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

DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1929 Page Three DRAFT STATUTES OF WORKERS (COMMUNIST) PARTY OF AMERICA SECTION OF THE COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL This draft, making certain changes in the constitu- tion of the Workers (Communist) Party of America, Sec- tion of the Communist International, is submitted for the consideration of the coming convention of the Party, which is to open in New York on March 1. I, NAME OF THE PARTY. 1.—The name of this organization shall be the COMMUNIST PARTY OF U. S. OF AMERICA, section of the Communist In- ternational. Il. EMBLEM. 1—The emblem of the Party shall be the crossed hammer and sickle with a circular margin having at the top: “COMMUNIST PARTY OF AMERICA” and underneath “WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNIT. es Ill. MEMBERSHIP. .—A member of the Party can be every person from the age of eighteen up who accepts the program and statutes of the Com- munist International (Comintern) and the Communist Party of Amer- ica, who becomes a member of a basic sub-organization of the Party, who is active in this organization, who subordinates himself to all the decisions of the Comintern and of the Party, and regularly pays his membership dues. 2.—Applicants for membership shall sign an application card reading as follows: “The undersigned declares his adherance to the program and statutes of the Communist International and of the Communist Party and agrees to submit to the discipline of the Party and to engage actively in its work.” At the time of being accepted as a member of the Party this pledge shall be read to the applicant who shall indicate his endorse- ment of the same. 3.—The question of acceptance must first be discussed by the shop nucleus or street nucleus of the Party and the application must be accepted by a vote of the membership of the unit to which application is made and the acceptance ratified by the leading com: mittee of the territorial division of the. Party in which membership is held. 4.—Members who change their place of work, or in case they are members of a street nucleus, their place of residence, must secure a transfer card from the Party unit in which they have held membership and present this card to the unit to which they trans- fer. A duplicate of the transfer card given the member shall be sent to the leading commitee of the territorial section from which the member transfers and transmitted by this committee to the territorial section to which.the member transfers. If the member transfers from one section organization to an- other, the transfer card shall be transmitted thru the district execu- tive committee; if the member transfers from one district to another the transfer card shall be sent thru the Central Executive Committee. 5.—Members of the Party who desire to leave the country and go to another country must obtain the permission of the Central Executive Committee of the Party. 6.—Every member of the Party who is eligible to be a member of a trade union must become a member of the union to which he is eligible. Ivy. 1—The Communist Party, like all sections of the Comintern, is built upon the principle of democratic centralization. These principles are: a) Election of the subordinate as well as the upper Party or- gans at general meetings of the Party members, conferences and conventions of the Party. b) Regular reporting of the Party committees to their con- stituents. ¢) Acceptance and carrying out of the decisions of the higher "Party committees by the lower, strict Party discipline, and immedi- ate and exact application of the decisions of the Executive Commit- tee of the Communist International and of the Executive Committee of the Party. d) Any Party committee whose activities extend over a cer- tain area is considered superior to those Party organizations whose activity is limited only to certain parts of this area. THE STRUCTURE OF THE PARTY. ) The discussion on basic Party questions or general Party lines can be carried on by the members only until the Central Execu- tive Committee has decided them. After a decision has been adopted at the congress of the Comintern, the Party convention, or by the leading Party committee, it must be carried out unconditionally, even if some of the members or some of the local organizations are not in agreement with the decision. 2e) The highest authority of each unit of the Party is the general mecting of Party members, conference, or Party convention. 3e) The membership meeting, conference, or Party convention elects the leading committee which acts as the leading Party organ in the interim between the membership meetings, conferences or con- ventions and conducts the work of the Party organization. Vy. THE PARTY NUCLEUS. 1.—The basis of the Party organization is the nucleus (in fac- tories, mines, workshops, offices, stores, agricultural enterprises, etc.) which all Party members working in these places must join. The nucleus consists of at least three members. Newly organized nuclei must be endorsed by the leading committee of the territorial eaction in which the shop nuclei are organized. 2—In factories were only one or two members are employed, these members are affiliated to the nearest working nucleus or form - a factory nucleus jointly with the members working in neighboring factories. i 3.—Party members who cannot be immediately affiliated with a shop nucleus, shall join temporarily the street nucleus in the section of the city in which they reside, until it shall be possible to create a shop nucleus in the factory. 4.—The nucleus is the organization which links up the Party with the workers, poor farmers, and laborers. The tasks of the “nucleus are: to spread Party influence among the non-Party masses ‘of workers and peasants, to carry out Party slogans and decisions “among them, by means of systematic Communist agitation and pro- ‘paganda, to recruit new members, to distribute and sell Party liter- ature, to issue a factory newspaper, to conduct cultural work, to “discuss Party problems, to carry on the work of enlightenment and education of the Party members in the fundamental principles of Communism. J ‘The members of the nucleus should strive for all official positions _ in the ‘workers’ organizations in the factory, or in their territory, ipate in all economic conflicts and demands of the employees, these from the standpoint of the revolutionary class strug- gle and seek to win the leadership of all the struggles of the workers “by tireless nucleus work. 6.—The street nucleus conducts similar work among the workers living in that section of the city in which it is organized, _. €—The leading organ of the nucleus, the nucleus bureau, is to be elected at the membership meeting of the nucleus and is to of 3 to 7 members depending upon the size of the nucleus, As a rule, the nucleus bureau should be elected for a period of 6 and during this period is to make a complete report.to the meeting of the nucleus at least twice, giving the results of its ~The nucleus bureau elects an organizer-secretary and divides Party work of the nucleus among the other members of the ys ‘The organizer-secretary of the nucleus must be an active Proposed to the Sixth National Convention of the Party by the Organization Department Party member for not less than six months and must be approved by the higher Party committee. VI. THE SECTION ORGANIZER. 1,—The next body following the nucleus shall be the section organization. The sub-district, city and sub-section shall be abolished. Under this system, a section will be either the division of a larger city, a single city or a number of cities with the larger city as the center of the section. This new division of the districts into sections makes it necessary that, after the DEC shall divide its territory, it submit its proposals for approval to the CEC. Exception to this structure may be made only with the permission of the CEC. 2.—The leading organ of the section is Section Executive Com- mittee which is to be elected either at a section conference consisting of representatives of the nuclei, or at the general membership meet- ing of the section. The committee should consist of 5 to 9 members and 2 to 3 candidates. The Plenum (full Section Executive) elects a bureau of 3 to 5 members. No other organs ‘(such as secretariat) should exist in the Section Executive. 8.—The Section Executive Committee at its first plenum elects a secretary-organizer, who must be not less than one year an active member of the Party, and elects other members of the bureau. The secretary-organizer must be approved by the District Executive Committee. 4.—The section conference or section general membership meet- ing shall be called once a year by the Section Executive, with the approval of the D. E. C., for the purpose of discussing the report and plans of the Section Commitee, electing a new Section Execu- tive Committee and also delegates to the District Conference. 5.—The section Party organization and the Section Committees shall have all rights as leading bodies in their territory. They are the political leaders of the given territory, working under the leader- ship of the District Executive Committee and the Central Execu- tive Committee. 6.—The ‘regular meetings of the Plenum of the Section Commit- tee shall be for a part of a city or a single city—not less than once in ‘six weeks; for section organizations, which consist of a number of cities—not less than once in three months. 7.—The meetings of Section Bureaus shall be called as often as it is necessary, but not less than once in two weeks. VII. DISTRICT ORGANIZATION. i1—tThe district organization, which should be either a single state, or a number of states, is the next Party body following the section. 2.—Regular district conferences, which shall elect members of the District Executive Committee, discuss reports of the work of the District Committee and other important Party matters, and also elect delegates to the Party Convention, shall be called by the Dis- trict Committee, with the approval of the Central Executive Com- mittee. 3.—The district conference also elects the District Control Com- mittee, which shall be charged with the control of the financial ac- counts of all the Party units in the district, and which also deals with the appeals from the decisions of lower Party nits against disciplinary action. 4,—Special District Conferences may be called by the District Committee by the demand of not less than one-half of the member- ship, or by the Central Executive Committee. e 5.—The District Conferences consist of delegates, elected at Section Conferences, general section membership meetings, or in some instances directly from the Party nuclei. 6.—The District Executive Committee is the highest Party au- thority in the district between District Conferences. The District Executive Committee must be composed primarily of factory work- ers, disciplined and active Party members, and should include rep- resentatives of the chief towns, of some mass organizations, and important shop nuclei of the district. 7.—The District Executive Committee is elected at the District Convention and should consist. of 9 to 15 members and 3 to 5 candi- dates. Exceptions in some cases may be made, with the approval of the CEC. The frequency of the meetings of the Plenum will, of course, depend largely on the local conditions, but the full DEC must meet no less than 8 times during the year. 8.—The leading organs of the District shall be the following: 1, DEC (Plenum); 2, District Bureau; 3, Secretariat. Names “Pol- bureau,” and “Polcom” shall not be used by any of the Districts. There is only one Polbureau, the Polbureau of the CEC. 9,.—The DEC Plenum is to elect a District Bureau of 5 to 7 members and a Secretariat of 3 members, which should be composed of the chief functionaries of the District: Organizer, head of the Trade Union Department, head of the Organization Department. In some districts, as, for example, the agricultural district, other arrangements may be made. 10.—The District Executive Committee elects the District Or- ganizer in agreement with the Central Executive Committee. The distriet organizer must preferrably be a worker and must have been an active member of the Party not less than three years. The District Organizer and the other members of the Secretariat must be approved by the Central Executive Committee. 1—The District Bureau must meet at least once a month. The Secretariat should be called together as often as necessary, but at least once a week. 12.—If a district paper in any language is published, the Dis- trict Executive Committee appoints the editor of the paper with the approval of the Central Executive Committee. 13.—The Secretariat of the District Committee shall organize an apparatus which must consist of a maximum of five departments (organization, agitprop, trade union, etc.). As a rule, members of te District Committee should be placed at the head of these depart- ments. These departments carry on their work under the direction of the Secretariat and Bureau of the District Executive Committee and submit periodic reports to them. VII. THE CENTRAL INSTITUTIONS OF THE PARTY. 1.—The Party Convention is the highest authority of the Party and shall be called by the Central Executive Committee at least once a year, in agreement with the Executive Committee of the Communist International. 2.—Special conventions which shall have all the powers of regu- lar conventions, may be called by the Central Executive Commit- tee, either at its own initiative and in agreement with the Execu- tive Committee of the Communist International, or upon the demand of Party organizations representing not less than half the members of the Party. Special conventions, however, can only be called with the agreement of the Executive Committee of the Communist Inter- national, 3.—The call for the national convention and the proposed agenda of the convention shall be submitted to the membership at least one month before the date of the convention. 4,—The number of delegates to the convention shall be deter- mined by the Central Executive Committee. 5.—The Party Convention shall hear reports of the Central Exe- cutive Committee and the Central Control Committee, decide the questions of Party program, formulate resolutions on all political, tactical and organizational questions, and elect the Central Execu- tive Committee and the Central Control Committee. 6.—The Central Executive Committee of the Party shall be elected by the Party Convention and shall consist of 37 members elected by the convention, including a representajve of the’ Young Workeys League. The convention shall also elect nine candidates who shall have a right to participate in the full sessions of the C. E. C. with a yoice but no vote. In case of vacancies the candidates shall become member of the C, E. C. ! | 7.—The Central Executive Committee must have as members and candidates not less than fifty-one per cent workers, especially from basic industries. All the members of the Central Executive Committee must have been active members of the Party at least three years at the time of their nomination. 8.—The Central Executive Commitee is the highest authority of the Party between the Party Conventions, It represents the Party as a whole over and against other Party institutions, and other in- stitutions, organizes various organs of the Party, conducts all its political and organizational work, appdints the editors of its central organs, who work under its leadership and control, organizes and guides all undertakings of importance for the entire Party, distributes all the Party forces and controls the Central Treasury. The Cen- tral Executive Committee conducts the work of the Party fractions within bodies of a central nature. The Central Executive Committee has the right to combine or divide existing organizations, either according to territory or otherwise in conformity with their political rand economic characteristics. 9.—The Central Executive Committee elects from among its mem- bers a Political Committee of 7 members and 3 candidates for con- ducting the work of the C. E. C. between its full sessions. The Cen- tral Committee shall elect also a general secretary and members of a secretariat for conduct of the permanent current work. 10.—The general secretary of the C, E. C. must have been an active member of the Party not less than seven years and members of the Political Committee, the Secretariat, and editors of central organs, not less than five years. 11.—There shall be arranged approximately once in four months plenary sessions of the Central Executive Committee for the dis- cussion of urgent and basic Party questions. 12.—The Polbureau of the CEC must meet at least once in a month and the Secretariat should be called as often as necessary, but at least once a week. 13.—The Central Executive Committee may, when it deems it necessary, call Party Conferences. The delegates to these Party Conferences from the Districts shall be elected by the District Com- mittees. The Central Executive Committee may co-opt individual Party workers to attend the Party conferences in an advisory capacity, without voting rights. 14.—The decisions of the Party Conference are not valid and binding on- the Party unless endorsed by the Central Executive Committee. IX. CONTROL COMMITTEES, 1.—In order to help the Party to unify its ranks, and for a ruthless eradication of factionalism and oppositionism—a struggle against the breaking of constitutional rules and program of the Party, for the cleansing of the Party of non-Communist elements, for a careful review of the Party’s financial standing—National and District Control Committees must be organized, which are to be elected at the National Convention and District Conferences. 2.—All the matters in connection with systematic refusal to carry out Party decisions, creation of opposition groups and factions, and systematic carrying on of destructive activities within the Party, which weakens Party unity—come before the Control Committees, while the decisions of the Control Committees in connection with all these matters must be in agreement with the respective Party commitees. 3.—In Section Party organizations and in nuclei no Control Committees are to be organized, but all the actions on the questions mentioned in point one, are to be taken up in corresponding com- mittees, the decisions of which are to be approved by the District or National Control Committees. NOTICE: All decisions of Party organs and District Control Committees about expulsions of Party members are to be en- forced only after the approval by the National Control Com- mittee and the Secretariat of the C. E. C. 4.—In some cases, in the most important Section Committees, special representatives can be assigned by the District Control Com- mittees, who are to work on the basis of special instructions and in full accordance with the decisions of the Party Committee. 5.—The Party Convention shall elect a Central Control Com- mittee of 7 members and 2 candidates, five of whom at least shall be workers, active and disciplined Communists, and have been in the Party not.less than five years. 6.—Members of the Centrol Control Committee cannot be at the same time members of the C. E. C., or District Organizers, etc. 7.—Members of the Central Control Committee shall have the right to participate in the sessions of the C. E. C. with a voice but no vote. 8.—The C. C. U. elects from among its members a Presidium of three comrades, the chairman of which shall be an active Party member not Jess than seven years. 9.—Meetings of the C. C. C. must take place approximately once every 4 months, and its Presidium as often as necessary, but not Jess than once each month. j x 10.—The District Conferences shall elect District Control Com- mittees of from 8 to 5 members and 2 candidates in each District, mostly workers, disciplined and active Communists, and having been in the Party not less than 3 years. X. ELECTIONS OF DELEGATES. 1,—Election of delegates to all Party conferences and conven- tions shall be based upon the number of members in good standing on the first of the month prior to the date of the election. No Party member can vote in the election if more than two months in arrears in dues payments. The secretary of the Party unit shall submit with the results of the election a certified list stating the names of the good-standing members in the Party unit. No election of delegates to any conference or convention shall be valid unless 55 per cent of the good standing members in the Party unit participated in the elections. 2—tThe highest committee of the unit of the Party in which a conference or convention is to be held shall decide the basis of rep- resentation, that is, the number of good-standing members necessary to elect delegates. 8.—The shop nuclei and the street nuclei shall elect delegates to the sectichh conference in accordance with the number of delegates they are entitled to, based upon the certified list of good-standing members which the secretary shall send to the Section Conference in certifying the results of the elections. 4.—Th Section Conference shall elect the number of delegates it is entitled to according to the ratio fixed for the election of dele- gates from the Section Conference to the District Conference based if-on the number of members in good standing in the city as certified by the shop nuclei and the street nuclei. 5.—The District Conference shall elect the number of delegates it is entitled to. according to the ratio fixed for the election of dele- gates from the District Conference tothe National Convention, based upon the number of good-standing members in the district. 4 XI. THE PARTY APPARATUS. _1—It is necessary to build the Party apparatus which must be so constructed that it will correspond to the conditions of work of the Party. It must be flexible and carry out the Party work in a systematic manner. : 2.—The apparatus of the Party Committees must consist of a maximum of five departments: Organization, Agitprop, Trade Union, Women’s and Negro. Such districts as North Dakota, Minnesota, etc., should also establish an Agrarian Department. The work of each department must be clearly defined. ‘There should be no parallels, but rather coordination, _ 1 3.—The heads of the departments are to work under the direct supervision of the Party Committee (Secretariat-Bureau-Plenum). 4.—Every Party department should work in conjunction with a committee of five to seven members whose duty should be not ad- ministrative, but exclusively consultative. The head of the depart- ment is also to be the chairman of this committee. Special atten- tion must be paid to the selection of a competent head for each de- partment, a comrade who must be energetic and work systematically. XI. PARTY DISCIPLINE. 1,—The strictest Party discipline is the most solemn duty of all Party members and all Party organizations. The decisions of the Communist International and the Party Convention, of the Central Executive Committee and of all the leading committees of the Party must be promptly carried out. Discussion of questions over which there have been differences must not continue after the decision has been made, 2.—Breaches of Party discipline by individual members may be punished by censure, public censure, dismissal from office, suspen- sion from the Party, and expulsion from the Party. Breaches of discipline by Party committees may be punished by removal of the committee by the next higher Party committee. 3.—Charges against individual members shall be made in the shop nucleus or street nucleus and the decision of the Party unit shall be confirmed by the Party committee in the territory in which the unit is located. Charges against individual members may also be made in any leading committee of the Party or by the Central Committee and such committees have full power to act. The member expelled may appeal to the next higher Party or Control Committees. Appeals can be made only by the punished members themselves or by a Party organization in his behalf. 4.—No leading committee of the Party has power to suspend any of its members from the committee. Charges against members of committees must be filed with the next higher committee. XII. DUES. 1.—Each applicant for membership shall pay an initiation fee of $1, which shall be receipted for by an initiation stamp furnished by the Central Executive Committee. The entire sum shall go to the national organization. 2.—Each member shall pay 50 cents per month dues, which shall be receipted for by dues stamps issued by the Central Executive Committee. Members whose earnings are more than $100 per month shall pay additional dues to the amount of one per cent of their earn- ings above $100, The payment of the additional dues shall be re- see for by special stamps issued by the Central Executive Com- mittee. 3.—The district organization shall purchase regular dues stamps from the Central Executive Committee at 25c per stamp, the section organization shall purchase dues stamps from the district organization at 40e; and the nuclei shall purchase dues stamps from the section organization at 45¢. Dues stamps of a higher denomination shall be sold to the various organizations in the same rates. _ 4.—Special assessments may be levied by the national conven- tion or by the Central Executive Committee. No member shall be considered in good standing unless he purchases such special assess- ment stamps. 5.—Members unable to pay dues or assessments on account of unemployment, strikes, sickness, or similar reason shall by vote of the nucleus be furnished with exempt stamps. No district organization shall be allowed exempt stamps in a proportion greater than ten per foul ot a monthly purchase of regular stamps, except by decision of e . ‘ 6.—Members who are three months in arrears in payment of dues shall cease to be members of the-Party in good _standing. Members who are six months in arrears shall be stricken from the rolls. No member of the Party shall pay dues in advance for a period of more than three months, XIV. FRACTIONS. 1.—In all non-Partv workers’ and farmers’ organizations (trade unions, cooperatives, cultural societies, educational societies, fraternal and benevolent societies, sports and other clubs, war veterans’ organi- zations. factory councils, unemployed councils, at conferences and conventions, in local administrative bodies. state legislature and the national congress) where there are at least two Communists, a Communist fraction must be organized for the purpose of increasing ne influence of the Party in applying its policy in the non-Party sphere. > 2.—The fractions are organs of the Party within non-Party or- ganizations. They are not independent, fully authorized organi- zations, but are subordinate to the competent local Party com- mittee. 3.—In case of differences arising between the Party committee and the fraction, the Party committee must investigate the question anew, together with the representatives of the fraction and come to a decision which must be carried out unconditionally by the frac- tion. In case an appeal is made against the decision by the frac- tion, the question shall be finally settled by the next higher Party committee. 4.—If questions are discussed by a Party committee which con- cern a fraction, the committee shall accept a representative of the fraction concerned, who shall attend the meeting of the committee in an advisory capacity. 5.—The fractions elect their own officers who, however, must be endorsed by the Party committee in the section in which the fraction operates. The officers of the fraction are responsible for their activities to the fraction and to the Party committee. 6.—The Pary committee, which directs the Party work in the territory in which a fraction is organized, has the right to send its representatives into the executive committee of any fraction or to recall any member of that body. 7.—Candidates for all important positions in the organization in which the fractions are working are selected by the fraction, which must be approved by the Party committee for the territory. 8.—Questions which’ come up for decision in the organization in which a fraction is working must be discussed in advance in the meeting of the fraction, or by its leading committee. On every question in which a decision is reached in the fraction, or a decision made by the leading committee, the fraction members must act unanimously in the meeting of the organization and vote together solidly. Members who break this rule are subject to disciplinary measures by the Party. XV. RELATIONS TO THE Y. W. L. 1.—A corresponding committee of the Young Workers League shall be entitled to send one representative who is a member of the Communist Party with voice and vote into all Nucleus, Section. District and Central Executive Committees of the Party, provided there is a corresponding Y. W. L. organization to the organization of the Party to which the representative is sent. 2.—The Party Executive Committee, in the Nucleus, Section, District and the Central Executive Committee shall send a representa-. tive with voice and vote into the corresponding Y. W. L. committee. 3.—The corresponding Y. W. L. organization shall be entitled to send representatives to all conferences and conventions of the Party organization, The number of representatives which shall be given to the Y. W. L. in such conferences and conventions shall be decided by the Party committee which calls the conference or con-— vention. s 4,—All members of the Party under 21 years of age must join the Young Workers League. All members of the Young Workers League over 18 years of age may join the Party and must join the Party if 23 years of age or over, or be excluded from the League. 5.—Members of the Y. W. L. who are under 21 years of age and who are also members of the Party shall be exempt from sc wi Party dues upon presentation of their Y. W. L. dues cards, dues stamns affixed. An exempt stamp, marked “Y. W. L.” be affixed to the Party card of such member.