The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 27, 1924, Page 6

ee a meer eee and Tactics of the Workers Party Submitted by JOSEPH BRAHDY The International Development. Bax National political econom, shows as a basis for national imper- jalism the organization within each (national) state of financial capital, industrial capital and working popula- tion. 2. The latest phase of social and political development is international imperialism, The United States with half the world’s gold supply and power equipment in its possession, with a world net debt of many billion dollars in its favor, is commanding directly many important colonial and semi-col- onial territories: Latin America, espe- cially the sections around the Car- ibean Sea, possessions in the Pacific Ocean, and in a way also Germany . 3. England and France, owing to the United States several billion dol- lars, are exercising internationally the functions of national industrial cap- ital, under the overlordship of the United States as the international finance-capitalist power. in the cap- itahst world outside of United States, Engiand and France represent with their armies, navies, air force, mer- chant marine, mining and metallurgy more than half of these important elements of ‘international political economy. They have under their direct influence Australia, nearly all of Africa, half of Asia, and most of Central Europe; their indirect ‘influ- ence goes further. 4. The colonial and semi-colonial countries represent internationally the units corresponding to the working population within the state. 5. The U. 8. S. R. (Soviet Russia) breaks -into this international econ- omy as a politically independent and economically more and more self-sus- taining unit of one-tweifth of the world’s population upon one-sixth of the world’s surface It represents the political economy of the prietariat and its revolution, as against the one of capitalist imperialism and its reacion and counter-revolution. 6. imperfectly but definitely we see international organizations developing as the equivalent of national political parties, with a like tendency to con- centrate: a) The western allies sup- reme war council; the Amsterdam Trade Union International; the Sec- ond (Socialist) International; the League of Nations with the World Court. aa) The Central Powers; the 2% International (recruited largely from these states, (The units of group aa) have merged or dre merging into group a) ). b) The Pan-American Con- ference (U. 8, A.); the Pan-American Federation of Labor (A. F. of L.); the Dawes commission, c) The difficulty in the rapproachement between groups a) and b) is impeded by the fact that the capitalist center of gravity of these groups would be in group b) and the labor center in group a) e) The U. S. 8. R., the C. 1. the R. I. L. U., the Peasants and Farmers Inter- national. d) The tendencies of the capitalist elements within this series to coalesce at times and to some de- sree, as against the labor elements, has its counter part, e. g. in American politics where we have farm blocs, the Cc. P. P. A. ete., of republicans and democrats; foreshadowing a re-align- ment — inevitable economic lines a8 against the original izational lines, guts. bee 7. The acuteness of the class s - gle both on the national and sted national scale ig driving the world forces of both, reaction and revolu- tion, into more intense Preparation for the coming conflict. The Present per- iod does not give either of the two forces a substantial net gain in the capitalist countries; it represents gen- erally a quick succession of victory and defeat on both, the economic and political field. on Economic Conditions in the U. 8. 8. To judge our economic condi- tions it would be necessary to have uthentie figures on productivity, pro- duction, reserve stocks, employment, vages, standard of living, ete. So far our department of research has not been in the position to furnish such data from reliable sources. The best it could do was to reprint occasion- ally such data as are available in bourgeois publications. 9. Like all other information from those sources more than 90 per cent of it is pretense, bias, fraud, or mere piffle If we are to judge by such pol- itical and international information as we can check up, we should take very little stock in these data. 10. Particularly provoking is the pseudo-scientific manner in which pol- itical statements in American Com- munist literature are based upon 2,- 000,000 unemployed, or 6,000,000 un- employed, at one time or another, as indicating normal employment, or a crisis, or what not. Not the slightest effort is made to come to an under- standing what an “unemployed” in America really is. As a result even the two official theses bring contradic- tory data on unemployment. 11. The outstanding and undisput- ed factors which characterize our post- war period are the following. 12. Two years of prosperity duc to fake war orders and replacement of ndustrial equipment; two years of consequent depression; followed by two years of normalcy. 13. Rural employment is constant- ly diminishing for the following rea- sons: a) Progressive indusirialization of agriculture and mechanization of transport. b) Russia’s re-entrance in- to the world market; the extent to which Russia will cut into American agricultural export has been some- what obseured by fe effect of the famine of 1921 and the internationally poor harvest of 1924, coupled with a $40,000,000 of purchase of cotton in America. With its program for the raising of cotton to cover soon a sub- stantial part of its own requirement and a grain surplus available for ex- port to Western Europe which even in the present state of Russian agri- culture a normal harvest would yield; the U. &. A. is on the way of losing much of its grain and cotton export to Europe. As it is, the agricultural crisis has already driven hundreds of thousands of farmers with their fam- ilies from the farms into the cities. C.Political Conditions in the U.S. A. 14, The following economic groups are seeking to express their interests politically: a) Big business—is for “no politics in business”—for a big army and navy —for protection of foreign invest- ments. b) Little business—is “against the trusts”—for low taxes and cheap gov- ernment. Both are for Jow wages and long hours. c) Labor bureaucracy—is for “no politics in the union” (except such as they themselves introduce, or when they need the help of the state to put down a revolting membership)—for wages as high and hours as short as can be gotten without fighting for it. a) Labor aristocracy—is for high wages and short hours—but they usu- ally already have these conditions, and are on general principle opposed to change. | e) Poor farmers—are for low taxes and a low rate of interests—cheap elevator and railroad charges—high prices for thelr produce—low wages. f) Wage workers—for high wages, and short hours, 15. It would be very naive to as- sume that there is a consistent line from right to left as would proceed from group a) down to f), Politically the middle class, profes- sional, industrial and rural have often furnished the most liberal and pro- gressive elements, (‘They are for civil liberties; and at the same time for economic slavery of the workers, The poor employing farmers have very much in common with them; rom them leads a straight line to the and when both of them pull out of poor working farmer. While they are not economically interested in exploi- tation, yet they are prejudiced against high wages in industry because thai makes for the high cost of industrial products which they need. And, they are in favor of high prices for their own produce, which then contributes © the high cost of living of the wage workers. They are in a bad way his- torically. 16. Every now and then a man who is lesing out in the game of big pol- ities, like Bryan, Roosevelt or LaFol- lette comes along and wants to cap- italize their resentment against the law of economic evolution. But pol- itically as well as economically they are marching from one failure to an- other, These groups are continually declining in importance—intelleciual- ly economically, politically, organ- izatory and numerically. D. The Politica! Parties in the U. Ss. A. 4 17, Big business wants big profits; these are procured on the economic field thru wage siavery and imperiai- ssm, and secured politicaily thru a pretense of democracy and the sub- ssance of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. ao, aitie labor bureaucracy is fairly satisfied with its social position of procurers for the real masters of the country; eunuchs who have soid their manhood. it is their function to irignten their wards into the belie. that they are protecting them botn, from the too greedy masters in the industry, as well asfirom the “outiaw who would unreasonably stir up striic in the industry. The labor bureauc- racy is usually satisfied with a small commission from big business; but the bigger the business the bigger the commission. 49. ‘The labor aristocracy is poten- tially somewhat uneasy. They can live comfortably on the pay they make —-while working; but not too weil. And often the men are not’ working. But considering the fact that they are better off than 80 per cent of the people they prefer Coolidge to Chaos. 20. The wage worker that rests his case not with any priviledged group but with his class constitutes the leit wing, both economically and political- ly. 21. Substantially labor bureaucra- cy’s economic interests are politically expressed thru the parties of big bus- iness. Such difference as does exist between those two groups is usually expressed in either one or both of the following ways: One the one hand they are usually with the democratic party as the smaller one of the two big parties; on the other hand they are for the “left wing” within either party, ; this suffices as a popular conces- sion; and it is quite an elastic meth- od, 22, Smali business (farmers, sub contractors, manufacturers, store-and restaurant-keepers, even small bank- ers) are losing the econcmic race, 80 it tries to take it out of the hide of the workers. They are really task- masters of big business, and devel- op all the characteristics that come from such function: cringing com- pliance with the imposition of their superiors, and a ferocious, cunning op- pression of the workers under their immediate control. But they are still And so they come to see their 23, Little business is opposed to big business and its big political par. other in ignorance and despair. i eg nent the big parties this is very much against the will of the labor bureau- cracy who much prefer to be labor lieutenants to big business (rather than be equals of the petty bour- geoisie); with the resultant political jobs and pull. 24. Big business on one hand; and on the other hand the railroad-union leadership, their banks, buildings, in- surance policies and scab mines; the investments of the printers’ unions; the seab herding of the United Mine Workers international and _ district offices; in a less defined but very def- inite way the various rings of the bus- iness agents in the building trades. It is particularly the class struggle which is making of these two groups one almost. inseperable whole—the in- terlocking directorate of reaction. 25. The labor bureaucracy is a coming power; they have finances, banks, real estate, investments and insurance organizations, besides their unions; a network of national and international connections; thousands of periodicals in editions that total millions; and a permanently function- ing mass organization, well knit and strongly centralized, which lends it- self very well for political purposes. 26. The petty bourgeoisie is de- ficient in most of the afore-mentioned facilities; besides, big labor is politic- ally much too conservative for little business. We saw in the election cam- paign of 1924 how much more radical the progfessives are than the labor bureaucrats upon matters that have no direct bearing upon their econ- omics, as army, American legion, Communists, civil liberties, immigra- tion, ete. 27. In the combination of big busi- ness with big labor in the big parties, big business is of course the one that gives the lead, no mratter to what ex- tent labor enters into the combina- tion. Notwithstanding its deficiencies lit- tle business dominates such remaining elements of labor as are in alliance with it (because too forcibly repelled by big business). E. Proletarian and Revolutionary Forces in U. 5S. A. 28. In the U. S. A. the general proletarian and semi-proletarian forc- es are slowly but continually losing ground. a) The A. F. of L. has for four years been steadily losing members, suffer- ed wage cuts and a loss of morale, both internally and externally. b) The I. W. W. have largely be- come a demoralized, desperate part- syndicalist-legalist-reformist conglom- eration: c) The Non-Partisan League and the original (1920) Farmer Labor Party have been totally merged into the La- Follette movement; the socialist party cannot stem its sieady decline in membership, votes, and publications; it came out of the LaFollette move. ment still further deranged and de- 29. The revolutionary forces have gained during this period. The left wing ideology has gained a foothold in the unions, (Good showing in union elections. Substantial and effective mass demonstration against the union bureaucracy, A consequent slacken- ing of left wing expulsions. Certain independent unions show under Com- munist influence gains, organizational as well as on strike) The member- ship of the W. P. has grown. The party went successfully thru its first national election campaign, NS, F. Bolshevization. 4 ac The Comintern has chosen the term Bolshevization to describe the process which Communist Parties must under- go to prepare effectively for the rey- olutionary crisis. ‘This requires on. a) To maintain contact with every phase of the class struggie a. o. thrn the establishment of a party research ois data as far as possible, has its con (Continued on page 7.) Thesis on the Economie and Political Situation and Strategy |