The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 15, 1924, Page 9

(EDITOR’S NOTE:—In his next ar- ticle, Comrade Foster will point out some of the organizational lessons. to be learned from the campaign.) L In the. presidential campaign just closed it was my fortune to travel ap- proximately 18,000 miles, visiting fifty big industrial centers in thirty-two states, and speaking to over 50,000 workers in mass meetings, I talked to miners in Ohio, steel workers in Pennsylvania, clothing workers in New York, textile and shoe workers in New England, lumber and migra- tory workers. in Washington, in fact, I talked to every important section of: the working class in the great centers in which they toil and are robbed by the employers. During such an ex- tended trip one gathers many impres- sions. Only a few of these can be registered in the brief space at my disposal. The most interesting and instruc- tive phase of the trip was to watch our party go into action in this, its first national election campaign. For it to get under way im full vigor seri- ous obstacles had to be overcome. It was not such a simple task as ‘might be imagined. Ever since the organ- ization of the Workers Party, the truth has been pounded into the mem- bership that it is the duty of Com- munists to participate in mass move- ments of the workers. This propa- ganda, which had been accompanied by our active campaign for the form- ation of a farmer-labor party, for amal- gamation, etc., had struck home. Con- sequently, when our party, just on the eve of the election, cut loose from the skeleton national farmer-labor party and set up a presidential ticket of its own, it was difficult for the mem- bership to readjust itself te the new situation. Something of a crisis de- veloped. It was evident everywhere. There were the masses undoubted- ly going with the LaFollette move- menty at least great, sections of ther fat Were advanced enough to break away from the two old parties. Our membership displayed a strong in- stinct, if I may so describe it, to go » with them. This was due not only to our propagation of the necessity for participation in mass movements of the workers, but also to the enor- mous pressure that was brought to bear upon our comrades in thé un- ions and elsewhere. It was a great test of the intelligence and discipline of our party membership that they were able to understand so quickly. that the LaFollette mass movement was not one that they could partici- pate in. As the campaign progressed one could sense everywhere the grow- ing confidence of our membership. The feeling of isolation, of nakedness in the political struggle, gradually dis- appeared and gave way to a militant defense of our own party, as against the treacherous arguments of the La- Follette movement. When the cam- paign ended, our party had fully estab- lished itself and was making a strug- gle that did credit to it. The great strength of the LaFol- lette sweep was also a marked charac- teristic of the first stages of the cam- “paign. Counting the million or so votes that were certainly stolen from him, LaFollette probably ran up a total of at least 5,500,000. Undoubt- edly most of this came from trade unionists and others of the more ad- vanced sections of the workers and poor farmers. In my travels I came into contact with great numbers of these. They had LaFolletteitis bad- ly. To a remarkable degree they looked upon LaFollette as the great champion who was going to solve all their problems for them. It was. not that they were familiar especially with the LaFollette program, but the move- ment had developed into a sort of cru- sade for them. The pressure of ex- ploitation had been so t for so many years, and the opportunities for organized opposition to it so few, that they rushed pell-mell and blindly into the LaFollette movement. Everywhere the socialist movement collapsed before the LaFollette drive. Men, who a few years ago called them- selves socialists and revolutionists, not only defended the LaFollette can- to a mass labor party, but they openly and militantly defended all the planks in LaFollette’s Program, completely abandoning every conception of the class struggle. In many places I met anarchists wearing big LaFollette but- tons and loudly touting his cause. For- getting their anti-parliamentarianism, they were dragged along with the mass. The I. W. W. was also consider- ably afflicted, many of its members being avowed LaFolletteites. As for the trade union bureaucrats, most of them, at least of the minor types, looked upon the LaFollette movement as a godsend. It seemed a broad white way to the pie-counter. The Gompers’ Political policy has been such a fail- ure that few of them have been able to work their way to Political office, But when- the ‘LaFollette movement came storming along, with even con- servative leaders like Wm. H, John- stone claiming that it would poll -20,- 900,000 votes, they saw at last the longed-for political jobs within their grasp. : Up till the last three weeks of the campaign the LaFollette movement kept gaining momentum. After that, it went into evident decline. This was to be seen by the lowered mor- ale of the trade unionists whom one encountered. The great capitalist pro- Paganda machine was getting into action and getting real results, Not only did the great newspapers Carry on their “red” scare effectively, but the bosses on the job openly told the workers that if they didn’t vote for Coolidge they would soon find them- selves among the unemployed. At many of my meetings workers told me they were informed that if LaFollette was elected théy should not come back to work after election. The re- sult of this was a crumpling of the LaFollette movement. The action of the Central Labor Uniov of New York, in cutting loose from LaFollette and declaring for Davis just on the eve of the election, wa; ¢ enerally. They were being scared away from LaFollette én masse. In the campaign it was made strik- ingly evident the wisdom of the change of party policy in cutting looses from the national farmer-labor par- ty and the placing of candidates of our own in the field. At many places where I talked I asked the comrades to try to visualize what would have been the situation had we gone ahead and made the cam- paign under the banner of the farm- er-labor party. Almost unanimously they were appalled at the thought. It would have meant that we would have had in our meetings just about the same people that we did have. The difference would have been that in the one case we would have had to defend farmer-labor candidates and a farmer-labor program. The result would have been demoralization and confusion, which would have amount- ed to a first class disaster to our Party. As it was, we were able to present Communist candidates upon a straight Commufist program. We introduced the Workers Party formally to the masses as a factor in the political struggle. us The campaign was a striking justi- fication of the policy of the Communist International to participate in elec- tion struggles. It was evident every- where that the masses were in a thinking mood and it was a splendid opportunity to present our program to them. Besides the capitalist dictator- ship was considerably less rigorous with regard to free speech than at any other period. All over the coun- try I, in common with our other speak- ers, was able to present our program and to advocate the adoption of Sov- jets and the proletarian dictatorship without serious interference from the authorities. Besides, our party gain- ed much invaluable political experi- ence. This was sadly needed in many localities. In my judgment the New York district showed the greatest, re- sponsiveness in exploiting the situa- tion to the advantage of Communism. The two big mass meetings I address- ed there, which together comprised about 6,000 people, were an inspira- tion. Those leftist elements in our party who -still believe that partici- - pation in election struggles is not profitable for Communist Parties, would do well to study the lessons of the campaign just ended. If the campaign was a justification of the party policy of severing its con- nectiéns with the farmer-labor party and running candidates of its own, it was also a striking justification of the correctness of the decision of the Contmunist International that there should be, no “third party alliance.” This justification was because of the almost complete absorption of the farmer-labor party movement by the LaFollette movement. In the famous controversy over the “third party al- liance” both sides were wrong in that they overestimated the strength of the farmer-labor movement. ‘The anti-third ‘partyites took the position that there was sufficient definite farm- er-labor party sentiment in the coun- try to make practical the running of a farmer-labor party in the campaign with its own candidates: The other group held that the only way the farm- er-labor Movement could be preserv- ed was thru the proposed alliance. But both were wrong. The sweep of the LaFollette’- movement shrivelled the tender plant of farmer-labor party mgvement like a hot blast from the desert. Not even the proposed “third ment. If the alliance had been made, (Continued from Page 4.) adheres to the democratic party, and will have Major George L. Berry, strikebreaking head of the Pressmen’s Union, as spokesman. Another, tools of the republican party, will rally be- hind John L. Lewis, president of the Miners’ Union, and W. L. Hutchen- son, of the Carpenters. A third, the railroad shop unions associated in the C. P. P. A. with independent unions, headed by Wm. H. Johnston, will seek to adapt the Fg _moaveme try to ride all three hourses, defend- ing the independent candidacy of La- Follette this year while keeping him- self free for any kind of political alliance that may seem expedient in the future, and openly bidding for re- entry into the democratic fold. The Left Wing Stands Firm. Into this mess of political trading, corruption, and middle class illusions, it will be the task of the left wing militants, the T. U. E. L. adherents and the Communists, to bring the message of clear-cut working class action on the political as well as the industrial field. Against the LaFol- lette illusion, which means the control of the workers politically by their class enemies, we must bring the con- ception of a party of the working class, fighting against the capitalists and all their hangers-on—which means a revolutionary party, the Workers (Communist) Party of America. The political and industrial pro- posals of the left wing present a prac- tical and comprehensive program of class struggle, to be placed against the whole program of class collabora- ti | tion of the labor officiakiom. This in- cludes the demands for amalgamation of the craft unions into powerful in- dustrial unions; formation *of a solid network of shop and factory commit- tees by all workers in each industry; organization of the unorganized; equality of all races in the labor move- HOSE who missed last Sunday's Open Forum, which is held every Sunday night in the lodge room at the Ashland Auditorium, Van Buren street and Ashland boulevard, will never know what they were deprived of by not coming to hear Oliver Carl- son lecture on the life of young folks in Soviet Russia. But as there is no way of making amends for the past except by future behavior, it is expected that every- body will be there tomorrow nigh* at 8 o'clock, to listen to Earl R. Brow- der, editor of the Workers’ Monthly and members of the Central Execu- Problems Facing the A. F. of L. Convention COME AND FIND OUT ‘of tho ng For Communism - 2) Wa. Z. Foster didacy on the basis that it would lead’ party alliance” could have held enough of it together to make it a mass move- the practical effect of it would have been to saddle a dead farmer-labor party upon the back of the Workers Party. We would have been in pretty much the same situation in that re- spect as we were after the St. Paul convention. I am forced to this con- clusion after seeing, during my trip, the sad wreckage of the budding farm- er-labor parties by the LaFollette movement. They were simply knock- ed dead everywhere: The Comintern was right in its decision: This campaign was an_ historical event. It -was the opening round in a long and desperate struggle against the hard center of world capitalism. In this fight it was my privilege to be the standard hearer of ‘the Commu- nist. movement, to lead the attack against the great fortress of the in- ternational capitalist class. This was the supreme honor of my life. This campaign was just the merest skir- mish, a faint indication of the tre- mendous battles that are yet to come, a forerunner of the time when the or- ganized millions of the proletariat will strike to earth the capitalist system and establish the dictatorship of the proletariat. (To be continued.) ment; nationalization of the basic industries with workers’ control and operation; struggle against wage cuts and lengthening of hours; organiza- tion of unemployed councils, and struggle for relief of the unemployed; against Fascism, the Ku Klux Klan and the American Legion, and against “education week”; against deportation of workers, against syndicalism laws, and for the release of all labor prison- ers; unconditional recognition of Pan-American Federation of Labor from an instrument of the U. 8. department of state into an organ of working class struggle for freedom from Morgan’s imperialism; for na- tional and international unity, affilia- tion to the Red International of Labor Unions and support of the world unity movement initiated by it; for the class struggle and the formation of a revolutionary mass party of the working class. The program of the Trade Union Educational League is a practical pro- gram, laying down the necessary basis for any effective struggle by the workers against the exploitation of capitalism. The working class will rally to such a program, in the degree that the “open shop” aggressions of the employers force them to fight— and in the degree that the militants themselves make the workers familiar with the program. In order to put such a program into effect, the work- ers must also learn that it requires struggle against the labor officials, against the bureaucrats who, holding the offices of the labor movement, at the same time are the greatest de- fenders of the capitalist system— more zealous even than the capitalists themselves. The slogan must be: “Away with the bureaucratic leaders,” “Abandon the class-collaboration pol- icy,” “Enter the fight upon the basis of the class struggle and under revo- lutionary leadership.” wages: tive Committee of the Workers Party, who will speak on “The Meaning of the Election Returns.” With the whole labor movement in confusion and demoralization, the A. F. of L. divided in its support to two old capitalist parties and the LaFol- lette “progressives,” reaction trium- phant in the election of Coolidge and an industrial crisis threatening along with the open shop to reduce the work- ers to new low standards, the problem of what to do is of immediate and vital importance. The struggle must goon. But how? Come to hear Brow- der Sunday night and find out. tone a a te a