The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 25, 1928, Page 5

rt METRE RIN 3 DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 192: Continued from Preceding .Page of union leaders, (e) resistance to bringin gthe T. U. E. L. forward in a leadin grole. __ In building the needle trades union many extreme right tenden- cies, supported by the C. E. C. have been developed. Among them are, (a) failure to definitely begin to build new unions right after Boston convention, (b) policy of building new unions on craft basis, opposi- tion to amalgamation, (c) class collaboration tendencies, policy to help the employers to organize their associations, (d) failure to es- tablish shop delegate system in new unions, (e) illusions about unity with A. F. of L., failure to split definitely with I. L. G. W. and failure to fight Schlessinger’s “peace” proposals, (f) opportunist united fronts, (g) failure to build Party, (h) no organized youth and women’s work, (i) extreme bureaucratic tendencies, (j) liquidia- tion of T. U. E. L., (k) abandonment of fight in Capmakers and A C. 'W., Journeymen ailors, and U. G. W. These right errors enor- mously handicap the building of the new union and the development of an effective struggle for the economic demands of the workers. In the other industries nothing has been done on the work of organization. The campaigns in the automobile, rubber, and shoe indusrties have been dropped. That in the packing industry has not even been started. Little support is given the movement for a new union of Marine Transport workers. In the old trade unions the work has been practically aban- donned. Party fractions and T. U. E. L. groups have been almost entirely liquidated, many Party members have quit the old unions. Inactivity in the old unions was exemplified by the recent convention of the Illinois Federation of Labor, where for the first time in its history no left wing delegates were in evidence, no left wing delegates to the A, F. of L. convention. Similar conditions exist throughout the old trade union movement. The present policy of the C. E. C. consti- tutes a surrender of the old unions to the Green-Woll clique, which is contrary to the line of the Comintern and Profintern. TRADE UNION TASKS OF THE PARTY. A. The trade union work of the Party must be based primarily upon the great masses of unskilled and semi-skilled, the most sharply exploited section of the working class, without, however, neglecting the skilled workers. We must unite the exploitd and discontented masses in increasingly revolutionary struggles, under the general leadership of our Party, not only against individual evils of capital- ism, but also to abolish the capitalist system itself. Our immediate struggle must be conducted under slogans of against wage cuts, against the speed-up, and capitalist rationalization, against class collaboration, for defense of the Soviet Union, unifying these around the struggle against the growing war danger. In all our trade union work we must especially expose the militaristic and imperialistic role of the treacherous labor agents of American capitalism. B. The central task confronting our Party is the organization of the unorganized, which has been repeatedly stressed by the Com- intern and Profintern. Experience with the new, industrial unions in the mining, textile aad needle industries demonstrates that this will have to be accomplished in the face of violent resistance—united attacks by the government, the employers, the union bureaucrats, and the socialist party. Hence, a first condition for success is that our Party aettack this central problem with Communist firmness and de- cision. The present C. E. C. diletantism, fatal to our success, must be liquidated at once. C, Elementary requirements for success in organizing the un- organized are (a) systematic building of Party nuclei in key and basic industries, steel, meat packing, electrical manufacturing, etc. To lay preliminary basis for trade union organization and to give the Party a real foundation in the industries—the present anarchic system of Party organization work must be abolished, (b) thorough- going construction of Party fractions in all labor unions. For this purpose a campaign of fraction building*shall be initiated on all fronts, Party members must be required to join the unions in their trades or industries, The national fraction apparatus shall be strength- ened, (c) build the T. U. E. L, The T. U. E. L. shall begin prepara- tions for a national conference which shall have as its central task the organization of the unorganized, and to mobilize the masses against the war danger and capitalist rationalization. The national conference shall be preceeded by the building of local groups and conferences in all important centers, which shall begin immediately after the Party Convention. Unorganized workers shall be drawn into all these groups and conferences. The T. U. E. L., in accordance with Profintern decisions, shal] develop its special departments and activi- ties; international, Negro, women, youth and education, Labor Unity muSt be made a weekly. In the general program of Party Negro work great emphasis must be laid upon the development of a program of Negro trade union work. D. The T. U. E. L, shall appear openly as the left wing organ for the organization of the unorganized. It has been a serious mistake not to have brought the T. U. E. L. forward under its own name, in the mining, textile, and needle industries in the struggles of these workers and the organization of the new unions. It was not sufficient to leave to such left wing formations as the Save-the-Union Commit- tes, Progressive Committees, Textile Mill Committees, the entire open initiative in the struggles in the old unions and for the estab- lishment of the new unions, The National T. U. E. L. should have been itself directly active in the struggle. Campaigns of organization shall be worked out in the various industries, ranging from preliminary nuclei building to the formation of shop committees and unions. The campaign to build the new, in- distrial unions in the rubber, auto, meat packing, and shoe industries shall be revived. In the railroad industry, our orientation must be upon the perspective of an eventual formation of a new, industrial union. All available resources shall be thrown into the campaigns in the mining, textile, and needle industries. To build the National Miners Union is the major industrial task of the Party, and must be given maximum support, The organization work in all industries must center around and be based upon an active struggle to defend the workers’ interest in the industries. Our campaigns in the various industries must also be developed so as to begin organization work in the South, now being industrialized. E. In the old trade unions our Party work shall be revived and extended. We must fight to shatter the control of the labor agents of American imperialism, and to win the masses for a policy of class struggle. The expressmen’s strike, the Lynn shoe strike, etc., are evidence of discontent in these unions. In craft unions in industries where we have no new unions (printing, building, ete.) our policy shall be as established; for amalgamation, organization of the unorganized, for a Labor Party, against clas. collaboration, and for the general revolutionizing of these unions. F, In industries where old unions and new, industrial unions exist side by side our policy shall be as follows: first, the building of secret or open locals of the new union, (sometimes because of col- laboration between the old unions and the bosses, members of the new union will have to continue to pay their dues in the old union until these can be destroyed as factors in the situation); second, the organization of T. U. E, L. left wings in the old unions. The organization of locals of the new unions shall be undertaken under all circumstances, The organization of T. U. EB. L. left wings in the locals of the old unions shall be undertaken in all locals which have substantial rank and file support, and which offer possibilities for the development of opposition movements against the bureaucracy. In these old unions, we shall persistently and skillfully direct the work of the left wing towards building the new unions by drawing to them the masses of organized in the old unions by a process of splits, amalgamations, and by direct recruiting efforts in the old unions. G. The formation of the new, industrial unions requires their co-ordination with the T..U. E. L. This problem shall be solved along the following lines: (a) the T. U. E. L., the R. I. L. U. center in the U. S., shall gpenly direct the general work of organizing the unor- ganized. In industries where new unions have been formed the or- ganization work shall be the immediate task of these unions. (b) The T. U. E. L. shall build and direct left wings in all mass unions ex- cepting those which are affiliated to the R, I. L. U. and follow the general lead of our Party, or which although not formally affiliated we contro] through our Party fractions and the union apparatus. However, it may become necessary to build T. U. E, L. left wing groupings, national or local also in these unions, in order to insure the carrying out of the R. I. L. U. line in these unions. This question 4 should be decided in each instance. H. The emergence of three new industrial unions and our gen- eral line for concentrating on the organization of the unorganized opens the nerspective “or the evon'~al evvsteliization of a new in- dustrial union center. The T. U. E,'L., which is at present function- ing as the center of militant industrial unionism, the R. I. L. U center in the U. S., therefore, must assume the functions of co-ordinating and directing the activities of the new industrial unions, In order to achieve this, end the following measures must be carried out. * 1, The executive committees of the new unions shall be urged to decide in favor of fraternal affiliation to the R. I. L. U. and to its American section, the T. U. E. L, The National Executive Committee shall initiate an agitation campaign in favor of fraternal affiliation, this proposal to be submitted to the coming conventions for action. 2. They shall send representatives to the national committee of the-T. U. E. L. 8. They shall participate in the forthcoming national confer- ence of the T. U. E. L. ‘ 4, The locals of the new unions shall affiliate directly to the local committees and groupings of the T. U. E. L, 5. In addition to the above it may also be necessary for special purposes to hold periodic conferences of the representatives of the new unions and the T. U. E. L. 6. The Needle Trades union shall now affiliate fully with the R.1.L. U. 7. In the new unions, a consistent propaganda shall be carried on, on the basis of the decision of the N.E.C.’s popularizing the activi- ties of the R, I. L. U, fourth congress, and the T. U. E. L, in order -to strengthen R. I. L. U, influence and to secure complete affiliation to the R. I. L. U. at the opportune time, 5. FOR THE NEW LINE IN NEGRO WORK. The long-standing social, economic, and political oppression of the Negroes has always made this section of the population a huge potential revolutionary factor in the United States. But especially in the present period our Party has greatly increased opportunities to establish itself as a leading force among the Negro masses. Briefly these increased opportunities are due to: 1. Maturing of | the inner and outer contradictions of American imperialism, which | are causing a leftward drift among the masses generally, Negro and | White. 2. The heavy proletarianization of tens of thousands of Negroes | as a result of the migration of Negroes into both northern and southern industrial centers. 8. The rapid industrialization of the South, with the resulting further proletarianization of thousands of Negroes. 4, The mechanization of southern agriculture which must result in a further worsening of the already unbearable conditions for the great mass of the agricultural laborers, tenant and poor farmers. 5. The increasing activization of the Negro masses as indi- cated by their active participation in recent strikes (miners), tneir development of racial and national movements (Garvey movement), and by their increased interest in the past election campaign (espe- cially in the increased support which they gave to our Party. 6. The exposure of the republican party in the South as a “lilly-white party,” with the resulting disillusionment of the Negroes and 7. The streng tendency on the part of the Negroes to break away from the repub- lican party (increased use of cur campaign publicity by the Negro press, support of Smith by the “Messenger,” Garvey, Pickens, and | others from the N. A. A. C. P., etc.), | All this foment among the Negroes must be utilized to intensify | our work on the basis of the new and correct line. Our Party will then be able to gain its first real successes in Negro work. THE NEW AND CORRECT COMINTERN LINE FOR OUR PARTY. | In order to make full use of these opportunities the Party must | clearly recognize that the Negro question in the United States con- | tinuously tends to acquire more and more the characteristics of a National Question. This development is due, a) to the slaye background of the Ne- groes and to the social, economic and political relations arising out | of slavery; b) the polic yof American imperialism to attempt too | force a strike-breaking role upon the Negroes by systematic discrim- ination against them in the industries, the trade unions, etc., to the continued practice of lynching, Jim Crowism, segregation, and the innumerable other forms of persecution and inequality; ¢) the con- centration of a large portion of the Negro population in the “Black Belt” of the South, where in many section they are a large majority | of the population; d) the semi-feudal relations remaining in South- ern agriculture (peonage, share cropping, landlord supervision of marketing, ete.) ; e) the growing tendencies on the part of the Negro bourgeoisie, petty-bourgeoisie, and intellegentsia to further national- ism by means of proposals for racial solidarity, consciousness, culture, business, chools, corporations, ete., in furtherance of their own material clas interests; f) “Back to Africa” movement (Garvey); g) the grow- ing struggle of the Negro race throughout the world against imperi- alism and for national independence. All of these factors taken together lay the basis for the develop- ment on one hand of a growing lack of confidence on the part of | ever larger sections of the Negro masses in the possibility of ever | securing full social, economic and political equality from the whites | (including the white workers) in the United States. And on the other hand these same factors will to an increasing extent lead to the development of great national liberation movements among the Ne- | groes and will stimulate the now more or less latent desire of the Negroes to separate themselves from the whites and set up hteir own | Negro state. \ | The ideological and organizational leadership of these genuine nationalist movements now rests primarily in the hands of the Negro petty-bourgeoisie. But the petty-bourgeoisie, who protest against white oppression, and who will at times support the revolutionary nation- alist movements of the workers and poor farmers, cannot lead this | movement itself. i The national liberation movement of the Negroes can succeed | only as part of the proletarian revolution in America. Hence. the | Negro proletariat must struggle to assume leadership in these move- ments carrying on the struggle hand in hand with the white working | class of the United States against American capitalism. The Negro question in the United States must be considered in its relationship to the struggle of the Negro race, against imperialism (American, English, French, ete.) throughout the world. The Negro race everywhere (U. S. A., Africa, South America) is a race oppressed by imperialism. Thus a common interest tends to bind together (the struggle of the Negroes throughout the world. It must be the aim and purpose of our Party to aid in developing a revolutionary national liberation movement in the U. S. A., under Negro proletarian leadership, which can become the vanguard of the Negro struggle against imperialism on a world scale, | This represents a new approach to the whole Negro question, | and in conformity with this new approach, our Party, while continu- | ing to fight sharply and continuously for full social, economic, and political equality for the Negroes in the United States, must clearly put forth the slogan of “the right of self determination for the Ne- groes,” even to the point of permitting them to set up a government of their own if they so desire. We must prove our sincerity in our work by constantly fighting against the prevailing chauvinism among the whites, especially among the white workers, and we must draw the white workers and poor farmers actively and aggressively into the struggle for the demands of the Negroes, We must carry on at all times an educational cam- paign for international class solidarity. We must educate the white |workers and poor farmers to the understanding that they can liberate themselves from the yoke of capitalism, only by actively supporting | the revolutionary liberation movements of all races and nations op- | pressed by U. S. imperialism. Our Party must carry on educational work emphasizing the right of the Negroes to separate from the whites and set up their own gov- ernment; whereas our Negro comrades must fight against all bour- geois segregation tendencies, urge the necessity of the “voluntary union” (Lenin), of the cooperation of the Negroes with the white proletariat in their joint revolutionary struggle against imperialism. This is the new line which our Party must carry out in con- | formity with the thesis on the national and colonial question drafted | by Lenin and adopted by the second Congress of the Comintern, and the decision of the Sixth World Congress. THE WRONG LINE OF THE PARTY. The line of our Party on Negro work has been fundamentally a Right Wing line. This is proven by the following facts: 1. Complete indifference to and underestimation of Negro work, failure to build the A. N. L. C., failure to utilize Negro comrades for Party work, or to draw white comrades into Negro work, failure to send organizers into the Negro industrial centers or into the South, failure of our fractions in non-party organizations (T. U. E. L., I. L. D., Trade Unions, etc.), to develop Negro work. Irregular publication of the Negro Champion, failure to participate in the Pullman porters’ strike movement, etc. 2) Failure to fight against white chauvinism among the workers generally and in our own Party (May 1st conference in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Gary, St. Paul, ete.), failure to draw the white workers actively in the struggle in behalf of the Negro masses. 3) Tendency to place main emphasis on work in the existing Negro bour- geois and petty-bourgeois organizations, instead of putting main emphasis on the Negro industrial proletariat, the agricultural labor- ers, the Negro farmers of the south. 4) Failure to see the Negro question in the United States as a racial national question. The theory that the southern Negroes constitute a “reactionary mass,” that only the proletarianization of this mass will bring them into struggle against imperialism, ete. (Lovestone), the opposition of leading com- rades of the Party (Wolfe, Kruse, Reeves) and leading comrades of the Y. W. L. (Darcy, Zam, Kaplan) to the whole new orientation on Negro work formulated by the Sixth World Congress of the Comin- tern. 5) Underestimation of the importance of struggle against lynch- ing, Jim Crowism, etc. 6) Comrade Pepper's persistance in urging the “Negro Communist should emphasize in their provaganda the estab- | lishment of a Negro Soviet Republic,” instead of the correct line that the Negro Communists should emphasize the need of cooperation and joint struggle of the oppressed masses—black and white—against American imperielism, 7) The theorv, (in effect white supremacy theory) prevalent among our comrades in the thought that if you win the white you win the Negro, with the resulting tendency to form separate Negro Party nuclei, opposition to the formation of Party nuclei to include all workers, white and black, tendency to ignore the Negro question, in Party propaganda, meetings, etc. THE CONCRETE TASKS OF THE PARTY. Ajl these fundamental errors and basically wrong conceptions on Negro work must be completely discarded as a prerecuisite of an eifective application of the new line on Neero wor" in the U. S. | A, In our work it must be our aim to not only develop the na- » tional revolutionary struggle in the United States into the stream of the proletarian revolutionary struggle, but we must have as one of our chief aims the task of organizing the American Negroes into our Party and developing them as the vanguard of the Negro struggle throughout the world against imperialism. B. In order to accomplish this it is necessary to clearly recog- nize the sharp clash differentiation which has taken place among the Negro and to base ourselves primarily upon the two million industrial proletarians. It is these workers, who, under the direction of our Party, must struggle for the hegemony of all Negro liberation move- ments and who must be made to play a more decisive role in the class struggle against American imperialism as a basic and important part of the American working class. Every effort must be made to organize these workers into our Party and into trade unions, and to lead them in their struggle against war danger, wage cuts, speed-up, race discrimination, etc. The Negro agricultural laborers and tenant farmers, ho’ ever, cannot be looked upon as a “reactionary mass,” as they a characterized by Comrade Lovestone, but on the contrary our Party must recognize that it is precisely they who are subjected to the most pressure from white persecution and exploitation and that therefore their objective position facilitates our activity for their transform- ation into a revolutionary force which, under the leadership of the proletariat, will be able to participate in the struggle of all other workers against imperialism. The winning of the Negro masses must be done primarily in the South. Here the greatest number live and here the persecution and exploitation is the greatest. Because of the position of the Negro there our Party in its work in the South must base itself primarily on the Negro and the struggle for their demands. Organizers must be sent into the South and organizations of both agricultural laborers and tenant farmers must be set up to fight for the economic, social, political and national demands of these rural work- ers and poor farmers, The drawing of Negroes into our Party in the South must be considered as a primary task. D. The struggle of and with the Negroes must henceforth be given great attention. on the basis of the general line worked out at the 6th World Congress of the Comintern and it must be closely linked up with all the other campaigns of the Party. In the election cam- paigns, trade union work, the campaigns for the organization of the unorganized, anti-imperialist work, etc., plans must be worked out designed to draw the Negroes into active participation in all of these campaigns. E. And especially must efforts be made to break down the chauvinism of the white workers and to draw them into aggressive struggles for full social, political an deconomie equality and for the right of national self determination for the Negroes, F. Every effort must be made to strengthen the American Ne- gro Labor Congress as a medium through which we can extend the work of the Party among the Negro masses, and mobilize the Negro workers under our leadership. The Negro Champion, which in the past has appeared very irregularly, must henceforth be published weekly. Preparations must be undertaken at once for the calling of a new broad congress of the A. N. L. C. G. The T. U. E. L. must pay greater attention to the organiz- ation of Negro workers and to the mobilization of the white workers in the trade unions to fight for the demands of the Negroes. It must become the chamnion of the interests of the Negroes in the old unions and it must take the lead in the organization of new unions for Negro * and white workers and where necessary for the Negro workers. The Party shall prepare a special program on Negro Trade Union work. Negro workers must be drawn into all the Party and left wing trade trade union apparatus and groupings. The Negro Trade union work must be coordinated with that of the International Negro Workers Labor Bureau, H. In the past too much emphasis has been placed on work in the Negro bourgeois and petty-bourgeois organizations (N. A. A. C. P., Pan African Congress, etc.) and practically none of the work- ers in the basic industries. In the future united front tactics must be used for the purpose of mobilizing the Negro masses and exposing the treacherous role of the petty-bourgeois leaders. I. Henceforth the emphasis in our Negro work must be placed on the Negro proletariat, the tenant farmers, and the white workers. J. In the Party’s program for women, youth, and agricultural workers, special attention shall be given to the Negroes. K. To advance this program, we must concentrate on the build- ing up of a substantial cadre of Negro Communist Party function- aries as a main immediate task. 6. FOR A BOLSHEVIK APPROACH TO THE AGRARIAN QUESTION The terrible condition of the farming masses is undeniable. Basic- ally resulting from the anarchy in the industry coincident to ana- chronistic forms of production lagging behind capitalist development as a whole under imperialism, the wide disproportion between prices on agricultural products and prices of industrial products, leads to the severe exploitation of the agricultural workers and the ever deeper improverishment of the small and tenant farmers. Mass misery is sharpened by total lack of class organization of the farm proletariat, 40 per cent. of the farm population. Close to this proletariat is the semi-proletariat, a mass of croppers, very poor and propertyless small tenants and those who work both as farm operators and industrial wage workers. This process of impoverishment, beginning about 1900, in spite of slight and temporary modification, remains the basic trend and constitutes, under imperialism, the permanent agrarian crisis. This crisis has been continually aggravated in the post war period by: (a) So-called over production, sharp competition on the world market and the application of modern technic to agriculture; (b) The steady displacement from U. S. export of food-stuffs and raw material by manufactures and semi-manufactures, and (c) The policy of the ruling class to “deflate” agriculture by forcing the farming masses into bankruptcy, further dependence upon the banks, and off the land into the ranks of the proletariat. Agrarian wage labor, always miserably paid, embracing at least 4,000,000 workers, lost most of its slight gains made during war years, and receives at most only about half the wage of industrial workers. Working unlimited hours under bitter conditions, with no class organi- zation, increasing mechanization disemploys them and adds to the migration to the cities, The semi-proletarian elements suffer equal and in some cases worse misery. Employing no labor, without any or with but few tools and animals, they drive themselves and their families to the hardest and most unremitting toil, only to lose, at the end, even their hopes of becoming petty-bourgeois farmers. They too join the migration to the cities, where they become part of the great army of permanent unemployed. This migration arises from a general lowering of the position of all the poor sections of the farming masses. Farm capital (farmer capitalist and middle farmer), greatly re- duced since the war, returns only’one-fourth the income rate of cor- poration capital, which is greatly increased since the war. Finance capital’s control of credit, taxation, tariff, trustified manufacture, transport and distributive industry, make a wall against agrarian capi- tal’s effort to better its income at the expense of capitalism as a whole. While big capital sometimes (Campbell and Ford) enters directly into agriculture with highly rationalized methods to exploit extensive tracts or small acreage intensively, the predominant method of the big bourgeoisie for extracting wealth from the farm population remains in the channels of banking control of mortgages and monopolized in- dustry upon which the farmer must depend for marketing his product ond securing machinery, etc. RE . But agrarian capital, fighting for its life, strengthening itself by attacking wage labor directly on the farms and making advances at the expense of its own lower strata, is increasingly mechanizing pro- duction, combining in corporations called “co-operatives,” demanding more tariff protection, credit favors, demanding an attack on the whole working class by establishment of an internal tariff on farm products (McNary-Haugen), and tending to form a bloe with big capi- tal against the whole proletariat and the poor farmers. The political expression of this tendency to form a bloc with big capital, appears clearly in the decadence of the farm bloc, which to- gether with the bodies known as “the farmers’ organizations” such as the American Farm Bureau And the National Grange ,in the last election abandoned their struggle as a separate group, gave up their demand for the “equalization fee,” (the proposition with which the capitalist farm politicians won the poor farmers into supporting the MeNary-Haugen Bill), and led their follo’ to the polls for Hoover, to a lesser degree, for Smith, dragging with them the deluded poor farmers. But on such alliance can solve the agrarian crisis, and any ameli- oration for the farmer capitalists is made at the expense of all lower farm strata, intensifying the class differentiation within the agrarian Feneiatien and attacking the whole proletariat. In other words, it loes not remove the internal conflict of agrarian economy, but does sharpen the underlying class struggle in capitalist society as a whole. Class Struggle on the Farms and the Partf’s Main Orientation. The Party has not yet made a thorough study of class divisions and relationships and struggles on the farms. For this reason the Party has no clear line on the question and tends to make serious Right errors in handling the agrarian question. This lack of analysis must be overcome in the shortest possible time. We must clearl ydistinguish between the following basic ele- " ments on the farm: (a) The farm bourgeoisie; (b) The farm petty- bourgeoisie consisting of the lower stratum of the independent middle farmer, plus the heavily mortgaged and explointed poor farmer; (c) The semi-proletarian elements ou ‘the farms—the poor tenant farmer, ¢ 7 Page Five the farmer who is part time wage worker, etc.; (d) The agricultural proletariat. The Pa main orientation must be upon organizing the agra- rian proletariat as part of the working class in the struggle against capitalism, organizing the semi-proletarian and lower sections of the * farming petty-bourgeoisie for economic and political struggles jointly with the agricultural proletariat against the farmer capitalist and big capital, for an alliance between the semi-proletarian and poor petty bourgeois elements and the working class against American Imperial- ism. In other words it must be the aim of our Party to develop and intensify the class struggle on the farms, economic and political, in accord with this main orientation. The successful-application of this general line demands the full knowledge of the highly important economic and social variations in various agrarian sestions of the country. A study of these concrete conditions in the grain section, cotton sections, fruit growing, tobacco growing, dairying, truck farming, and the highly intensified farming in the North East—all these variations must be taken into considera- tion in the application of the general line of the Party on the agrarian question. The crisis in agriculture produces a widespread unrest among the agricultural laborers and poor and tenant farmers. This expresses itself from time to time in various organized movements. The situ- ation offers a splendid opportunity for our Party to do effective work among these discontented elements. Even bourgeois economists are compelled to recognize this deep going discontent on the farms. Mead and Ostrolenk, in their late book “Harvey Baum a Study of the Agrarian Revolution,” declares: “On the American farm are materials for agrarian revolt such as are present nowhere else in the world.” Our Party haid failed to realize the extent of htis discontent and to take advantage of it to develop the class struggle among the agrarian population along correct Communist lines. Our main shortcoming was the tendency to base our orientation upon the friction between the agrarian bourgeoisie and big capital instead of upon the struggle of agrarian workers, the semi-proletarian elements and the lower strata of the petty bourgeoisie, against the farm bourgeoisie and against big capital. Such a wrong orienta- tion flowed directly from the view (Lovestone) stated clearly at the May 1928 Plenum that to the extent that the “backward agrarian masses” are driven off the farms and into the cities, can the Party get contact and do work among them. This view makes no differen- tiation inside the agrarian masses and refuses to enter the class struggle on the land itself. From this theoretical misconception follow several serious errors. In the 1926 Party Program, not only did we demand the “basic prop- ositions of the MeNary-Haugen Bill,” but we gave blanket endorse- ment “to other demands of the farmers’ organizations.” Then we demand the government give a half billion dollars to establish “Co-operative marketing organizations,” so-called, and thought we had covered this opportunism by adding that the administration of this fund should be with “the farmers’ organizations democratically organized and free from domination of capitalists,” as though the principal existing farm organizations, even though democratically organized, which they are not, are not capitalist to the core. In addition we also wrongly advocated the “nationalization of railroads, elevators, super-power industry, power trusts, etc.” and propos only a moratorium on farm debts instead of outright cancellation. In the election this year the opportunist error remains. By proving the republicans and democrats are bad because they did not give the “working and exploited farmers” the McNary-Haugen Bill, we declare our support of that bill. We repeat the opportunist proposals for measures of a “farm marketing nature” and increase the half billion asked in the 1926 Program to a whole billion. And we cover the whole mess by passing reference and a few kind word for the agricultural proletariat whom we continue to ignore as the leading force in the class struggle on the farm. The Farty has failed to deovelop a real agricultural program. It has gone along in the false belief that something was being done “for the farmer” in the United Farmers’ Educational League, when the most done was to send such right wing comrades to work in that organization that it varied from playing with Farmer-Labor parties to practical endorsement of the Republican Senator Norris. The minority proposes an end to this right wing line on the agrarian question and proposed as an outline of work the following: The Party’s Concrete Tasks, A. Immediate steps shall be taken to begin the organization of Party units on the farms. We must carry on a systematic and con- tinuous work of recruiting into the units of the Workers Communist Party the most conscious elements of the agrarian wage wrokers and semi-proletarian elements on the farms. B. Immediate steps to begin the organization of agrarian wage labor most accessible and organizable into a new trade union on a class struggle basis. We must make a fight for the right of agri- cultural workers to organize and strike, and for the other partial demands in the Party’s Program. C. W meust outline a plan for the intensive organization of the poor tenants, semi-proletrians and poor farmers into special organi- zations (tenants’ leagues, etc.) on a program of partial demands to include a struggle for the reduction in rentals, outright cancellation of all mortgages on farms and equipment, abolition of taxes on all these strata of the farming population, an organized fight against monopoly prices, monopolist expleitation in the transport and distri- butive agencies, against the exploitation by the farmer capitalists and their organizations, against foreclosures, utilizing the general slogan of the land to its users, D. We must pay particular attention to the organization of the Negro agricultural workers into unions, and for the organization of the Negro, the share croppers, tenant farmers, etc., into special or- ganizations. ; E. We must organize the exploited masses on the farms under the leadership of the agricultural workers to fight for the creation of a special farm relief fund, created by taxation on large incomes, to bring direct material relief to the bankrupt dispossessed farmers, and to the agrarian workers displaced from the industry by the introduction of machinery. This fund to be controlled by special committees on the farms consisting of representatives of the agra- rian workers, semi-proletarian elements and poor farmers. _F. Fight against monopoly prices of farm purchased commodi- ties as a part of a general fight against the high cost of living, with organization of consumers’ co-operatives, abolition of all tariff on necessities of life, on the manufactured products purchased by farmers as necessary to farm production. G. Exposure and -struggle against the agents of big capital in supposed “farm organizations,” the “farm bloc,” the American Farm Bureau, National Grange, McNary-Haugen Bills, etc. H. For sharply reduced assessed valuations and taxation on farm property, with a tax to be levied on the present non-taxable federal, state and city bonds, church property and export capital. All working farmers desiring loans for crop turn over to receive loans to the full estimated value directly from the Federal Reserve Bank, for one year without interest; crop failure or disasters of any sort cancel the debt. I. The United Farmers Educational League shall immediately be reorganized with a view of building it up into an effective instru- ment for initiating the organizational work outlined above. 7. THE ORGANIZATION OF WOMEN IN THE FACTORIES. The rapidly growing importance of women in industry in the United States must be considered in the present period in conjunc- tion with our fight against the war danger and capitalist rationali- zation. A significant change has taken place in the policy of the bour- boisie towards working women, Emphasis upon the tradition that women’s place is in the home has been almost completely replaced by a pseudo-glorification of women’s new position in American in- dustry, and the very necessary role she plays in the economic and political life of the country. Capitalism needs women workers for war and rationalization. There are at present over eight and one-half million women gainfully employed in the United States, of whom the vast majority are pro- letarian elements, almost entirely unorganized. The development of industrial technique, the replacement of skilled by semi-skilled and unskilled workers, the capitalist program of lower wages—all parts of the rationalization process—has greatly increased the de- mand for women workers, resulting significantly in the employment of women in considerable numbers in heavy industry—iron and steel, automobile, electrical establishments, rubber, munitions, ete.—as dis- tinct from those industries which have been traditionally her sphere of labor (textile, clothing, etc.). The experiences during the world war demonstrated to the American bourgeoisie their dependence upon women workers for their war plans. Tens of thousands of women were employed in th meanufacture of smokeless powder, shrapnel shell, cannon, ma- chine guns, torpedoes, gas masks, aeroplanes, etc., either replacing drafted men or supplying labor power to new plants and departments established for war purposes. Tens of thonsands of others filled gaps in other industries—foodé transportation, metal, etc.—caused by the war. Thus an outstanding feature of the present period is the reeog- nition by American capitalism that it cannot carry through its aims without the participation of women workers, and its utilization of every means possible to mobilize women for imperialism and ration- alization. This mobilization wroceeds volitically as well as industrially and Continued on Newt Page