed in the party down to the basic units. The Educational Departments of the branches, locals, and district organi- zations, organically connected with the Edueational Department of the Central Executive Committee, and guided and directed by it, constitute the apparatus for the development of Communist education in the party ranks. By means of this apparatus, our educational work is already be- ginning to move forward with a mighty drive. System and Central Direction. Educational work up till the pres- ent time has been of a fragmentary |- and sporadic character. Now, for the first time, it is being systematized and centrally directed as the Comintern thesis requires it to be. This step was necessary not only to secure the stimulation and development of the work, but also—what is of equal im- porcance—to guarantee that it will all bear a uniform stamp. We must not play fast and loose with the term, “education.” What we want is not a loose and general assortment of classes dealing with any subject which may happen to be labelled “workers’ education,” but systematic instruction of the party members in the revolu- tionary teachings of Marx and Lenin. Our educational apparatus from top to bottom is designed for this purpose. While all of our instruction must be of a uniform character from an ideological standpoint, it is obvious that the classes cannot all be cut ac- cording to one pattern. On the con- trary, the educational apparatus of the party must have sufficient flexi- bility to adapt itself to special needs and requirements of localities and districts, and to the varying degrees of theoretical and political under- standing of the various strata of the party members. It must also take into account the resources of the party and the limited number of comrades cap- able of leading and directing theo- retical work and it must establish Misery for the Workers—More Profits One item in the program provides for the periodical publication of theoreti- cal literature with the aim of grad- ually. building up, as rapidly as our resources permit, an extensive Library of Communism in America. The Cen- tral Executive Committee has already approved and ordered the publication of the following books: (1) ‘Theses and Resolutions of the Second Con- gress of the Communist Interna- tional.” This volume contain the fun- damental theses of the Comintern adopted at the Second Congress, deat ing with the questions of Trade Union- ism, Parliamentarism, the Role of the Communist Party, the National and Colonial Question, the Statutes of the Communist International, Fundamen- tal Tasks of the Communist Interna- tional, Conditions of Admission (the 21 points), Conditions for the Forma- tion of Soviets, and the Agrarian Question. (2) “Leninism,” by 1. Stalin, secretary of the Russian Com- munist Party, one of the oldest col- laborators of Lenin and one of the foremost leaders of the Comintern. (3) “The Selected Works of Lenin.” . wa. X. é “ for the Rich. of an elementary nature, using Buk- harin’s “ABC of Communism” as a text, are now in the process of organi- zation. In order to facilitate this es- sential development and to make it possible for groups of comrades who have no expefienced teachers to suc- cessfully conduct the classes, the Edu- cational Department of the Central Executive Committee has prepared a special supplementary pamphlet as a guide, and with the general direction and advice of the Educational Depart- ment of the Central Executive Com- mittee, it will‘be possible for inexper- ienced comrades to make a successful start im acquiring the necessary theoretical knowledge. aw otted and commented on. = advice and suggestions to the com- rades engaged in educational work will be given, and the problems which confront the active comrades in the course of their work will be dealt with. A large number of comrades active in educational and theoretical work will contribute to this depart- ment from time to ime. The subect of next week’s article will be “How to Organize and Con- duct a@ Self-Instruction Class in the ABC of Communism.” “The American Boo Is at an End...” Says Prof. E. Varga in his “The De- cline of Capitalism,” a pamphlet just received from Enrope. Also: “Will not the militaristc-imperialist policy of Poincare gain the upper hand, which fact would lead to a new ca- tastrophe of the mark, since the Rentenmark, an artificial creation, would by no means be able to with- stand such a blow?” A most timely PAMPHMlet .......00.--serecseen ersavencenensevesseser esse OG From the 4th to the 5th World Congress. Report of the Executive Committee of the Communist International, cov- ering 45 different sections, including U. S., Canada, Mexico, Argentine, etc. It briefly summarizes the activities of the Executive Committee and its va- rious sections. The United Front, the Trade Unions, Agrarian Questions, ete. A year book of the C. I. Single In lots of ten or more 15 cents, Order while the supply lasts. . Literature Department WORKERS PARTY OF AMERICA, 1113 Washington Blvd. Chicago, III. It is our aim to eventually establish | Fwwwwewewevevevevewvouvewe such a class in each city in the coun- try where the party has an organiza- tion. We will not reach this goal all at once, but the response already received has exceeded all expectations and is, in itself, a sure indication of the widespread ambition prevailing amongst the comrades to arm them- selves with a knowledgevof the funda- mental theory of the movemeht. The NOTICE! All Party and League Branches and the Foster-Gitlow Conference in all money col- please turn lected for the election campaign. Workers Party, Local Chicago Pe