The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 24, 1928, Page 3

DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, DECEMBER . 24, 1928 _ Ate stem 20 » The Workers (Communist) Party of America, in its fight for its Communist integrity and Leninist line, is facing two dangers, two brands of opportunism: one is the Right Danger, which appears as open, outright opportunism; the other is Trotskyism—in other words, inverted Menshevism—which is opportunism covered with left phrases. THE RIGHT DANGER IS THE MAIN DANGER. ‘The Central Executive Committee Plenum reiterates with the most vigorous emphasis the formulation in the November 16 statement of the Central Executive Committee: “In the present international situation, the Right Danger is i the main danger within the Communist International and in its American section.” The Right Danger constitutes a tendency towards op- portunism, has its roots in the relative stabilization of cap- italism and in the existence of social reformism in the labor movement, which retains its hold on large sections of the working elass. The Right Danger is the expression of the influence on our ranks of the petty-bourgeoisie and the labor aristocracy, The present period of growing war danger and sharpening class struggles, the merging of the forces of social reformism with the state apparatus of capitalism, make the struggle against the Right danger imperative for the Com- munist International as a whole and for the Workers (Communist) Party of America in particular. The Right Danger within the Communist International manifests itself in numerous forms: i Underestimation of the war danger, certain forms of legalism, a tolerant attitude toward the socialist party; passivity in strikes; un- derestimation of or nihilistic attitude towards the national question and the struggle of the colonial peoples; lack of internationalism; a static attitude on the trade union question;—these are the gravest forms of the manifestation of the Right Danger within the Commu- nist International. In France, the Right Danger crystallizes itself in resistance to the election slogan “class against class.” In Great Britain the Right Danger appears in the form of a non- critical attitude towards the Labor Party and the refusal to put up Communist candidates as against the Labor Party. In Germany the Right Danger assumes the form of illusions about the “left” social democrats and of a resistence against the decisions of the last congress of the Red International of Labor Unions, as well as a tolerance of the Right by the conciliationists, and the new out- break of Brandlerism against the present leadership. In Czechoslovakia the Right Danger manifests itself in provin- cialism, in a legalistic attitude towards state power, in a reluctance to mobilize the masses against the state. In the Soviet Union the Right Danger appears in the form of resistance against the rapid industrialization and in the tendency to give concessions to the kulaks, Nepmen, and bourgeois intellectuals. An expression of tolerance towards the Right Danger was recently evidenced in the Moscow Committee of the Party. In the South African Party the Right Danger appears in reluc- tance to fight for the racial equality of the Negroes. On the basis of the unqualified recognition of the fact that the Right Danger is the main danger facing the Communist International today and that every party must fight it as such, the Plenum of the Central Executive Committee approves the December 3 statement of the Political Committee in fully endorsing the position of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Party Conference of the Communist Party of Germany in their fight against the Right Danger and those who show tolerance of the Right. Fi THE RIGHT DANGER IN THE AMERICAN PARTY. While the Right Danger in the European Communist parties has its roots in the partial stabilization of capitalism, in America its ob- jective basis is the world hegemony of American imperialism. The United States of America has today the biggest, most corrupt labor aristocracy, the most comprehensive system of social reformism, which serves as the model for the poisonous “Americanization” of the labor movement of the whole world,-which creates an atmosphere of class collaboration, labor-jingoist, and pacifist propaganda around the Com- munist Party. The lack of resistance to the influence of the labor aristocracy, of special reformism, labor-jingoism, and pacifism con- stitutes the Right Danger in the Workers (Communist) Party of America today. The Plenum of the Central Executive Committee recognizes the fight against the Right Danger as the main attack of the whole party. The Central Executive Committee Plenum rejects most emphati- cally the erroneous analysis of the Foster-Bittelman Opposition re- garding the objective basis and character of the Right Danger in our Party. The Foster-Bittelman Opposition, in its platform, “The Right Danger in the American Party,” put forward the theory that the emphasis on the contradictions of the world imperialist system as the primary antagonisms of the present, the third period of the post-war capitalist development, as given by the thesis of the-Sixth World Con- gress of the Comintern, is a wrong analysis, and that the inner con- tradictions of the individual countries are today the primary moving forces. Desptie repeated efforts made by the Central Executive Commit- tee, the Opposition is unwilling to give up its reservations to the thesis of the International situation adopted by the World Congress, and is still defending these reservations openly and vehemently. The Plenum of the Central Executive Committee states that the underestimation of the growth of the antagonisms within the world-wide system of im- perialism is a manifestation of a deep lack of understanding of the driving forces toward the proletarian revolution and leads inevitably to a dangerous underestimation @f the war danger. The whole plat- form of the Foster-Bittelman Opposition—which emphasizes the pri- macy of the inner contradictions of the individual countries over the growth of antagonisms within the world system of imperialism, which refuses to recognize as one of the basic facts of the third post-war period, the shift of world hegemony from Europe to America, which bases its analysis on the erroneous conception of the already diminish- ing reserve powers of American imperialism instead of explaining the present aggressiveness of American imperialism by the tremendous growth of American capitalism and by the disproportion created by that growth—is one of the most important ideological sources of right errors in our Party, because it leads to an underestimation of the war danger, leads to an underestimation of the power and influence of the labor aristocracy on the American working class, and—with its er- roneous conclusion about a nation-wide, deep-going, general radical- ization of the bulk of the American proletariat todgy—tends to pre- vent the fight against the influence of social reformism, which is still the dominant ideology of the American labor movement, thru an understanding of its strength. The other most important ideological source of Right errors in our Party is the theory which overestimates the power of American imperialism, which inclines to the belief that American imperialism is virtually invincible, that for many years to come American imperial- ism will not undergo raat serious crisis. This theory appeared in its ‘most consistent form in the ve gerious writings of Comrade Scott Near- fing. Such an erroneous lysis must be combatted by the whole Party, because it leads to the dangerous conclusion that for the whole ahead of us there is no hope for a mass Communist Party, that the Communist Party must restrict itself to mere propaganda, should Tefrain from political actions, and that there is no possibility of a ‘successful resistance of the Latin American peoples against Pilate imperialism. | The third substantial source of Right errors in the Party today fa the direct influence of social reformism, which creates illusions about a left wing in the socialist party, attempts to make united fronts with thé renegade leadership of the socialist party, substitutes the Labor Party for the Communist Party, attributes such revolu- tionary possibilities to a labor party which only a Communist Party can possess, which fails to see the A. F. of L. bureaucracy as an inte- 4 gral part of the imperialist machine, which sees “dynamic possibilities” in labor banks and workers’ savings, which, impressed by the power of the labor aristocracy, manifests a skeptical attitude towards the organization of new unions. The Plenum of the Central Executive Committee states that the general line of the Central Executive Committee and the Party as a whole is correct, is in accordance with the line of the Communist bi - International. The charge of the Foster-Bittelman Opposition on the one hand and the Trotskyist Cannon group on the other hand that the of the Party is a Right line, that the Central Executive af Draft Resolution submitted by Comrades Bedacht, Patrick and Weinstone, and adopted |by the Plenary Session of the Central Executive Committee of the Workers (Communist) | Party of America held December 19, 1928. - } Committee itself constitutes the Right wing in the Party, is a slander against the Party and was rejected by the Communist International. At the same time the Plenum of the Central Executive Committee states with emphasis that the Central Executive Committee and the Party as a whole committed many errors, among them Right errors also. The responsibility for these rests not one-sidedly on the major- ity but is stared by all groups or tendencies within the Central Exe- cutive Committee and the Party. In fighting the Right Danger, it would be an erroneous attitude to stop at the criticism of Right errors committed by individuals or party organizations. It is necessary to state that the Central Executive Committee and the Party as a whole are responsible for many of the Right errors which deviated from the generally correct line of the Party. The Plenum of the Central Exe- cutive Committee considers it its duty to state that the October 2 declaration of the Political Committee did not contain sufficient self- criticism, laid too much emphasis on the unquestionably great achieve- ments of the Party, and did not analyze sufficiently the errors com- mitted by the Central Executive Committee and the Party. The November 16 statement constitutes a great step forward in the ne- cessary self-criticism. The Plenum of the Central Executive Committee considers it as the main task of the present session to exercise merciless and thoro- going self-criticism. ‘(he present leadership would not deserve to be recognized by the overwhelming majority of the best proletarian ele- ments in the Party as the leadership of the Party, and the Party would not be able to develop into a real Bolshevik Party, if the Cen- tral Executive Committee Plenum were to shrink from the fulfillment of the task of self-criticism. MANIFESTATIONS OF THE RIGHT DANGER The Right Danger in the Workers (Communist) Party of America since the last Party Convention has manifested itself in numerous forms. The most important features of the Right Danger are the following: / 1, Pacifism and under-estimation of the war danger. This is the most dangerous manifestation of the Right Danger. ‘The Party has not shown sufficient energy in fighting American imperialism. This shortcoming has already been pointed out by the theses of the Sixth World Congress. The C. E. C. did not sufficiently concentrate the at- tention of the whole Party on the war danger and did not sufficiently put into the center of the activities of the Party the struggle against imperialist war. There is insufficient contact between our Party and the Communist Parties of the Latin American countries and Canada. A lack of internationalism manifests itself in certain sections of the Party. Pacifist errors were committed by some of the leading com- rades, such as issuing the slogan: “Stop the Flow of Blood in Nicara- gua” (Gomez); “We welcome our boys of the fleet, but don’t shoot the Nicaraguans” (California D.E.C.); the slogan: “Against building more cruisers” (Bittelman instruction). An excess of emphasis on petty-bourgeois liberals in our anti-imperialist work; and underesti- mation of working class elements. 2. Wrong attitude toward the socialist party, as exemplified in the open letter by the Central Executive Committee to the national executive committee of the socialist party, and by the Panken case. Insufficiently sharp attack on the socialist party. The supposition of the existence of a left wing in the socialist party. Insufficient recog- nition of the transformation of the Socialist porty of America into a petty-bourgeois organization. The united front offer to the socialist party officials of Reading (Philadelphia district; approved by Bittle- man). Attempt to support some socialist party candidates in Mil- waukee (Sub-district Organizer Sklar). The May Plenum of the Cen- tral Executive Committee already exercised self-criticism in regard to these mistakes. The Sixth World Congress justly criticised the wrong attitude of our Party toward the socialist party. The Central Executive Committee was only recently forced to condemn an open letter to the state leadership of the California socialist party by the California District Executive Committee and District Organizer of our Party during the election campaign. The symposium, inviting representatives of the socialist party and other bourgeois parties for a discussion on our platform (Women’s Committee, New York). 3. Wrong attitude toward the Labor Party. A tendency on the part of some comrades to substitute the Labor Party for the Com- munist Party, or a failure to maintain the independent role of the Communist Party within the Labor Party movement. Typical ex- pressions of this right error: The article in the Daily Worker “The Labor Party is the only hope of tha Working Class”; the resistance of the Opposition comrades in Minnesota (most of them expelled since, because of their going over to Trotskyism) to fight Senator Shipstead as an enemy of the working class, their attempt to place Labor Party discipline over Communist Party discipline, to consider , the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party a class party of the working class; the article by Comrade Raymond saying that we should fight for the Workers Party until a Labor Party is organized; the proposal to organize Labor Party clubs based on individual membership (Bit- telman). Also, the February thesis of the Central Executive Com- mittee Plenum had unclear formulations regarding the relations of the Communist Party to the Labor Party. 4. Insufficient energy in organizing the unorganized. The February and May Plenums have already criticized the slowness of the Party in entering into the mining campaign. The Sixth World Congress of the Comintern also criticized the Party’s lack of energy in this respect. There is a certain remnant of craft ideology and prac- tices among comrades in the needle trades. A certain amount of hesi- tation showed itself in the organization of the new textile union. There is a lack of emphasis on political issues in the various strike movements. Resistance against using the words “class struggle” in the preambles of the newly organized unions (Swabeck and Foster, Weisbord and Jakira—Comrade Jakira admitted this error immedi- ately and Foster and Weisbord at the December, 1928, Plenum). 5. Underestimation of the Negro Work. The Central Executive Committee did not lay enough emphasis on the importance of Negro work. In many sections of the Party there is a. serious underestima- tion of the significance of the work among the Negroes. There are dangerous remnants of white chauvinism in our ranks, as manifested in Detroit and in California, and as it is strongly represented in cer- tain Party units in the South. Insufficient attention by the Party fraction in putting forward prominently Negro miners at the Save- the-Union Conference in Pittsburgh. Sometimes there is a nihilistic attitude toward the race aspects of the Negro question. 6. Lack of faith in the Party. On the part of some members of the Party there is a wrong estimation of the role of the Party, a certain belittling of the activities of the Party, an attitude of skepti- cism and cynicism, a conception that the Party is a brake on the rev- olutionary activities of the masses. There is a strong feeling among opportunist elements against the Party assuming leadership in mass organizations (attitude of Sulkanen and Askeli in the Finnish Work- ers’ Clubs). Resistance to showing the face of the Party in mass organizations (attitude of Comrade Moore in the American Negro Labor Congress). A pessimistic view of the last election campaign. The restriction of the activities of the Party to mere propaganda (article by Com. Scott Nearing in the “Communist,” “The Political Outlook for the Workers (Communist) Party”). 7. Bureaucratism and insufficient proletarianization. Insufficient emphasis on drawing into the leadership, into all Party subdivisions, proletarian elements from the factories. The Sixth World Congress has already criticized this shortcoming of the Party. Comrade Molo- tov in his report about the Sixth World Congress to the Leningrad Party organization also pointed out the necessity of a change in this respect. He said: “Even the Communist Party of such a country as the United States suffers greatly from this drawback. The Congress drew special attention to the necessity of a decided change in the American Communist Party on this point, advising that every effort be made ‘to promote workers to the leading positions in the Party.’” The declaration of the Party delegation to the World Congress and the declaration of the Political Committee on the decisions of the Communist International regarding the American question acknowl- edged the shortcomings of the Party in this respect, 8. Capitulrtion hbefe~e difficulties. A certain tendency on the part of some of the needle trades comrades (Chicago, Boston, New York) to give up the fight in the face of the strength of the enemy. LA The failure of the District Committee of California to put the Party on the ballot, to make a serious attempt to collect the necessary sig- natures, and their retreat in the face of the difficulties confronting them in this task. The non-Communistic, unauthorized circular to collect signatures in the election campaign on an unprincipled basis on the line of the least resistance (Codkind). Attitude of opposition in the cooperative (Costrell). Tendency to producers’ cooperatives in place of struggle in the unions. 9. Leg: Failure to e fake capitalist democracy. Ilu- sions about election of Commu officials on local scale. Policy aca of guilty by the participants in the Washington anti-imperialist demonstration last spring (Gomez). The use of injunction in a labor dispute (secretariat of Boston district). Such expressions as used in the Central Executive Committee statement ed by the anti-im- perialist department as “The Colombia strik struggle to uphold the law of the land” (Bittelman). 10. Non-Marxian ideology. There is a general carelessness in the whole Party literature, Party press, deviating many times from the precise expressions of Marxian, Leninist ideology. In many sec- tions of the Party there is a general neglect of, even contempt for, theory. Some of the Negro comrades lay too much emphasis on the work in the Negro churches. Non-Communist illusions about “left” churches and adherance to them (Moore). 11. Resistance to shop nuclei. There is a lack of emphasis on shop nuclei, insufficient concentration on factories (especially in the California di ict, where there do not exist any shop nuclei and where there is not a single shop paper; in Connecticut, where there was manifested a certain resistance to the formation of shop nuclei under the pretext that the “workers are not ripe for that;” in Buffalo, where there is resistance to shop nuclei because of fear of persecution). Underestimation of the importance of Party fraction in non-Party workers’ organizations (weakness of trade union fraction apparatus, weakness of fyovticn work in the Negro Labor Congress, in the I.L.D., in the W.LR., ete.) Too much emphasis on: the organization of house- wives instead of working women in the women’s’ work. Manifold rem- nants of the language federation ideology. 12, Underestimation of the Youth. There is a manifestation of the lack of understanding of the significance of the young workers in the struggles of the Party. This is a dangerous error, especially in in the face of the growing war danger and of the increasing impor- tance of the youth in the basic idustries. 13. Wrong attitude toward the Communist International. This is one of the worst manifestations, in certain respects a summing-up of all right-wing dangers in our Par On the part of some comrades there is a tendency to accept the Communist International decisions only with reservations (Foster-Bittelman Opposition). The tendency to attack the leadership of the Communist International as a right wing leadership, to attack the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, to speculate on alleged dif- ferences within the leading group of the Russian Party, undermining thereby the prestige of the leadership of the Communist International (Cannon). The substitution for the Leninist eoncention-of the Com- munist Party the theory of permanent factionalism, disregarding openly or covertly all instructions of the Comintern. These numerous manifestations of the ight Danger in the American Party show clearly that: the hf*Danger is today the main danger for our Party, and that the Right Danger in America is especially great because our Party has not yet gone through a real revolutionary situation and has not gained sufficient revolutionary experiences. But we can feel confident—on the basis of our experi- ences, of our mistakes, during the attack of the government in 1919- 1920, when the Party was driven underground—that the core of the Party and its leadership.is sound and will, with the help of the Com- intern, combat successfully and exterminate from our ranks the Right Danger. The serious menace of the Right Danger necessitates a sincere struggle against it. Therefore, any tolerance or conciliatory attitude towards the Right Danger is impermissible and constitutes an obstacle. in successfully combatting it, The Central Executive Committee Plenum emphasizes not only the necessity of fighting actively against the Right danger, but also the need of exposing even the slightest inclination or tendencies of tolerance toward it. THE MENACE OF TROTSKYISM The crystallization of a Trotskyist group in’ the ranks of our Party constitutes a great menace to the Communist movement. The Central Executive Committee Plenum’ endorses the appeal of the Communist International which called upon the Central Executive Committee in its cable of November 30 “to mobilize the whole Party against Trotskyism.’ The recurrence of Trotskyism, under the lead- ership of Cannon, in the Party, is all the more dangerous, because there are certain factors in the objective conditions of the country and of the working class and in the situation in our Party which make the growth of Trotskyism possible. The strength of American imperialism, the contradictions of the simultaneous development of reformism and the radicalization of certain sections of the working class tend to create confusion in some sections of our Party. The uneven tempo of the radicalization of the unskilled masses simulta- neously with the shifting of the labor aristocracy to the right; divi- sions within the working class (organized and unorganized, foreign- born and native, skilled and unskilled, etc.) find expression in differ- ences of opinion and serve as a basis for groupings within our Party. Factionalism shows a tendency to perpetuate itself and to become fertile soil for Trotskyism, The Party is at a turning point in its life. It is in the process of transition from a mere propaganda organization to a political partf of action and of leadership in working-class mass activities, Some sections of the Party have been unable to adapt themselves to this turn. The growing attacks against our Party, the united front of the government, the Ku Klux Klan, the American Legion, and reactionary labor officials and socialist party against the Commungsts have had the effect of filling some members of the Party with pessimism, of making them capitulate before the growing forces of reaction. A wrong estimation of the international role of the Soviet Union, the growing pressure of the imperialist powers against the sole working class state, has also had its effects on some sections of the working class in the form of a retreat before this pressure. On the basis of the contradictions and difficulties of the situation, certain former members of the Party have lost faith in the Party's capacity to lead, have developed a wrong attitude denying the leading role of the Party in mass organizations, have developed an erroneous attitude towards the Communist International, challenging the cor- rectness of the Comintern, slandering the leadership of the Communist International as a Right wing leadership, and speculating on the alleged differences in the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Internationally, in the Comintern in the leading parties of Europe and in the Soviet Union, Trotskyism has been definitely defeated, but in the American Party Trotskyism is now a growing menace. The Trotskyist outbreak in our Party creates a grave situation for our movement. The renegade Cannon group is concentrating all its energies to bring about a split in our Party. The Cannon group is trying to crystallize its organization throughout the country. The Trotskyist, renegade Cannon has succeeded in splitting away substan- tial sections of the Party opposition. A number of the members of the Central Executive Committee have joined Cannon. In the Minne- sota District the V. R. Dunne-Skoglund group has come out for Trotskyism. In Chicago a group of Party members, headed by Arne Swabeck, has openly embraced Trotskyism. In the Boston District the Trotskyites have now banded themselves into an “independent Communist League” of Dr. Konikov, publishing an openly counter- revolutionary Trotskyist sheet against the Party. In New York, Cleveland, Kansas and in other districts, Trotskyism has also suc- ceeded in recruiting adherents in the ranks of the Party Opposition. An important section of the Opposition among the Finnish members of the Party, under the leadership of Sulkanen and Askeli, accepted the Trotskyist platform, and is now fighting the Party in all non- Party organizations. Many Trotskyist elements, who belong to the Cannon group, are still inside our Party, following the ta¢tics of bor- 4 r MOBILIZATION OF THE PARTY F OR THE STRUGGLE , AGAINST THE RIGHT DANGER AND TROTSKYISM Page Three. 3 ing from within, trying to undermine the pres of the Central Executive Committee and faith in the Communist I ational. There is at the same time an increasing cooperation and unification among 1 the Trotskyist anti-Party forces outside the Party. Lore and Cannon, | Cannon and Eastman are now wor! together. The Militant, the Volkszeitung, the Hungarian Trotskyist organ of the expelled, inve- terate social democratic Baski, Calverton’s Modern Quarter Konié kow’s Bulletin in Boston, the sh daily paper, the syndicalist I.W.W. paper Industrialist, are the organs of the joint Trotskyist gang. Unquestionably, there will soon be a veritable unifying common center of all Trotskyist anti-Pa elements inthe country. F Trotskyism is a growing menace. The likelihood of a conce: : trated attack against our P: of capitalism will, be exploited by the Trots heir onslaught againgt,; the Communist Party. The Right dang within our Party is aggrac vated by the existence of these Trotskyist, inverted Menshevik, coun- | ter-revolutionary forces in the neighborhood of our Party. The Party membership as a whole must resist the Trotskyist menace. To minimize the danger of Trotskyasm is to play into the’ hands of the Trotskyit Every Communist must rally to the une ; reserved suppout of the Party afd t in order to deliver tern, a dec ive blow to the suppor CHARACTER OF THE Trotskyism as a real m last stages of its development. F terized by Lenin as Right deeds covered I AMERICAN BRAND OF TROTSKYISM { But in the course of its evolution Trotskyism has covered i nd less with left: phrases and has shown ever clearer ¢ core. Com- rade Stalin, at the October, 1927, Plen an of the Central Committee and the Central Control Com the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, clearly characterized this evaluation of Trotskyism: “From Trotskyism to ‘Menshevism’ is the fundamental ques- » tion of degeneration—that is the way of last three years “The Trotskyites haye ch And in his concluding speec Communist Party of the Sovii the Trotskyites in the anged at the Fifteenth Union, Comrade alin furt “Comrade Rakoysky maintains that the opposition is he Left wing of our Party. This would make a cat laugh. Such state- . ments are evidently made to salve the co ce of political bank- rupts. It has keen proven that the opposition is a Menshevik wing of our Party, that the opposition has degenerated into Menshe- vism, that the opposition has been obj ed into an instrument of bourgeois elements.” At the same Congress, “The arguments that an ultra-Left to the left of us, and of which Trotsky is exceedingly wrong.” Then the Ninth Plenum of the ism in the following way: tively ¢ Comrade Bukhi aid: Se Abeer fs exists that stands Comint 5 “The Trotsky opposition has in all ba ‘ | to the viewpoint of the ‘left’ lackeys of op ism and has taken 3 on an open counter-revoluti The Trotskyites, : who, under the cover of ph to the revolution i and the Soviet Union, slander the nal, the a Communist Party Soviet Union, and the ship, 3 y ng and z distorted fashion as the social den ta together : with the international social democra over- throw of the Soviet: Union.” } “All the worst elements of the wo s movement, the openly opportunistic elements of the Comn t ment, all the little groups of renegades, that were thrown out of the ranks ; of the Comintern, now rally around the Trotskyist platform of the fight against the Soviet Union, against the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and against the Comintern, and play the t role of the lowest tools of the international social democracy against the Communists in their’ struggle to penetrate the broad masses of the working class.” .. Finally the Sixth World Cong: tional thus estimated Trotskyism: “The Trotsky group has degene Menshevism in its attitude on program, p tion questions and has, objectively, become transfor organ of struggle against the Soviet power “The Congress considers it superfluous to discuss with ene- mies of the Comintern the counter-revolutiona: ical con- tent of the Trotsk: the C Interna- mmunist platform, after the combi membership of all Communist Parties has repeatedly and most phatically rejected the standponit of the oppositic In his last speech before the November Plc f the Central Committee of the Communist. Party of the Soviet Comrade! Stalin characterized the Trotskyites as they lay in the Soviet Union in the following fashion: “The ‘left’ deviation is the shadow of the right Lenin said—he had the Otsovists in mind—that the also Mensheviks, only inverted Mensheviks. That is entirely cor- rect, The same must also be said of the present-day ‘Lefts.’ *Reople who incline to Trotskyism, are likewise Rights, only in- "9? Yerted Rights, who clothe themselves in left phrases.” Trotskyism is inverted Menshevism. The Trotskyites are in- verted Rights. The Trotsk brand of “Left” deviation is the shadow of the Right deviation. In its essence it is nothing but a Right op-" portunistic deviation, which has the same social roots as outright> opportunism. Both have as their social basis the petty bourgeois and? the labor aristocracy. is Trotskyism, in the history of the Russian Party, appeared as a more or less open ally of Menshevism under the mask of “left” phrases. In some of the Communist Parties, such as Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union, Trotskyism attracted the adherents of some, ultra-Leftist groups, like Ruth Fischer, Bordiga, and the remnants of the “Workers Opposition.” But a: tskyism developed, as the~ Trotskyites changed, the Trotskyist platform became more and more the rallying center of the worst elements of the working class move- ment, of all openly opportunistic elements within the Communist Parties, and the various groups of renegades outside the ranks of the Comintern. Trotskyism degenrated first to the standpoint of { social democracy, and then objectively became an organ of the open counter-revolutionary struggle against the Soviet power, the rankest © tool of the social democracy, the instrument of a split of the Com- munist International. In America Trotskyism, despite all its left phrases, and mouthing of radical phraseology, never rallied any support from the left. Only the worst, most opportunis elements in the Party and in the labor movement went over to the camp of Trotskyism. Lore was condemned by the Fifth Congress and the Fifth Plenum of the Comintern as a 2% Internationalist, and was unanimously ex i by the Fourth Convention of our Party as a inveterate opportunist; Salutsky, the mercenary of trade-union gangsterism; n, who openly puts forward the theory of the revision of Marx and who once supported Woodrow Wilson’s imperialist war policies; demned by the Fourth Convention of our Party ight errors; Sulkanen, for years the veritable symbol of the rankest opportunism among the Finnish comrades; Cannon, who resisted the expulsion of Salutsky, brought Eastman into the Party and proposed the expulsion of five thousand Left workers from the Party, e they would not immediately accept the proposals of the Centr xecutive Com- mittee for the organization of an open party, the same “left” Cannon who was censured by the Fifth Congress of the Comintern, together with Hathaway, because “they failed to maintain the Communist position”; V. R. Dunne, Skoglung, and Hoeglund, Minneapolis, who have been guilty of the worst opportunistic errors in our Party, placing Labor Party discipline above Communist Party discipline, who resisted the line of the Central Executive Committee of fighting the betrayal of Shipstead; Arne Swabeck who openly. confessed that in the Chigao united front maneuvers he followed the leadership of the officials of the Fitzpatrick A. F. of L. group, who already in August, 1926, stated that the Russian Revoultion had ceased to be a source of inspiration for the American labor movement. These are the “left” heroes of the Trotskyist group in the United States. Not one among them in their past ever was guilty of even using left phrases. It is now the first time in their activities in the labor movement that they are trying to cover their ugly right wing naked- ness with some rags of left phrases of Trotskyism. All these leading elements of the Trotskyist Cannon-Eastman-Lore group are opportu- Continued on Page Four ——— | ‘ s \