The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 21, 1929, Page 3

DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 1929 Page Three THE INTERNATIONAL SITUATION AND TASKS OF THE COMMUNISTS BS (NOTE—Today the Daily Worker prints the fourth instalment of | the thesis of the 6th World Congress of the Communist International | ons“The International Situation and the Tasks of the Communists.” | This Congress was held in Moscow from July 17 until the opening days of September, 1928. Publication of these theses will be continued until completed.—EDITOR). cial Re 24. Simultaneously with co-opting social democraty, the bour- geoisie in critical moments and under certain conditions establishes a fascist regime. The characteristic feature of fascism is that, as a consequence of the shock suffered by the capitalist economic system and of special objective and subjective circumstances, the bourgeoisie—in order to hinder the development of the revolution—utilizes the discontent of the petty and middle, urban and rural bourgeoisie and even of certain strata of the declassed proletariat, for the purpose of creating a reac- tionary mass movement, Fascism resorts to methods of open violence in order to break the power of the labor crganizations and those of the peasant poor, and to proceed to capture power. After capturing power, fascism strives to establish political, and organizational unity among all the governing classes of capitalist so- ciety (the bankers, the big industrialists and the agrarians) and to establish their undivided, open and consistent dictatorship. It places at the disposal of the governing classes armed forces specially trained for civil war and establishes a new type of state, openly based on violence, coercion and corruption, not only of the petty bourgeoisie strata, but even of certain elements of the working class (office employees, ex- reformist leaders, who have become government officials, trade union | officials, and officials of the fascist party, and also poor peasants and declassed proletarians recruited into the “fascist militia”). ITALIAN FASCISM THE CLASSICAL TYPE. Italian fascism—which by various means (support of American capital, unexampled economic and social pressure upon the masses, certain forms of state capitalism), has managed, during the past few years, to alleviate the consequences of the the internal political and economic crisis—has created the classical type of the fascist system. Fascist tendencies and the rudiments of the fascist movement exist in a more or less developed form in nearly all countries. The ideology of class co-operation—the official ideology of social democracy—has | many points of contact with fascism. The employment of fascist meth- ods in the struggle against the revolutionary movement is observed in a rudimentary form in the practice of numerous social democratic parties, as well as in that of the reformist trade union bureaucracy. In the sphere of international relations, fascism conducts a policy of violence and provocation. in Italy more and more reveal aggressive tendencies, and represent to the proletariat of all countries a constant menace to peace—a threat of | military adventures and war. V. Colonial Countries and the Chinese Revolution. 25. The general crisis of the world capitalist system finds most striking expression at the present time in colonial and semi-colonial rebellions and revolutions. Resistance to the imperialist policy of the Jnited States (Mexico and Nicaragua); the movement against the United States in South America; the colonial uprisings in Syria and Morocco; the continuous ferment in Egypt and Korea; the rebellion in Indonesia; the maturing revolutionary crisis in India; and finally, the great revolution in China, are all events and facts indicating the The fascist dictatorships in Poland and | | gigantic role the colonies and semi-colonies play in the revolutionary | struggle against imperialism. SIGNIFICANCE OF CHINESE REVOLUTION. 26. The most important of these facts, an event of world his- torical importance, is the great Chinese Revolution. It directly brings within its orbit tens of millions, and indirectly, hundreds of millions of people. This is the first time that such a gigantic human mass has entered into the struggle against imperialism with such force. The close connection that exists between China, Indo-China and India, in its turn, enhances the significance of the Chinese Revolution to an enormous degree. Finally, the very progress of this revolution, its democratic character and its inevitable transformation into a prole- tarian revolution must demonstrate to the international proletariat the full significance of the international role the Chinese Revolution plays. 27. While being an anti-imperialist and national-liberation revo- lution, the Chinese Revolution is at the same time, in its objective con- tent and in its present stage, a bourgeois-democratic revolution, which will inevitably grow into a proletarian revolution. In the process of its development, as the broad masses of the workers and peasants be- came mobilized, as the agrarian revolution actually developed and in- flicted plebeian punishment upon the landlords, the gentry and the into alliance with feudalism and compromised with the imperialist vio- lators. PRESENT STAGE OF REVOLUTION. i} | ‘For that xeason, the struggle against imperialism is inseparable tionary bourgeoisie. It is inseparable from the struggle against the “tuhao,” the national (Kuomintang) bourgeoisie, in a series of evolu- | tions, finally deserted to the camp of the counter-revolution, entered | from the struggle for land and against the rule of the counter-revolu- | landlords (gentry and tuhao) and the militarists and against their internecine wars, which result in the plunder of the masses of the people and in the strengthening of the positions of the imperialists, The liberation of China can be achieved only in the struggle against the Chinese bourgeoisie, in the struggle for the agrarian revolution, in the confiscation of the landlords’ land, and in the liberation of the peasantry from the crushing burden of taxation. The liberation of China cannot be achieved without the dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry, without the confiscation of the land, without the nationalization of foreign enterprises, banks, transport, ete. These tasks can be fulfilled only by a victorious rebellion of the broad masses of the peasantry, marching under the leadership and under the hegemony of the revolutionary Chinese proletae! The present stage of the Chinese Revolution is characterized by the following features: notwithstanding internal rivalries, the bloc be- tween the imperialists, the feudal elements and the bourgeoisie has inflicted a severe defeat upon the proletariat and the peasantry and has physically exterminated a considerable section of the ranks of the Communist Party. The labor movement has not yet wholly recovered from defeat. The development of the peasant movement in a number of districts continues. In those districts where peasant rebellions have been vic- torious, peasant organs of power have been established, and in some places peasant Soviets. The Communist Party is gaining in strength and becoming internally consolidated; its authority and influence among the broad masses of the workers and peasants are growing. Taken as a whole, making allowances for the lack of uniformity of development in various parts of the enormous territory of China, the present sit- uation must be characterized as the stage of preparation of the mass forces for a fresh rise in the revolutionary movement. (To be continued) FOR PARTY UNITY ON BASIS (¢ OPPOSITION AGAIN REJECTS PARTY UNITY FOR Ae ehere WORLD CON 4 os For Comintern Guidance and Advice in Formulation of the Party’s Line and Crystalization : of Party’s Leadership Statement by Central Executive Committee of the Workers (Communist) Party The Central Executive Committee has made a very serious and sincere attempt to unify the Party not only from the bottom, which has been. accomplished to a greater degree in the present discussion than ever before in the history of the Party, but also from the top. We state with regret that the leadership of the opposition has flatly refused the | unity offer of the Central Executive Committee. The Central Executive Committee did not put up any such conditions | for unity which would tend to humiliate the comrades of the minority. It did not demand the withdrawal of the thesis of the minority. It did not demand the full acceptance of the line of the Central Executive Committee. It asked much less. It demanded only the acceptance with- out reservations of the line and decisions of the Communist Interna- tional. The Central Executive Committee made this unity offer in the best interests of the Party, in view of the necessity of complete unity of all Communist forces against the growing war danger and for the struggle against social reformism, with the purpose of combatting the right danger and Trotskyism, The Central Executive Committee made this unity offer, because it fully agrees with the analysis of the Comintern according to which there is no basis in principle for factionalism in the American Party today, because the group-system in our Party is one of the most serious obstacles for the future proletarian mass development of our Party, because the whole factional struggle has no roots either in the present political situation or in the proletarian masses. It would be a big achievement for the Party, if the Central Com- ! mittee could appear before the forthcoming Party convention as a uni- | fied body, accepting as its common platform the policies of the Com- | munist International without reservations and the program of crystal- lizing the broadest proletarian leadership for the Party. The unity reso- lution introduced by the Ford shop nucleus and adopted by the Party membership meeting in Detroit shows that the Central Executive Com- mittee was expressing the sentiments of the proletarian Party member- ship in promoting unity, in'trying to put an end to the unprincipled fac- tional struggles. The Central Executive Committee formulated a clear-cut and simple platform as the basis for unity. The series of points in this platform gave a most concrete application of the line of the Comintern to America: (1) Acceptance of the Comintern’s estimation of American imperialism; World Congress as direct advice and guidance to the American Party, because they still maintain their disagreement with the thesis. The com- rades of the opposition still stick to their declaration of reservations and disagreement, submitted by Comrades Johnstone, Dunne, Gomez, Sis- | kind, Shachmo Epstein, and Bittelman (Comrade Foster later expressed his full agreement with the declaration), to the unanimously adopted thesis of the world congress. Despite all attempts of the C. E. C. the leading comrades of the opposition have refused to withdraw the follow- ing section of their declaration: “The minority of the delegation of the Communist Party of the United States agrees with and has voted for the thesis of Comrade Bucharin, but registers its disagreement with the section on the United States of America—Paragraph 49—for the following reasons: “a) The section fails to emphasize sufficiently the growing contra- dictions confronting American imperialism, the increasing radicaliza- tion of the masses, and the increasing prospects for mass struggles, and the failure of the majority of the Central Committee to see these new developments and adopt policies in accord with them.” This declaration of the opposition is the expression and the source of their wrong attitude towards the Communist International and towards the C. E. C. of our Party. The problems of the contradictions and perspectives of American imperialism and the question of the prospects for mass struggles in the United States are not “local” Ameri- can issues. These are fundamental issues for the whole Communist In- ternational. If the sixth world congress thesis on the International Situ- ation failed to maintain the correct analysis and give the correct per- spective on these problems, then the main line of the thesis can not be correct, then the world congress of the Comintern failed to give the proper guidance to the various sections and especially to the American section of the Comintern. This disagreement with the analysis of the Communist International | is responsible for the dubieus position of the Foster-Bittelman group towards all subsequent decisions of the Communist International. The | Foster-Bittelman opposition. has refused up to date to accept without (2) acceptance of the Comintern’s estimation of the radicalization of | the working masses in the United States; (3) acceptance of the esti- mation of the role of our Party and of the Central Executive Committee | as given by the world congress of the Communist International and by the Political Secretariat of the E. C. C. I.; (4) proletarianization of the Party; (5) uncompromising struggle against the right danger as the main danger and against the Trotskyist splitters; (6) merciless self- criticism of the Central Executive Committee; (7) acceptance of all decisions of the Communist International without reservations; (8) crys- tallization of a broad proletarian leadership; (9) adequate representa- tion to the minority everywhere; (10) no factional discrimination; (11) dissolution of the factional apparatus of the minority and subordi- | nation of the minority to the major y- The comrades of the opposition have not given any answer to any~| of the eleven concrete points of this unity platform. Their only concrete proposal is to “request the Communist International to guide the Party Convention in the final formulation of the Party’s line and in the crystal- lization of a broad proletarian leadership” and to postpone the Party | Convention. The answer of the Bittelman-Foster opposition amounts | to a stubborn persistence in the policy of reservations toward Comintern decisions. The opposition tries to create the impression that the Communist International has not given so far any advice or guidance to our Party | and to the pressent discussion. The comrades of the opposition deliberately ignore the thesis on the. International Situation’ unanimously adopted by the Sixth World Congress of the Communist International, which gave the most thorough analysis of the whole world situation and of the world role and position of American imperialism and mapped out in the most concrete way the tasks of the Commanist International as a whole and of all its sec- tions. The comrades of the opposition deliberately ignore the fact that the letter of the Political Secretariat of the E. C. C. I. of September 7, 1928, gave a clear estimation of the C. E. C. of our Party, stating that “the charge against the majority of the C. E. C. of the Party of repre- senting a right line is unfounded.” The comrades of the opposition deliberately ignore the fact that the Political Secretariat in its letter of November 21, 1928, in which it critic- ized certain mistakes of the C. E. C., reiterated the above estimation of the Central Committee, and stated that “the Political Secretariat in its letter of September 7, 1928, acted in accordance with Congress decisions” in rejecting the right-wing charge against the C. E. C. The comrades of the opposition deliberately ignore the fact that the Communist International gave guidance to our convention in rejecting the appeal of the opposition for proportional representation, stating “the Political Secretariat considers complete proportional representa- tion to the convention inadmissible.” The comrades of the opposition deliberately ignore the fact that the Communist International approved the energetic measures taken by the ©. E. C. in expelling the Cannonite renegades and instructed the C. E: C. to mobilize the whole Party against the Trotskyites. It is a misrepresentation of the position of the Communist Interna- tional toward its American section, when the opposition tries to create the impression that the Comintern did not pay sufficient attention to the American Party and did not give advice and guidance to its policies and to its forthcoming convention. Our Party, during the whole period since the world congress, has been guided and advised by the Communist. International in almost every important step. We hope that the Com- munist International will continue to give advice and guidance to the Party convention and will address a letter to it. Such a letter would be welcomed by the C. E. C. and by the entire Party, and the C. E. C. would not hesitate for a moment to postpoue the convention a few days, if technical reasons should make it impossible for the letter to reach the Party convention in time. * The C. E. C. most emphatically rejects the charge made by the com- rades of the opposition against the Comintern for lack of “direct guid- ance and advice in the formulations of the Party line.” The comrades of the opposition are putting forward this charge only because they do not consider the decisions of the world congress of the Comintern, the decisions and letters of the Political Secretariat of the E. C, C. I. as proper guidance and advice to the American Party. The source of this wrong attitude towards the Communist International of the comrades of the opposition is their disagreement with the policies of the Comin- tern. This is the reiteration of the policy expressed in Comrade Bittel- man’s speech to the world congress demanding a “new word from the about America,” because he considered the thesis on the In- onal Situation, as submitted by the Russian delegation, as insuf- at, inadequate, and inaccurate. The comrades of the opposition re- _ fie cognize the thesis on the International Situation of the Sixth * reservations the September 7th decision of the Political Secretariat, the November 21st letter of the Political Secretariat, and the decision of the Political Secretariat of the E. C. C, I. against complete proportional representation. If today the Foster-Bittelman opposition charges the Comintern with not giving sufficient direct guidance and advice to the American Party, that statement cannot have any political meaning other than that of waiting for the “new word” of the Communist International about America, of demanding a revision pf he analysis and decisions of the world congress, a revision of the decisions of the Political Secretariat laid down in the various letters of the E. C. C. I. to our Party. The C. E. C. can assure the comrades of the opposition that the forthcoming letter of the Comintern to the Party convention will not be the “new word” demanded by the comrades of the opposition. revision of the policies of the world congress, but it will be a reaffirma- tion-and application of these policies. The C. E, C. most emphatically condemns the erroneous attitude of the comrades of the opposition in It will not be a | attempting to speculate on a complete revision of the analysis and | policies of the sixth world congress of the Communist International. There is a remarkable contradiction in the whole position of the opposition. During the whole course of the discussion the opposition has tried to defend its policy of reservations toward Communist International decisions with the statement,that the Communist International did not | decide anything about the American Party but left everything to the decision of the Party convention. Comrade Foster’s motion to the De- cember Plenum of the C. E. C. said: “We are carrying out the decisions of the C. L, congress, and we understand that all disputed questions in the American Party are re- ferred by the E. C. C. I. to the Party convention.” Another motion by Comrade Foster to the same plenum states: “We greet the efforts of the E. C. C, I. to urge our Party to dis- cuss and clarify at its coming convention the disputed questions which we have brought forward at the sixth world congress.” This was the policy of the opposition in December. Everything should be decided by the Party convention, Now, in January, the oppo- sition makes the following statement: “It is our opinion that now in order to solve finally the question of the Party line and leadership the Party must have the direct guidance and advice of the Communist International.” In December the opposition based everything on the forthcoming Party convention. Now it bases everything on the “direct guidance and advice” of the Communist International. In December the opposition declared that the decision of the Political Secretariat which stated that the charge against the C. E. C. of being a right wing is unfounded does not count and only the Party convention can investigate this problem. Today, in January, they reverse their position and state that not the Party convention but only the direct guidance and advice of the Com- munist International can solve the problems of the leadership of the Party. In all its earlier statements the opposition has claimed the right to express its disagreement to the thesis of the world congress of the Comintern. In its present statement the opposition cries for the direct guidance and advice of the Communist International. The explanation of these contradictions in the position of the oppo- sition is the circumstance that from the world congress decision they tried to appeal to the Party membership during the past few months, but now that the Party membership has spoken with such unmistakable clarity and registered its disagreement with the opposition, they try to appeal against the verdict of the Party membership to the Comintern. This attitude of the comrades of the opposition reveals the insincerity of their whole position. They do not accept the decisions of the Comin- tern if these decisions are not in their favor, and they do not accept the verdict of the Party membership, if the vote and voice of the proletarian membership of our Party is directed against them, The opposition reiterates in its present statement the charge that “the majority also persists in the refusal to accept the correct policy of a struggle on two fronts, against the right danger (open opportunism), which is the main danger in the Party, and Trotskyism (opportunism covered with left phrases).” — This charge is in contradiction to the facts and is untrue in every respect. We state most emphatically that the C. E. C. in all of its statements without exception (statements of October 2nd, November 16th, December 7th, the resolution adopted by the December plenum of the C. E. C., the political thesis adopted by the same plenum) has de- clared that it fights against both dangers, against outright opportunism and against Trotskyism. We quote here the resolution, “Mobilization of the Party for the Struggle Against the Right Danger and Trotsky- Fed by the December plenum of the C. E. C.: “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, out- right opportunism; the other is Trotskyism—in other words, inverted Menshevism—which is opportunism covered with left phrases. “The Central Executive Committee Plenum reiterates with the most cussion. The Party is now entering the next phase which brings us up to the national convention. It therefore becomes necessary, at this time, to draw the lessons from the discussion from the point of view of (1) The final formulation of the Party’s line on the basis of the decisions of the VI World Congress, and (2) The crystalization of the Party’s leadership. The minority has placed squarely hefore the Party the basic ques- tion of the estimation of American imperialism. The discussion hi definitely begun the process of clarification of the Party membership on this fundamental question. It is our opinion that now, in order to solve finally the question of the Party’s line and leadership, the Party Convention must have the | | direct guidance and advice of the C. I. | the Polcom. as follows: “(1) Now, that the Party membership has discussed the disputed questions before the Party, the Poleom decides to request the C. I. (a) To guide the Party convention in the final formulation of the Party’s | line and tasks and in the crystalization of a broad proletarian leader- |. ship, on a non-factional basis, that can be entrusted to put the C. I. line into effect without reservations. “(2) To postpone the Party Convention to such a date as will enable the Party to secure the guidance and advice of the C. I. for the Party convention.” This motion the Majority of the Polcom rejected. In doing so the Majority has made itself responsible for hampering the Party in re- ceiving the help of the C. I. at a very important phase in the Party’s life. This the Minority proposed to The motion made by the Minority on this question reads The Lessons of the Party Discussion. The statement of the Majority published in the Party press Jan- | uary 18th, despite its appeal against factionalism and for Party unity, is in reality an effort to perpetuate the factional control of the Pepper- | Lovestone leadership, to impede the application of the C. I. line to the U. S., and therefore to retard the process leading to real unity in the | Party. | The question of Party unity is first of all a question of a correct | revolutionary orientation and tactical line. It is secondly a question of the crystalization of a broad proletarian leadership, on a non- factional basis, of those elements in the P< which have proven to be most trustworthy and competent to put into effect the correct line. And, thirdly, it is a question of dissolving the old groupings and fac- tions in the Party. It is from this angle that the Party must examine the dessons of the discussion and the tasks of the Party Convention. The main lessons are the following: (1) The question of how to crystalize a Bolshevik proletarian leadership for our Party, did not receive the correct approach or the thoroughness and frankness which it deserves. This shorteoming must be corrected. (2) The comrades of the Majority persist in their theory of “ex- ceptionalism,” in their effort to exempt the U. S. from the application of the analysis and tactical line of the Sixth World Congress. The orientation and tactical line of the Majority continues to show the characteristics of a Right opportunist orientation (overestimation of the strength of U. S. imperialism, underestimation of the process of radicalization, etc.). The Majority also persists in the refusal to ac- cept the correct policy of a struggle on two fronts against the Right danger (open opportunism) which is the main danger in ghe Party and Trotskyism (opportunism covered with left phrases). (3) Both Majority and Minority demonstrated insufficient self- criticism. The Majority actually pursued the policy of self-praise. (4) The basic problems of the Party’s perspective and line, which the Minority raised before the Party, have already enabled the mem- bership to gain a clearer understanding of the Party’s tasks in the present period. The discussion has proven the correctness of the line of the Minority. It has also brought out certain weaknesses in some of the formulations of the position of the Minority which lent them- selves to misapprehension and misinterpretation. These weaknesses arose principally out of the need of emphasizing mainly thosé ten- dencies which make for crises and sharpening class struggles in the United States in order to force the adoption of a correct line for the Party. (5) The discussion of the really vital issues before the Party has reached a comparatively small proportion of the Party membership, due to insufficient preparation for the discussion, the injection by the ma- The Party has completed the first phases of the convention dis- [ jority of false issues, and the factional walls which militated against a thorough discussion of these problems. The Majority in its statement completely ignores the lessons of the Party discuss It refuses even at this hour to admit that there was anything wrong in its policies and that the Party convention must lay down a new orientation ané line for the Party. The Majority views the Party discussion as an v cortunate accident which should be liqui- dated without any ssrious change either in the Party’s line or the Party’s leadership. This attitude is wrong. It nullifies the valuable lessons of the discussion. For the Application of the Comintern Line to the U. S, The situation that resulted from the discussion imperatively de- mands that the deliberations and actions of the Party convention re- ceive the closest possible guidance of the C. I. The action of the Majority of the Polcom, which rejected the motion of the Minority to that effect, tends to deny the Party the opportunity of receiving such guidance from the C. I. Acceptance in words of the decisions of the Sixth World Congress does not solve the problems confronting us. But this is all that the Majority proposed in its statement on Party unit The Majority pre- tends not to see that the heart of the discussion was precisely the question of how to concretize the decisions of the Sixth World Con- gress and how to apply them in the U. S. The way the Majority “con- cretized” the decisions of the Sixth Id Congress is in effect the way of nullifying the decisions of the Sixth World Congress as far as the U. S. was concerned. Hence, acceptance in words of these deci- sions, as the Majority does, does not in the least solve the problem for us. The Party has discussed these questions and now we should re- quest the C. I. to review the various points of view and to guide the convention in the final settlement of these questions. The Majority is once more raising a false issue, namely, the ques- tion that the Minority must subordinate itself to the Majority, The question of Party discipline is not an issue to this discussion. The Minority has always honestly abided by the principle of Party organiza- tion that the decisions of the Majority must be carried out, even when comrades disagree with the decisions. This principle the Minority will continue to abide by, and calls upon the Majority of the Poleom to show as much respect for Party decisions. At no time did the Minority overstep the proper bounds of the Party discipline as laid down by the statutes. Therefore the Majority by attempting to make the question of discipline the central question is raising false issues, the only pur- pose of which is to evade the real central issue which is the reorienta- tion of the Party line. The Majority, while speaking about unity, is waging a campaign of extermination against the Minority. Minority comrades are sys- tematically removed from all the newly elected nuclei and section execu- tive committees. The same policy of extermination is now being pre- pared for the district executive committees. The Minority was almost completely denied representation in the section conventions. Typical of this policy is the case of New York City where the Minority re- ceived about 33 per cent of the vote in the nuclei but was given only 9 per cent of the delegates to the séction conventions. For Direct CI Guidance in the Building of the Party’s Leadership. The question of the Party’s leadership is not the question today of perpetuating in faction control the group led by Comrade Pepper and Lovestone. Nor is it a question of putting another group in fac- tional control of the Party leadership. Factions and organized group- ings in the Party must be liquidated. Party unity is of supreme im- portance, particularly in the face of the growing war danger. The Party’s leadership must be unified and built out of those proletarian and experienced elements in the class struggles who can be depended upon to put most successfully into effect the CI line in the U. S. We state to our Party that none of the existing groupings, neither the Majority nor the Minority as they are at present constituted, rep- resent a mature Bolshevik proletarian leadership, Such a leadership our Party will eventually develop in the process of leadership in the class struggle. But the forthcoming National Convention can make a successful beginning in that direction, and this it will accomplish with the help and direction of the C. I. This is the way to the abolition of factionalism and to real Bolshevik unity in our Party. The Minority of the Polcom. ARONBERG. BROWDER. * BITTELMAN. “i FOSTER. renee ener senses een vigorous emphasis the formulation in the November 16th statement of the Central Executive Committee: “In the present international situation, the Right Danger is the main danger within the Communist International and in its American section’.” The opposition still sticks to its erroneous main line, to its policy of reservations and factionalism, But at the same time under the pressure of the discussion and of the overwhelming majority of the proletarian membership of the Party, the comrades of the opposition are forced to make retreats on a whole series of questions, Already in their state- ment of January 7th the opposition admitted part of its errors on the Cannon-Trotsky issue: “1, We consider it an error that the comrades of the minority elected Cannon a member and spokesman of the minority steering com- mittee at the membership meeting in New York on October 3rd. This error resulted in our opinion from failure to draw all the political implica- tions from Cannon’s remarks and statements at that time. “2, We also consider it an error that the comrades of the minority in their efforts to expose and bring before the Party the developing Cannon-Trotskyist opposition between October 3rd and 16th did not advise and work with the Polcom.” The comrades of the opposition then promised a long statement on this matter for publication in the Party press, but they never issued that longer statement. They still owe the Party a detailed explanation of these errors, In the present declaration the opposition admits additional errors. First it admits that it “demonstrated insufficient self-critic- ism” in the discussion. We fully endorse this statement of the com- rades of the opposition. While the thesis of the C. E. C. and the resolu- tion adopted by the December Plenum of the C. E. C. on the Right Danger and Trotskyism was based on a merciless self-criticism of the C. E, C., the comrades of the opposition still tried to parade before the Party the arbiters of the Party, as the sole source of the correct Leninist policy, as the stern judges of the “Right line” of the C. E. C. Even on their main issue, on the estimation of American imperial- ism and 2s aloes oe the masses, the opposition begins to ex- press certain doul correctness of its own policy. The present statement of the oie ee 3 : “The discussion has proven the correctness of the line of the minor= ity. It has also brought out certain weaknesses in some of the formu- lations of the position of the minority which lend themselves to misap= > prehension and misinterpretation. These weaknesses arose principally ¢ ont of the need of emphasizing mainly those tendencies which make for | crises and sharpening class struggles in the United States in order ’to!* force the adoption of a correct line for the Party.” Tra Rt The opposition already admits certain errors. It admits it:was*: wrong on some questions of the Cannon-Trotsky issue. It admits that its” formulations about the role of American imperialism and the radicalizas!* tion of the masses have “weaknesses,” that it over-emphasized> the’ tendencies “which make for crises and sharpening class struggles in-the United States,” but it still charges the C. E. C. with maintaining a right->! wing line, because the C. E. C. refused to accept these “weak” formula= + tions of the opposition, and pointed out that the analysis by the oppo> sition of American imperialism is wrong because they refused to see the’ world hegemony of American imperialism, refused to see the strength of social reformism in the ranks of the American working class, and hailed: the Al Smith vote as the outstanding manifestation of the radicaliza+ tion of the proletariat. nit The opposition is in retreat. It begins to realize its own political confusion, but it still refuses to draw the proper conclusions from its — own political bankruptcy. It still sticks to its policy of reservations, arid it refuses to abandon its unprincipled factionalism. It has refused the offer of the C. E. C. for party unity. ‘ The C. E. C. holds the leading comrades of the opposition responsible before the whole Party and the Communist International for the rejec- tion of its serious and sincere offer for complete Party unity, which is today the most urgent and most imperative need of the Party. _ “The C. E. C. calls upon all district conventions to place the lated tne Sersin he pedime te urbabnizhae ra lise unequivoes neanireaionase