The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 30, 1924, Page 5

‘vineed, by the grim logic of circum- ® } j / ee Decémber 30, 1924 LT eeeeoenme we CRN NARONSRIERRUTU, esterase Aer NOE Eh SSNPS SER ae, THE DAILY WORKER THE PARTY DISCUSSION CONTINUED THE LaFOLLETTE REVOLUTION By LUDWIG LORE. ‘ (Article |1.) T will be always a matter of grati- fication to me that in the period when our executive committee and our party allowed itself to be infected by Comrade Pepper with the virus of the third party madness, our group—the New York group—had not only the po- litical wisdom to come out immediate- ly against the most dangerous piece of opportunism, upon which any revo- lutionary movement has ever em- barked, but that it had the courage to stand up under the wave of popular disapproval and official ostracism that is always the lot of those who dare to oppose the decisions of our leaders, before the latter have become con- stances, of the error of their ways. In the discussions during and after the LaFollette era, various motives were imputed to me to account for my stand on the petty bourgeois third party. Nothing that I could say at this time, I believe, could describe my fundamental position that prompted my opposition more convincingly than brief excerpts from a number of ar- ticles that appeared in the New Yorker Volkszeitung on this subject. On December 9, 1923, immediately after the publication of the November thesis, I wrote the following: “.,.. They (the present minority) say: ‘Where such third parties, calling themselves farmer-labor parties, of workers and exploited farmers come into existence we must become a part of them. But it must be our policy to win all workers and exploited farm- ers away from the third party and to organize them in an F. L. P. class party.’ “It is easy to see what the majority {now the minority) of the executive committee contemplates. It feels, right- ly, that large proportions of the work- ing class will be drawn by a so-called F, L. P, under the control of petty bourgeois elements and capitalist po- liticians, and that it therefore becomes necessary to adopt a tactic of boring from within similar to that of the T. U. E. L. in the labor unions But they overlook the fact that labor unions and political parties are two widely different things, which certainly ean- not, in practical questions, be judged by the same standards. “But there is a more important con- sideration. The American worker must not be confused. Neither directly nor indirectly should the Communist move- ment assist in wiping out the class lines that the socialist movement, in the many years of its pioneer work; helped to draw. It is true, today the American worker has not class feel- ings. Only a exceedingly small per- centage knows the word class con- sciousness. Still, in the American par- ty literature as well as in the heads ef the most progressive proletarian elements this word has a very de- finite concept which we all have helped to establish in our fights against Gompersism, against the John- stonian primary election policy, and by the propagation for an independent class policy directed against all capi- talist parties... .” On December 18 an editorial under the heading, “The District Convention of the W P.,” contained the following: “. .. And even then the thesis which provides for the possible entry voted down had not Comrade William Z. Foster, who had come to the con- vention as a guest, cleverly drawn the red herring of anti-Gompersism in- to the debate. This determined a num- ber of delegates, who up to this time had been in opposition to the thesis, to turn. So, for instance, six delegates from the Finnish branches, instructed against the thesis, were won by Fos- ter’s illogical Gompers argument.” After expressing the hope that the will they by default, the ar- —then, to be sure, the formation of a third party becomes a possibility. And since LaFollette is a warm admirer of the A, F. of L. president, Mr. Gom- pers would go with flying flags and glaring trumpets into the camp of the new party, having taken good care, however, that the W. P. and the FV. F. L. P. have no place in this illustrious gathering. And again: LaFollette may be very “iberal and unprejudiced. But serely he is much too good a mathe- matician not to know that numerical- ly the support of the A. F. of L. ma- chine is much more important than that of the leaders of the class con- scious workers . On December 30: “. +. For the simple reason that there will be no third party of the kind we are dreaming of, LaFollette will have the masses behind him just as little as did all other would-be Moses of the petty bourgeoisie, and without the masses he will not leaye his republican flesh pots...” . It is a long way to Tipperary. There are no short cuts, There is only one way, the straight—and there- fore the shortest way—to mass educa- tion and to a mass movement of the proletariat. He who believes that mass parties can be maneuvered out of the ground is in danger of losing his way and going dangerously astray. . And because we are in favor of this mass education along the straight path we wholeheartedly sup- port the F, F. L. P. which will bring those elements within the circle of our influence, with whom we can and must work, whom we must reach if we wish to create a strong and in- clusive labor and small farmer party.” On January 2, under the title, “Good News from Chicago”: “. . . This proposition is fraught with grave dangers for our party and for the entire labor movement in the United States It is based upon a (in our opionion absolutely false) concep- tion of the existing political situation, upon an incorrect understanding of the intentions of the radical bourgeois politician of the LaFollette-Borah type and a gross exaggeration of the in- fluence of the left wing in a bourgeois third party...” On January 17, this was followed by an arficle in answer to an editorial published in the Hungarian “Uj Elore” entitled, “The Workers Party and the Middle Class,” from which we quote the following: - Our Hungarian party organ at- tempts to create the impression that the supporters of the third party al- lance were im favor,» and the op- ponents of this unnatural union against the bringing of the factory workers into contact with the petty bourgeoisie. That, of course, is not che case. We, too, are very definite- ly in favor of reaching the farmer and the townsman who is doomed to disappear in the proletariat with our propaganda, of making them, ,if not members of the Communist Party at least sympathetic toward it. Not only do we not oppose propaganda among the farmers, but we have always ac- tively supported it... The writer of the Elore article overlooks another fact which is strongly emphasized in the thesis of the C. B. C. majority, namely, that it is not the purpose of this move to win the middle class or working class elements, but that the going into the LaFollette alliance is intended only as a maneuver by which the proletarian elements are to be separated from the petty bourgeois party and turned over to a working class party. That would mean only that we will not attempt to bi the LaFollette movement under the influence of our Communist ideas and line of thought, but that, on the con- trary, we turn them into our most in- tense enemies, embitter them by rep- resenting ourselves to them in the role of the splitters of a great united front movement, thus hindering the very things which Stalin and the Elore editors consider asolutely essential for the success of the American revolur tion...” Need we say more to prove the ut- ter fallacy of the argument that the New York group was opposed to third party participation because it was so much like LaFollette, that it was afraid to lose its identity? Is there in Meet me at the WEST END WOMEN’S CLUB, 37 So. Ashland Blvd. where all the live ones will celebrate in GLEVELAND COMRADES WILL GREET THE NEW YEAR WITH BIG DANCE (Special to The Daily Worker) CLEVELAND, 0., Dec. 29,—A Serpentin and confetti ball—this is the affair to which all Workers Party members and sympathizers and lovers of a jolly good time should come on New Years Eve, Wednesday, Dec. 31, The commit- tee has aranged for a peppy orches- tra, there will be lots of refresh- ments available, and in order to see the New Year started on its way, dancing will continue after mid- night. A large hall, with a splendid floor has been secured at the Institute, 2491 East 55th St., opposite the East Technical High School. Ad- mission 50c per person. Come and bring your friends and help make this the biggest affair yet held by Local Cleveland. these editorials anything that has not been said in these columns again and again during the last three weeks by representatives of the majority thesis in their opposition to new F. F. L. P. overtures? The consistent opposition of our sroup to the “policy of maneuvers,” of which Pepper and Ruthenberg were so proud, had brought down upon us the accusation that we are opposed to all maneuyers at all times, and are herefore out of sympathy with an im- portant phase of Communist policies. Nothing can be further from the truth. It so happens that some of the most important members of the N. Y. group are men and women whose entire work in the party has consisted in the direction of Communist maneuvers in the labor movement. Practically every one of us did valuable work in the class farmer-labor party move- ment, so long as we believed it had a chance for success. I, myself, dur- ing this time, together with the com- vades of the German group, carried on a campaign for increased propaganda possibilities in an important German working class organization, the Work- ingmen’s Sick and Death Benefit Fund, that has opened up for us a valuable field for our work. What we did oppose was the attitude assumed by our comrades that “we would maneuver capitalism into a corner,” and that “we would maneuver LaFol- jette out of the control of the work- ig class and farmer elements in his own party,” because we knew ‘ our own weakness, and appreciatéd the dangers attendent upon a policy of alliance with this would-be farmer- labor party under the control of the petty bourgeois, Nothing can be achieved by a tactic of bluff. Some of us live under the delusion that the political opponents, whom we would outmaneuver, are ig- noramuses, and look down upon them from the heights of their superior wis- dom, It is about time that we un- derstood that our real strength is known and that we are only hurting ourselves when we insist upon exag- gerating our accomplishments. The time will come, when the Workers Party will be able to undertake large scale maneuvers and to undertake them successfully. What Happened at the Chicago Con- vention? When I see the frantic efforts that are being made by the two groups to burden each other with the respon- sibility for Lore’s misdeeds, I cannot help but think mournfully of those days, not more than a year or two ago, when I was still the respected friend and co-worker of the present minority group, Until the national office was moved to Chicago, I was Comrade Lovestone’s trusted confidant, and al- together was treated with a great deal more consideration than has fallen to my humble share since I cast my lot with the “syndicaligt” group. Be- fore I left New York for the Chicago convention, just a year ago, I was told by a mutual friend here that Love- stone would meet me at the Chicago railroad depot on my arriva}]. Love- stone, who had been obliged to get out of bed at 4 o’clock of a very un- pleasant December morning in order to meet me, dangled, after a few preliminaries, a most enticing liat be- fore my eyes, @ list of names in the handwriting of Comrade Ruthenberg. My name stood at the head of this slate that the Ruthenberg-Lovestone- Pepper group was prepared to propose to the convention. I informed Love- stone that I had one main purpose at this convention, to oppose the LaFol- lette alliance with all my might. At a secret session of the convention Pep- per moved that the entire third party Cac tbe agen nacsorthps ig odhioh for decision. It was, of course, un- derstood by the entire convention that this was the strongest possible bid for our support. As is usually the case when Pepper maneuvers, he made Page Five Decisions of the Central Executive Committee At Meetings Held The central executive committee of the party, in addition to decisions already announced in the party press. made the following decisions in meet- ings held between Dec. 7 and 13: , Slovak Federation—Sent .invitation to the Slovak federation, which is not affiliate with the party, inviting federation to affiliate with our organi- zation and outlining certain points of policy in relation thereto. Sacco-Vanzetti Campaign—Set the second Sunday in February for mass | meetings thruout the country in sup- port of the defense of Sacco and Vanzetti. Authorized the arrangement of united front conferences to conduct Complete statement of the campaign will appear in the such meetings. party press in a few days. New size York Propaganda completed. italian Section—Approved the neW | once for child labor campaign.—C. E. bureau and officers of the Italian sec- tion of the party. after Paper— Authorized the district executive com- mittee of New York to publish a small propaganda paper present DAILY WORKER drive is the Elected a special committee to in- vestigate a certain article written by A. Capraro in which it is claimed statements were made violating the discipline of the party. Armenian Section—Approved of the action of the New York branch in expelling Comrades Sunarian, Gaha- nian and Demirjjan from the party for publication of the paper in oppo- sition to the Armenian section of the party and for organizing a group in opposition to the Armenian section. Advertisements in Party Papers— Decided that party papers should not carry the advertisements of public service corporations. The question arose thru offers to the Freiheit of advertisements of the New York Tele- phone Co. and the Consolidated Gas Co. of New York Shop Nuclei Organization — Ap- proved of thesis and program of im- mediate work and for submission to the next national convention The thesis will appear in an early issue of the party paper. Educational Work—Reaffirmed ap- pointment of Comrade John Brahtin as. educational. circuit lecturer in) Cleveland over the protest of the city central of Cleveland as per statement sent to the party press German Section Convention—Ap- pointed a subcommittee consisting of Comrades Cannon, Krumbein and Gitlow, to investigate the charge that a certain comrade had called Comrade Bedacht an “agent of Moscow” at the German section convention. Local Elections—Sent an inquiry to all district organizers inquiring what elections would take place in their territory during the coming year an( asking for a full report to the centra! executive committee on these elec- tions, the character of the vote and issues which might exist locally so that policies might be formulated. Position of Comrade Lore on Party Discussion — To question Comrade jat the second. December 7 to 13, ‘eague meeting. Following are instruc- ‘ions for conference: Introduce resolu- tion criticizing futility petty bourgeois reformism LaFollette movement. Brand alliance between union reac- tionaries and socialists and petty bour- geoisie as ciass collaboration and betrayal of working class. Take uncompromising stand for struggle and present Workers (Com- munist) Party as only political party standing for working class interests. Fight socialist party resolution for far farmer-labor party as fake phrase mongering covering alliance with pet- ty bourgeoisie, Call for united front action of all labor organizations around Workers Party upon program contained in central executive com- mittee statement on conference for Propressive political action published in DAILY WORKER Noy. 29. Make strong fight for this resolution. When defeated make statement that you will not participate in betraying workers. Leave conference. District committee should immediately pre- pare for calling united front confer Ruthenberg, Executive Secretary. class | Philadelphia Y. W. L. To Hold Liebknecht Memorial Meeting January 10 is to be the date of the Liebknecht memorial meeting in Phila delphia. Arrangements are now being made to stage a real demonstration on that occasion. Harry M. Wicks of the Workers Party, Oliver Carlson, former member of the executive committee, Young Communist International will speak in English. Ludwig Lore, editor of the Volkgeitung, will speak in German The Philadelphia Juators will also be represented by a speaker, Comrade Naomi Litwakoff. The meeting will be held at Eagler Temple, 13th and Spring Garden, Sat urday, Jan. 10, 8 p.m, Admission, 10 cents at door. Auspices Young Work. ers League Local Philadelphia.—Mor-. ris Yusem, Watch for the Special First Anniversary Edition of the DAILY WORKER January 13, 1925 PHILADELPHIA EDUCATIONAL WORK GOING STRONG WITH CARLSON IN CHARGE; CLASSES GROW STEADILY PHILADELPHIA, Pa,, Dec. 29.—There may be doubting Thomases who say that study class work is unessential or that it attracts the attention of very few of our members. The C. BE. ©. of the party thinks otherwise. And so do the members in the Philadelphia district now that their lecture-study circuit has gotten under way under Carlson. the leadership of Comrade Oliver Baltimore, Washington, Chester, and Philadelphia are already holding their classes, while additional classes are being arranged for Bethlehem and Wilmington. The course consists of eleven lectures on the “Elements of Communism”—the first five of which are devoted to establishing a back- ground upon which the principles of Communism are based; the remaining six lectures are devoted to establish- ing the tactics of the revolutionary workingclass parties; the difference between reformist and revolutionary parties, etc. etc. To date every city has shown a growing interest in the course by an increased attendance. Baltimore, where there were about 28 present for the opening lecture showed 35 at the second lecture, Washington, with 35 at the first lecture almost doubled its attendance at the second one with 60 present, a large number of whom were non-party members. Chester (where the W. P. is very small and just recently organized) had 10 present at the first meeting and 13 In Philadelphia, the opening class began with about 35 members. At the conclusion of the meeting a motion was made from the floor of the meeting that the lecture be given over again for the benefit of hose who were unable to atend the irst meeting. A new group of about 20 have been obtained who will attend he second delivery of the opening ecture and then become a part ot fhe regular class. The interest in the classes has been Lore within a week to register his vote on the theses submitted for party’s discussion or to submit a of his own. thesis Anthracite Coal Situation—Author- ized Comrades Manley and Myers- cough to take charge of the situation in the anthracite coal fields in relation to the outlaw strike and to work out a program of assisting the workers in their struggle against the Lewis machine. Russian Section Party Discussion 4 Called attention to the editor of Novy Mir that all articles im the party dis- cussion must be signed and appointed a subcommittee consisting of Com- es Oblan, Chramov, Brailovsky, for che majority, and Comrades Ash- kenudse, Golos and Bourgin, for the minority, to make arrangements for the discussion before the branches in district No. 2, Massachusetts Conference for Pro- gressive Political Action—Sent the following instructions to District Or- ganizer Ballam as our policy for the conference for progressive politica! action in Massachusetts: You are in- structed to put into effect policy Work- ers Party and should have done so in PARTY ACTIVITIES NEW YORK CITY Bronx Attention. Sunday, Jan. 4, 1347 Boston Road Weinstone will lecture New Year's Eve style. growing steadily. Every member who has attended one of the classes has expressed complete satisfaction with it. time” has been the expression of comrades in all of the cities where the course has been started. The system of instruction used by Comrade Carlson consists in givinga lecture of from one hour to one and a half hours on the subject to be con- sidered , then follows a period in which the students ask him questions appertaining to the subject matter discussed, or they discuss those points on which they are in disagreement with the speaker. He then makes closing remarks. All students are ex- pected to be supplied with notebook to write down the main points made in the course of the lecture. They are also supplied with a list of references wihch can be used to verify the mat- ter dealt with by the lecturer as well as to get a more complete under- standing of the subjects dealt with. Certain texts which are inexpensive and classics are given as essential, but besides this a more complete list of reference books is also given. The following class is opened by juestions from the lecturer to the members of the class on the main points dealt with at the previous meet ing. Following this all members are presented with a mimeographed syn- opsis of the preceeding week's lecture, Then follows the current lecture; questions, discussion, etc. Twice during tlie course the mem- bers will be asked to supply written answers to a series of questions that will be presented to them a week in advance. Comrade Carlson stated that he was “My lectures” said Comrade Carl- 50c A PERSON ADMITS YOU im harmony with the FostesCannon to the last dance of the season ahd the first Who was this Lore whom Pepper, Ruthenberg, Lovestone were so anx- one of the new year. Lore who had written the Ser- ition, TRADE UNION EDUCATIONAL LEAGUE, » vaalicde Host em brig LOCAL CHICAGO being used now to create the new $on, “are merely the connecting links CHICAGO COMRADES! KEEP JAN. 11 OPEN FOR LIEBKNECHT DAY January the 11th will be one of the red letter days for the Commun- ist movement in Chicago. {It will be on this day that the International Karl Liebknecht Day will be cele- brated. This will be the day on which the Young Workers League of Chicago will rally the working class youth to protest the foul murder by the social-ti rs of the two valiant fighters and leaders of the Communist youth movement and to mobilize our forces for a deter- mined fight for our demands. Foremost of these demands is our slogan against capitalist wars and militarism and against the enslave ment of German workers thru the Dawes plan, then our struggle for the abolition of child labor, mainte- ance by the state of all school chil- dren of workers under sixteen years of age, and the sixhour day, five- day week for all youth labor with full pay, and for a workers’ republic. The Karl Liebknecht celebration will be held in the Northwest Hall, corner North and Western avenues. Admission is 25¢. Tickets can be secured in advance in the local office, room 303, 166 W. Washington St., or at the door on the eve of the day. The speakers for this affair are: Comrades Shachtman, of the Young Workers League, and Alexander Bittelman, of the Workers Party, There wiil also be an appropriate musical program, and a demonstr: tion by the junior section of the league. of our members have done a goo deal of reading but it has not been done in an organized fashion and for that reason they fail to get that firm Brasp of the principles of Commun- ism without which we are completely at sea. My lectures can do no more than touch the high points of each subject to be dealt with—but in doing that it enables them to understand the continuity of social development, to get an idea of the play and interplay of social forces (economic, geographic, Dioligic, and ideologic) which are totally unexplicable to the average layman. It helps them to think, to observe, to analize and to synthesize —and is doing this it is helping to make more competent Communists in this section of the country.” The complete course of lectures fol- low: 1. Class struggle in past history. 2. The state, its origin and func- 3. The economics of capitalism. 4. The dialectics of capitalism 5. The materialist conception of more than pleased with the progress| history. that the classes are making, 6, Historic role of a revolutionary working class party. 7. The party in the political strug- between our membership and the vast} gles. iterature which we possess that will give to our membership that fuller understanding which they need to car- ry on the struggles of our party and Young Workers League in the midst Sime peat. siotewnes and most 8. The party in the trade unions. 9. Strategy and tactics of the par ty 10. The First and Second Inter- national and the world war. 11, The Russian revolution and the International. ruthless imperialism. Of course many Communist +|OMAHA COMRADES ~ 1DISCUSS THESES AT SPECIAL MEET OMAHA, Nebr., Dec. 29.— The Oma ha branches of the Workers Party will meet at the party headquartere tonight to discuss the theses of the majority and minority of the central executive committee. The meeting will begin at 8 p. m. sharp, and all members will be expected to attend Unemployment Serious in Omaha. District Organizer, Comrade J. E Snyder, visited Omaha last Wednes- jay on his way to open the district office at Kansas City. While here Comrade Snyder reorganized the local general group of the Trade Union Ed- neational League, which will immedi- ately plunge into the issues facing the local trade unions, particularly the un. employment problem, which was never so serious in this locality as now. ee Help Wanted Ad Brings: 1,000, An advertisement inserted in a lo cal daily for 250 men to cut ice brot @ response of a thousand. Thé same story repeated itself at every scene of ice-cutting operations. In the first- mentioned case, there were angry mutterings among the crowd, until the superintendent came along in his car, announcing a “free ieed” for every- body at the “company hotel.” Dissat- isfaction was then forgotten in the pell-mell rush for the “feed.” Gitlow Replies to Bittelman on Hungarian Convention Report (Continued from page 4) neglect of the central executive com- mittee. The central executive com- mittee did not submit any plan to the Hungarian convention for work among the workers engaged in the basic industries. It was the duty of the central executive committee real izing that many Hungarian workers are engaged in the basic industries, to submit such a plan for work among them. After all the central executive committee is the leading and directing body in our party. It must initiate and direct important work of this kind for our language sections. When it doesn’t do so it has no business to blame a particular section of the party for not making progress in that direc- tion. The whole article written by Bittel- men on the Hungarian section conven- tion is an example of how an article should not be written. To have to answer such an article is bad enough. Such articles make it impossible to conduct the discussion on serious lines. If Comrade Bittelman will con- tinue to write such articles the whole discussion will degenerate into an expose of the methods used to distort and confuse the real and important issues involved. When a discussion was decided upon I thought that there were funda- mental issues involved that had to be seriously discussed. And there are. real fundamental issues involved. In order to discuss in a manner that would be beneficial to the membership | and to the party a consideration of facts and their application to tactics is necessary. To divert the discussion into a misrepresentation of facts, mud- slinging, unfounded charges, as the vharges made by Comrade Bittelman against the Hungarian convention, and the issuance of empty, inapplicable fake slogans, is to greatly hurt the discussion, to confuse the membership and to injure the party. Help Insure THE DAILY WORKER for 1925! PITTSBURGH, PA. DR. 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