The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 20, 1924, Page 7

The Discussion on Party Tasks BOLSHEVIZATION OF THE GERMAN SECTION OF THE WORKERS PARTY By ALEXANDER BITTELMAN (A report to the C. E. C. of the W. P. on the Convention of the German Section) HE GERMAN SECTION of the party was the first of our lan- guage sections to hold a national con- vention since the Fifth Congress of the Comintern. It was, therefore, at this convention that the central exec- utive committee of our party had its first opportunity to present its new thesis on the immediate tasks of the party and its program for the Bol- shevisation of the Workers Party. This convention was in many respects a test for the German section of our party, of its readiness and willingness to admit past mistakes as pointed out by the Comintern and by the cen- tral executive committee of our party, and to bring itself more closely in ac- cord with the fundamental principles of Leninism. As will be seen from this report, the German section, thru its national convention, manifested a sincere desire and determination to break loose from old prejudices and to come into closer contact with the par- ty as a whole and with the Commun- ist International. Report of Bureau Lacks Aggressive- ness. It must be stated from the very be- ginning that most of our leading Ger- man comrades are working under 2 kind of psychological depression which makes them see things in a much darker light than they really are, and which paralyzes to a certain degree their initiative and aggressive- ness. This spirit of depression was particularly noticeable in the report to the convention on the activities of the German bureau submitted by Com- rade Lore as the secretary cf the sec- tion. There was nothing wrong with the main facts of his report. His an- alysis of the situation among the Ger- man speaking workers of the United States was substanially correct. No one in the convention, not even the opposition minority, challenged the facts and the analysis of the report. The thing that was wrong with the report was its general spirit of hope- - lessness and pessimism. There was no sign of any attempt at all to devise ' political and organizational: means for shaking up the German-speaking workers of this country and setting . them in motion for the class struggle. It was natural to expect that if there was any real minority opposi- tion present in the convention it will direct its special criticism against this negative, passive, and fatalistic feat- ure of the report of the bereau. This, however, was not done by the minor- ity. It fell to the task of the re- presentative of the C. E. C. to direct the attention of the convention to these objectionable features of the re- ‘port, and to point out the error of such fatalistic attitude towards ob- jéctive conditions. It is my opinion - that if there is any single lesson that ‘must be driven home to the leading ‘comrades in the German section it is this; that itis the duty of Communists not only to study conditions but also to change them. More faith in the creative abilities of a Communist Party to hasten developments and to change situations is one of the things the German section of our party really needs. Generally speaking the report of the - bureau shows slow but continual pro- gress of Communist activities among ~ German-speaking workers. The mem- » bership is still very small, only about ’ 600. The internal political life of the section is not as intensive as is de- ‘sirable and necessary. But in spite --of these drawbacks our German sec- tion took an active part during the - period covered by the report ip every important political activity of the _ party, such as our united front cam- paigns for the Michigan Defense, pro- tection of the foreign-born, the farmer- / labor party, our election campaign, ete, To the great credit of our German section must be placed the fact that Communist influence in the fraternal organizations of the German-speaking workers has made great progress. Within the last few months our Ger- man section and the ‘Volkszeitung have carried on a successful campaign for leadership in the Krankenkassen, which resulted in considerable victor- ies for our comrades and sympathiz- ers. The situation in the Kranken- kassen, thanks to these victories, is now such as will enable our German section to still further develop its in- fluence and to win the masses of these organizations forthe class struggle and for our party.. Criticisms were made at the conven- tion by the minority opposition against the methods used by our Ger- man section in winning influence over fraternal organizations. The charge was made that the methods used were more of the nature of “tricks” than of open Communist propaganda. The opposition, however, failed to submit a single constructive idea-as to the other means and methods that should have been employed in this campaign. The spokesmen for the bureau quite eroperly pointed out that the victories secured in the Krankenkassen are oased mainly on the confidence won by our party members in these or- ganizations, that this confidence was secured on the basis of capable lead- ership in these organizations, and that the “tricks” referred to by one of the delegates of the opposition were nothing more than the organization of the Communist forces for the winning over of the rank and file towards our ieadership and point of view. ahe general impression that was left by the report and by the debate on the report was that the German section really needs more fresh blood, aealithy Communist optimism, and more aggressiveness in its daily work. A strong and militant lett wing in the section could have done the job, but such a left wing must yet be born. It is not now in existence. The opposition at the convention, led by Comrade Bedacht, which in real- ity is principally an opposition to the C. E. C., is obviously incapable of car- rying out this constructive task, Convention Pledges Support to C. I. and C. E. C. The report of the central executive committee on past activities was ac- cepted by the entire convention with the exception of four delegates from the opposition. The convention adop- ted a resolution pledging itself to car- ry out loyally the decisions of the C. Tt. and the party, and to make of the German section a real Bolshevist sec- tion of our party. (The report of the Cc. E. C. representative was published in full in the Volkszeitung and the DAILY WORKER. ; There was quite an extensive de- bate on the future policies of the party in which three points of view were presented. One was the point of view of the C. BE. C. as expressed in its thesis on the immediate tasks of the party. The second point of view was represented by Comrade Bedacht in accord with the thesis of the minority. The third point of view was presented by Comrade Lore, Comrade Lore takes the position that a farmer-labor party will prove an inevitable phase in the development of the American labor movement. He believes the ‘same as the minority that without a farmer-labor party it will be impos- sible to develop the independent pol- itical activities of the working masses of America. He differs with the minor- ity, however, that he does not believe the present situation to be ripe for an intensive campaign under the slogan for a class farmer-labor party, and therefore favors retaining the slogan in the prégram of the party for future use, There is no need here to discuss in detail this question. The convention in adopting the report of the C. E. C. referred these three points of view to the German-speaking branches for thorough discussion. What deserves special attention in this report is the discussion of that section of the re- port of the C. E. C. which dealt with the necessity of combatting the rem- nants of the ideology of the 2% Inter- national in our party. In that section Comrade Lore was referred to and criticized, and an appeal made to the German section to discard this ideol- ogy and to accept more completely the position of the Communist Inter- national. The party will undoubtedly be gratified to learn that the criticism of the C. I. and of the C. EB. C. of the W. P., direced against the ideology of the 2% International as expressed in numerous articles in the Volkszeitung —that the efforts spent in this criic- ism were not in vain. Comrade Lore himself, as well as many of the com- rades inclined to his point of view, are already admitting their mistakes. At the convention, discussing the re- port of the C. E. C. Comrade Lore specifically stated that his views of Levy, Serrati, and the nature of the labor government in England were wrong, and that the Communist Inter- national was right. The W. P. may very well be proud of the fact that it succeeded in bringing Comrade Lore more closely to the party as a whole and to the C. IL. However, it must be pointed out, that the remnants of the ideology of the 2% International, altho consider- ably weakened, still prevails to a lesser degree than before in certain sections of our party, and it will be the duty of the C. E. C. to continue its ideolog- ical campaign against these tenden- cies until they are completely liquid- ated. It must also be said that Com- rade Lore failed to satisfy the party as to his views on one very important point, namely, his attitude towards the minority opposition in the Russian Party. Comrade Lore simply didn’t mention this point, which is a very regretable omission. It would seem to indicate that Comrade Lore is not sure of his position on this problem, and that he hasn’t yet made up his mind as to where the correct position is. It must be understood, however, that our party-is entitled to know where its leading members stand in this matter. So far as the party as a vhole and its central executive com- mittee are concerned, we are defin- itely in agreement with the Russian Communist Party and are determined to uphold the hand of the old Bol- ‘hevist guard in leading the working class of Russia and the Communist -nternational to final victory. -In speaking on party discipline, which was*part of the C. EB. C.’s re- port on Bolshevising the party, Com- rade Lore and other comrades claimed to be fully in agreement with the C. BE. C. But these comrades expressed a faulty view of discipline. For instance, Comrade Lore maintained that there may arise situations where Commun- ist duty would demand not submis- sion to party discipline but the viola- tion of this discipline. He referred to Karl Liebknecht who, because of submitting to party discipline, unwill- ingly committed the crime of voting for military credits in the German Reichstag on Aug. 4. This reference to Karl Liebknecht submitting to the discipline of social- patriots and betrayers as well as the general argument of Comrade Lore on this point, indicates that Comrade Lore has still a way to travel to a correct understanding of Communist discipline. The reporter of the C, BE. C. pointed out to Comrade Lore at the convention that when a member of a Communist Party be- gins to feel that submission to party discipline is equivalent to betrayal of the working class (as was the case with Liebknecht in the Social Demo- cratic Party) then it is time for this comrade not only to break the discip- line of the party but to quit alto- gether. Comrade Lore also raised his voice in favor of more democracy in our party. He failed to explain exactly what he meant. The representative of the C. E. C. pointed out to the con- vention that the Workers Party is build on the principle of democratic centralization which is the basic or- ganization form of the Communist In- ternational. Also, that within the last ten months our party had plenty of opportunity to express itself on the major activities of our party. And that, our party now, if it is suffering at all, is not from lack of discussion but rather from an excess of it. The convention accepted the resolu- tion submitted by the representative of the C. BE. C. which pledges the German section to the carrying out of the party policies all along the line. Specifically this resolution pledges the German section to Bolshevise the or- ganization, to take all necessary meas- ures to establsh the complete party control over the German organ of the party, and to prepare the ground for the reorganization of the party on. the shop nuclei basis. The resolution which was published in the party press definitely binds the German sec- tion of the party to break lose from every remnant of the ideology of the International and to follow loyally the leadership of the Communist Inter- national. Improvement in Organization Upon the recommendations of the organization committee elected by the convention, the convention adopted a set of organization measures which will undoubtedly make the German bureau and the German _ speaking branches a more effective instrument for Communist propaganda. There were no material differences of opin- ion on the score of organization. The convention decided that the new bur- eau be organized on the basis of de- partmentalization with ‘responsible head in charge of each department. It was also decided to devote more at- tention to organization work in those localities (such as Massachussetts) where there are large numbers of Ger- man-speaking workers that have re- cently arrived in the United States. The convention elected a national bureau of nine members, consisting of Lore, Schuller, Wolf, Zander, Berg, Winter, Wendrich, Sanger and Le man. Altho represented at the con- vention by only four delegates out of a total of 19 the minority ecpposition was given three seats on the bureau, chiefly because of the efforts of the representative of the C. EB. C. Conclusion. The result of this convention of our German section has been to bring the German-speaking membership of our party more closely to the party as a whole ideologically and organ- izationally. The prestige of the Communist Interntional and of the central executive committee is now considerably higher than it has ever been in our German section. It can be safely stated that a continuation of the intelligent effort now made in our ideological struggle against what still remains of the ideology of the 2% International will completely elim- inate this tendency from our ranks and make the German section of our party a real Bolshevist orgnization. (Discussion Continued on next page.) HELP! HELP! Give Us a Hand— We are swamped — again. There is just a load of work piling up in our office and our smail force is struggling hard to get it done. tf any comrades have a day, an hour or a minute to spare, COME ON OVER— GIVE US A HAND!