The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 25, 1929, Page 3

{ { y DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 1929 THE INTERNATIONAL SITUATION AND TASKS OF THE COMMUNISTS (NOTE—Today the Daily Worker prints the seventh instalment of the theses of the 6th World Congress of the Communist Interna- tional on “The International Situation and the Tasks of the Com- munists,” adopted at its sessions Publication of these theses will EDITOR) * in Moscow in July-Sept., 1928. be* continued until completed.— * 39. The growth of the importance of the youth in industry, due to capitalist rationalization, and the growing danger of war make it more than ever necessary to intensify work among the youth. The Congress instructs the Communist Youth International to examine the question of the tactics and the methods of work of the Communist Youth International, with a view to embracing larger sec- tions of the working youth, to adopting more varied methods of re- cruiting, to securing a more lively and active response to their economic, educational and theoretical requirements, while at the same time reserv- | youth in industry, it is necessary to intensify the work of the trade | attention to work among workers’ children and to the activities of | union youth sections. In those places where young workers are not eligible for membership in trade unions it is necessary to proceed to | orgarize, under the leadrship of the Communist Youth Leagues, | special youth societies, the object of which shall be to fight for the economic needs of the proletarian youth, To conduct the industrial struggle; to participate in the leadership of strikes and, in special cases, independently to conduct strikes; to work in the trade unions; to fight for the right of young workers to membership of the trade unions; to see that the Communist Youth Leagues penetrate into every organization to which young workers belong (trade unions, sport organizations, etc.); to develon anti-mili- tarist work; to give a sharp turn to methods and tactics in the direc- tion of mass work;—such must be the principal tasks of the Communist Youth International. Unless it undertakes and fulfils these tasks the Youth International will never be able.to organize a real mass struggle against imperialism and war. The Congress is of the opinion that a change over to mass work is essential. It calls upon all the sections of the Communist International and upon the E. C, C. J. to render more systematic aid to the Communist youth organizations ing the militant political features of the Communist Youth Leagues, | In view of the more important part now being played by the | and exercise more systematic guidance over them. The Communi Party, as well as the Young Communist League, must devote greater | Communist Childrens Lea WORK AMONG WOM ues, The congress at the same time out, through the medium of the International measures for intensif ing the work and among women toilers generally, and in doing so to utilize the ex- periences of the so-called working upon every section to support this EN AND ON LAND. MOVEMENTS FOR instructs the E. C. C.'I. to cai men’s Secretariat, among industrial w ing women countries and in the colon: toilers <= stimulate the work of the International Peasants’ Council and calls work, NATIONAL LIBERATION. | 41, The congress instructs the E. C. C. I. to take measures to assist | the organizations conducting the struggle for liberation in capitalist which mobilize the broad masses of the in defence of the Chinese Revolution and of the U. S. S. R., which aid the victims of White Terror, etc. It is necessary to intensify women’s “delegate meetings.” | 40. In the conditions of growing danger of imperialist wars, the | work of the Communist Parties in the rural districts and among the | very broad masses of the toilers generally, acquires special significance. On the basis of the results of the elections in France and Germany, the congress resolves that work among the agricultural laborers and small peasants must be intensified. The congress draws the necessity for intensifying work among the peasantry and places on record that this work has been neglected by the majority of the Communist Parties. The congress instructs the E. C, I. to take measures to stimulate the work among the peasantry, particularly in agrarian countries ecial attention to | and improve the work of the Communists in organizations like the “Group d’Unite,” “The League for the Struggle Against Imperialism,” | “Friends of the U. S. S. R.”, the “I, C. W. P. A” (MOPR—Interna- tional Labor Defense), “W. I. R.”, etc., The Communist Parties must render every support to these organizations, help in the circulation of their publications, render support to their local branches, etc. | 42, The increasing repressions and growing acuteness of the class struggle, and particularly the prospects of war, impose upon the Communist Parties the tasks of discussing and drawing up plans for the timely establishment of an underground apparatus, which shall guarantee continuity of leadership in future battles, unity of the Com- (Rumania, the Balkans, Poland, ete. ete. The congress instructs the E. C. C. I. to take urgent measures to -), as well as in France, Germany, | munist line of policy and unity of Communist action, (To Be Continued.) PARTY PRE-CONVENTION This is the first of a series of three articles on the lessons of the Party discussion. | the Minority comrades raised before | the Party in a sharp and thorough- | going manner, have already enabled |the membership to gain a clearer ‘understanding of the tasks of our | Party in the present period. In the | light of the discussion, certain for- mulations in the analysis of the Mi- nority need correction. 5.—The discussion did, not pene- trate deep enough into the ranks of | the membership. While large num- | bers of comrades were stirred up by | the factional angle of the struggle, a * By ALEX BITTELMAN. ARTICLE ONE. Although the Party discussion is not yet concluded, it is already pos- sible to draw from it several im- portant lessons. These appear to be ‘as follows: 1.—The question of Party leader- * * DISCUSSION SECTION Lessons of the Party Discussion disprove conclusively the claims of,proven? It has proven the analysis the Majority leadership to being ajof the Majority fundamentally {truly Bolshevik proletarian leader-| wrong. The period which actually | ship. | came to pass was one of the break- | There was a time when the lead-|up and disappearance of the labor ‘ing comrades of the Majority re- | party movement. The tactical line ‘ferred to their group as the Marx-) which produced the “Federated” has ‘ship was not handled correctly. Thus far in the discussion, there was on this question—the question of how ito bring about the crystallization of ia Bolshevik-proletarian leadership for our Party—neither the correct} approach, nor sufficient thorough-| ‘ness and frankness. 2.—Comrades Lovestone and Pep- \per, and the other leading comrades of the Majority, continue to hang jon to their Right opportunist orien- ,tation and perspective. The leaders considerably smaller number were/ian “trunk” of the Party, the Old | been proven by events to have been drawn into the discussion of the big | Guard, the real Bolsheviks, etc. They | wrong and containing the dangero | and really vital issues before us. For are still proceeding on the same | tendency of liquidating the Commu- this, of course, the leadership of the basis. But this is incorrect. Neither | nist Party. Party as a whole is to be criticized. 1. On the Question of Party Leadership. Can it be said, that the Party has already crystallized a leadership which ‘could be called Bolshevik and proletarian? Obviously, this canhot |the Majority leadership, nor the b) During the same period the of the Majority stubbornly persist | be said. We are still at the very be- | in their theory that the analysis of ginning of the process which will | the VI World Congress of the pres-| eventually produce such a leadership. | ent third period of post-war capital-| Of this fact everyone of us must be-| ism and the tactical orientation come conscious, in order that we may which follows from it, do not apply | be able to accelerate the consumma- | to the United States. The Majority | tion of this process. still holds on to its wrong stand-| The leading comrades of the Ma- point that Trotskyism is the same jority do not accept this point of| (as the Right danger, and that Trot-| view. Comrades Lovestond and Pep- | iskyism is the main danger in the per proceed on the assumption that Party. | the majority leadership, as at pres- | B8—Lack of sufficient frank and|ent constituted, is a full-fledged honest self-criticism. This applies to| Bolshevik - proletarian _ leadership. both Majority and Minority. But of|But this is not so. The number of the Majority it must be said, that|/errors committed by the Majority | there comrades were following thejsince it has crystallized into a) policy of° unwarranted ‘self-praise, /“‘group,” the frequency with which) rather than the much needed policy | it repeats old errors and makes new} of frank self-criticism. ones, and'the predominant non-pro- 4.—The basic problems of perspec- |letarian social composition of the Minority, nor any other element in| Majority leadership gravely under- the Party have as yet been tested| estimated the importance of trade and proven in the fire of crucial] union work. It was repeatedly cor- struggle. All the elements in the rected by the Comintern on this ques- |Party, when tested at one time or! tion. another in important struggles, have Between the period of 1925 and |been found wanting to a larger or| 1927, the Majority went wrong again lesser degree. jon questions of major Party policy. It carried over into the new situation its wrong labor party conception, end committed at least two big and’ fresh errors, From 1923 to 1929. Take the period between 1923 today. Between, the middle of 1923 and the beginning of 1925, the Majority went seridusly wrong on two major) a) The so-called fundamental re- lines of Party policy. vision policy, which was formulated a) It analyzed the situation then by the, Majority together with ex- prevailing as the opening up of a| Comrade Cannon. This policy pro- period of the organizational crystal- ceeded from an analysis that at that lization of farmer-labor parties, or} time we were entering into a period labor parties in the United States.| of wide opposition and “progres- On the basis of this analysis, the| sive” movements among the middle Majority proposed a tactical line| and lower bureaucracy of the Amer- (finally embodied in the August! ican Federation of Labor. On the Trade Union Policy. Thesis), which resulted in the or- basis of such analysis, the Majority) ganization of the Federated Farmer- | proposed a tactical line which led to Labor Party. | the liquidation of the organized left Th's was a test of Bolshevik judg-| wing, the TUEL (Trade Union ‘tive and tactical orientation, which |Majority leadership, all these facts! ment and leadership. What has it' Educational League.) The Majority! actually began to liquidate the left wing. Once more we had a test of Bol- shevik judgment and leadership. And what has it proven? It has proven the analysis of the Majority all wrong. The period, which we then Majority upon the orientated itself mainly ristocracy of labor and the bureaucracy of the unions. This tendency is still very much evident in the Majority. Between 1927 and today, the Ma- organizations) was deficient in this | more specifically later, do not take respect, that it tended to restrict |sufficiently into account those fac- somewhat the Party’s organization | tors which retard or militate against |work among the masses. |the maturing of the coming economic | (b) The Minority was basically |and political crises in the U. S. correct in the major questions of | These formulations, while correctly trade union policy. However, it |stressing the radicalization process, showed a tendency to slacken the | suffer from insufficient emphasis on struggle for a wider mass base for |the uneven character of the general the organized Left wing. It, too, | process of radicalization which is de- hesitated to reorientate to the unor- | Veloping among the masses. ganized masses and for the building | Conclusions re Leadership. of new unions. It did not always| What conclusions must be drawn actually entered, and in which we still find ourselves, is characterized by the following features: 1, The bureaucracy of the A. F. of L., in its steady movement to-the right, has become an open agent of the bourgeoisie to mobilize the masses for imperialist war and to impose upon them capitalist ration- | alization. 2. The so-called opposition and progressive elements of the bureau- eracy have undergone a further | toc jority continued to go wrong on the basic question of the Party line. h It is not yet freed itself from the ong labor party conceptions. It still retains illusions about the aris- y of labor and the A. F. of L. draw tactical conclusions from the role of the A. F. of L. bureaucracy as the backbone of social-reformism and social imperialism in the United States. | Latest Phase of Controversy. It developed a perspective and, (c) In the present, latest, phase orientation of a Right opportunist of the jinner-Party controversy, character. which began roughly around the What does this prove? It proves | February, 1928, Plenum of the C. that the claims of the Majo to|E. C., the Minority showed that it being the Bolshev ‘oletarian was alert of and conscious to the leadership of the Party is so much | changed world position and role of from the above from the point of |view of promoting the process of erystalizing a Bolshevik-proletarian | leadership for our Party. | 1. None of the existing groups are mature Bolshevik-proletarian groups. The Majority must be made to abandon their policy of unwar- ranted self-praise and their unjus- tified claims to group leadership. | This only,perpetuates the intolerable | “two-party” system in our Parfy. 2. Our guiding analysis and po- process of differentiation, with the vesult that those closest to the masses are joining with the rank and file and with the Communists in the building of the Left wing in the old unions and in the building of new industrial unions, while oth- critical ers have surrendered to the Greens | party's deve and Lewises and to the bourgeoisie. lellowine: 3 A sharp upward swing of the Left wing in the mining, textile and garment industries and the crystal- (a) lization of new industrial unions in tially these industries. In other words, the actual devel-| party in the United States and of opment was radically different from |the role of the Com: that analyzed by the Majority (with | The tactical orientation of the Min- Cannon). The effort to liquidate |ority (its proposal to practically the Left wing was checked by| special decision of the Comintern. /alizations upon and over-critical at- (b) During the same period, the 'titude toward so-called intermediate Correctness of Minority. The | Tt would be wrong, however, to| was pressing energetically for the |conclude from it, that the Minority | formulation of a clear perspective of |constitutes a full-fledged Bolshevik- | revolutionary development. It fought |proletarian leadership, But no one | for a tactical reorientation in accord makes any such claim for the Min-|with the growing war danger, the examination of the can capitalism, and the developing lopment will show the | radicalization process correct in its analysis cf the | and combatting the Trotsky-Cannon perspective and role of the labor | Opposition. munist Party. | drop the slogan in 1923, its gener- | mulations, with which we will deal | empty self-praise. |U. S. imperialism. The Minority | litical line is contained in the de- cisions of the Sixth Worid Congress jof the C. I. Instead of “exempting” the United States from the C. I. world analysis and tactical line, as |is being done by the leaders of the | Majority, we must concretize and ap- ply that line to the conditions in the among the | United States. masses. The Minority brought to | 3. Abolition of factions and fac- |the attention of the Party the de-|tion control in the Party. We must | veloping Right danger in our Party |welcome and solicit the guidance maturing contradictions of Ameri- nority was substan-| and took the initiative in exposing ioe help of the E.C.C.I. in solving our internal Party problems, as well jas the external problems. The Party In doing so, the Minority itself | must have the help of the E. C. C. I. committed several Right errors, |in the building up of a proletarian- |But what is more important, the | Bolshevik leadership. We cannot Minority proposed some formula-|adopt the attitude of the Majority tions on analysis and tactics which | which looks with disfavor upon Com- are open to criticism. These for-jintern guidance and assistance to our Party in this situation. EX.OPPOSITIONISTS ASK END TO FACTIONALISM The undersigned comrades have agency for strengthening our Party come to the realization that the| ideologically and organizationally. Reaction in Skirts NEW BED FORD WORKE. RS Latin America’s Foe | FOR CEC IN DISCUSSION The following resolution was leadership many sharp industrial COAL MINERS CONDEMN RENEGADE CANNONITES main task before the Party in its| inner relations is to liquidate the| factional struggle. This is especial-| ly necessary because of the growing | war danger, ‘the increasing attacks | on our Party by its enemies, the} need for a most decisive struggle | against the Right Danger and for} the crushing defeat of the Trotsky-) ist forces trying to split our Party. The decisions of the 6th World Congress of the Communist Inter-| national, as well as the subsequent decisions on the American question, arrived at by the Political Secre- tariat of the Comintern, such as the decision of September 7th and the letter of November 21st, both based on the World Congress resolution, lay the necessary basis and afford the appropriate platform for the unification of all Communist forces in the Party. We endorse the action of the Cen- tral Committee in rejecting the wrong analysis given by the Bittel- man-Foster Minority in its estimate of Américan imperialism and its conclusion of there already being in the United States a national, gen- eral, deep-going radicalization among the unskilled and semi-skilled work- ers. : Only on the basis of the unre-| served acceptance of Comintern de- cisions and under the leadership of the Central Executive Committee of the Party can the Right danger. be fought successfully and Trotskyism be defeated decisively. Therefore, we are convinced that especially the present situation requires the im- mediately cessation of the fraction struggle, The Comintern has declared that the main inner task before the Par- ty is to liquidate the faction strug- gle for which there is no serious difference in principle. Adhering firmly to this opinion of the Comin- tern, we former supporters of the Foster group in the Party, have come to the conclusion that the time has arrived to call upon the entire On this occasion we also point out that the results of the membership meetings throughout the country and subsequent elections of delega- tions to conventions, show that the overwhelming majority of the Party are eager for the unification of all Communist forces under the leader- ship of the CEC, following the line of the CI without reservations. We declare ourselves in full agreement with the position of the Ford shop nucleus. All comrades who desist from the factional struggle must be drawn organically into the Party’s work; there should be no discrimination because of previous group align- ments. There is no political basis today for the existence of the old groups. That is why we have broken with the Opposition. We look forward to the next convention of the Party to take the necessary steps to wipe out the remnants of all groups for the existence of which there is no jus- tification in principle. Unity is the urgent need of the Party. Unity on the basis of the unreserved accep- tance of all Comintern decisions is the first prerequisite for our Par- ty’s being able to meet its urgent and important tasks. This is the purpose of our appeal to the entire Party membership in general and to the comrades of the Minority in particular. We welcome the recent declara- tion for unity by the CEC as an im- portant step in the direction of unifying the Party. The comrades holding this view have for a number of years been ac- tive in the Party and have fulfilled their duties in executing responsi- ble Party work, Our appeal is made with all earn- estness and with the sincerest Com- munist determination to put an end to destructive factionalism and to unite more firmly than ever the ranks of the Communists so as to | | Mrs. Pearl Peden Oldfield, widow \of the late representative William A. Oldfield, of Arkansas, who has been elected to represent the bosses |adopted unanimously at the sub-dis- jstruggles were conducted, among Minersville, Pa. Mr. A. Swabeck, |trict conference of delegates from the mill and street units of New |Bedford and Fall River, after hear- ‘ing the reports of Comrade Alex. Bail for the Central Committee and | Sam Wiseman for the Minority: | “The New Bedford sub-district |conference expresses its support of and confidence-in the Central Ex- ecutive Committee, “We endorse the theses of the |Central Committee, under whose MacDonald Inquires Why Statesmen Don’t Stop the War Danger LONDON, Jan. 24.—J. Ramsay MacDonald, former British “labor” premier and enemy of the Soviet Union, has an article this week in in congress. The bourgeois women|the English Nation on the prospect are as strong for capitalis of war. MacDonald damns with hin: SOR SORE DTA COE CEO tae the, Rallpee treatlon, if jand praises with faint damnation ee TS | the Anglo-French naval accord. Two Rescued, Adrift on Se i 8 ue for Eight Days they give U. S. imperialism an ad- HAMILTON, Bermuda, Jan. 24 vuntege over British, so he says, (UP).—Two Americans, Thomas' they is ‘avoid every practical diffi- Flynn and Adolphus Rolee, were jculty. picked up in mid-ocean by the tanker| ‘The Anglo-French alliance against Ashtabula after drifting for eight! the U. S. rival, and against the first days off the Bermudas in a disabled) Workers’ Republic, the Soviet Union, aie Beatie ia. aanicae tale pepanald oe me aes paeinet 2 a threat to the Unite: ates. wireless message, took them off the} MacDonald's solution of the war Ashtabula and brought them here ig states- last night. The tanker was bound ees) Les “a Beet ies he oe Bae made to clear up the confusion of a the freedom of the seas?” i} | } | | As a good imperialist he doesn’t like the treaties much, for he sees | The modern bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruins of feu society, hax not away with class antagonism: has but e¢ troops and bombing planes against rebellious colonies of the British empire, While in office MacDonald sent | these struggles being our New Bed- ford strike. | “We recognize fully that there were errors and shortcomings in the work of the Party, but believe that the C. E. C. has corrected these er- | rors and is taking steps to over-| come the shortcomings, “We express our disagreement with the letter of Comrade Pilgrim of California. He doesn’t know what he is talking about when he wants us to believe that in New Bedford the newly-organized workers were attached to the American Federa- tion of Labor. He should know that the policies of the C. E. C. were correct and resulted in the organiza- tion of the National Textile Work- (S) Chicago, Ill. We received your Trotsky politi-| cal line statements and the traitor- ous paper you issue, The Militant. | No matter who you were before, as| long as you served the working class in our proletarian advance guard, in the ranks of the Workers (Communist) Party, you were hon- ored as our comrade and a leader. But as you turned out to serve | Trotsky, the bitterest enemy of the) | working class, you are no more our | comrade, but a renegade, a traitor to pick and shovel miners, as well jas to all workers who toil with sweat and blood. We congratulate our CEC for ex- | posure of your political views and expulsion from our ranks as a Judas, We do not want your treacher- ous communications nor your de- moralizing papers any move! Workers (Communist) Party. Anthracite Unit of Minersville, Pa. Secy. Carl Herman. Not only has the bourgeoisie forged the weapons that bring death to itself; it has also enlled into existence the men who are to wield those weapons—the modern working class—the proletarians.— Karl Marx (Communist Mi ers Union, of which New. Bedford was the foundation stone, “We endorse the plea for unity as This is the real McCoy when tt) comes to shaking bayonets at the Central and South Americans. expressed in the statement of the C. | Imperialism in Latin America E. C. of Jan. 19, 1929, “We call on all proletarian Com- munists to unite behind the Central Committee and the Communist In- ternational, without reservations, so that we may defeat the Right dan- ger and Trotskyism and may mobil- ize the masses for the struggle against the coming war and for the defeat of American’ imperialism.” 2 cms : BILL HAYWOOD’S BOOK— now running serially in | The DAILY WORKER—is available in two editions $3.50 and $2.50 — Order your copy today from the Source of All Revolutionary Literature Workers Library Publishers 35 FE, 125th ST., NEW YORK CITY ETROPOLITAN enable our Party to be the dynamic Party membership to: leader of the struggles ahead of us 1. Drop all Party groupings. ~ ASSETS EXCEEDING $29,000,000 Deposits made on or before the 3rd day of the month will draw interest 2. Put an end to all factional- isr>. 8. Consider all Party questions Bo. L wee adiey s.ewpoint, 4. Support the CEC in its ac- tivities. 5. Unite our ranks with a view of organizing the coming convention so as to make it a most effective ‘ —to fight the imperialist war dan- ger and to lead the American work- ers to a victory over capitalism, (Signed) Ben Baraz, J. Garbuz, Leo. Kling, M. Kushing, Max Kitzes, Goldie Lerner, Anna Lyons, R. Mitchel, M. Marek, Jack Oblan, Tadeus Radwansky, Nat Rappaport, Ethel Shor, A. L. Suskin, S. Vendt, Zaikowsky, S, Zubkoft, Rank! Mall we Workers Library Publishers 35 East 125TH Street, N. Y. C. from the Ist day of the month, Last Quarterly Dividend paid 1 on all amounts from hay: | U/, g to $7,500.00, at the rate o' 2 0 fe} wpe el kde (all day) until 7 P. M. Brigadier General Frank M. 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