The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 26, 1928, Page 5

a A a ci fio DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1528 (Continued From Preceding Page) y on the “prosperity” in which the labor aristocracy shares but which for the working class as a whole is illusory, The Party must do everything to expose the fraud of the capita- list “prosperity” propaganda which saps the militancy and life of ] the workingclass. The Party must engage much more than it has in | the past in making clear to the workers their sufferings under capi- J talism, the daily heavy casualties in industry. through accidents and deaths, the severe sufferings the great mass of the workers are sub- ject to in the slums, through injunction rule, strike breaking and ruling class violence, The Party must make clear to the workers the sham and fraud of capitalist “prosperity” and on the basis of the concrete effects of American capitalism, show that poverty can be conquered only through the overthrow of capitalism, the establishment of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat and the building up of Socialism. MILITARY PREPAREDNESS AND PACIFISM The American bourgeoisie are feverishly and openly preparing for the impending imperialist war. These gigantic war preparations manifest themselves in the following main ways: 1. Military, naval and aerial preparedness on a greater scale than at any time before when the country was not actually at war. Witness the Armistice Day speech of Coolidge; the statement of policy “for a navy second to none” issued by the General Naval Board; the report of Gen. Fries on the Chemical War preparations; the pro- posal of Major-Gen, Summerall for further strengthening of the stand- ing army and reserves; the proposed new Nicaraguan Canal to sup- plement the Panama Canal; the development of a powerful subsidized merchant marine; the extension of military training in the schools and the development of Reserve Officers Training Corps; and last but not least. the Coolidge program to appropriate about 140 million dollars for aviation next year. 2. The militarization of industry and the mechanization of the military forces: The American war staff is studying the mechaniza- tion of the army. Under the National Defense Act industry is being reorganized with a view towards the swiftest mobilization for opera- tion on a war basis. The A. F. of L. machinery has already been pledged to serve as an integral part of the imperialist war machinery. It has already indorsed the big navy program and the demand of the American Legion for conscription, 3. The rapid integration of the State apparatus with the biggest business apparatus is being consciously fostered with a view towards war efficiency. , 4, Intensified repression of workers: The preparation of a na- tional anti-strike law by the American Bar Association is an essential war preparation measure. 5. Redoubled drive to extend control over certain raw maierial resources, to make the U. S. fully independent in the event of war— ‘ rubber in the Philippines. § 6. Pacifism and Jingoism. The ideological preparation of war assumes two forms: Jingoism and Pacifism. Jingoism is fostered by well planned country-wide tours, of admirals and generals, supported by the biggest chains of capitalist newspapers. The A. F. of L. is | one of the most poisonous sources of spreading jingoist propaganda. There is an official pacifist offensive of the government as part and parcel of the general preparedness of war: the Havana and the pres- ent Washington Pan-American conferences, the renewed attempt to i consider American entry into the World Court, the Hoover “good- r will” tour, the infamous Kellogg Pact; such manouvres as that of ~ Congressman Britten, head of the House Naval Committee and a no- torious “big navy” man, to secure an “understanding” with Great Britain. 4 These pacifist manoeuvres of the imperialists are further _ helped along by the pacifist efforts of churches, various liberal or- ‘ ganizations and the Socialist Party, today the most contemptible and dangerous source of pacifism, which now favors the Kellogg Pact, American entry into the League of Nations, and all sorts of plans and conferences for the Limitation of Armaments. Thus there flow two streams of poison against the workers; | jingoism and pacifism-—-both weapons in the arsenal of the imperi- ‘ alists preparing for war. At the same time, there is to be noted a growing persecution of the Communists and all fighting workers who dare at all to voice their protest against the war measures or against this propaganda. THE FIGHT AGAINST SOCIAL REFORMISM—THE STRUGGLE ‘ FOR A MASS COMMUNIST PARTY On the whole, the American working class is less developed po- litically than the working classes of the other big capitalist countries. The bulk of the American working class has not yet been broken away from the parties of the big bourgeoisie. “The American working class is the most conservative working class in the world” (Bukharin). A very small proportion of the workers (some of the skilled elements) is organized and the leadership of the organized trade union movement is the most reactionary trade union leadership in the world. The ideology of the trade union bureaucracy and their Socialist Party co-workers is definitely bourgeois and is an expression of the rankest social reformism. The social basis of this ideology is the world he- gemony of American imperialism, the huge amount of superprofits extorted by it from all sections of the world, the broad stratum of labor aristocracy which still enjoys its privileges. American social reformism with its manifold schemes of class collaboration is today the model of all imperialists the world over and for their Social Dem- oeratic lackeys, who try to pattern them in order to paralyze the class struggle. The ideology and organization of social reformism is the most dangerous obstacle to the development of a mass Communist Party. We must fight it ruthlessly in order to hasten the development of a mass Communist Party in the United States. It is necessary to destroy the ideological base of the reactionary trade union bureauc- racy and their Socialist partners. Recent years have witnessed important changes in the com- position and structure of the working class. Immediately after the World War, there was noticeable a marked development towards working class homogeneity because of the then developing trend to- wards reducing the gap between the skilled and unskilled, the shut- ting off of immigration, the levelling process in wages, and the in- ereasing strikebreaking role of the centralized government even ’ the labor aristocracy. Under these conditions the trade unions 4 quickly, the labor party movement assumed a mass basis, great > nal mass strikes (railroad, textile, coal) were manifestations of rising working class solidarity and resistance to the bourgeoisie. The basic tendency towards the homogeneity of the American | working class remains, but ‘this basic trend does not move in a straight line or in a continuous upward curve. On the contrary, the trend has its ups and downs. Within the last five years, several Zactors have contributed for counteracting somewhat this basic trend and, for the present, making against homogeneity amongst the work- ing class. These factors are: entrance of hundreds of thousands of foreign- born workers as immigrants (especially from Mexico and other Latin- American countries); influx of Negro workers from the South to the Northern industries; bankrupt farmers migrating into industrial cen- ters; gap betwen wage levels of skilled and unskilled workers growing bigger. Temporarily the influx of these new elements means a de- crease of homogeneity of the working class. As a result of this change composition of the working class significant changes took place in the labor movement: the shifting of the leadership of the organized section of the labor movement to the right; the merging of the apparatus of the trade union bureau- eracy with the state apparatus of the bourgeoisie; most intensive and varied forms of class collaboration. The A. F, L. bureaucracy is today an instrument of the bourgeoisie against the working class with its policies of preventing the workers from using the strike weapon; for union management-cooperation schemes, semi-company unions, anti-labor party “non-partisan” policies; complete endorsement of all war schemes of American impe m as evidenced in the last A. F. L. convention endorsing Hoover’s fraudulent three billion dollar unem- ployment proposal and the big navy plan of the government, the de- mand for the restriction of immigration of Latin-American workers and the complete accord with the American Legion’s military program. ‘The trade union movement is facing today the crisis of its life. eS terrific open shop drive of the bourgeoisie and the treachery of Cae h the labor bureaucracy, drove millions of members out of the unions, mostly unskilled workers who joined during the war. The sweeping trustification movement, the intensified rationalization, the new meth- ods of struggle of the employers, the close bond between the trade union bureaucracy and the big capitalists, the increasing interference of the capitalist government in the most elementary economic strug- gles against the workers, brought about the crisis of the trade union movement and decreased the number of organized workers consider- ably. The upward trend of imperialism, the narrowing down of the trade union movement and the close working together of the trade union leadership with the booenesias ae for the labor party move- , i tionally on a very low ebb. Be ies holes Riean conpions that the American bourgeoisie dared launch their present heavy attacks upon the standard of living (wage cuts, speed up), on the most elementary rights; on the organizations of the working class. However, the bourgeoisie did not succed in _ crushing the resistance of the ranks of the workers; particularly in the ranks of the great mass of unorganized, signs of resistance to the capitalist offensive have been multiplying. Passaic, Colorado, ! . Washington demonstration last Spring—Gomez). mining struggle, needle trades conflict, Hayerhill, Flint, Canton, New Bedford, the recent coal strikes in Kentucky, Wyoming, etc. The decisive defeat of the United Mine Workers of America means the breaking of ihe proletarian backbone of the present official trade union movement. It means still further, narrowing the base of the A. F. of L, Nothing can be expected from any section of the trade union bureaucracy in the interests of the working class. The more the capitalists will attack the workers, the more the trade union bureauc- racy will betray them. The more the need for organizing the unorgan- ized and the readiness of the unorganized masses to respond, the more the leaders of the labor aristocracy will try to undermine all efforts and to paralyze the movement for organizing the workers. The So- cialist Party is only another section of the capitalist enemy’s front against the proletariat. The narrow craft trade unions, robbed of their proletarian base, are today less representative than ever of the aspirations and needs of the working class. The Party must meet the new conditions, must counteract most energentically all social reform- ism, all social democratic, all opportunist influences and elements in the ranks of the working class. This is a prerequisite for success in our, fight for building a Mass Communist Party. The decisive orien- tation of the Party must be away from the labor aristocracy and towards the real proletarian masses. The Party must not only be ready to meet the needs of the great bulk of the American working class, the semi-skilled and unskilled, whose resistance to capitalist aggression, speed up, effects of rationalization, wage cuts, against the growing power of trustified capital, is increasing and is bound to increase further, but must especially stimulate the desires of these masses for struggle and work to deepen the most elementary strug- gles with a view of preparing the workers for more decisive class battles to be led by the Communist Party. The emergence of the new union movement, the National Miners Union, the National Textile Workers Union, the amalgamation of various needle trades organi- zations into one union, is the most promising sign of new aspects of the struggles of the American working class. The face of the Party must be sharply turned in the direction of the organization of the unorganized, to building new unions in the heavy industries among the real proletarian millions of the unskilled and semi-skilled workers and Negro masses. PROBLEMS, ACHIEVEMENTS, SHORTCOMINGS AND TASKS OF THE PARTY I, The Imperialist War Danger. The anti-war activities of the Party have increased since the last convention (anti-war meetings, demonstrations against shipment of marines, against Hoover's tour, beginning of work among the armed forces, attempts of coordina- tion of our anti-imperialist work with the Latin American Parties) but are not sufficient. The Party was not able to mobilize large masses because it did not always react in time, did not concentrate sufficient- ly on the Latin American problems. The Party showed an attitude of provincialism and insufficient attention to the anti-imperialist League. In the main, the Party was able to uproot pacifist ideology from its own slogans, statements, and articles but remnants of pacifism still manifest themselves. A number of serious right errors have been made: pacifist mistakes (“Stop the Flow of Blood in Nicaragua’— Gomez; “We Welcome Our Boys of the Fleet But Do Not Shoot the Nicaraguans”—California District; “Agitate for the Slogan ‘Against the Building of More Cruisers.’”—Bittelman; plea of guilty in the Incorrect under- standing of American imperialism and underestimation of the powers of resistance of the Latin American peoples (Nearing). Characteriz- ing Colombia strike in a legalistic way, as a strike “to uphold the law of the land” (Bittelman). Tasks ‘ 1. To place the struggle against imperialist war danger and the defense of the Soviet Union in the center of all activities of the Party. : 2. Coordination of our anti-imperialist work with the Com- munist Parties of Latin America, Canada, China and Great Brit- ain. 3. The strengthening of the Anti Imperialist Department of the CEC. 4. Increasing the support of the Party for the anti-Imperia- list League. 5. Systematic fight against the jingoist and pacifist propa- ganda of the A. F. of L., Socialist Party, liberals, churches. 6. More frequent and better prepared street demonstrations, 7.. Mobilization of the Party fractions in the trade unions to combat the pro-imperialist policies of the trade union bureauc- Tacy. 8. Extension of the Party’s work in the armed forces. 9. The emphasis of defeatist slogans coming to a head in the slogan of turning the next imperialist war into a civil war. II. Organization of the Unorganized and Trade Union Work. The trade union work has absorbed the greatest resources and the attention of the Party in organizing the unorganized, strike leader- ship and strike relief. Our central driving force and guiding perspec- tive has been to organiz the unorganized masses. The Party has been the “stalwart leader of fierce mass struggles.” (Thesis of the Sixth Congress of the Comintern). The most outstanding campaign waged by the Party in its trade union work was the building up of a power- ful left wing in the United Mine Workers of America and the partici- pation in the organization of the new National Miners Union. Despite unheard government terrorism, a substantial gain in Party mem- bership as well as an improvement in the social composition can be registered in the Districts located in the coal fields. The bulk of the striking textile workers in New Bedford, Fall River, Pawtucket, Pat- erson, were under the leadership of the Textile Mill Committees, under the influence of th Party. The new National Textile Workers Union is already showing considerable vitality despite unprecedented persecution by the government. The prolonged needle trades struggle which has been going on against the united forces of the A. F. of L. and the Socialist Party bureaucracy has entered upon a new stage through the building of one industrial union by the amalagamation of the cloakmakers, dressmakers and furriers. The Railroad Con- ference held on June 3, 1928, was one of the best conferences organ- ized by the left wing in the American trade union movement. In the automobile and rubber industries, the Party has been renewing its efforts to lay the foundation for the organization of the unor- ganized. Though the first National TUEL Conference held in several years is to be noted during this period, the TUEL did not make suf- ficient progress and the left wing in the A. F, of L. unions did not make headway. i A number of serious mistakes, among them many right errors, were committed by the Party in its trade union work. These mistakes are of the following types: 1, Hesitancy in organizing the unorganized, particularly delay in throwing full forces into mining work. 2. Insufficient attention to developing an effective strong Trade Union Department and apparatus, 8. Serious neglect of direction of the trade union fractions from the center. 4. A wrong reaction to the correct policy of the Party in lay- ing the greatest emphasis on organizing the unorganized and building new unions. The tendency to neglect the work in the already existing unions, 5. Remnants of craft ideology (needle trades). 6. Capitulation before difficulties (Chicago, trades). 7. Opposition to the inclusion of the use of the term “class struggle” in the preamble of the new unions (Swabeck, Foster, Jakira, Weisbord; Jakira immediately Foster and Weisbord at the December 1928 Plenum, admitted this mistake). 8. Impermissible use of injunctions of bourgeois courts in trade union struggles (Boston District Secretariat). _ 9. Insufficient effort to draw the Party membership into trade unions, 10. Insufficient emphasis on political issues in strike movements. The Main Tasks Confronting the Party are: 1. The organization of the unorganized is the basic historical task of the Party, The whole future of the Party as a mi Party is tied up with this work.. Extensive campaigns must be de- veloped especially in the steel, automobile, industries and among the packinghouse workers. 2, Help the speediest consolidation of the new miners, textile and needle trades unions on a mass scale. 3. Building up the left w:ng in the reactionary trade unions, as an auxiliary instrument in carrying out the task of organizing the unorganized. The Party cannot abandon to the bureaucracy the three million organized workers. 4, Strengthening and reorganizing the T.U.E.L. to adapt it to its new tasks to make it able to link up the left wing move- ment in the reactionary trade unions with the new militant unions and to lend further co-ordination to the new union movement itself. 5. The Party must assume leadership in all struggles of the the workers inst wage cuts, speed-up, effects of rationalization Boston needle and must make every attempt to develop such struzies. 6. To uproot the influence of social reformism in the trade unions. To fight against all schemes of class collaboration, to de- stroy the influence of the A. F. of L. and socialist party bureau- eracy. 7. To link up all strike struggles with the political slogans of the Party and especially with our fight against imperialist war danger. 8. To bring the whole Party membership into the trade unions, to build up an efficient trade union Party apparatus and extend the network of Communist Party fractions in all trade unions. 9. To mobilize the entire Party for the energetic execution of the decisions of the Fourth Congress of the R. I. L. U. IiI. The Election Campaign. Though the biggest campaign ever waged by the Party, the 1928 election campaign did not show a suffi- ciently great increase of the Communist vote. Because of the dis- franchisement of the many millions of foreign born workers end Negro masses, the Communist vote does not express the range of the political influence of the Party. The following features characterize the significance of the election campaign in reaching out to the masses and in bringing the Communist program to the working class: 1, Getting on the ballot in 34 states as compared wiht 14 states in 1924. 2. The National Nominating Convention, which was the first one of its kind held by the Party. 3, The substantial increase in the Communist vote despite huge theft, especially in the coal and textile centers, and the improved character of the vote which came this year unlike 1924, from the most industrial states; the increased role of the f. ry nuclei and nuclei papers in the campaign. 4, The Party’s going South for the first time, the prov part played by Negro comrades in the election, and the increas tention given by the Party as a whole to the Negro problem in the election campaign. 5. The resistance of the Party membership to the wide persc- eution and interference with and disruption of our meetings, the reaching of many thousands of new workers by the Party with its millions of leaflets, pamphlets, and other campaign literature, the gain in new membership thru the election campaign. 6. The effect that the Party appeared in the election campaign not only as the spokesman of the working class but the champion of the struggle for the liberation of the colonies against American ira- perialism and for the liberation of the Negro race. 7. The ideological advancement expressed in the fact of the election platform of 1928 being truly Communist, having as its key note “class against class,” as against the opportunistic platform of 1924, with its slogan for immediate nationalization and workers’ con- trol of capitalist industries, 8. The fact that the campaign was linked up with the struggle of the workers against wage cuts, speed-up, unemployment, was based especially on the strike struggles of the miners, textile and needle trades and had as its central issue the struggle against im- perialist war danger.,. 9, The fact that the full Communist program of overthrowing capitalism and the dictatorship of the proletariat played a prominent role in the whole propaganda of the Party and that based on the clear cut Communist character of the campaign, every Communist vote was the expression of a truly revolutionary working class sentiment. The election campaign shows some serious shortcomings and errors. 1. The inability of the Party to get those working clas masses who followed the Party’s strike leadership, to accept its political leadership. 2. Insufficient attention to draw the membership of the new ee into the election campaign (needle trades leadership of New ork), 8. Lack of everyday detail work in the campaign, 4. Insufficiency of Party forces’ primarily due to the fact that so large a number of leading comrades were dispatched to the World Congress of the Comintern, and cases of extreme incompetency on the part of certain functionaries (Carlson, Bloomfield and the ex- pelled O’Flaherty). 5. A series of right wing opportunistic errors: the unauthorized non-Communist instructions for gathering signatures (Codkind); or- ganizing symposiums on our own platform, inviting bourgeois parties (New York Women’s Committee); capitulation before difficulties, failing to get on the ballot (Levin, California); the open letter to the State Committee of the Socialist Party (Levin, Calif.). Based on the lessons of the recent election campaign, the follow- ing tasks confront the Party: 1, More systematic everyday detailed work. 2, Base the whole election campaign in an increased degree on the factories, mills and shops, 3. To show more clearly the face of the Party in trade union and other mass activities. 4, To utilize more local issues. ‘ 5. To concentrate more on the industrial centers of the coun- ry. 6. To utilize in-a fuller extent the Party and especially the Party language press. _ IV. Fight Against Social Reformism. The complete transforma- tion of the A. F. of L. into an agency of American imperialism places in the forefront of the tasks of the entire Party the struggle against the ideology of social reformism of the labor aristocracy which tends to poison the whole working class. The complete transformation of the socialist party into a petty bourgeois party, places before us the task of waging a merciless campaign against the social democratic forces. The Central Executive Committee has unreservedly accepted the criticism of the Communist Intrnational of the errors the Party and the Central Executive Committee have made in its attitude to- wards the socialist party prior to the Sixth World Congress: The Panken election (New York District Executive Committee and Central Executive Committee); open letter to the National Committee of the Socialist Party (Central Executive Committee); Bearak case (Boston District); open letter to the Socialist Party officials at Reading, Pa., (Benjamin, who later corrected his error, Bittelman approval); pro- posal to refrain from opposition to the Socialist Party in municipal election (Shklar); proposal for united front with the Socialist Party on Sacco-Vanzetti anniversary (Kraska-Miller). In full acceptance of the criticism by the Comintern, the Convention must take the most energetic measures, ideologically and organizationally, to sharpen and intensify the Party’s struggle against all manifestations of reformism. The last election campaign has shown that the socialist party, though it has lost heavily in votes, is still a sufficiently important element to be contended with as a poisonous force among the workers. i Emphasis must be laid on the need of sharpening the Party’s crit- ical attitude towards the so-called centrist and middle group elements in the trade union movement. These bearers of reformist illusions must not only be exposed but must be fought organizationally in the trade unions and in all working class organizations, f Y. Negro Work. In the main, the Party cannot be satisfied with its work among the Negroes, But since the last convention and espe- cially since the criticism of the Party by the Sixth Communist Inter- national Congress, some headway has been made in the Party’s Negro work: the establishment of the Negro Department; full time Negro organizers in a number of. Districts; the regular appearance of the Negro Champion; the increase in Negro members; the prominent part played by Negro comrades in the election campaign; contacts estab- lished with Negro workers especially in the South; energetic fight against white chauvinism. A number of serious right errors has been made in our Negro work; insufficient leadership by the Central Executive Committee; un- derestimation of the Negro work; white chauvinism in the ranks of the Party, especially in the South; surrender to white chauvinism in De- troit (Goetz); weakness of Party membership among the Negroes and weak Communist cadre and insufficient proletarian Negro forces attracted to our Party; an un-Communist attitude towards the church among some of the leading Negro comrades (Moore). A decisive turn in the policies of the Party towards the Negro work is necessary. 1, The attitude of underestimating the Negro work must be combatted vigorously, the work among the Negroes is not to be considered as a special task of the Negro comrades but it is the task of the entire Party. The Party must appear as the unhesitat- ingly energetic champion of the oppressed Negro race, 2, The industrialization of the south, the concentration of a huge Negro population in the big cities, the creation of a Negro industrial proletariat in the basic industries on a mass scale, makes the organization of the Negro workers who are overwhelmingly un- organized and constitute a large section of the unorganized masses, one of our basic tasks of the Party. 3. The Party must establish a base among thé Negro tenant farmer re croppers, and agricultural workers, in the south, form- ing organizations of these significant sections of the Negro popu- lation, Communist Party Must Organize the Unorganized, Unskilled . * mm some, 0 Mai mesg coi agin promptly at § p.m decline of educa aces eee 4 : Rial __ Page Five and Negro Workers 4. A mereile truggle shall be conducted against all remnants of white ¢ working ¢ 5, The r 1 in our Party ranks as well as in the ranks of the a whole. among the Negro workers; in- sed on drawing proletarian forces its central siogan the struggle for the 1 equality of the Negro race, the Party y ideological measure to give the pre ing of the basis of the Comintern deciston elf-determination of the Negroes and th» t come out as the advocate of this siogan. fight for the leadership by the Negro prole- ship an adequa the qui rty as tion of ne a whoie m The Party 1 tariat of all race mover VI. Proletarianization of the Party and its Leadership. The social composition of the Party and its leadership is not satisfactory. The in mintern congress must give a decisive impetus to the ation of the Party and its leadership. Only a true proletarian composition of the Party membership and the constitute a sufficient guarantee ruction given by the ( leading bodies of the Party can against bureaucratism and against the influence of social reformism in the ranks of the Party. The Party must be much more firmly rooted in the huge factories of the basic heavy industries. A far larger proportion of the membership of our Party must consist of workers in such s coal, mining, automobile, steel, rail- n we have to date. This improvement in so be reflected in the improved social com- From top to bottom, proletarian , must be drawn much more into , workers from the all executive 1 le ng committees of the Party in every Party subdivision of the Party apparatus from the nuclei up from the C: ral Executive Committee down. VII. Labor Party. Though the labor party movement played practically no role in the clection campaign and organizationally is weaker th any years, yet our Party must continue its efforts elp develop the labor party in the United States as an > in the direction of the development of a political the Ame working class. The contradictions mass basis for a labor party and the needs of our nda was the source of many and some times istance in the Minnesota district to decision to fight Shipstead (V. R. portant nex errors: ive Committe res’ Dunne. .); the proposal to form labor party clubs based on individ hip in Pennsylvania (Bittelman); “The Labor Party is only hope of workng cl. ” (Daily Worker); substitution of labor party for Communist Party (Raymond’s article); labor party discipline vs. Communist Party discipline (V. R. Dunne); Central Executive Committee’s unclear formulation of the Workers Party relations to the labor pafty in the February thesis. In its labor party policy the Party must be guided by the fol- lowing line: 1. The question of organizing a labor party shall be tied up with the organization of the unorganized, the future of a labor party will, to a large extent, be determined by the progress of new unionism. 2. In addition to the trade unions, the labor party should be based on the factory, mill, shop and mining committees of the unorganized workers 3. Today the labor party can be organized only thru a merciless fight against the A. F. of L. and socialist party bureau- cracy. ‘4, At this moment the character of the labor party slogan is more of propaganda than of immediate action. 5. No indiyidual membership for the labor party; all policies aiming to form labor party clubs based on individual members are to be rejected. 6. In all our work for the labor party we must emphasize its limitations as against the role of the Communist Party as the only possible leader in the victorious proletarian revolution. 7. Not the slightest concession is to be permitted in the way of giving up the distinct independent existence of the Com- munist Party and its right of criticism within the labor party movement. VIII. Unemployment. The organic chronic unemployment which shows the tendency of embracing ever larger sections of the in- dustrial working cl. the crystallization of a permanently dis- employed industrial reserve army of capitalism and its radicalizing effects on the working class, must serve as the basis for increased activities of our Party. The present reduction of that phase of un- ~ employment which follows out of the 1927 depression has made the formation of special organizations of the unemployed very diffi- cult. At present it is the task of the Party to popularize its un- employment program, to grasp every opportunity to combat the three billion dollar Hoover plan and to lay the basis for future mass or- ganizations of the unemployed. IX. Work Among the Farmers. The partial liquidation of the agricultural crisis slowed down the activities of the Party among the farmers. The Party lost many of its most valuable connections in the poorer farmers’ movement by the migration of large sections of the poorest farmers to the cities. The Party and the Central Execu- tive Committee as a whole paid insufficient attention to the agricul- tural work which has been largely sectional in the northwest. The Party must strengthen the agrarian department and above all must take immediate steps after the convention for the preparation of an agrarian program. The work in this field should be more national than it has been to date. Great emphasis must be laid on work among the Negro tenants and share croppers. Organization of the working farm hands into unions should be attempted, The trans- formation of the United Farmer into a mass paper. X. The Party Organization. The general condition of the Party organization is unsatisfactory; poor social composition; lack of shop nuclei; insufficient number of shop papers; lack of centralization; lack of emergency apparatus; right wing errors manifested in certain districts in the form of resistance to the formation of shop nuclei (Connecticut, California); remnants of language federation ideology. Despite these shortcomings there has been a strengthening of the Party organization: increasing dues*payments in face of severe unemployment and prolonged strike movements; for the first time the Party has more members than any time since it was reorganized; an improved functioning of the Party apparatus as a whole; the strengthening of the district organizations; increased participation of certain language fractions in the general party work; more fre- quent publication of the “Party Organizer”; strengthened Party center; penetration of additional factories by shop units and publica- tion of new factory papers. ; The question of improving the party organization is one of the most vital questions facing the party today. Not only in the light of the increasing demands made upon the party apparatus because of the numerous varied activities, but especially in view of the sharpening war danger. A special thesis should be prepared for the convention on ¢ vation problems. The keynote of this thesis must be: 1. A decisive turn toward the factories, establishment of the party organization based on the industrial proletariat in the basic industries, thereby also improving the party composition in the diree- tion of proletarianization; 2. The improvement of systematic building up of the party ap- paratus, departments and the party organizations, nuclei, fraction bureaus, section executives, district executives, ete. Closer contact between higher committees and the lower committees on the one hand thru the full utilization of party democracy, combatting of tendencies toward bureaucratism, and on the other hand through greater cen- tralization politically and organizationally; 3. The working out in detail of methods to improve the Party’s propaganda and agitation activities, in winning over the masses, in | transforming the political and trade union influence of the party into organizational strength and the building of the Party in connection with the mass campaigns of the party; 4, Strengthening of the party fractions in the trade unions and in mass organizations; ed systematic attention to the drawing in of native especially those in heavy industries rican work: . The hastening of the building of an emergency apparatus. XI. Ideological Level. One of the basie shortcomings of the party is the low level of its ideology. Advance of the Communist ideology of the party since the last convention can however, be reg- istered in certain instances; some improvement of the party press” (Daily Worker) and the monthly theoretical organ; increasing influ- ence of the Workers School; success of the Party’s first Na’ ideological work in the Trotsky discussion a year ago. The main tasks in this field are: strengthening the Department; improving cur rods ef mass agitation and Continued on Next Page 4 Training School; the establishment of district schools; the effective & i ae oe = of a