The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 10, 1934, Page 4

ge Four “It is idle chatter to speak about he leading role of the Party with- nut establishing contacts. with the ve strata of the workers, mob- izing these workers and winning them ever to our side. Talk about e° defense of the Soviet Union i stfiggle against imperialist ar is nothing but empty phrases wiess systematic work is carried {in the war industry plants and the ports; talk of struggle against cial fascism is nothing but empty utases unless the struggle is car- sd om from day te day in the big ctories, in the reformist unions .@ among the unemployed. It is ‘thing but phrase-mongering to ak about building ap the Party the revolutionary trade unions out doing this among the im- nt bodies of workers, in the acteries, in the important in- ial sections. Tt is idle to talk the necessity of new cadres xt developing them from these very sections of work- rom the “Open Letter.” ing this article on shop the Pre-Convention dis- planned only one article, shop paper situation as in our Party, with an previous and present is of ‘ry in examining the situa- ound that our Party is. still e where a propaganda article apers, in the light of the m Resolution and the Open till needed, to convince s that in neglecting the apet, they are handicapping basi work of rooting the Party hops. And: this condition ex+ ten years since the Ameri- adopted the slogan of he base of our Party ure therefore dividing this into a series of two, the first with the role of the shop and the second to deal con- he shop paper situation conclusion of the 13th Plenum ition puts every Party member specific obligations when it “The Plenum of the E.C.C.1. all secfions of the Communist tional to be on their guard at turn of events and exert every without losing a moment for Nutionary preparation of the “Diétariat for the impending decisive tHfes for. power.” - she main strategy pointed out is s establish firm roots for the Party «aithe shops, to raise the political level of the strategic sections of the working class—that is, the industrial proletariat in the basic and strategic industries. That means that our im this present era, which is ‘closely Spproaching a new round of veyolution and wars” must be brought fo these’séctions. Slogans for a Soviet AMierica,«the program to bring be- yore the workers concretely and im- mediately the question of power, of to them the urgent ne- Saas of taxing the revolutionary vate out-of the crisis, the realization s. “impend: ng battles’ must be uitkiy and.thoroughly prepared for his irgent and highly political 1régram must be brought to this trategic ‘section not as a matter of bstract thecry, but on the basis of x nai the, worker himself is up against his: iy Work, in his daily strug- eson the job. Comrade Gebert, in. his article, n a recent issue of the Daily Worker, enin, Builder of Communist Party,” ght out very clearly the genius nin, when he wrote: “While saw'elearly the need of devel- activity around the smallest eS of the masses, he had ly Before him the main ob- xntt the’ tasks of the prole- “his sensitiyeness to the rela-~ | ddtamediate. demands to the bjeetive-enabled him. to raise oper slogans in the. situation calle@ for direct action, as was case. im the 1905 revolution, and uy mn the yeyolution of 1917.” t is me. better method of edu- the ‘workers- on the job for litigal.tasks. confronting them, the; Communist. Party shop ‘The. Party shop. paper con- as is basic task not only the cing Up i¢ mass revolution- rade unions and oppositions in eformist trade Unions for the eco- protection of the workers on job, but at the same time show- m’ the way out by bringing orward the ultimate and final aims the working class, in conjunction ‘ he building up of these strategic nass organizations of the proletariat. his is-thertremendous task of the nucleus ont the shop, if it is to riously, the program of the lenum Resolution. A Party in’ the ghop which has no aper, is like the Communist, of the U.S.A. without its Daily Communist unit in a shop, sglects to make use of so y a Weapon as @ shop paper, & forth to. terrific battle after fully binding one of its covering one of its eyes, and 5 off all sounds from one of It is deliberately mutilating a shop paper not only tells s what to do, but it gets to tell us what to do. to rally the working war and fascism—our tral explain if, or. the basis of their own baa ions, we do not con- -long as capitalism ex- .ot. show the workers t it? How can we | | | A Strategic Weapon to Fulfill the Open. Letter Shop Papers will Help Communist Party to Grasp the Leadership of the Industrial Proletariat By GERTRUDE- HAESSLER | will. not “always” be accessible, | do that without careful and thorough the working class in the capitalist countries more time te prepare itself | to turn imperialist: war into civil) war? We must explain this slogan | to them, make them class-conscious, | and show them how this can be done | } —otherwise. we cannot rally them to} our anti~war program, | Preparing for Possible Hlegality | Of course, this can also be done to} some extent otitsidé the shops, in the | mass organizations, on the street corners.. But we must root ourselves | organizationally and ideologically in| the shops. We must organize the shop | worker, for the mass organizations | the Street corners will be taken away. from ous! In preparation for a possible period of illegality of the Party and its open | organs, the.shop..paper is strategic. | | By iis, very, nature {t isan. illegal or | semi-illegal organ. If iegality should come, the net-work of shop papers will be there to take up. the tasks-of the Daily. Worker, which Will meet with great obstacles under illegality, in reaching the shop workets, How is it possible for active Party com- rades, if they claim to understand the Open Letter-and the 13th Plenum resolution, to ignore or underestimate such an obyiously necessary weapon? It is under conditions of illegality, such” as- exist: in’ Germany at the present time, that the shop paper occupies a key position. But it cannot preparation under conditions of leg- ality. The shop paper at the present time is educating the workers, is preparing them for our program. It is convincing them, by its handling of the day-to-day’ grievances in the ‘shop, and its constant pointing out of the political lessons of their eco- nomic struggles, that. the Communist Party is-part:and parcel of the work- ing class, not something trying to dic- tate to, them from the outside, but actually the only force which offers » Way out for the workers. All of tnis the shop paper does, in addition to, and as an integral part of, organ- izing the. worl for their economic battles against the employers. It ex- poses the social-fascists, the fascists, the A. F, of L. leadership, and other agents of the bourgeoisie on the basis of their concréte “Activities in the shops ‘on’ the job. Developing Political Leaders Out of the Shops Out of the basic industries will come our future leaders, the leading cadres who will become our chief of staff when the final battle is on. ‘The shop ‘paper will help to“bring them out of their present pay) and to devélép them.” The shop paper is our main instrument for carrying out the basic task set for us in the res~ olution, that is: “Seeuring within the shortest time possible a decisive turn to the work in the factories, concen- trating the forces of the Party organ- ization in the decisive enterprises and raising. the -political..level of the leadership given by the factory nuclei to the daily class struggles.” ‘We, must, boldly grasp the leader- ship of the working class now. The workers are becoming more —disil- lusioned in Roosevelt's program every day. A cursory glance at the mail of the Daily Worker on any one day brings that forth without any neces- sity for a deep-going analysis. They are gropping for a way out. They are looking for leadership. If we don’t seize it openly ‘and boldly, the mis- leaders will, for they are already suc- ceeding in doing so because of our hesitation and because of our weak- nesses. And this on the eve of the most terrific War the world has ever known. This, on the eve of impend- ing class battles which will banish! exploitation of man by man if given the right direction. The resolution tells us that “The economic: policy of the financial oligarchy for oyer- coniing the crisis .. . is unable to re- store - the «stabilization. of capital-| ism. . . .” What does this mean? A} resolution. of the C.I...is a. serious matter, and it calls upon us, to act in a serious manner. { Abolish the “Red Scare” | ‘The. shop paper must therefore | bring skilfully and clearly before the workers the Communist program, and no fear of the “red scare,” that bogey- man of our Party memibers who are active in the unions, must make us hesitate. The way" to deat with’ the “red scare” is not to side-step it, but, to meet it tace to face with an open Red challenge! If the shop paper clarifies the role of the Party, and can convince the workers that the Party has the only correct program, the bourgeoisie will be unable to freighten the workers by this. tricky maneuver, and thus we rob our enemies of the “red scare” bogey. “The ‘factories are. our fortresses,” Lenin declared. We must batter away at the factories, for they are our fortresses. And we must use every weapon we have for capturing these fortresses. The shop paper is one of the most strategic. All we need to do is to learn how to use it. Ee The general underestimation by the Party of the shop paper, is part and parcel of its general underestimation of shop work, We must not forget that the shop paper is an integral part of the Communist Party Comrades who overlook that, don’t understand what the Party press in the shop means. This misunderstand- ing obtains even in the highest bodies of the Party. Take, for instance, the Daily Worker, In its Tenth Anniver- sary Issue, it had a complete program for. dealing ti every are not pI . r. ‘historically with the Ja-| every section and in pei ate rea, wel uae ob MELE Whee | wee’ cn tne ating standin of Ae bor press of the country, starting with the Ts appearing at the time of the International, and deal- ng with every kind of labor paper DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1934 ODAY we publish the first series of metas in the pre- convention discussion of t he Communist Party. Every Party unit should take up these articles and enlarge on the discussion by the most merciless examination of their work in the light of the problems facing the unit. The columns of the Daily Worker are open to every Party member for a full and free discussion of every issue facing the Party, particularly in connection with the 13th Plenum Resolution of the Communist Party and the Open Letter. We invite Party members to pafticipate in this discussion. Party members are urged to pose questions concerning the tasks confronting the Party. Again the Daily Worker urges the Party members inyolved in con- centration work, in the basic industries, in steel, coal, railway, cherhical, textile to participate in the discussion. This discussion, however, should not be restricted to the columns of the Daily Worker. These articles should serve as a stimulus for the widest and most thorough discussion in the units. On this basis of this discussion in the units, we propose that comrades write in to the Daily Worker. Only if the Party membership throws itself into. the most serious and thorough examination of the important problems facing the 8th Conven- tion of our Party and contributes the best of this discussion to he columns of the Daily Worker will we be able to solve the important ques- tions confronting revolutionary work and ‘help the Conyention give’ the correct answer and directions for the Party. Abstract Speeches, Resolutions Do Not Help in PartyWork By MAX YOUNG On the fourth of February the New Jersey district had a plenum. The tasks of this plenum were to dis- cuss the decisions of the 13th plenum of the Comintern, results of the 18th plenum of the Central Committee, and to lay down the tasks of how to prepare ‘the organization for district and national conventions. The New Jersey district has made some hea‘way with regard to shop work. There is an increase in recruitment into the Party for the moriths of November, December and January. The district recruited 200 members in these three months. The previous three months showed recruit- ment of only ninety members. The composition of this latest recruiting period is much better be- cause more workers from basic shops and direct from the struggle were taken in. But the requirement is uneven between sections; Hudson County out of the 200, recruiting 100. At the same time in the Paterson sec- tion, where: the struggles were real sharp and are still intensive after the strike, the recruitment is very low. struggle against injunctions. There is @ more conscious feeling of the neces- There are attempts to organize the’ of struggle. It seems that the latter is more correct. This, of course, is only one case; but there are many more distortions of the correct line of the Party which are hindering the real struggles for the majority of the workingclass, not in resolutions and in speeches but in actual everyday work of the Party. Although the New Jersey district contains industries of a basic and war character such as heavy metal, chemi- cal, oil, marine (Hoboken is a strategic trans-Atlantic seaport), dye, (which can overnight be converted into a war industry and which has already been placed under the supervision of Col. Haskell of the U. S. Army), the New Jersey district has not yet started concentration at these points. This means that the main tasks of the Open Letter have not yet been tackled seriously. In the report of the T. U. U. L. organizer, who is himself personally responsible for concentration on these tasks they were not even mentioned: Comrade F. who is a young, capable comrade, is the T. U. U. ly organizer in New Jersey. He made (a $ub ‘report for dn hour in the Plenum to the report of the District Organ- izer. This. subsreport was an abstract sity to carry on the mass work of the soe inning, tne about the necessity of Party, and a good pro) baba! nee years gee ing into leaders! aires Shops, were’ sven Se ars These comrades contributed a aa deal to the discussion with regard to improyement of the work and the carrying out of the open letter, The section organizer in Tren- ton, in analyzing the shortcomings of the Party, said: “we are agitating a lot, but we don’t explain the Party line to the workers, Therefore a-lot of things we are doing do not remain for a long time, because we are building it on » very weak foundation.” This i8 absolutely true, because if we will take the uneven development of mass work between the sections in New Jersey, then it will be clear that in the sections where the Party consciously, boldly and openly, brought before the workers the pro- gram of the Party, tried to educate the workers in the struggle for the Party line, we see much more results than in other sections where the com- rades tried to work “from hand to mouth"—only for today. The Party line isnot a blueprint as many comrades understand it. Some- how there is a feeling that if. we adopted a resolution or made good Proposals, that we have already the correct approach and that this in itself is a guarantee for carrying out good work, This is wrong. The Abstract Speeches Do not Im-. Prove the Work Practise in New Jersey shows that abstract speeches and resolutions are not able to improve the work of the Party by themselves. ‘The weakest work in New Jersey Is the trade union work and the un- employed work. And there is quite a bit ef confusion with regard to the work in the A. F. of L. unions. In Paterson there are cases, one of them being an outstanding case where in a shop of 200 workers, 196 belonged to the A. F. of L. union, and the other four to the industrial union. These four loyal, really | devoted workers are struggling for the posi- tion of the Industrial union, spend- ing a good bit of energy and trying as bee Nigar any resolutions fe) e others for the gram of the revolutionary union. Bu shall the leadership permit this, or shall the leadership tell these workers to join together with the others who are al- press, | the 18th meeting of the Central Com- see of our Party, said: “How are we to build the stronghold of ua Party in the shops if, in the first Place, we ignore and neglect Bd Papers? .. . We must insist that shop papers become an important point on the order of business in as well as in the central Party. And to the degree to which recover our line on this weak Seip froak, nad bien to eee we really 'es~ my the majority of the yworking- And he quite’ "sharpiy—that is harp words—criticized the com- from below, front Paterson and other places for not building the trade unions. But comrade F. forgot that in New Jersey there took place & number of strikes in important in- dustries; that there exist concrete shortcomings, either in leading the strikes;.or in attempting to lead the strikes—by the Party, the revolution- ary unions. Therefore there was some kind of a disproportion between Comrade F's abstraction and. the ‘discussion from below. Let us say for example the problem in the Judica. shop, where the main issue is the struggle against speedup, where medi- eval methods of exploitation exist. The Ford plant, with its many problems after the strike, the Patter- son issue and the necessity of build- ing one union, and many other basic but not highfalutin’ problems that mithout solving them— How can it happen that a district was in continuous struggles, and the organizer of the T. U. U. L. does not try to help in the solution of the problems that arise in these struggles. The -reasons for this are: first that Comrade F. was not sufficiently down below and had not enough patience to listen to rank and file comrades and did not attempt ‘sufficiently to ex- plain. what shall be done. Secondly, certain tendencies to command in- . |stead of showing by example how it is possible to do simple everyday Communist work in the trade unions. Thirdly, that Comrade F. under- estimated the knowledge and ability of the real growing, workingclass young elements in the leadership of the Party. Therefore he didn’t pre- pare his report. We are taking Comrade’ F. "as an example. Not because he has tobe removed, or discredited. But om the contrary, it is necessary to help sugh comrades in overcoming their mis-| takes. We-can help them only by real, Bolshevik self-criticism, It is important here also to speak of the question of the Party helping the League. The League by doubling its dues paying membership jhas shown that it is moving ahead. The Party instead of talking vaguely about guidance to the Y. C, L. should instead carry out some simple con- crete tasks. The Party has about 80 members who are of League age. A concrete step in helping the ¥. ©. L. would be for the Party to select about shop nuclei so as to carry directive of building a ¥. C. L, shop nucteus inside of every Party nucleus In the preparation for section, dis- is necessary to carry out a real strug- gle against abstraction. The struggle integra fascism, war, the struggle to win the majority of the workingclass, hrases. Only by repeating anybody. In every section, in every district there are concrete ex- pressions of the growth of fascism, Start Discussion on Tasks Confronting 8th Convention of Party Discussion Should Deal with Comintern Analysis, Mass Work and Tasks of Units OPEN LETTER REMAINS GUIDE FOR, THE PARTY DISCUSSION | | | The rapidity with which events are | developing emphasizes the necessity \for a reai pre-convention discussion | 0f the problems of the Party. They also indicate the nature of. the prob- lems-upon which we must concentrate our discussion, so that the whole |Party on the basis of a clarification }of these problems can be fully mo- | bilized for the tremendous tasks that | the present situation demands of us. ‘The 13th plenum of the Communist | International already on the basis of the developments that took place | Since the 12th plenum, which declared that the partial stabilization of cap- eee has come to an end, stated that “The tremendous strains of the internal class antagonisms in the capitalist countries, as well as of | othe international antagonisms, tes- tify to the fact that the objective prerequisites for a revolutionary crisis have matured to such an ex- tent that at the present time the world is CLOSELY approaching a new round of revolutions and wars.” Major Struggles Maturing ‘This analysis is being confirmed daily by the events. At present like in all former situations we see the Communist International, the Lenin- ist world staff of the proletarian rev- olution, is the only reliable guide and leader of the toiling masses. We see at the same time the bancruptcy and treachery of the socialists and rene- gades from Communism, who with every day of the persistence of the crisis become more and more exposed as the props of the dying capitalist order. Especially do we see the correctness of the warnings of the Comintern for the parties to be prepared for a rapid turn of events because “the present situation is pregnant with unexpected outbreaks and sharp turns of events.” The present situation in France has. perhaps” more than anything, else given emphasis to this analysis. The correctness of the resolution of the 13th plenum of the*Comintern is be- ing borne out daily by the growth of the class antagonisms in almost every capitadist country. in the U. S. the masses are more. and more becoming disillusioned with the Roosevelt-N.R.A.-New Deal. The Strike struggles are continuing and: »growing in militancy. New strata’ are entering the struggle, as ean be seen from the present cab- men’s strike in New York. There are gene maturing major. struggles. in. ie basic “Industries of stcel, auto, marine, coal, where’ in the past months mass. struggles have jaken place. Now these masses, seeing that they have -been betrayed by the Roosevelt government and the A. F. of L. bureaucrats, are preparing to enter the’ struggle anew and will without doubt draw broader masses into the struggle, which will be on a higher plane since it will be directed not only qgainst the employers but also against the slavery codes imposed upon the workers through the N. R. A. War Danger ‘The unemployed workers are show- ing a new. militancy and desire for organization as. witnessed by the struggles on the C. W. A. jobs, the increasing mass influence for the WORKERS UNEMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL INSURANCE BILL, and the successful convention just carried through by the Unemployed Councils. The Negro masses, the farmers, the bankrupt and impoverished middle classes are also taking up the strug- gle in greater numbers and with a greater clarity. All this indicates that in the U. S. the “tremendous strain of the internal class antagonism” is growing, and that we too must De prepared for “unexpected outbreaks and sharp turns of events.” With regard to the “tremendous ‘rains . . . of the international an- tagonisms’ We have new proof of this in the feverish preparations of the Japanese imperialists: for an armed attacks on the Soviet Union; in the more open alliance of Great Britain with Japan as the orgarfizer and fin- ancer of an arfhed attack on thé U. S.S. R.. for which purpose the British imperialists are asking for a more rapid rearming of Hitler Germany. At the same time the events in Aus- |tria, the growing war preparations in the U. S., the sharpening of the an- tagonisms between the U. S. and Japan, and the U. S. and Great. Britain| show that everywhere, under the impact of the pesistence of the crisis, world imperialism looks to war @s a way out of the crisis, All this indicates how in the present world situation the internal and ex- ternal contradictions of capitalism are indissolubly bound ‘up. At the same time powerful forces in the U. 8. are working deliberately to provoke a war By JACK ery of the A. F. of L. bureucrats and socialist leaders, the progressives and liberals who each in their own way are attempting to divert the masses from the path of revolutionary strug- gle, through labor parties, new left social fascist parties and adopt fas- cist methods to keep down the up- surge of the masses. Perhaps here for historical reasons we see more clearly than anywhere else the close rela- tionship between fascism and social- fascism not only as.two sides of the medal but the integration of the two in their simultaneous development. As examples of this we have the fas- cist methods of the top bureaucrats of the A. F.. of L., for N. R. A. control of the unions, on company unions, racketeering, etc., the fact that in the West leaders of the Silver Shirt are at the same time sponsors for a Farmer-Labor Party, the emphasis on chauvinism displayed by Muste’s so- called “American Workers Party,” and the semi-fascist ideology of the in- tellectual groups gathered around Cal- verton and his Modern Monthly, Bingham-Redman and their “Com- mon Sense.” * 8 oe From 6th to 8th Convention 'UCH is the picture today when our Party is entering the ‘discussions for the 8th Convention. This conven- tion discussion will differ fundament- ally from all previous discussions in our Party not only because of the changed objective conditions, but also because of the inner developments within the Party itself which are, of course, closely linked~up with the de- velopment of the objective situation. Up until the 6th Party Convention our Party was torn by factional strife which reflected the immaturity of the Party and domination of opportunist €lements in the Party leadership, that resisted the carrying through the line of the Communist International. With the cleansing of the Party (with the aid of the Communist In- ternational) of tne Lovestone oppor. tunists and Trotzskyite (Cannon) counter-revolutionary elements, ovr Party faced at the 7th Convention the task of freeing the Party of the heritage(of this factionglism and open opporturtism and to se; the Party to- wards the masses. Between the 7th ard 8th Conven- tions-almost four years have elapsed. While our Party. can not state that it has fully taken advantage of-the favorable-years for its work, we can nevertheless record much progress in becoming'a serfous party of the. work- ing class of this country. Party United’ = > ‘The Party today stands fully united on the basis of the program and tac- tics of the Communist International —on the basis of the teaching. of Marx, Lenin and Stalin. Our Party has carried through an inner consoli+ dation, improved its social composi- tion, drawn into. its ranks a substan- tial number of native white and Negro workers. — It consists today of some 22,000 good standing members in place of only 8,000 at the last convention. It has strengthened its position among such basic strata as the steel workers, the marine workers, the-agri- cultural workers, and is on the way to establishing itself among the miners, the textile workers, taking up more serious work among the railroad workers, the auto workers, etc. It has STACHEL and is not fully preparing itself for the big tasks that it is faced with. This is why the Party at the extra- ordihary Conference last July adopted the Open Letter to the membership The Open Letter emphasized the ne- cessity for rooting the Party among the workers in the basic industries, the paying of special attention to the winning of the native white and Negro workers, the building of the Party in the factories, the strength- ening of the T. U. U. L. unions and the oppositions in the A. P. of L. unions especially among the miners, railroad workers, ete. The Open Let- ter stated that “A Communist Party with a very weak and inadequately functioning organization in the big factories and among the decisive sections of the American _ industrial’ workers, a Communist Party whose entire agi- tation and propaganda, whose entire daily work, is not concentrated on winning over and mobilizing these workers and winning of the’ facto- ries, a Communist Party, which through its revolutionary trade union work, does not build highways to the broadest masses of the work- ers, cannot lay claim to a policy. capable of making it the leader of the workingclass within the short- est possible time.” Since The Open Letter Here in this quotation we have first the estimate of, the present position of the Party and at the same time the road that the Party must travel with the emphasis that at present it is a question of achieving this goal of “he- coming the leader of the working- class” in the SHORTEST POSSIBLE TIME. Since this letter was written’ we have had some rich experiences, both positive and negative, in the carrying through of this letter. Experiences in work in the factories, in the revolt~- tionary trade union work, in carrying through the policy of concentraticns in the decisive industries, in work for the winning of the most decisive strata_of the workers. We have had experiences in other phases of work, such as the struggle for the united front, the’ struggle against fascism and war, for unemployment insur- ance, important lessons in the strike struggles, in the work among the Negro masses, etc. We have also to draw the lesson from our attempts to improve the Party organizations and their inner life. « | Nature of Discussion What then must be the nature of our present discussions? In giving some indications for the line of the discussion we do not in any way wish to limit the discussions. On the con- trary, we ask for a.free discussion/of the problems-of the Party. Our Party which is based on the principle of democratic centralism provides for the free discussion of all questions before the convention, so\that as a result of these discussions we can arrive at decisions that will really further the ‘work of the Party, decisions which once made; become binding for the entire Party membership. Naturally all our discussions will be on the basis of the program of the Communist International. We do not enter into discussions jvith encmies of Communism, with renegade . Lové- stonites and Trotzskyites or whatever improved-and increased its press, es- vecially the Daily Worker. There has been under the guidance and support of the Party a srowth of the unions, affiliated to the Trade Union Unity League, and of late @ subsantial im- provement in the work in the A. F. of L. and indevendent unions. The Party has adopted a Leninist position on the Negro question and made some headway in leading the struggles of the Negro masses. Serious work has been begun and important achieve- ments made ‘in the work among the agrarian masses, and sections of the middle classes of the city. The Open Letter All these achievements, however, in the light of the present world sft- uation, the growing struggles in the U. 8. and in the face of the ex- tremely favorable conditions for our work in the past four years only em- phasize the fact that our Party has. not with sufficient force taken ad- vantage of the favorable situation may be their yariety. On the contrary the discussion must he utilized to liquidate all liberal attitudes towards these renegades and to annihilate them ideologically and organization- ally. The Lovestone renegade theo- ries of exceptionalism, the Trotzskyite counter-revolutionary attacks on the U.S. S. R. and the Comintern, their call for a fourth (2%4) international must be fully exposed. Application of Comintern Line I think that the discussion can be organized around three,main tovics. First on the basis of the analysis of the Comintern with regard to the present world situation. Here we can and must make contributions, that will enrich and concretize for the U. S. the analysis with regard to the crisis, the development of fascism in the U. S., the activity and role of the social-fascists, the. struggle against war, ete. Our comrades in all districts already possess much mate- rial and must study more the situa- " y pos RS a e| by Japan against the U. 8. S. R. for the purpose of strengthening U. S, y|imperialism in the struggle against hoth Japan, the chief rival of the U. S. in the Pacific, and the U. S. S. R., the new world, which on the basis of the sucessful building of socialism is challenging the very existence of. the dying capitalist world order. In the U. S., as world over, there are rapidly ping tenden- cies towards fascism as the crisis per- sists, and the capitalists are making masses, and preparing for imperialist Slaughter as a way out of the crisis. | Here we witness simultaneously the up to the present time—except the| tablish |a battery of shop papers|©f the preparations for war, of|taking on of fascist forms by the shop paper. How is it possible for| worthy of the name, we can begin to|the betrayal of the A, F. of L.| Roosevelt government (the article of the central organ of the Comntunist| perform this tremendous task we have |leaders, city administrations, and Assistant Secretary of War Wood- Party, which should make it its spe-| set ourselves of establishing the Party |that task is—to arm the Party. This| ring) and the growth, with the aid cial task to stimulate and’ guide the factory papers, to put out a 26-page strongholds in the shops.” means that every Party member must of many government and military (Note: The controversial question|be armed with knowledge and ex-| officials, of auxiliary fascist troops, of issue, in which a special feature was| of union papers was not dealt with|Dperience, so that he will be able to which the Silver Shirts, openly sping nie sina era thoy pap? melt oe the ‘Seuts OF conceal oveey “dag cuoeiing of deus Geena bat radia Hy ae of con yl 5 ami P Galanae Sesede, ie sapeet material, in the ensuing : | We alec it depends on correct policy that failure of the Party to sented such great danger revolutionary FROM Main Link Is Keeadion of the Correct Policy Every Party member must now iideretaail that of the correct policy whether we will be able to mobilize the masses of workers for struggle and whether ~ our Party, in this historically favorable situation will become the decisive mass Party of the American pro- letariat, or whether the bourgeoisie with the help of its social-fascist and fascist agents will succeed in disor- _ ganizing the mass movement and keep it down. Never before was the situation in the country so favorable for the development of the Communist Party into a real revolutionary mass Party. But from this it follows also namely, to become rooted in the decisive dustrial cen- ters in the important big factories—never before repre- as a. whole. and above all, the execution understand its chief task— for the fulfillment - cue THE OPEN LETTER. tion among the workers, their moods, their illusions, their readiness for struggle, etc., in order to make clear to the whole Party the best Lda to. the masses, It is necessary to study the active ties of the various fascist and social fascist organizations, as for example the methods of the Silver Shirts, the activities of the Musteltes, the Farm- er-Laborites, the Socialist Party, the A. F. of L, bureaucrats, the renegade groups. In this category of questions can be. included the rise of company unions, the situation within the A. F. of L., the rise of independent unions, etc. It is nof enough to merely re- peat the correct analysis of the world situation as made by the Communist International. As Communists, who strive to. master the teachings of Lenin and Stalin, we must learn as they have always urged us to study the application of the analysis to the concrete situations. Only in’ this way, by looking upon “theory not. as 8 dogma but as a guide to action” can we really fully accept and understand the 13th Plenum resolutfon of the Comintern. ‘The second category of questlons should deal with the experiences in the mass work. This includes in the first place_our work in the factories, our trade union work, our ‘work among the Negro masses, our work among the poor farmers and other strata of the toiling population. The experiences gained in the fight for the united front furnishes an ex- cellent basis for the discussion of many of our problems. Our work among the unemployed and the fight for social insurance is another im- portant. question. The work in the A. F. of L. unions, the work of the independent unions, the work of the T. U. U. L. unions in the last year has much yaluable experience that must be brought forward to the whole Party. Concentration Tasks However, in dealing with these questions we must strive to do so in the light of the Open Letter and the control tasks and never lose’ sight of the emphasis on the concentration tasks provided for in the Open Letter. As an example let us state some con- crete questions that can be’ discussed with great profit to the entire Party. Why did the Pittsburgh District not carry through the decisions with re- gard to the election of our supporters to the U. M. W. A. convention? Why don’t, we follow up mtore seriously the work of the Party and Steel Union in Ambridge? Why was our participa~ tion in the recent Anthracite Miners strike so weak? What are we doing to overcome our isolation in the Packing ‘House Industry in Chicago? How we made headway in the work in ‘the Progressive Miners of America among the miners in Illinois? How did we lose the: initiative in the struggles of the Detroit Auto Workers, and what are we doing to change this situation? Question For Discussions ‘What are the lessons of the amal- gamation in tte shoe industry and the’ work of the New York Organiza- tion as reflected in the recent Labor Board elections? What were the re~ sults of the Cleveland United Fronit Conference? What mistakes did we make in the work of the Committee for the Struggle Against War and Fascism? Why are theré so few Negro - workers in most of the T. U. U. L. unions? Why do we have a com- varatively strong movement among the unemployed in the West and in Pittsburgh while the movement in Chicago and New York is weak? we built a shop nucleus of the in the J. L. Steel plant in Pittsburgh? How we doubled the circulation of the Daily Worker in our Section? I think that here we already pave an indica~ tion as to how to;digcuss the ques- tions as to the methods and results of the mass work of the Party. Work in Lower Units As to the third category of ques- tions, Here the main emphasis must ~ be given to the work of the lower organizations of the Party, to the work of the trade union and other fractions, to the training and develop- ing of leadership in the Party. Here also must be taken up the problems and lessons in the building of factory nuclei, the work of the factory nuclei, of the street nuclei, the agitation and propaganda work of the Party recruiting, the extreme fluctua~ tion in membership, ete. I think this will be enough of an indication as to the problems to be dealt with under this category. We should emphasize here the necessity of subjecting ie methods’ of work of the Party.organ- izations dnd individual comrades no matter whom it may concern from top to bottom. i ta ie i 3 snot we mi We number of comrades into pillnned sions. Every Party member who feels the need for participation in the dis- cussion must do so. Inability to , properly in style or even should be no bar. In the districts and the sections the leading committees must help the comrades with such technical assistance that is required.’ Let us begin at once without delay. Let us carry through a most and self critical discussion tremendous tasks laid down in the — 13th Plenum resolution, in the Open Letter and in pe etree tions, that will arian lt to the io Pa aad the \