The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 16, 1927, Page 5

: ; | ; Tue New Macazine Section of THE DAILY WORKER Second Section: This Magazine Section Appears Every Saturday in The DAILY WORKER. ene nem SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 1927. James Oneal should have given his book a dif- ferent title. Instead of calling it, as he did, “A History Of American Communism,” he ought to have named it “An Apology For Social-Reformist Betrayals,” or “The Outpourings of a Broken So- cialist Heart.” The advantages of this latter title are obvious. & corresponds more closely to the eontents of the book, It is more colorful, alluring and hence more convenient for advertising pur- poses. And in addition it carries a connotation of intimacy which would capture the eye of many a broken heart, not only socialist, and thus make the book one of the best sellers of the season. 2 Writing history- of American Communism: is not as simple a proposition as Oneal thought for. It requires not only intellectual honesty, which being realists we do not propose to demand of the “his- torian” under discussion, but also a thorough study ef social, economic and political background of the epoch logically preceding the emergence of a Com- munist movement in the United States. That would include an examination of the history of American eapitalism, class struggle and labor movements at least since the Spanish-American war. It would also require a fundamental analysis of the develop- ments during the modern imperialist era, and the effect of these developments upon the class struggle in the United States. In short, it requires a basic, scientific, Marxian analysis of all those factors and events which conditioned the appearance and devel- opment of a modern working class revolutionary movement in America, Considered from this point of view, Oneal’s His- tory of American Communism is a complete failure. The book will undoubtedly satisfy the spite and venom of those who have betrayed and are con- tinuing to betray socialism. It will please every reactionary and standpatter in the labor movement. It will be received with glee by the ‘“open-shoppers” as well as by all the true servants of capitalism. But it will be rejected with disdain by every class conscious worker. It will be turned away as a poor joke by all who seek genuine objective knowledge. The history of American Communism, which is a fulfilment and further development of the best tra- ditions and struggles of the American working class, is yet to be written. What is American Communism? Oneal does not dare to treat it frankly as a foreign product im- ported into the United States from abroad, He is undoubtedly conscious of the fact that were he to treat Communism in America as a foreign importa- tion he would be doing the same thing as the “his- torians” of the infamous Lusk Committee, or the American Legion—and with the same result. Oneal also knows that the charge of being an alien pro- duct is being directed by the reactionaries even against his own party, though it is non-working class and harmless to the capitalists. Hence, Oncal feels compelled to give the history of our party a little American background. But how much of this background is he giving us? Just enough—enough for. his purpose—to make the Communist movement of America appear not only alien but also contrary and hostile to all the natural and unnatural laws supposedly govern- ing the development of the American Iabor move- ment. Which, by the way, is precisely the thing which defenders of capitalism the world over are saying against every movement which they believe to be contrary and hostile to the rule of the capitalists. It can be easily proven that the Communist move- ment of America is as much a native product of American conditions as, for instance, our trade union movement; that our party belongs as much to America as any of its time honored and his- torically recognized institutions, This despite the fact that so-called foreign influences had a good deal to do with crystallizing and maturing Com- munist thought in the United States. 7 These so-called foreign influences, which are being branded as alien to America by the* enemies of the working class, have operated upon American Communism in practically the ame way as the for- eign influences of European bourgeois revolutionary thought have operated upon the founders of the bourgeois republic of the United States, Did the Declaration of Independence become a product alien to America just because the making of this docu- ment was influenced by the ideas of the XVIII eentury philosophers of France? ‘To’ be sure, the Declaration of Independence had been branded as alien to America by the British Crown and its sup- _EDITOR’S NOTES ALEX BITTELMAN, Editor ———e By ALEX BITTELMAN porters in the American colonies in 1776. But that did not make it any more alien than did similar “branding” by the Lusk Committee against the Left Wing Manifesto of 1919. This babble about foreign influences and alienism is as old as~ the class struggle in society itself. Every time a movement springs up among the op- pressed classes designed to overthrow the domina- tion of the ruling class, the latter meets its op- ponents with the charge of being foreign and alien to the “natural spirit and laws” of the country. But little as the British Crown was able to stem the tide of the bourgeois revolution in America in 1776, by branding it foreign, just as little will similar charges against American Communism be able to stem the development of the revolutionary working class movement of today. James Oneal and his history of American Communism, notwithstanding, Is James Oneal familiar in any way with the history cf Marxian thought? It ,would do him some good to pick up even a slight acquaintance with the subject. Because upon doing so he avould learn that also in Russia.the attempt to introduce Marxian thought and apply it to the native class struggle was met with the most determined opposi- tion not only from the upholders of czarism but also from people who thought themselves the most advanced revolutionists of that day. The opposi- tion countered the oncoming of Marxism into Russia with innumerable sets of complete philosophies, based upon the “unique” nature of Russian history, economics, temperament, psychology, etc., which were designed to prove that Marxism. and the modern working class revolutionary movement were foreign and alien to Russia. Well, these philosophies are now dead and for- gotten but Marxism, developed into Leninism in the period of imperialism and social revolution, stands vindicated and triumphant. The theory of Marxism- Leninism has enabled the revolutionary workers of - Russia to build their Communist Party, to win the confidence and support of the masses, to establi h a firm alliance with the peasantry, to establish a workers’ republic and to proceed to build a socialist economy as a step to a complete Communist society. This is the theory that explains, inspires and guides the epoch-making revolutionary efforts of the op- prassed colonial peoples as well as of the revolu- tiotary workers the world over. x But, Oneal, he does not see this. He sees only his degenerated, demoralized party—in reality, a petty-bourgeois political club—which must be de- fended and vindicated at all cost, He knows that if the American Communist movement is vindicated, the socialist party stands condemned in the eyes of every honest American. worker. Hence, his so-called history. He is willing to admit that Communism was good for Russia, but insists that it is not good for Ameri- ca. “To which we reply: Yes, we heard that from liberal capitalists, but we don’t believe that the working class should be guided by liberal capitalists. The workers must have their:own theory—a theory of revolutionary class struggle. They must have their own party to lead that struggle, Leninism is the theory. A Communist Party is the party. It is in the light of the above considerations that the history of American .Communism~= must be studied and written up in order to be a real and useful history instead of an apology for the oppor- tunist policies and treachery of American socialist party leadership. One must understand that it was precisely in the struggle against these opportunist policies of reformist socialism as well as against reactionary trade unionism and syndicalim that Communism found its American adaption. One must recognize that without a merciless indictment and exposure of the nature and effects of reaction- ary trade unionism and opportunist non-Marxian socialism, no understanding can be gained of the origin and development of Communism in the United States,’ Communism in the -United States, like in many other capitalist countries, came into existence primarily as a revolt of the militant and class con- scious workers against. betrayal “of the working class by the reformists, opportunists and reaction- aries in the unions and in the socialist party. It was the extreme degeneracy of the official labor movement in America, coupled with the general ob- jective situation, that was responsible for the highly ultra-leftist nature of left wing developments in the American labor movement. ‘ The explanation of the unrealistic, impractical and sectarian angles in the early phases of left wing and Communist develop- ment in the United States is to be found precisely: in the treachery of recationary trade unionists and and reforntist socialists and not in some mysterious foreign influences. , If Oneal were a working class historian and not an oportunist, petty-bourgeois socialist he would know that one of the most potent forces for making American Communism more realistic, more native, more practical and of greater immediate value to the American working class was precisely the “for- eign” influence of the Communist International.