The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 27, 1924, Page 9

A Statement en 2) internationalism By ABERN, BURMAN, BITTELMAN BROWDER, CANNON, DUNNE FOSTER, In view of the present situation in the party, we find it necessary to ' make a statement regarding our strug- gls to eradicate the 2 1-2 internationa’ : tendencies in our party. In its recent decision on the Farm- er-Labor party, the Comintern pointed out the existence in our party of rem nants of the ideology of the 2 1-2 in- ternational, as exemplified by some of the writings of Comrade Lore. The C. I. called upon us to wage a sharp ideological ‘struggle against these tendencies. This the C. E. C, has done and will continue to do until the entire party is completely won ove to the point of view of Leniaism and the C. I. These efforts of the C. E. C. to defeat ideologically the 2 1-2 in- ternational tendencies were hampered and weakened by the tactics of min- ority opposition- Our tactics for combatting the rem- nants of the ideology of the 2 1-2 in- ternational in our party were the same as the tactics applied by the C.I. in other Communist parties, notably in the cases of Serratti in Italy and Smeral in Czecho-Slovakia, Thesc tactics can be grouped under the fol. lowing three heads: 1) to defeat ide- ologically and politically these tend. encies, to prove them wrong in the eyes of our membership and follow- ers. (2) to strengthen in our party the ideology and prestige of Leninism and of the C. I. (3) to compel under all circumstances full execution of every party member and every party unit of all decisions of the C. I. and of the C. E. C., even by means of dis- ciplinary measures These principles have been successfully applied by the Comintern. In pursuit of these aims the present C. E. C. took sharp issue with the remnants of the ideology of the wo- and-a-Half International when these manifested themselves in the activi- ties of: some of our comrades in the industrial field in the printers’ union; in the needle trades, in the miners’ union, and in several other labor or- ganizations. In all instances the C. E. C. immediately sent its represen- tatives to instruct and direct. these comrades to the Leninist..point of view. The C. E. C. took prompt ac- tion in every single instance when the Volkszeitung or any other party or. gan manifested deviations from the C. I. line of policy. Thru its educational department the C. E. C. laid the basis for spreading Leninist ideology among our member ship. Our party schools, study classes, and our press have been util- ized in every possible way, thru ar- ticles by Comrades Zinoviev, Stalin Kaminev, and others to strengthen the Bolshevist ideology of our party. By a recent decision of the C. E. C. the powerful speeches by Comrades Kaminev and Stalin against Troteky- ism were ordered printed in pamphlet form. It was also by a decision of the Cc, BE. C. that Comrade Olgin wrote his series of three articles explaining the decision of the C. I. regarding th: deviations. of Comrade Lore. All these A YEAR OF PARTY PROGRESS (Continued from Page 4.) ment. This plan to systematize the plied by our party in its work among | united front campaign was entirely women, the Negroes, and the agricul-|the work of the C. E. C. majority. tural proletariat, at the same time formulating correct policies for our future work. The party is now fully equipped to proceed successfully in these comparatively new fields of ac- tivity. United Front Activities. One of the signs that our party is finally beginning to get the proper perspective in the estimation of events and in formulating its policies is the recent decision of the C. E. C. to es- tablish a permanent commission on the united front. The duty of this commission, which is a subcommittee of the C. E. C. is to continually sur- vey the field of class struggle and to formulate for the C. E. C. policies and plans of organization for united front campaigns on the basis of immediate burning issues in the life of the toiling masses. At present we are beginning to de- velop such united front campaigns against child labor, and for the release of Sacco and Vanzetti. The subcom- mittee is preparing the outlines of policy and organization for a cam- paign against the so-called criminal syndicalism laws and for the release of class war prisoners. It is our in- tention, in accord with the decisions of the Fifth Congress of the C. L., to seize upon every burning issue in the life of the masses, for united front action against the capitalists and against their agents in the labor move- SPECIAL NOTICE ! On Back Numbers of the DAILY WORKER The heavy cost of handling back numbers for which there has been a steady demand necessitates the 6 CENTS PER COPY on all issues within 30 days of current issue, 10 CENTS PER COPY for all issues over 30 days old, No orders for back numbers filled unless paid for in advance. The Party Discussion. We want the party to remember that it was the present C. E. C. that created the opportunity for our -mem- bership to discuss thoroly and express itself on our immediate tasks. The whole plan for conducting the party discussion was presented by the C. E. C. majority. We took the greatest care to so organize the discussion as to secure the maximum freedom of expression for the minority and to crystallize opinion for all views and tendencies in the party. Last year, on the contrary, when we were in the minority, we were denied by the Pep- per group even the right to defend our policies in the various district conven- tions. : To us the party is the party mem- bership. The success of the party de- pends upon the consciousness, initia- tive, and activity of every party mem- ber. The present C. E. C. fully real- izes that the strength of a Commun- ist Party rests mainly on the Bol- shevist quality of its rank and file and leadership and upon the bonds of mutual confidence that exist ‘between the two. We are therefore, determin- ed to do all in our power to deepen the Bolshevist quality of our party as a whole, and to strengthen the ex- isting bonds of mutual confidence be- tween the party membership and the party leadership. The minority have challenged the leadership of the C..E. C. majority. In reply we say, let the record speak. We do not propose to follow in the footsteps of the minority and to bluff the party into the belief that under our leadership the party has already con- quered the world. Instead, we will ask the party membership to examine our actual achievements. The party will then see that it has been mak- ing continual progress despite all dif- ficulties, that we have extended our influence and strengthened our organ- ization, and that now we are making an effort to rid the party completely of the old spirit of inflation and farm- er-laboristic opportunistism. We are on the right road to building the Workers Party into a mass Commun- ist Party. ee efforts. have ~ contributed greatly towards the Bolshevization of ou: .arty, In this ideological campaign we have been persistently hampered by the mi- nority opposition. The tactics proposed by the minority always. tended to crys- tallize the tendency of the Two-and-a- Half International and not to dissolve it or break it up. Every move of the minority strengthened the position of this tendency. The minority carried ona senseless campaign of petty per- sonal, persecution, going to the extent of. furnishing misinformation to the ©. EB. GC, on two important occasions. whose only effect was to create sym- pathy for and strengthen the prestige of those who have been charged by the G. I. as manifesting remnants of the ideology of the Two-and-a-Half In ternational. Not in a single instance did the leaders of the minority under their own names take issuo publicly in the party press with any individual of this plop inside or outside of our party. This was done, however, by members of the majority, as witness the above mentioned articles by Olzin, the debate of Foster against Nearing, Cannon’s speech in the Workers’ School in New York on the Bolshe vization of our party which was or- dered published in the Workers Monthly, and the articles by Bittel- man against Salutsky and Boudin. The minority felt no responsibility for the welfare of the party. For this reason they were continually trying to provoke the C. E. ©. to such action as would create a ‘aaa in the party, if not an actual split, and thereby strengthen the very tendenc- ies which it is our duty to combat. All thru the year the minority by their foolish tactics have been build- ing up the Two-and-a-Half Internation- al tendency. Now they are strength- ening the right wing of the party generally by their advocacy of an op- portunistic farmer-labor party. policy. The minority showed its utter dis- regard for the C. I. decisions by main- taining a permanent caucus thruout the country at the very time when the C. I. was -fighting militantly against such manifestations of Trot- skyism in the Russian and other par- ties, The inevitable result of such a reck- less policy as the minority proposes would be a disastrous split, which would cost the party large numbers of valuable proletarian elements, and which Would strengthen the Two-and- a-Half International tendencies, On the other hand, the policy of the C. E. C., which is the policy of the Com- intern, will Bolshevize these proletar- ian elements and stamp out anti-Len- inistic deviations. Ours is a young party, it has many unripe elements within it, and the task of Bolshevizing them is a diffi- cult one. It can only be accomplished along the lines now heing followed by the C, E. C., that is by a patient, per- sistent, intelligent, strategical, deter- mined, relentless application of the principles of Leninism. WHY I SUPPORT THE MINORITY POLITICAL STRATEGY By JOSEPH ZACK Do We Lead the Left Wing? ES and no! On the industrial field we do. There is no one else and the workers can see it easily enough; but on the political, we do not. And Comrade Foster ought to know that better than anyone eles. For intance, the bulk of active T. U. E. L. strength in the unions are non-party members; and the overwhelming bulk of their followers are still farther away from Communism. If the T. U. BE. L. were the industrial department of the party and its members were placed before the alternative of either joining the party or getting out of the groups, we would disrupt our industrial work. In fact, the influence of the age-long policy of Gompers upon the trade unionists of “no politics in the unions” (except for capitalism), has had such an effect that the left wing only began to warm up on class politics during the farmer-labor party campaign. No. the left wing does not follow us yet politically. If it did, we would be considerably nearer to our goal—the mass Communist Party. Plainly, one of the main problems of our movement is to make this left wing politically active. The militants themselves who are not yet ready to join the Communist Party and they knowing that the masses are even more removed from the idea of joining the party than they themselves—this leads to the necessity of the use of the strategy of the.farmer-labor party, in order to draw the left wing into political activity. Not only is that necessary, in order to get a mass pol- itical movement of the workers, but it is necessary in order to consoliate our position of leadership over the left wing. For should a petty-bourgeois movement gain control and influence over them politically it will undermine our influence over them industrially. Surely if we were leading the left wing politically, Comrade Foster would have received many times the number of votes he received. I am interested in the political un- tied front policy mainly from the getting an ideological hold upon them politically. And as strategy, for that purpose, as well as of connecting our sympathizers and followers’ every- where, politically, of keeping an or- ganized contact with them for a num- ber of years so as to enable us to deepen their class consciousness and thus lay the basis for a mass Com- munist Party—which certainly is not possible by applying the majority tac- tics—the minority’s political strategy offers the solution. These semi-class-conscious workers, politically confused and timid work- ers, who are following our slogans on the industrial field, will not join our party. Still they are nearest to us, and if we wish to build a mass Com- munist Party, we must have a strat- egy not only of pursuing the task of organizing the class-conscious revolu- tionists, but of reaching out organ- izationally and politically to those closest to us. In a country where cap- italism does not yet face its down- fall, it is the best strategy to reach our goal—the mass Communist Party. Do We Want a Labor Party a la Great Britain? I would have considered it a cal- amity to our movement if the bureau- cracy and the petty bourgeoisie, in their maneuver against us had really gone so far as to form a petty bour- geois farmer-labor party. The hold of such parties upon the illusions of the masses would have been much greater than a progressive or liberal party. The labor party which we should organize ought to be but a transition stage to the mass Communist party. In this period of the decay of inter- national capitalism, all the parties to the right of the Communist Party are being driven more and more to the right. Hence we are the only logical leaders in struggles for even mild political reforms for the benefit of the working class. In Great Britain, on the other hand, at a time when capitalism was not shaken, the re- formists could lead such movements and appear to be revolutionary, It is obvious, therefore, that just in this point of view of making our left wing| period we are the only logical leader followers politically conscious, and of (Continued on page 6) nents ot ET, a Anaahat asinine Anil tt ai J