The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 17, 1931, Page 3

DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, nv RSDAY, Sair temper ti, 1yo1 Tasks in the Struggle Against Hunger, Repressior RESOLUTION OF THE 13th PLENUM CENTRAL COMMITTEE, C.P.U.S.A., ON THE MAIN TASKS IN THE ORGANI- L The Plenum of the ©.C. of the C.P.USA. fully endorses the decisions of the 11th Plenum ef the E.C.CI., the correctness of which has been confirmed by the events of the last four months. The Plenum of the E.C.C.L, taking place in a situation of the still deepening and already longest and most severe world crisis in the history of capitalism, emphasized that “the antagonism between the two world systems of decaying capitalism and rising Socialism has become the cardinal factor in the world situa- tion.” The Plenum pointed to the growing of- tensive of the bourgeoisie expressed in the at- tacks on the living standards of the masses, the growing fascist terror against the masses, and sharply increased war preparations, especially against ‘the Soviet Union, the further fascization of the social democracy, which plays an increas- ing role in the capitalist offensive and prepara- tdons for war. The Plenum pointed out the de- velopment of the revolutionary upsurge of the masses, More independent revolutionary leader- ship in the struggles of the workers, the growing struggles of the colonial peoples, especially in China and Latin America, and in a number of eountries the maturing of the prerequisites for the revolutionary crisis. In a number of im- portant countries (especially in Germany) the Communist Parties have made great. advances, yet the central task remains the winning of the majority of the working class; the Parties still have not overcome the disproportion between the growing influence and organizational con- solidation of that influence. 2. Since the 12th Plenum of the C.C. of the ©P.U.8.A. all the inner and outer contradic- tions of the capitalist structure in the U.S.A. are sharpening at an increasing tempa. All events in the U.S.A. confirm the correctness of the line of the Eleventh Plenum ofthe E.C.C.1. The economic crisis is continuing to-descend to unprecedented depths. The coming winter. will be a severe testing in struggle between the forces of capitalism ahd the rising forces of the work- ing class. Already the economic activity as a whole has declined approximately 40 per cent from its high point in 1929 (such key industries tz steel, auto, building, declined from 60 to 7 per cent). Approximately 11,000,000 workers are totally unemployed, and more millions are om pert-time work. The agrarian crisis is be- coming more severe, with catastrophic declines tm wheat and cotton prices. Governmental fimances, especially local and state, are faced » with growing difficulties, and the federal deficit has grown to $900,000,000. The social contradic- tions are accumulating, emphasized in particular by mass unemployment and starvation, wage- cuts and speed-up, and sharpening political re- pression. The workers are replying to the of- fensive of the capitalists with increased mili- tancy, wider mass demonstrations, and with the commencement of wider and more stubborn strike battles (coal and textile strikes, unem- * ployment hunger marches, the unparalleled mass protest against the Chicago massacre, etc.). Especially significant is the revolutionary move- “ment of Negroes, and the common struggles of Negro and white workers in the struggle for Negro rights, organized around the Scottsboro, Camp Hill and Chicago cases. With the deep- ening of the economic crisis and the sharpen- ing é2fensive of the capitalists, with the increas- ing struggles of the masses, the perspective for the immediate period is one of still sharper class ‘battles and particularly during the coming win- ter months, for which the Party must better or- ganize and prepare its forces. 3. To the sharpening of the decliné in indus- try as, a whole, is added the decline in foreign trade, which intensifies further the inner con- tradictions, and at the same time the sharpen- ing imperialist rivalries reveal the extent to which American imperialist economy is invélved im the general decay of capitalism, and all of its world-scale contradictions. Driven by the fever- ish struggle for markets and spheres on influ- ence and by the victorious Socialist’ construction in the Soviet Union, American imperialism is coming forward as the leader in the prepara- tion of the coming war of intervention against the Soviet Union. The frantic efforts of Hoover, Mellon and Stimson to postpone the impending financial collapse of Germany, and to use the financia] difficulties of England in furthering its aggressive policy, has not softened the con- y buinigtirind among the imperialists themselves, _ but on the contrary has enormously sharpened them. This, with the growing wave of mass etruggles against starvation of the coming period, makes pe oon acute the danger of war against effort to carry through the offen- the toiling masses and to carry ‘war preparations the bourgeoisie is more resorting to fascist methods of At the same time it is utilizing more and its agents in the ranks of the workers, the of in the war L, bureaucracy and the social-fascists its fascist attacks against the masses and its attempt to maintain the bourgeois dem- ocratic Rane ‘Though increasing the ele- ments of fascization, the main method of the rule of U. 8. finance capital is still, in the main, earried on under the mask of democracy, which tm principle by no means differs from open (fascist) distatorship. 8. The revolutionary upsurge which is devel- oping generally on an ascending curve does not proceed in a straight line and develop equally in all countries. The 11th Plenum of the E.O.C.1. correctly combatted the tendency to construct the “political crisis” as a necessary intermediary stage between the revolutionary upsurge and revolutionary crisis and the idea that it is necessary to await the development of ‘@ political crisis before we can speak of a revolu- crisis. The 11th Plenum established that political crisis and revolutionary crisis are i ey Our Central Committee gt its lest Plenum made an error (which was corrected with the guidance of the ©. I.), when it declared that conditions in the U. 5. had already reached the “point of the “development of various elements * of & political crisis.” This error was mainly due _ to an incorrect estimation of the situation, based ‘upon the objective factors alone (in this instance ZATION OF MASS STRUGGLES AGAINST THE OFFENS overestimated), without regard to the actions of the revolutionary proletariat, and the weak situ- ation of our Party in relation to the masses. 6. The main tasks of the Communist Parties under the conditions of the growing crisis and the offensive of the bourgeoisie, is to organize and lead more energetically and systematically the struggles of the masses and to develop the counter offensive of the proletariat. This main task demands in the C.P.U.S.A. concentration of | attention upon the cohcrete questions of fight for the demands of the unemployed, strike movements, building the revolutionary trede union movement, and the mass struggle for Ne- gro rights. Special concentra must be made on the most important districts (Pittsburgh, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo), industries (mining, metal, steel, marine,*auto, textile) and factories. In every field of struggle, the fight against war and defense of Soviet Union must be given a central place. Fully applicable to our Party are the words of the lith Plenum of the E.C.C.I., which pointed | out the weaknesses of the majority of the sec- tions of the Comintern.# These weaknesses, shown in the lagging behind the radicalization of the- masses and inadequate struggle against social-democracy, express themselves in the fol- lowing main forms: (a) dragging at the tail of important revolutionary movements, unemployed demonstrations, strikes and peasant movements; particularly weakness of work in rural districts and among agricultural workers; (b) insufficient mobilizing the masses on the basis of every day needs, insufficient linking up with final aims; (c) passivity in face of fascist aggression; (d) passivity in regard to work in the army, struggle against war and for defense of the Soviet Union; (e) inadequate support of the revolutionary liberation movements in the col- onies; (f) neglect of work in the reformist unions; inadequate work in factories, particu- Jarly big enterprises \and decisive industries; weak political: life of the factory units; (g) gen- eral weakness of organizational work; imper- missible passivity in overcoming fluctuation of Party membership; (h) mechanical application of general directives, without concretizing them for the particular concrete circumstances. Every point applies sharply to the weaknesses in our own work. Especially must be stressed our almost com- plete Jack of progress in factory nuclei and in factory work generally; growth of the Party and high fluctuation in membership; work in the army, agrarian work, and lack of support to the colonies. the extremely slow 7. Tq is the task of the 13th Plenum of the C.C. C.P.US.A., to draw the balance of the work of the Party since the 12th Plenum (No- vember, 1930), on the line of the 11th Plenum of E.C.C.I, to bring forward the essential tasks of this particular moment which constitutes that link which, when seized, will give us control of the entire chain and enable us to pass on to the next link. Our Party was described by the E.C.C.I. a year ago as follows: “The principal weakness of the Party is to be found in the fact that the Party was and remains a good propagandist organization, which has not yet understocd how to mob- ilize the masses for struggle for their imme- diate needs and especially for their economic demands.” . Our 12th Plenum raised sharply as the cen- tral question, “how to mobilize and organize the masses for struggle for their immediate de- mands,” and began a serious fight against the obstacles to mass work, against the disease of phrase-mongering and “high politics,” under the slogan from Lenin: “Less high-falutin’ phrases; more simple every-day deeds.” ‘The struggle on two fronts, against right and “left” devia- tions, became a practical question of every day life of the Party as a result of the work of the 12th Plenum. The first beginning of the turn toward mass work was made. 8. After the 12th Plenum there was justifi- able fear that good resolutions may remain on paper, as in the past. In spite of the fact that many basic tasks still remain unsolved “(especially penetration.of factories, and growth of Party membership, in which there is yet no turn), first beginnings of the turn towards mass work were made since the 12th Plenum. The process is only begun, but this beginning is an integral part of the Party life, It is registered practically in such decisive forms as the following: a) Be; of mass strikes in important industries under Communist leadership (Law- rence woolen textiles, Pittsburgh area coal miners, New England ard Paterson silk tex- tiles, California cannery and agricultural workers). All these movements were organ- ized on the basis of the correct use of im- mediate economic demands as a result of the work of the 12th Plenum. b) Struggle and organization of the unem- ployed workers raised to a higher level, shown in the State Hunger Marches in 12 states, involving actions extending over 2 to 7 days, with hundreds of organized marchers in each state, while tens and hundreds of thousands were drawn in demonstrations, which penetra- = On the application and correct carrying ou tives of the resolution depends how well the Party will ing the masses for struggle in face of growing hunger tions. The resolution is an immediate guide to action. riences of the leeel organization, of every Party member should be analyzed in light of the directives contained in the resolution. Every phase of mass work, every step towards winning the masses for revolulionary way out of the crisis, should be taken up on the basis of the work and de of the Plenum, The line contained in the resolution is the basis for s in removing the causes for our mistakes and creating the conditions for improvement of our work. search out weaknesses The resclutions must become the property of the entire Party mem- bership. This is one of the best guarantees that they will not remain on paper. In order to make clear for the entire part Plenum decisions the Daily Worker with the prin lution starts an enlightenment campaign. The comrades are urged to send in brief articles dealing with concrete experiences taking up the various’ phases of mass work on the basis of the Plenum resolution. The main emphasis of the Plenum resolution is the penetration of the shops, the building of shop nuclei, recruitment of the Party as the condition for taking advantage of the present favorable objective condi- tions and establishing the independent leadership of the Party amongst the masses. The comrades are therefore urged to write on shop experi- ence, methods of shop work, recruitment, he September-October issue of “The Communist” carries the re- ports of Comrades Browder and Weinstone made at°the Plenum, The other resolutions are also contained fn the last issue of “The Communist.” BHyery comrade without fail should get the Plenum issue of “The Com- munist.” HE resolution of the Thirteenth Plenum of must be studied and understood by every IVE OF Pa member. rty of the line and direc- succeed in mobiliz- and war prepara- The activities, expe- If-criticism to the meaning of the _of the main reso- o gs strike experiences, etc. ted into new territory hitherto untouched. Local unemployment councils and branches have begun to take root in the localities, on the basis of detailed work, attention to needs of individual families in conditions of stary- — ation, of dramatizing typical cases, by organ- ized practical work of feeding (kitchens, food collections, etc.) for their members and most desperate cases of starvation. Especially im- portant results have been achieved in the struggle against evictions. c) An important change has begun to take place in the Party’s work in mobilizing the masses in struggle for Negro rights. Even during 1930, while our work was mainly in the field of agitation and propaganda, our in- flueice was growing steadily among the Negro masses. With the Yokinen trial early in 1931, which dramatize? the strugg'e against white chauvinism within the ranks of the workers, a turn began to struggles upon specific con- crete issues. The Scottsboro case was seized upon by the entire movement, without hesita- tion as a rallying point for this struggle, with brilliant success in rousing hundreds of thou- sands of Negro and white workers to active protest and struggle. The Camp Hill share- croppers union case, linking up directly with the Scottsboro case, broutened and deepened the movement by bringing forward the fwida- mental land question and agrarian revolution in the South. The Chicago massacre of Au- gust 3, combined and unified two findamentat currents of the mass movement, Negro rights and thé struggle against evictions and drama- tized the unity of black and white workers. The deep-going nature of the struggles have exposed before the Negro masses the treach- erous nature of their petty-bourgeois mis- leaders (N.A.A.C.P. and churches). The condi- tions for the transformation of the relation of forces among the Negro masses have dev- eloped where our Party and iis program has become the central question. These facts prove that our Party, in certain specific Instances and to a certain degtee, has learned “to mobilize the masses for struggle for their immediate demands,” in the three most important fields of work. But the result in re- lation to the tremendous objective possibilities, are still very small and unsatisfactcry. In spite of growing mass influence, expressed in street actions involving hundreds of thousands of workers, our organizations, and especially the Party, grew very, very slowly in membership. Especially is this unsatisfactory condition seen in the field of penetration of the big factories, and in organizational work. There is no pro- gress in building shop nuclei, except in the mine strike area where results have still to be proven, while there is even retrogression in some dis- tricts. Shop and mill committees, and griev- ance committees, are beginning to develop only in certain coal anc! textile areas, and even here with unsatisfactory firmness and tempo, wile in most fields they are still enfirely unknown in a practical sense. The revolutionary trade unions, while no longer declining in member- ship, are growing very,slowly. The Unemployed Councils, with a few exceptions of broad mass organizations with active life, are still on the whole organizations of only the most active ele- ments. The struggle Jor Negro rights, politic- ally highly successful has given very limited organizational resrlts. ‘This situation is so serious that it requires a sharp turn by the entire Party in our methods of mass work and organization, These very un- satisfactory conditions, which exist even in those fields where we have best learned and applied the lessons of the 12th Plenum of immediate and especially economic demands, evidently re- quire a remedy which goes deeper than mere repetition of the 12th Plenum or a better learn- ing of its lessons. At the 13th Plenum we must establish what is the next link in the chain, by grasping which we will be able to overcome those weaknesses which have been brought to light since our 13th Plenum 9. The main inner enemy against which we must concentrate our fire todry, in order to make the next important steps forward to win- ning the majority of the working class, is op- portunism expressed in various forms, of lack of faith in the masses and reliance on sponta- neity. Always opportunist, this fear of the masses is sometimes openly right-wing and at other times masked with “left” phrases. It operates among our members with a thousand variations in its slogans, of which the following are examples: “American workers are especially backward and therefore will not strug- gle”; “Our Party is too weak to lead broad mass struggles”, “The masses are too undevek oped to follow our Party Untrained werkers cannot be trusted in leading positions”; “Work- ers must go through a long period of experience with reformism, with the S. P., L, P., Musteites, etc., before they are ripe for the Con:munis« ‘Only fii-fledg-d Leninists shou'd be into membership of the ©.P.”; “N» one can be trusted in the leadersa.p of struggles until he is a fu'ly-trained,Leninist”; “Be care- ful not to talk much about the Communist Par- ty or you will scare away the workers from the mass organizations”; “We cannot organize the workers until we bave a fully trained corps of organizers,” etc. This opportunist lack of faith in the masses and reliance on spontaneity whether openly right wing or “leftist” in form, prevents us from organizing the masses when we are leading them in the midst of struggles. It not only prevents the building of the mass organizations; but especially it builds up a high wall to keep the workers out of our Party. It is a scandalous condition when, in almost every district, we find examples of good militant workers who spent from 6 to 12 months of persistent efforts before they were able to force their way into the Party. This fear of the masses leads in the direction of liquidation of thé leading role of the Party, hiding it from the masses so that it disappears as an effective factor. This lack of faith in the masses and dependence upon spontaneity ex- pressed itself in the unemployment work as too great an orientation upon demonstrations and in weakly developing organizing and carrying through the day to day struggles and organizing authoritative local unemployed councils with committees that carry through the manifest tasks in the day to day fight for the interests of the unemployed. In the strike struggles it expresses itself in insufficient attention to the basic masses of the proletariat, to the fortresses of capitalism dominated by the trusts, to the huge factories with thousands of workers, in in- sufficient preparation of strike struggles, in the weaknesses in formation of local strike com- mittees, and stimulating the initiative of the masses and overcoming formal and bureaucratic methods of work, in the failure to take the necessary energetic measures to build up the revolutionary unions in the struggles, in insuffi- cient popular agitation, maneuvers and actions to expose the strikebreaking reformist bureau- cracy and in countering and exposing the maneu- vers of bourgeois demagogues. At the same time within the Party and the mass organizations it expresses itself in bureaucratic methods of work, in the stifling of democracy within the Party, in stifling the initiative from below, preventing the absorption of new members, stunting the growth of organization, in the insufficient politicaliza- tion and activization of the Party membership by means of enlightenment upon the tasks, day to day guidance and practical assistance to the Party membership in carrying out these tasks. Only a conscious, intolerant and systematic struggle against every evidence of bureaucratic methods of work by the entire Party, simultane- ously with the struggle against right and “left” deviations, will eliminate this obstacle to the growth of our movement, and enable us to re- alize the tremendous opportunities that lie be- fore us in the coming months to rouse the de- fensive struggles of the working class, give them a firm organizational basis and develop them into a counter-offensive against the offensive of the bosses. The most persistent struggle against formal and bureaucratic methods of work must go hand in hand with the development of mass struggles and with the widest self-criticism. 10, The above weaknesses indicate the need for a sharper struggle against opportunism within the Party, against the right danger which | the insufficient bringing | bers, etc.) as an important next step for the o} THE CAPITALISTS. and War nst left sec hens the ger and ‘ages and st remains the main da tarianism which enc: right danger. The right danger ex in the Party mainly in the lagging behind struggles, in opportunist passivity in shop in the weak struggle against the war danger, forward and est ing leadership of the Party in mass struggles | and the weaknesses in the fight against social esses itself the reformism, for the organization of the Negroes | and for the defense of the foreign-born, and in | such errors as the united frot from the top in a | number of districts in conn Scottsboro case, attitude in the earl the campaign toward Pickens, in insufficient struggle age ferormist leadership of the Negroes. de estimation of the significance of the develop- ment of the strike movement and the miners’ strike in particular on the part of most dis in weaknesses in struggling against the movement in Southern Illinois and the concep- | tion on the part of some of the Illinois com- rades that the leadership of this mo nt was e, etc., and in “left” sectarianism which | itself chiefly upon inner orientation. work in the reformist unions on the | ground that these masses cannot be won for | struggle, weak application of the united front, | running at the head of the masses (as the con- ception that the miners’ struggle was ripening | into a condition where the mass political strike could be raised as a practical of the 7-hour day as a practical strike demand in the dressmakers’ strike under the existing conditions, ete.), 11. Building the Party. The 13th Plenum of the Central Committee emphasizes that. at the present time the entire Party must recognize the need for building up the Party (org 2 tion of nuclei in the factories, the incre: membership in the decisive industries in the | factories, recruitment of large number of mem- ganization and leadership of the mass struggles. The building of the Party must become an !n- tegral part of the preparation and leadership of mass struggles. The realization of the slogan slogan, the raising | | for the needs of of build the Party in mass struggles. means par- | ticularly strengthening the mass organization of the Party in the heavy industries and big fac- tories and in.the districts in which these indus- tries are located “The building the Party on a mass scale necessitates that a number of misconceptions that prevail with regard to the role of tho Party in general and particularly during +: be clarified. The most important of these misconceptions are: trikes “1, That the Party can be built only after the strike and even then only when the work- « ers win all the demands. “2. That during the strike the members of the Party working in the strike and in the union as organizers and leaders of the strike, cannot and even must not take up simultane- ously the task of building the Party. “3. That during the strike the individual leading members of the Party are entirely ex- ept from working within the Party (nuclei, district committees, etc.) “4, The limitation of the functioning of the Party organizations during the strike to the point of liquidation of the regular functioning of the nuclei, district committee, etc. “5, That the Party must work only through fractions and not come forward as an inde- pendent forée among the mass of the strikers, and at the same time failure to organize even the fractions. “The above tendencies, expressed sometimes openly but more frequently by a failure to carry out the tasks on the plea of other press- ing matters, are in practice a denial of the leading role of the Party, and if adhered to would make impossible not only the building of the Party but the conduct of the strike suc- cessfully as well. The role of the Party is particularly important at the present stage of the development of the crisis of teh capital- ist system with the incre=sing role of terror and social demagogy.” (Politburo Resolution of July 5.) 12. The problem of building the Party is the problem of independent leadership of the mass struggles, and the building of Party organiza- tions in connection with it, is the problem of ‘winning new Party members and establishing shop nuclei, particularly in the most important districts and the big factories. We have many old decisions on both questions. The resolution of the last Plenum stated: “Another expression of our slowness and in- ability to concretize our general slogans is illustrated in our weak and insufficient work in the shops and the meager number of shop nuclef. The Party must intensify and improve its activities on the basis of concrete issues confronting the workers In the shops, Our shop papers must reflect the grievances of the workers in the shops and on these issues or- ganize shop committees of the T.U.U.L. unions at the same time winning the most advanced workers for the Party and organizing them into shop noclei,” vement of solving his probl The buil mental change of all tra of attention by g concen ories is assigned to the st h them. We have tration has ¢ without practic: a change in 1e work of the Or Departn mittee, District, Committees, the Party General o1 zation letters of work are applied in pract all together cannot be appli: The Agitprop material at present the shop units quantities of material distributed by the apparatus has not been prepared with a to the use for the new members or the shop units. The task of the districts and sections ts to develop the work in shop units individually with an individual approach of each unit: to discuss with the members of the shop units or with one or two Communists in the shop the concrete possibilities for work du +t. period, work- ing out the special tasks that can be accom- plished in the given circumstances during a week or’ two, and developing this plan of work gradually and systematically. We cannot help the situation by declarations that the Commun- ists in’ the shops are poisoned with opportunism and with unwillingness to w in the shops, nor by the conception that our wee overcome by disciplinary measure: s be exclusion jete, The most dangerous form of opportunism in practice that hinders us from building the shop nuclei does not appear a: the Com- munist workers in the shop, but in the approach of our functionaries to them. The fear of the difficulties of shop work by the Communist workers is because of the fact that we know how to carry out this work. All tention of the Party must be concent helping our comrades in the shops to s problems. do not the at- The language organizations and other’ mass organizations can and must be used to develop our contacts with the factories especially the big factories on which we are concentrating. There are cases where a street unit which has con- centrated for months on a given factory without | any_results, discusses questions in a club while in the next room a language o: holding a meeting in which work particular factory are participating Our com- rades do not see the workers who are next to them. But we can get connections in the fac- tories through the language organizations and | develop these connections when the workers feel sure that everything possible is done to prevent their exposure in the factory and consequent discharge. We have examples of impermissible neglect of the situation of a Communist worker in the shop from this point of view. This is one of the reasons why the Communists and sym- pathizers in the factories are fired so quickly upon the first step of their work. Instead of in- sulting them we must work out a system and teach them how to develop the work without be- ing exposed. We must never forget that all our shop units are in reality illegal. The Party apparatus which exists legally forgets this fact in its connections with the shop units. The problem of keeping new members is the problem of the inner life of the unit and particularly the educational work. Our system of education, by neglecting the unit circles and concentrating all attention on the/ district evening schools, corresponds to the situation in the interest of developing func- tionaries but not to the needs of the rank and file new members especially of the shop units Each street or shop unit must have a study circle. The old members of the Party who so often show the greatest passivity and stubborn bureaucratic tendency in the life of the unit must be made an active factor in these study circles, This is the best way to overcome the lack of confidence which the new members of the Party, coming directly out of the struggle, have for a certain category of old members. The material for these study circles must be worked out very carefully, not only with the aim of issuing a document that is generally satisfac- tory but which in the given conditions remains on paper. TheDaily Worker, the most powerful organi- zational and educational instrument possessed by the Party, must also adapt itself to this task and must give the example for all our language press. The relation between the Daily Worker and the rank and file Party members—not to speak about the workers generally—is perm- eated by the same element of bureacracy. The confeernces of readers of the Daily Worker, al though they had a satisfactory beginning, died after this beginning because of lack of interest and attention on the part of our Party. Al- though the problem of circulation has very great political importance nevertheless without a systematic political work it becomes only a commercial problem. The workers’ correspond- ence is not given adequate attention in the Daily Worker. The excessive length of a large pro- portion of the articles makes it very difficult for most workers to read them. The system of training schools must be much further extended. Another national school must be held in 1931, Hach important district must (CONTINUED ON PAGE 4)