The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 28, 1925, Page 6

Page Six ' THE DAILY WORKER THE DAILY WORKER Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO, 1113 'W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, Ill. Phone Monroe 4712 SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mail (in Chicago only): By mail (outside of Chicago): $8.00 per year $4.50 six months $6.00 per year $3.50 six months $2.50 three months $2.00 three months Address all mail and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 1113 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, Hlinois J. LOUIS ENGDAHL } WILLIAM F, DUNNE {* MORITZ J. LOEB. ' Entered as second-class mail September 21, 1923, at the post-office at Chi- cago, Ill., under the act of March 3, 1879. ... Editors ..Business. Manager Advertising rates on application. “Safety First!” The story from Reliance, Wyoming, published yesterday on the Trade Union Educational League page, may be dry ling for work- ers who are not miners, but it is certainly damning proof of the con- Se 290 — - By GREGORY ZINOVIEV. (Continued from last issue.) VII. The Danger of » “Right Sickness” in the Com- intern. I FORESEE, that after our open con- fession concerning the absence of a direct revolutionary situation in Germany, our genuine views will be subjected to all kinds of distortions and misinterpretations. The right wing tendencies will revive. Certaih “Com- munists” who in some cases have not the slightest conception of what Com- munism is, were of the opinion that the revolution must come within two spiracy, time after time resulting in the deaths of coal miners, be-|° three years, and, since it did not tween the state government, its agents, the mine inspectors and the coal capitalists. One item contained in the report of the miners’ committee but not mentioned in the report of the state inspector is enough: We believe that safety requires the delivery of caps and powder to the various working places, instead of men cdrry- ing both powder and caps at the time when all men are en- tering the mine. Hundreds of fatal accidents have bene caused by this practice alone altho the reports of coroner’s juries are usually unable to give the actual reason for the very good reason that the evidence is en- tirely destroyed. Extra men have to be employed to carry powder and caps to the miners working at the face. It costs money to take this precau- tion, so mine inspectors coveniently forget to mention it in their reports and miners continue to be sacrificed. But the coal operators keep on yelling “Safety First!” The miners are organized in Wyoming and have been able, by concerted action, to expose many of the murderous practices of the coal companies. But try to picture to yourself, when such condi- tions still prevail in union mines, what they must be where no union exists and the coal capitalists have the power to do as they please. Miners’ lives are cheap and this is one of the reasons why the coal capitalists go to such desperate lengths, as in West Virginia, for instance, to prevent unionizing of their properties. War on Soviet Russia? * Obviously inspired dispatches telling of plans laid by the Soviet government for an offensive against Roumania, Bulgaria and Poland some time this summer are flooding the capitalist press. The reason for this, taken in connection with the world-wide drive against the workers’ and peasants’ government of Russia, is quite plain. Somwehere in the imperialist nests of Paris and London is being hatched a scheme for war on Russia and in conformity with * the first rule of modern warfare, an effort is to blame the injured party for whatever happens, an effort is made to convict Soviet Russia of beginning hostilities. The deluge of articles “exposing” the Communist International, the hushing up of the real eauses of the Sofia bomb explosion, the recent meeting of the general staffs of the puppet border govern- ments, the threat of a financial blockade, all point to the conclusion that the capitalist world is seriously considering another attempt to crush the Russian revolution by force. That such a scheme, whieh would mean a war exceeding in bloodiness the conflict of 1914-18, is even considered, is evidence of the desperate situation in which world capitalism finds itself. The tension between France and. Great Britain is increasing, colonial uprisings are something more: than threats while industrial and financial crises afflict both nations. The much vaunted stabilization of capitalism is seen to be an empty thing when looked at in the light of world capitalism with its constant menace of war in half a dozen sections of the globe, anyone of which may be the start of a world struggle. The working class must be on its guard every moment, neglecting no opportunity to strengthen its unions and to keep ready everyone of its weapons of defense and offense. Negro Workers Strike in Toledo Negro workers employed by the Standard Oil company in Toledo, Ohio, have struck for higher wages and better working conditions. Since the strike it has been discovered that there are white workers in the same plant getting lower pay than the Negroes, but at the time our story was written they had not yet joined the strike. The only conclusion that can be drawn from this incident is that the Negro workers in this plant have more fighting spirit than the whites. This will be an unpleasant surprise to the bosses who hire them on the theory that they will be afraid to take any action to protect themselves. The plant where the strike occurs is completely unorganized /thruout, but if the Toledo labor unions are on the job they will begin an organization campaign on the strength of the evidence that the strike offers of the militancy among the Negro workers. The fact that the labor movement lets slip so many opportuniites of this kind is one of the reasons why it remains numerically weak, with great numbers of workers refusing to take it seriously. The Right and Left Wings In the same story which tells of the adoption of a resolution de- manding the release of Crouch and Trumbull by a local union of machinists in St. Paul is the announcement of an organization drive that union is conducting. There is a direct connection between the two items. Unions which are class conscious enough to adopt such a resolution are always found attending to the matter of organization of the unorganized in a businesslike manner. It is the fashion of the reactionaries to carp about the visionary schemes of the left wingers, but when stock is taken it develops that the left wing groups not only display keen interest in the theoretical phase of the class struggle, support the victims of capitalism in other countries and strive to~give the whole labor movement a broader outlook, but take good care of such commonplace needs as building the union—a need much neglected and quite often ignored entirely by the “safe and sane” labor leaders, It is the left wing that is really practical. The French imperialists have had to make a change in the high command in the Riffian war. It is becoming plainer every day that punitive detachments will not win for the French and that the-present struggle takes on all the characteristics aroused of a major war. With the French working class thoroly aroused by the brutal te we can expect stirring events in France frgm now on, come, they think it were better now to join the social-democrats. These heroes will now say: “There you are, we were right! The “ultra-lefts” will now swing over to the right, as has been the case already with Comrade Bordiga. The case of Com. Bordiga serves is an extremely instructive illustra- tions of what I have said. But, com- rades, read what Comrade Bordiga now writes; try to penetrate his “phi- losophy” and ponder over the qu | tion: why this change took place with- jin him. The reason for it lies in Bor- |diga's inability to understand the rol« }of the Communist Party in the period jof retarded revolutiénary develop |ment, his inability to understand the |petty everyday minute, but at the ;Same time, bolshevist work, which | must be carried on in such a period, jhis failure to see the connections in the tactics of the united front, partial dethands, etc. with our activities |directed towards the achievement of our ultimate aim. This explains his |leap (I hope it will be temporary, I | hope he will come back to the position of the Comintern) from the ultra-lefts to the right. An Example of the Failure to Un-| derstand the Tasix of Bolshevi- zation | JT we have among us more dan- gerous right wingers who are al- ‘éady proposing to us to take a sharp tutfn and adopt “new” tactics. I will take the liberty of quoting an example taken from the experience of the Czecho-Slovak party, which shows how bolshevization should not be un- derstood. A comrade from Brunn, quite pro- perly, sent us the printed theses on the differences within the Communist Party in Czecho-Slovakia. There i+ much in these theses that are of nc interest, much that is petty, much con cerning personal conflicts, etc., of thi: I will speak in another place. There- fore, irrespective of the outcome of the struggle within the Czecho-Slovak party, I would like to reveal to you what kind of Communists we still have’ among us. The comrade from Brinn, in the introduction to his me- morandum, refers to the important party played by Brunn, even in the Second International. I would not in the least question the revolutionary past (or present) of the Brunn work- ers, but I will say this, that the Brunn comrades ought to send some of their leaders to a school of Leninism and only after that to discuss whether they are suitable as leaders or not. In these theses, there is a chapter entitled. “The Revolutionary Course,” in which demonstrations against the high cost of living is confuséd with nothing more nor less than—revolu- tion, This is what it says: “The so-called left demanded from us in Brunn to bring things to a con- flict even in those places where we can place against large forces of the police only a couple of hundreds or so of workers, without taking into con- sideration what these sanguinary sacrifices may entail for us.” Further on it says: “Some of the so-called left comrades are of the opinion that we should con tinuously ‘make revolution.’ We, how ever, are of the opinion that the tas of the Communist Party is not te cal out a revolutionary movement b; some means or other, but to take ad- vantage of an existing revolutionary movement, and to lead it to the end. The theses of the third congress of the Comintern are very far from being carried out in Czecho-Slovakia, and it would be very important for the pres- ent central committee of the Com- munist Party of Czecho-Slovakia, even at this late hour to study the theses on tactics passed by the third congress. To send agitators among the workers instructed to rouse fresh revolutions every day, belongs as much to the sphere of illusionist tac- ties to which we have referred above, as to the infantile view, that the stage of revolutionary development in a given epoch may be judged by the number of windows broken in a de- monstration, The raiding of shops during a demonstration against the high cost of living by the order of the central committee, is something quite different to the raiding of shops by a hungry mass, in spite of the orders of their leaders, In the first case, we have an example of ati excess of ro- manticism, in the second, we have a true symptom of a_ revolutionary epoch.” * Excellent! I must say. I never knew that breaking windows is an “excess of romanticism.” Here we must quite frankly comrades, that behind every one of these phrases, can be seen the asses’ ears of social-democracy. Just think! The poor Brunners are called upon to make “revolutions” every day, and in such a frightful form too! To organ- ize demonstrations against high cost of living and break windows! Indeed, the Brunn workers cannot be con- sratulated on the wisdom of their leaders. In the foreword to these epistles, we find complaints about the Brunn comrades being compelled to send delegations to Moscow composed exclusively of workingmen with the secret intention, it is alleged, “of deliberately keeping out” the theore- ticians. The fear is algo expressed that the workingmen sétit in the dele- gation would not be abfe’to explain to the international all at was neces- sary sufficiently clearly/ahd with suffi- cient theoretical backing. Hence, they honored us with this memorandum containing these brilliant “theoretic- al” arguments. (Laughter). I must confess that I ¢ertdinly pre- fer to converse with Brunn working- men, who, in the opinion of the authors of the8e theses, have not the training to enter into theoretical dis- cussion with us, than t% eonverse with the “theoretician” authors of these epistles. It would be a sheer waste of effort to enter into a discussion with the authors of this document. Observe, that the authors of this document do not yet know that we have asserted here the absence at the oresent time of a direct revolutionary situation in Germany. If-they had got wind of this, they would not have con- tented themselves with merely talking romanticism, but no doubt would be- gin to talk about the necessity to go over to the social-democrats. (Laugh- ter). Precisely at this Time of Retarded Revolutionary Development is it Necessary to Imbue Our Parties with a Spirit of Leninism. OMRADES, we must foresee such “turns” and commencé right now to put up a resistance against those comrades who advocate them. It is true, in Western Europe at the pres- jent time there is not a direct revolu tionary situation. But is this any reason why we must abandon bol- shevism, make concessfoh§ to the so- cial-democrats and‘ plate a mark of equality between demonstrations of high cost of living and «revolutions. On the contrary. Precisely because we have to pass thru hard times: when some drop out of the fight, when some are already overcome by wear- ness, when the social-democratic oarty is beginning to raise its head— it is precisely for this reason that we nust imperatively conduct a deliber- ste, determined, definite,policy of our own, th&t we must imperatively be rreconciliable Bolsheviks, Let this sink deeply» into the minds of the 8runn comrades. t Comrades, the path that we have just outlined for our panties, does not in the least imply the slowing down of the rate of bolshevigetion; on the contrary, it implies the acceleration of the process of bolshevizating our bro- ther parties. A genuine reyolutionary, a genuine Bolshevik, reveals his char- acter in difficult situations; when there is no limelight. This is what Com. Lenin constantly emphasized. As soon as the revolutionary wave rises again, and particularly if it is victorious, crowds of new revolution- aries will rush to us. In 1920, when the situation in Germany appeared to be revolutionary, we had Messrs. Cris- pin and Dittman here. When the revo- lution is victorious, numerous people come into our ranks: even bourgeois elements—bourgeois officers join the Red Army etc. This is what happens when the working class is victorious. For us it is important that the parties become Bolshevistic, now, at the pres- ent time: in this relatively dull period they must become imbued with the spirit of Leninism. | [re Problem of Party Leadership] ] WANT briefly to deal with the pro- blem of party leadership. Certain to bring up at a metting of party lead- ers the problem of selecting leaders, is sometime a very delicate matter. But we are not concerned with the subjective aspect of the subject, not in the appreciation of individuals, but with the objective approach to the problem which also represents a com- plete chapter of bolshevization. In | the product of Brunn inventiveness, there is the following passage: “To achieve victory, it is perhaps | necessary that not only should the | general be imbued with the will to} fight, but principally that the masses be so imbued.’ A great discovery! Profound theor- etical wisdom! It is indeed a pity that we have not the pleasure of seeing these Brunn “theoreticians” among us here; but we do not lose much by their absence. But joking apart, after the fifth congress, two rather curious articles were written which unfortunately | have not been published to this day. | One of these was written by Thal- heimer and the other by Kreibich. In essentials, the authors of both these articles take up the same posi- tion. Both represent a repudiation of the policy of the fifth congress. One of the authors, as always, de- clares his absolute solidarity with the resolutions of the fifth congress, but in doing so, loses sight of a mere bagatelle, viz., that his article is dir- ected against the resolutions of the fifth congre: I will not deal with the article as a whole, but only with those parts of it which deal with the problem of leadership. The authors of both these articles charge the fifth congress with having devised a new theory and practice of selecting leaders, who are like “blank sheets.” In their opinion numerous old leaders have been removed from the leadership of; party organizations and replaced by novices, who repre- sent “blank sheets.” These novices, say our authors, simply listen to what they are told from Moscow, do every- thing they are ordered, are ready to put their names to anything that is dictated to them. You, of course, un- derstand comrades, what this means. The attack is a very malicious one This controversy is not over @ ques- tion of principle, but it poisons the political atmosphere. E must take up this question con- cretely. The question arises: is it possible that leaders must never be changed, that the leadership must never be refreshed by continually in- fusing fresh forces obtained from other strata into it? Our reply is— no! Are those right who say that we do not appreciate old leaders who have great political experience? Not in the least. They cannot be regarded as right. Under no circumstances! Al- most all our parties emerged from the womb of the Second International. That was the case with the Russian party, which up to 4918 called itself the Russian social-democratic labor party. We too, were at one time affi- liated tothe Second International. We know that a social-democrat cannot be converted into a- Bolshevik in one night. Every leader passes thru a process of more or less prolonged de- velopment. We all know that the comrades who come to us from the social-democracy. ‘have their weak sides; their strong side frequently is their acciiniuiated political experience. It has never entered the heads of any of us to say that we must get rid of the old leaders, On the contrary, every objective observer must admit that we exhibit considerable tolerance to- wards them. For example in the French party, we did all we could in order to keep them among us, and we were always glad when we suc- ceeded in doing so. This applies to other countries also. Does it follow from this that we, older worker§,—and I include myself in this category,—must keep every- thing in our hands, and tell the youth to wait? Of course, not. Nor must we flatter the young leaders. We open- ly say that politically, they have many defects, that they must study hard and perfect themselves. We always say to them: Become Bolsheviks yourselves, see to your own training; and the young leaders understand us. What we require is a sort of amalgam of the best representatives of the old- er generation with the most gifted re- presentatives of the younger genera- tion which has sprung up in the post- war epoch. We are in urgent need of such, a. combination, but a “sheet” of rusty, iron cannot be used for this amalgam. Everybody will agree with this. Comrade Lehin used to say jestingly: “When a man reaches the age of 50, he inevitably becomes an opportunist,” and from this he drew the conclusion that a leader who has passéd‘the age of 50 should be placed in ‘the’ archives, more or less. We sométimes agreed with him, but de- mandeéd that he make an exception,— with‘regard to himself. It may turn out: however, that numerous other ex- ceptions will have to be made. Let us‘ hopé'so, at any rate. Those who have! become so ossified that they re- main‘ impervious to the new currents of thé new epoch, should go away. But the problem of the party leadership can “6nly be solved by the organic combination of the representatives of two generations for the purposes of leading ‘the party. AMERICAN IMPERIALISM BEHOLDS ITS DOOM International Prospects and Bolshevization HB “blank sheet theory” absolutely distorts the position. The inventor of this theory argues that the selec- tion of new central committees is de- termined by the mood or the arbitrary will of the members of the Presidium of the executive committee of the Co- mintern. Of course it is not so. The reasons for changing leaders are much mbre profound. They reach back to the moment of the birth of the Com- munist International. The fact that the Third International emerged trom the womb of the Second International had its consequences. This is eyi- dent in the struggle which many co rades have to conduct against the go- cial-democratic survivals of their own past. Let those who preach to us the necessity of sparing the old leaders, keep their sermons for their own in- struction. To charge us with intoler- ance towards the old leaders is entire- ly baseless. If we~deserve any re- proach at all, it is not for frivolously ;Sweeping away comrades of the old mould. Simflarly unfair and totally un- deserved is the charge that we have transferred the leadership to those who are ready to sign their names to everything that is put before them. Consequently, we have nothing to fear at all from presenting the ques- tion of the leading cadres of the move- ment to the masses of the workers. Comrade Lenin never feared to raise this question openly. At the same time, he taught us that without ca- dres of leaders deliberately aiming at a definite goal, full of determination and discipline, there can be no reyolu- tionary proletarian party. For de- cades, right to 1917, in all the bran- ches of the Second International, Le- nin was charged with having dictator- ial propensities. This was .one of the favorite charges brought against Le nin by the bourgeoisie and a consider: able section of the Second Interna: tional. All of them howled at him: You are a dictator. You wish to have obedient subjects; you wish to place your will above the will of the organ- ization. That was at a time when Lenin was not yet recognized as the leader of the international proletariat. The social-democrats joined in these howls. We however, know, that with- out centralized disciplined leadership, the revolutionary workers party could not have been formed. ‘has our day of retarded revolutionary development, this postulate is more applicable than ever before, and therefore comrades, we do not hesi- tate for a moment to raise this ques- tion. The E. C. C. I. hag never ap- proached the question in this manner: you have sinned, consequently your sin will be visited upon you and your children to the seventh generation. We say: if you are an opportunist, we will fight you until you admit your error, Frequently, it is made to ap- pear that we wish to humble a com- rade and demand that he beg forgive- ness, to cry: “mea culpa.” We have never demanded anything of the kind. In this article, Kreibich asks: what sort of a habit is this to demand the 'self-humiliation of a man who has committed an error? This implied re- buke is sheer nonsense. In the world party of the proletarian revolution there can be no talk of self-humilia- tion. Nobody has ever presented the question in this manner. In our theses on bolshevizing the parties, we have a passage which em- phasizes the necessity for internal party democracy. We need this in- ternal party democracy, not for op- portunists, not for those who demand “freedom of criticism” in the interests of the bourgeoisie. We wil} fight such people as avowed enemies. We de- mand freedom of criticism for those comrades who tread the same path with us in the quest for revofutionary truth. An article which I wrote on the youth, in Czecho-Slovakia, if I am not mistaken, was regarded by some as a new theory. We are charged with desiring to obtain leaders only and exclusively from the Young Commun- ist International, We give the Young Communist League all the credit it | deserves. It has rendered great sery- ice, and in some places has helped to bolshevize our parties. Under normal conditions, the party trains the youth, and not vice-versa. The party should help the youth to become Bolshevistic. Let those who think that the B, C. C. L. desires to “select” the leaders for the party from thé Young Com- munist International, calm their fears. (To be continued) New Quake Shakes - eis Japanese Islands TOKIO, May 26.—A strong earth- quake shook the Tajima district of southeastern Nippon Island this morn- ing, including the towns of Toy: 4 and Kinosaka, which were all but de- stroyed by last Saturday's terrific shock, Several damaged buildings were tumbled down, alarming the pop- ulace, but no loss of life was reported, eee Vertical Quake in Japan, LONDON, May 26.—A ‘new vertical earthquake in the Hyogo prefecture occurred today and shook down many buildings whtch survived the earth- quake in the same district Saturday, according to an evening news di from Tokio today, WORKER trom your alopant rom your and you will make another mem- ber branch. oI