The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 13, 1924, Page 9

The Discussion on Party Tasks A Fighting Slogan in the Trade Unions— The Farmer-Labor United Front By BENJAMIN GITLOW. N the Labor Herald of March, 1923, | edited by Comrade Foster the fol- lowing statement is contained on the national referendum on the labor party. “Not to speak of-the political neces- sity for a militant independent party of the working class, the Trade Union Educational Leagie’ holds that it is impossible to have a successful trade union movement in’ this country’ un- til labor has declared definitely for a labor party. The*Gompers political policy of rewarding our friends: and ‘punishing Our enémfes is fatal to la- bor unions. . . . ° The workers’ will never be able to think or act intelli- gently as proletarian so long as their trade unions are linked up with capi- talist political parties. This is a funda: mental of unionism. A labor party is one of the most vital needs of the Am- erican labor movement.” Now Comrade Foster and the other members of the majority that in 1923 sponsored the above sentiments pro- pose that the united front in the un- ions on the basis of the farmer-labor party slogan be abandoned. In 1923 they said “The workers will never be able to think or act intelligently as proletarians without a labor party. A labor party is one of the most vital needs of the America labor move- ment.” Now they say that the slo- gan of a farmer-labor party has lost its power of stirring large masses of workers. They claim that the farm- er-labor movement which Comrade Foster in his article on the triple re- volt stated was one of the issues that might break Gompers’ control over the American labor movement is dead. They go even further and state that the whole movement for indepen- dent political action in the unions is dead. They now assume that as a result of that, that the only form the movement for independent political action can take is the form of the Workers Party. The C. E. C. majority reiterates that the economic conditions which were the basis before for the farmer-labor party united front have not material- ly. changed. The development of the ..farmer-labor party movement should -therefore continue. The C._E. C, ma- , jority, however, does not reason with economic factors, It wants every one _to believe.that a movement that has its roots.in the economic life of the “country and a movement it admits had a big following among the mass- .e@s and particularly. among the or- ganized workers, in a single day, was destroyed because the workers hbe- lieving in a labor party who followed LaFollette were disillusioned when LaFollette received only five million votes, The majority wants to create the impression that a movement that has been developing in the United States for years, that a movement with a historical background and with an ideology that has permeated hun- ‘dreds of thousands of the most mili- . tnat workers in the unions can imme- diately cease to be a factor in the la- bor movement. The majority makes ‘the mistake here of considering the labor party movement not as a de- velopment going thru a period of years, but as a phenomenon of only immediate importance, That is why they make the big error of consider- ing the election results as the final determining factor ending the labor party movement and not an important event in its development, . The Comintern in its decision on _ the American question has correctly formulated the significance of the la- bor party movement in its relation to ‘the Workers Party. It states as fol- lows: “The first task of the Workers Party is to become a mass Communist Party of workers, It can fulfill this task only by most actively participat- ing in the establishment of a labor party which will embrace all elements of the working class wishing to con- duct a policy independent of the capi- talist class and establishing a bond spur on and support Samuel Gompers other members of the’ answer these questions. But in do- ing so, they ‘should stick to’ facts: They should not make the false charg: es that the minority “is’ opposed all other united fronts excep farmerlabor party united front. only ‘does the minority include a whole series of united ‘fronts on im- mediate issue’ in its thesis, but the minority is the one that has forced the present majority to accept after it had fought it bitterly at the last convention the idea of a united front on unemployment. It is true that the minority never agreed with the Foster idea of united fronts with lead- ers as the Fitzpatrik united-front in the Chicago Federation of Labor. That is one of the reasons there is today such a principle difference be- tween the Foster and Ruthenberg group. with the farmers who are at present in a state of fermentation. These two independent tasks—the task of build- ing around the Communist Party a broad- class labor party and of es- tablishing a bond between the labor party. and the poorest elements: of the farmers—+haye developed in the Unit- ed States, thanks to the peculiarities of. historical evolution as one prob- jem. Namely, the building ofa com- mon.party of workers and farmers.” The Comintern demonstrates. ,that it fully..understands the nature. of: the farmer-labor party movement. when it declares that it is-the result of the peculiarities of. historical. evolution thruout the history of the American labor movement we can trace its de- velopment. It is true that the move- ment as such has not fully crystal- lized. That does not necessarily mear that the idea of the farmer-labor party is of no consequence. From a consi- deration of recent facts following the elections which the majority wants us to believe, has changed everything the direct opposite is true. The slo- gan for a farmer-labor party is of great dynamic value. First, the eco- nomic conditions driving the work- ers and poorer elements of the farm- ers to demand the organization of such a party exist today as never be- fore. This even the majority admits. And second, around the slogan of a farmer-labor party we again find the militant and progressive forces in the unions rallying. Let us go to the last convention of the American Federation of Labor re- cently held in El Paso in order to learn what took place there. Com- rade Foster and the whole majority even before election day, considered the labor party slogan dead. ‘That is why before election day when -they drafted the resolutions for the A. F. L. convention they omitted a resolu- tion-on the labor party. As a result, the T. U. E. L. was put in the ridicu- lous position of publicly assuming the death of the farmer-labor party move- ment while Samuel Gompers and the American Federation of Labor conven- tion fought that movement with all the power at their command. The question then arises if the LaFollette Movement swallowed up asthe: ma- jority. would have us believe the farm- er-labor,. sentiment in, the . United States and killed it.and if as -they ; Say, the movement itself is insignificant and is organized-only in a few states, why then was Samuel Gompers and the whole bureaucratic and. reactionary officialdom so much afraid. of the idea of a farmer-labor party? If the farmer-labor party ‘Movement is..not a revolutionary development for the workers in the United States, then why did the capi- talist press of.the country in unison, in his. fight on the idea of a labor party in. the United States? It is up to Comrade Foster and the majority to The minority wants to build a Com- Zinoviev's | sources. lutionary political party of the work- ng class. The minority wants a Workers Party that will go into the unions not one that will hold itself aloof from the unions, not one that will stand passively by watching the political consciousness that is de veloping inside of them. The minority wants to be the leader in developing this political consciousness instead of the Johnsons, Fitzpatricks, Mahoneys, Kramers, Hillquits, and Bergers. That is why the minority is for the farmer-labor party slogan. The farm- er-labor party slogan is a militant slo- gan. It is a slogan of the rank and file in the unions. The realization of that slogan can only be gained thru a bitter struggle on the part of the rank and file against all the agents of capitalism in the unions. What form does. the fight in the unions against Samuel Gompers’ policy of reward your friends and punish your ene- mies take? It takes the form of the labor party against the policy of non- partisan political action. But this special form Foster and the majority wants us to abandon. To abandon the struggle for a labor party is to abandon one of the most effective and special means for awakening the Do- litical consciousness of the American workers. Because the fight for the labor party is a fight against Gompers, a fight against the petty bourgeois poli- ticians who would convert the labor By JAY LOVESTONE. Article 1. C JN view of the instructions of the Communist International that the Ruthenberg and Foster groups should work together and carry on an active campaign against the ideology of the Two-and-a-Half International in our party as represented by Comrade Lore, the following first of a series of analyses of the voting record of the central executive committee should prove illuminating to the entire party membership in the cgurse of the pres- ent dincnestons.. ) 6 che 1. C. B.C. wority yotes for or proposés measures in behalf of Lore (Two-and-a-Half International _ ten- erat No. 1—March 7, 1924. Council. : “Motion, ; » Ruthenberg— Motion ‘to censure Lore for printing in Volkszeitung item |: referring to conclusions “of Workers Party observer at St. Louis confer- ence for progressive political action as being an act in contradiction to declared party policy. Vote. Foster—Motion to refer to next central executive meeting. (Carried by majority. Date. No. 2—March 7, 1924, Council. Motion. Ruthenberg — Motion to censure Lore for stating in Volkszeitung that information regarding United States comes from unreliable .Foster—Motion to refer to, next central executive meeting. (Carried by majority. : Date. . No. 3—March 7, 1924. Council. Motion. Pepper—Motion to have central ex- ecutive committee make public state- ment defending Comintern and Zino- viev against Lore’s articles, b. To endorse fully the old guard in Russian Communist Party. ¢c. To protest against Lore’s state- ment that majority of central execu- tive committee tion. is for Trotsky’s posi- d. That Pepper be allowed to write article in Liberator defending position of old guard in Russian Communist Party. Vote, Foster—Motion to refer to next Facts for Communists he Foster-Lore Alliance and the Communist International. party movement into a petty bour- geois party, against the socialist party betrayers and a fight against the big capitalist politicians the slogan for a labor party is a militant revolutionary slogan. In assuming leadership in the militant struggles of the rank and file for the labor party the Workers Party puts itself in a position where it can gain in- fluence and leadership over the masses engaged in the struggle. And the more numerous the masses en- gaged in the struggle for the labor party the greater the prestige of the Workers Party among them the more sure is the Workers Party of its leadership over them. This will make it possible for the Workers Party to draw the best elements of this move- ment into its ranks and as a result of its wide influence of the broad mas- ses involved to become the mass Communist Party that it is striving for. The minority is therefore not com- Posed of liquidators but builders of the Communist Party. The liquidators are the members of the present ma jority who have already in their al- liance with the Loreites laid the basis for the contamination of the Workers Party with the 2% sectarianism of the left social-democrats. We of the minority want a party not only of members but of active members who are Communists and who will loyally under all circumstances support the Communist International, ) central executive committee meeting, (Carried by majority.) Date. No. 4—March 7, 1924. Council. Motion. Lovestone—Motion to instruct dis- trict executive committee No. 2 to investigate Lore’s report on last cen- tral executive committee meeting to New York German group meeting in which he is reported to have said gates to the Communist international and that steps would be taken to see to it that he did not retprn. Vote. Foster—Motion to refer to next central executive committee meeting. ‘| (Carried by majority.) Date. No. 5—March 17, 1924. Central Ex- ecutive Committee, Motion. Pepper—Motion that Lore instead of Olgin should be delegate to the Communist: International. Vote. Foster majority votes against mo- tion and for Olgin. Date. No. 6—March 17, 1924, Central Ex. ecutive Committee, Motion, Pepper—Motion to Postpone send- ing. of delegation to Communist International in view of inability of Ruthenberg to go at this time. Vote. Foster majority against motion, * Date. No. 7—March 17, 1924, Executive Committee. Motion. Pepper—Motion to censure Lore and district executive committee No. 2 for praising help of New York Police department at Lenin Memorial meet- ing. Central Vote. Cannon—Amendment—That central executive committee condemns their action and algo action of all party: ‘papers which may have handled the matter in ah incorrect manner. (Car« riéd by majority.) — No. 8&—March 17, 1924, Contrat Executive Committee. if Pepper—Motion to send circular on this incident to all party branches. ote. Vote. Defeated by Foster majority. (Continued on page 6) that Pepper would be one of the dele- EET WE ERT ES EN