The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 13, 1924, Page 12

a4 Workers Party Educational Department Conducted by James P. Cannon, Educational Director “Without a Revolutionary Theory a Revolutionary Movement Is Impossible.” How to Organize and Conduct a Study Class HE problem of educational work is many sided. Enthusiasm for this work among the party members must be aroused and maintained. A general recognition of its fundamental import- ance must be established. It must be organically connected with the life and struggles of the party, and must not become academic and sterile, And it must be conducted in a systematic manner, becoming an established part of the life of the party thruout the year. This last will not just “hap- pen.” It will take much work and the introduction of correct organizational and technical principles. All our theor- ies will come to nothing if our educa- tional apparatus does not function properly. ANY classes have landed on the rocks because they were not con- ducted properly. One of the most fre- quent inquiries we have received from comrades who are undertaking party educational work is: “What is the best way to conduct a study class’— It is the purpose of this article to give an answer to this qustion based on the collective experience in the field of educational work from which a few general principles can be ex- tracted. ET us begin at the begining and proceed step by step. When the re- sponsible party committee in the given localities has decided to establish a class, let us say, for example, in the’ “A. B. C. of Communism,” the next move must be to appoint a leader for the class. This leader must understand | that the class will not move of itself, but must be organized and directed from beginning to end, otherwise it will fall to pieces. The comrade in charge of the class must then preceed to enroll students, having them regis- ter for the class and making sure he has a sufficient number who agree in advance to attend the classes before he sets the time for calling it. As soon as a sufficient number of stu- dents have been enrolled, a date is set for the first class and all the stu- dents are notified. T this point we should speak a word about the danger of haphaz- ardness in the attendance at the class- es on the part of any of the students. The party committee must decide that the attendance at class.once a week,| or more frequently, as the case may be, is a part of the member’s party duty and should excuse him from par- ty obligations for those nights. The systematic and regular attendance at class by all students must be con- jtantly stressed, and the party com- mittee and the leader of the class must constantly fight against the tendency, ‘which always grows up, to regard the study class as a series of lectures at which one can “drop in” whenever he feels like it: Good re- sults can only be obtained when the class is an organized body and is reg- ularly attended by the same students: Methods of. Conducting Classes HE methods of conducting the classes which have proved most successful from past experience can be roughly divided into two general meth- ods. These methods may be modified and varied in many ways, according to local circumstances, experience and qualifications of the teacher, etc. These two methods are: 1. The lecture-question method. 2. The method of reading from and discussing the text in the class. HE Lecture-Question method. This is the method most frequently em- ployed by experienced teachers, and one which yields the most satisfac- tory results if qualified comrades can be found to conduct the class along this line. The use of this method pre- supposes that the teacher, who is him- self thoroly familiar with the subject matter of the text, possesses some ability and experience as a lecturer. It is not necessary, however, for him to be a professional. The average Communist who has a firm grasp of his subject will find that with a little practice-he can succeed in holding the attention of a class. | JUDER this method the teacher de- livers a lecture for the period of ‘about one hour on some phase of the general subjects dealt with in the text. In addition he requires the students to read, outside the class, in connection with his lecture, certain portions of the text and sometimes portions of other books which deal with the same subject. When the class comes together for the second time it is opened with a question period of about thirty minutes during which the lecturer quizzes the stu lents on the subject matter of the previous week’s lecture and the reading in connection with it. It is best.to have a short recess at the end_of the question per- fod in order to get a fresh start for the lecture. ~A lecture of about an hour then completes the evening’s work. Again sections of the text are referred to the students for reading in connection with the lecture. The same proceedure is then followed at each successive meeting of the class until the end of the course. HEN this. method is employed it is not: advisable to have indis- criminate discussion in the class, as this will almost invariably divert the attention ofthe class from the imme- diate subject in hand and destroy. the possibility of consecutive instruction. For a teacher.to conduct a class ac- cording to this method he must. take it firmly in hand, establish his au- thority at the very beginning, and maintain it thruout the course. Noth- ing is more fatal to the success of such a class than for the opinion to grow up amongst some of the stud- ents that the teacher knows less than they do about the subject. For he will then be unable to maintain the proper discipline in the class and hold it to its course. Whenever a study class, organized for the purpose of consecutive study of a certain aspect of Communist theory or tactics, be- gins to resolve itself into a group for general discussion or a debating society, its early demise can be cunfi- dently expected. EADING and Discussing the text. This method also works out very well, especially in elementary classes. In this method, as in all others, how- ever, the first prerequisite is a class leader who takes a responsible atti- tude towards the work and who takes it upon himself to organize and lead the class and hold it down to the matter in hand. -This class leader should by all means thoroly study the text before the class commences and make himself master of it. PHE class conducted according to this -method proceeds by the class leader calling upon the stnd- ents, one after another, to read a few sentences or a paragraph from the text. After each student finishes reading the part assigned to him, the leader asks the student who has read the passage to explain it in his own words. If he fails to bring out the meaning clearly or interprets the passage incorrectly, the question is directed to other students, the leader himself finally intervening to clarify the matter if necessary. ROCEEDING along this line the class: will cover.a chapter or so of the text each evening. Before the read- |. ing- commences each time, the leader should conduct a brief quiz & the class on the part of the text dealt with on the preceding evening in order to bring out the points clearly for the second time, refresh the mem- ory of the students, and connect the preceding class with the one about to begin. 5 N the course ofa few months, pro- | ceeding along this line, the class will get thru the “A B C of Commun- ism” and. will have acquired a grasp on the fundamental theories of the movement. : Moreover, if the class has been conducted successfully, if it has had the good fortune to have a leader that can inspire confidence and en- thusiasm’ and who can hold it. ‘to: gether as an organized body in spite of all difficulties, the students of the class, or at least a large part of them, will emerge from their first course of training with a strone will and spirit to acquire more knowledge and thereby equip themselves better to become worthy fighters in the cause of Communism, HE success of the study clags work is to a very large extent dependent upon organization, leader- ship and class discipline. It should start on time and stop on time each evening. It must not accommodate itself to casual students or chronic late-comers. It should not degenerate into a mere discussion group over the general problems of the movement but must confine itself in a disci- plined manner te the specific sub- jects dealt with in the course. It should be conducted in a_business- like fashion from start to finish, stud- ents being enrolled and the roll called each evening. Above all it should have a leader who, notwithstanding lack of previous experience, will take his task so seriously as to thoroly master the subject himself. Then he will be able to establish sufficient au- thority in the class to lead it step by step to the end of the course. Bronx Readers, Attention! “A. B, C.. of Communism,” every Tuesday night, at 1347 Boston Road. Dr. I. Stamler, instructor. All mem- bers of Bronx Section, Workers Party, who have joined the party within a year, must attend this class. Others invited. English, Elementary, Monday night, at 511 East 178rd St. S. Felshin, in- structor. Advanced English, every Friday night, at,511 East 173rd St. Ely Jacob- son, instructor, ~ ATTENTION! All friendly org&nizations are requested not to arrange any affairs on SATUR- DAY, DEC. 27, as the Society for Tech- nical Aid to Soviet Russia will give a performance on that date at the Soviet School, 1902 W. Division St. “Coal Miner Kort,” a revolutionary drama, will be presented in the Russian language. How One Should Not Write the History of October contrary, had a historical miracle oc- cured at that time, and had the Bol- shevist workers followed that which Comrade Trotzky proclaimed (unity with the liquidators, fight against the “secretarianism” of Lenin, menshevist political platform, during the war fight against the Zimmerwald Left,| etc.) then there would have been no October victory. Comrade Trotzky, however, entirely avoids dealing with this period, altho it would be his duty to impart just these “lessons” to the party. Let us quote. another example. There fought side by side with us on the October barricades many left so- cial revolutionaries. In ‘the decisive moment of October they. contributed their share to: the cause: of victory. Did that mean, however, that they had been “tried” once and for all by Oc- tober? Unfortunately this was by no means the case as the post-October experience has shown, which to a con- siderable extent confirmed the esti- mate given of these petty-bourgeois revolutionaries before October. October. isolated, therefore in no way suffices for the “test.” It is rather the second moment which is of more importance, thé moment which Com- rade Lenin so categorically pointed out, . :. ! P The statement of Comrade Trotzky, that the “Bolshevizing” of: the Com- munist parties consists in such an education and such a section of a body of “leaders” that they shall not run off the track at the moment of their October, is therefore correct, in as far as it also Includes the appropriation of the experiences of the “preparatory period.” For even the immediate ex- periences of the Russian October can neither be understand nor made use if we do not take to heart the teachings of this preparatory period. Comrade Trotzky, who regards the matter in such a way that the Bolshevist Party in its actual essence only began to exist after the October days, does not the line of the party in. its entirely up to “the present moment.” © And just in the same way he fails to see that after the seizure of power, even after the end of the Civil war, history is by no means at an end. In the same way the history of our party is also not at an end, the. history which is likewise a “testing of the party policy,” for it aot only contains discussions regarding the one or the other standpoint, but also the exper- iences of practical policy. _One had to take care not “to leave the track” in October, but the same applies to the time of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (when, as Trotzky ad- mits, the “head,” that means the life and death, of the Soviet power was at stake). One had also to take care not to leave the track in the discus- sion of 1921, for without the Lenin policy we would have endangered everything. It Would also have been out of place to leave the track in see the uninterrrupted connectjon ofithe last year, for without the mon ey reform, without the economic policy. etc, conducted by the party, we should have likewise arrived at a desperate — situation. In all these critical situations, how- ever, Comrade Trotzky has left the track, and ‘in the same manner as In the pre-February period of his politi- cal existence, when he had not broken oo the open opponents of Bolshev- “The tradition of a revolutionary party,” writes Comrade Trotzky (page 62), “will not be created through maintaining silence, but out of crit: ical clearness.” Very true...The de mand for “critical clearness” however, must not be raised only in regard to the actions which took place in Oc- tober, but also in relation to the pre- ceeding and the succeeding period of development. Only in this manner ig an actual test possible; for the party of the proletariat acts constantly ‘and passes thru more than one “critical” period. (To be Continued) OS oo SERA hae : ee & a mn REE IBS i REE ED ILA a NAD BEE ccnp we [renee - — _ 2