The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 19, 1934, Page 5

DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, MARCH 19, 1934 Page Five Wm. Z. Foster Stresses Winning of Youth, in Pre-Convention Discussion Viust Seek Out Youth’ Inside Bourgeois-Led. Mass Organizations oung Communist League Still Isolated From Centers Where Large Masses of Young Workers Are Gathered The Future Palace of Soviets oF: Soviekn Wrest Youth From Fascis Young Workers Will Not Come to Us Spontaneously, Leader; We Must Mobilize Their Militancy to Party Must Become Youth-Minded, t Influence ag Party Says } Revolutionary Ends By WILLIAM Z, FOSTER It so happens that I am able to contribute only one article to the Party discussion and I ar youth in the economic and political struggle. This underestimation manifests itself in many ways, among them the chronic and inex- the youth que: cusable neglect in very many in- There are many stances to give life to the slogan ame of the Party work that I would like that for every Party nucleus there By IRVING HERMAN work, Usually, we issue some leaf- to discuss, but perhaps none in the shall be Y, ©. L, mucins ae The Draft Youth Resolution for|let which is distributed house to pre-convention discussion will re- general failure to pay attention to National Convention e Party uite correctly emphasizes the abso- house and accompany it by personal visiting of workers at their homes. ceive less attention than outh activities in our trade unions 4 organizing the working yout and other organizations, etc. It is ite importance of penetrating the| But, in the majority of cases the this article may not be amiss. characteristic that in the first 2ass bourgeois-controlled youth or-| youth (due to various reasons) are | The youth question h espe- dozen articles of the Party con- anizations. These organizations lay a vital part in the life of the \merican youth. The majority of American youth are either directly or indirectly influenced by these novements and their activities. ole of Bourgeois Youth Organi- izations in Drive Towards Fascism and War In the present situation where the class struggle is rising, where huge strike waves are the order of | the day, where the bourgeoisie fran- tically prepares for war, greater at- tention by the capitalist class is being paid to the further develop- ment of the influence of the mass bourgeoise-controlled youth organi- | we call youth meetings, issue youth not to be found hanging around the house. They usually go out with their friends, especially to these youth centers. In the majority of cases, the general neighborhood work of house-to-house is totally in- sufficient in reaching these youth. That is why, on many occasions, leaflets, but attract little youth. We did not reach the youth where they are to be found. Instead, it would have been much better to en- ter such big settlement houses and there give out leaflets, visit the clubs that meet there, etc. In places like this, where iarge numbers of youth are concentrated, we should since the sharpening of the is, become so important that Party must give it the very closest and most energetic treat-) ment. And, as the crisis deepens this importance grows greater and greater. The more militant forms the class struggle takes the more decisive the role of the working youth. Capitalism all over the world, seeking a way out of the devastat- ing crisis, develops towards two great objectives—fascism and war. In its plans for the accomplishment of these aims the youth plays a WILLIAM Z. FOSTER central role. The storm troops of (National Chairman C.P.U.S.A.) fascism are based upon the youth, z | workers vention discussion that I have read, practically no mention whatever is made of the youth question, in spite of the manifest appreciation in all capitalist circles of the importance of this question. 2. Flowing out this underestima- tion of the role of the youth there turally a failure to develop and y the special methods of prop- nda and organization necessary to organize the youth. Usually, the working class is just considered as in general, although the Comintern correctly considers the problems of the youth so specific | that it has created an international i = A 4 . d it is the youth especially that| heavals of the near future, they|°T@@nization and an elaborate pro- zations. work to build up Unemployed Com. Gh: alae oe gees and : Abe a ; ; The mai sed i i- - will be called upon to fight the| would become a deadly lia gt2m with which to handle them. mittees and groups, anti-war com. 7 a z ‘ Syee po} would ‘come a deadly capitalist oe pea pee nar 10, Sera mittees, etc. The architect's rendering of the projected Palace of Lenin, it will tower to a total height of 1624 feet, | approaching imperialist war. Of) force seainst. the working class ia| 9, partnbsrtadivation ae ann tion, is the numerous sports and recreational facilities at the dis- posal of such movements. Many of | these institutions have set up voca- tional training courses, various in- dustrial groups (Industrial Y’s, Railroad Y’s, etc.), conduct meet- ings of unemployed groups, etc. While in most cases, due to the crisis, there has been a curtailing of various expenses, yet these move- ments have been able to increase In Cleveland, as a result of little effort, we succeeded in getting 100 youth in a large settlement house where Negro and white youth go to sign a Scottsboro petition. Six clubs in there adopted resolutions on the Scottsboro case. In another settlement house, we held an anti- war youth meeting, succeeded in getting down workers whom we never reached before, and got seven youth to sign up for the Y.C.L. In another settlement house, several of Soviets in Moscow, which will be the world’s Topped by a heroic statue most imposing building. 276 feet higher than the Empire State Building (drawn in silhouette, in proportion, above.) What Have Been Gar Mistakes in Building Up United Front A By JAMES LERNER | e gainst War Among the Youth? course, capitalism tries to corrupt with its plans the working class and petty-bourgeois masses gen- erally, of all ages, but it devotes special and energetic attention to the youth. these struggles. Our Party's immediate task is to win the most decisive strata of the workers in the basic industries. And in every phase of this work the question of the youth becomes more This is true of the United States! and more important. For example, as well as other capitalist countries. in the trade union field: In the} It would be idle to cite once more! building of mass trade unions, due the tremendous efforts the capital-|to the fact that the A. F. of L. is| ists here are making to fascize and|so weak and there are no solidly | militarize the youth, especially the| established union cadres of middle| proletarians. In all this the gov- youth question: This means the relegation of the youth question simply to the Y. C. L., instead of considering it as it is, a major Party question in which every Party unit, as well as the Y. C. L. should vitally concern itself. This disastrous ten- dency practically liquidates youth work in many Party organs. 4. Sectarianism in the Y. C. L.: This is a deep-rooted tendency in the Y. C. L. to consider its problems their influence and develop all Connecticut initiated a movement Another crass opportunist example | aged workers, there is no capitalist} ernment, national and local, takes kinds of non-expesive mass activi- ties. * | Such institutions as the various settlement houses and Community Centers attract large numbers of young workers. In many small towns, these movements are the central attractions for the bulk of the youth, welding a tremendous influence on the whole community. In the labor struggles of the work- ers, these organizations have gen- erally been used to discourage par- | ticipation of youth in strikes and in a number of instances, actively acted as strike-breaking forces (for example, during the marine workers | strike in Duluth and Superior in! 1931), Y. ©. L, Isolated from Masses of | Youth in Bourgeois-Controlled | Organizations The sectarianism of the American Y. C. L, is most strikingly illustrated | by its general isolation from these movements. The entire Party and, mass organizations have likewise stood aloof, having little or no un- tanding of the significance of such movements. Already at the December 1932 Plenum of the E.C, W.C.1., the question of penetrating these movements was raised very sharply. Following this, there was some talk in our League, a few feeble attempts to make a begin- ning, and then the practical col- lapse of what little was started. We must make it very clear to the entire League and Party, that ve can never hope to build a mass Y.C.L., to win the majority of the youth, to smash the existing bour- seois influence over large sections | of the youth, until we consciously ond consistently wage a mass cam- paign for the youth in these or- ganizations. While we very correctly must lay the major stress on developing the economic struggles of the youth, of | penetrating in the most important | shops and industries, of building revolutionary unions and opposi- tions in the A. F of L., under no circumstances can we counter-pose these activities with work in the mass organizations. They are in- terconnected. It is clear that if we are to win the youth at the shops, we must combat those influences which are instilled into these youth and act as a barrier to building shop organization. Further, within these mass bourgeois-controlled or- ganizations are to be found young workers from the basic shops and industries. Very typical of our sectarianism, has been the unemployed youth U. 8. Building Workers To Assist in U. S, 8S, R. Socialist Construction NEW YORK.—Upon invitation of the Soviet government Walter E. Lohe, a building trades worker, will lead a group of skilled painters, decorators, plasterers, roofers, mo- saic and terraza workers and tile men to the Soviet Union, where they will settle and assist in the work of socialist construction. The group will leave the United States on April 14. There are still some vacancies to be filled. Skilled buiiding trades workers wishing in- formation on conditions for accep- tance in the group should write to Walter E. Lohe, Daily Worker, 50 BE. | Youth section is not such that can | | such a center from being a strong- 13th St., New York City, militarization. L, eells in the factories. Putting an end to the narrowness of the Y. C. L. and really turning it towards the masses of working youth, struggling against the com- pulsory government system of fascization and The Communist Parties must give every possible help to the Y. C. L. in developing the work inside the mass bourgeois and reformist youth organizations (cultural, sporting, ete.) and in the formation of Y. C. —From the Resolution of the 13th Plenum of the E. C. €. I. clubs were gotten to participate to some extent in anti-war activity that was developed. These few in- cidents clearly illustrate the cor- rectness of the points raised in the draft your resolution for the Party convention. Building Up Mass Workers Youth | Organizations We have spoken much about the need of building such movements | as the I.W.O. and L.S.U. into mass | movements among the youth. How- | ever, the very life and orientation of | such a movement as the I.W.O. readily attract the masses of youth. One has to be either a Young Com- munist or considerably close to the Communist movement, to enter the majority of I.W.O. youth branches. While non-Communist youth enter the I.W.O., yet the whole atmo- sphere is such that it doesn’t make for drawing in such elements. An illustration of this is a cer- tain I.W.O. Youth Branch located in the Kinsman territory of Cleve- | land. At its meetings, practically all of those attending are Y.C.L.’ers. Those who are not, are extremely sympathetic and close to our move- ment. This branch has not been! able to grow or attract masses of youth. Its activities have clearly | shown this. Would it not be better | if such a branch would move out of its “center,” would move into} some large settlement house, and orientate its activtiies with a view of attracting the youth from this | settlement house? Of course, we | should guard against the I.W.O.| youth becoming, in such a case, a mere sport or social club. That's where the Communist fraction has The keynote of the draft resolu- tion is the immedTate menace of imperialist war. And linked with this is the great stress laid on the necessity of winning the youth. It, is not the purpose of this article to review the numerous steps to- wards war made by the government. It is sufficient to point out that 300,000 young unemployed have been regimented in army-ruled camps under the blessings of the jingoists who see these youth as potential fascist forces and the first line of troops in the oncoming war. Al- ready these C.C.C. men have been used as strikebreakers in the ma- rine strike in Boston. Military training is increasing in the schools where an immense officers caste is being trained. One million have received such training in ten years. So intense is this war drive even. in The press, movie and radio that increasingly conscious of the future that awaits them. Although many are infected with jingoism, with preparedness propaganda, we can definitely say that there exists a distinct hatred of war and every- thing connected with it. Since the U. 8. Congress Against War with its five hundred youth delegates we have done mighty little to harness this sentiment for organization and struggle. Although some work has been started, the results gotten and the sentiment existent, show tre- mendous neglect on the part of the Young Communist League. Why We Fail The reasons for this are several. 1) is the lack of understanding of to play a role. 2 One Y.C.L. Unit has succeeded in | getting into a large settlement | house, getting a meeting place | there. Its representative is to be! sent also to the council of all the clubs gathered in that settlement house. The possibility of conduct- ing work in this place is extremely great. Correct work can convert hold of the bourgeoisie, into our stronghold, winning the masses of youth for our program. Our Tasks It is necessary to build up I.W.o. youth branches and other /workers youth organizations in these cen- ters. Also, to build Y.C.L. fractions and Y. C. L. units in these centers. It is necessary to get comrades into the most influential clubs of these centers and have them carry through correct Communist youth work. Particularly, such comrades should aim to win over youth who work in factories for our. ¥.C.L. All of the major campaigns of the League and Party should be brought into these places and developed on a broad united front basis. Through such work we will greatly assist | our shop work, create a strong base for unemployed youth work, and reach out among masses of Amer- ican proletarian youth. ‘The Pre-Convention period of the Party and League shall be used to give a critical examination of our work in the boss controlled mass organizations and the ways and means of developing serious work in them. The struggle against war and fascism becomes only a pious hope if our League does not take serious and concrete steps for win- ning over the majority of the youth under the influence of the bour- geois-controlled youth organizations, the situation; 2) the tremendous un- derestimation of the desire of the youth to fight war, and 3) a right opportunist attitude towards tits united front and its application. At present the methods and speed of our work have not been adapted to the objective situation. In the past few months several city-wide conferences have been held. One in Boston drew in sixteen non-left- wing youth groups. These included religious and settlement house groups. A total of 40 groups were present. In the Bronx, New York, @ conference was endorsed by 46) social, athletic, political gréups. In Los Angeles an active group with connections in churches, and Social- ist organizations has been built up. In a number of colleges large, mass conferences have been held with the program of the American League accepted. But in spite of these suc- cesses we Can as yet point to no anti-war committee in a°C.C.C., or war factory. In our anti-war cam- paigns we have as yet to start using the factory as a central basis. In Chicago where a couple of confer- ences with no definite plan of action petered out, a third conference has decided to investigate the packing houses, where it is rumored food is being prepared for the Army. If this is true a campaign to use the food for the unemployed will be started. This is the first sign of orientating towards fighting war production. Anti-War Sentiment of Students In the schools and colleges there is at present a tremendous anti- war and anti-fascist sentiment. How we still underestimate this can be seen from Columbia University where .25 to 50 delegates were ex- pected and over 200 came, The united front is of course the most important tactic towards the mobilization of the youth in a struggle against War and fascism. Here very serious mistakes have been made. The maneuvers of some right-wing leaders who tem- porarily It is only now, after Several of these leaders have de- serted that we are making a drive to win local groups. In the Y.P.S.L. the U. S. Congress created a good deal of sentiment for unity. In circle after circle resolutions to this effect were adopted. One circle in | large masses of youth are becoming| for a national referendum for affili- ation to the Youth Section of the American League, This met with a good response but the nationai lead- ership has so far stifled it. In spite of their commandments agains the American League, especially ce the Austrian affair, there must be no retreat from a struggle for unity. Most serious is the attitude taken by the Y.C.L. members towards the defense of the Soviet Union. After all it is in the Far East, against the U.S.S.R., where the most serious danger of war lies at present. Yet, under the excuse of building a broad united front we have comrades com- mitting the opportunist error of is suing anti-war leaflets in which the Soviet Union is not even mentioned; | calling anti-war conferences delib- erately leaving out of the calls any mention of the situation in the Far East. Failure To Mention Soviet Union That this is not merely isolated practices is obvious when we exam- ine a number of leaflets issued by | the Y.C.L. for International Youth | | | Liebknecht, Day, Armistice Day and Lenin, Luxemburg meetings. The comrades at the most important concentration point in Pittsburgh, issue an L.L.L. eaflet to the steel workers without a word on the So- viet Union. We have two L.L.L. leaflets from Philadelphia before us, both so-called anti-war; but yet ig- nore the U.S.S.R. In Chicago, the District Committee issued a special’ call to every Y.C.L. member head- ed: “The League Must Be Alarmed! | War Is On—", and the most unbe- lievable feat is performed of not even mentioning the Soviet Union and Far East! In Boston a call for a Youth Anti- War Conference was issued. Not a word on the Soviet Union. Tro Party comrades when asked, “How come?” answered “We want a broad united front.” In the Bronx, N. Y. conference call there was not a word on the Soviet Union. And it was a Y.C.L. member that influenced the provisional commit- tee to omit same. At a time when the masses are really beginning to see through the imperialist and so- cial-democratic lies about the So- viet Union, when the peace policy of the USS.R. has been popularized especially through the visit of Lit- vinoff to this country, we suddenly become “broad!” was the above-mentioned Columbia University Conference. Here, in the name of unity the Y.C.L. members supported an outright pacifist reso- lution “against all wars” including class war. They did not fight for a revolutionary position. Although it would have been wrong for the comrades to withdraw from the Continuations Committee. yet they | should have made their position] very clear and continued to work to convince others of the correctness of their views. Here as in other places, schools or cities, the conference has been built up’ as a “thing in itself.” Lit-j | tle or no preparatory work. “Get delegetes!” We depend on a sym- posium at a conference to change the erroneous ideas. built up years by bourgeois propaganda. | } No discussion of war can pass without taking up the Nesro youth. |The Japanese imperialists are at- tempting to make inroads among! them by saying: “The Japanese are! one of the darker races. As such it is in the interests of thegNegro peo- ple to defend Japanese imperialism against the whit This is dan-! gerous, especially when the Negroes are reminded that the white ruling class was responsible for mass lynch-| ings during the last war and today. | We must show the Negro youth that Japanese imperialism is no better than the American brand and point to its treetment of the Chinese and | Koreans, also of the so-called darker races, | In closing we want to stress these things: The necessity of getting to the youth in the war factories, in | the C.C.C. camps, and in the settle- ment houses and Y’s, where there is readiness to ficht war. It has} | been proven. We have to spread | the anti-war literature such as “Fight.” We rthust build anti-war commit- tees and clubs to be affiliated to the Youth Section of the American; League. The above must be connected with accomplishing the following tasks: 1) Successful youth actions on April | 6th; 2) City and State youth anti- war conferences throughout the country in the next two months; 3) Making National Youth Day (May 30), this year the day of the largest) anti-war youth demonstrations this! country has ever seen. The successful strug: impending war danger finally accomplish the Party, help the Y. C. L ganizations, C. L. factory nuclei the Unions, aiding the ers, to formulate with economic demands, to larly bring forward the turn its face to winning the American working class youth on the basis of the fight for the economic, political and social needs of the youth, against compulsory militarization in the C. C. C., ete., bringing forward the youth into the forefront of the mass struggles, reso- lutely fighting chauvinistic poison and for in- ternationalism among them. the bourgeois mass organizations. Sports, ete.) and in the social reformist or- The Party must aid to form Y. gle against fascism and demands that the Party The Party must broadening of the Y. C. L. into a mass organization wider than the . to develop its work in (Y.M.C.A., wherever Party nuclei exist and assist in forming youth sections in in} {League and National the lead. The C. C. C. camps and other phases of the “relief” work are gigantic militarization schemes. Likewise the huge patriotic organi- zations— Y M. C. A., Y. M. H. A, Boy Scouts, etc—are no whit be- hind in these ever increasing fascist and militarist’ activities. The more avowedly fascist organizations, such as the Silver Shirts, Khaki Shirts, etc. with liberal support from bourgeois sources are characteris- tically devoting their chief atten- tion to winning the youth. Nor does the “third party of the bour- geoisie,” the Socialist Party, fail to put more and more stress on the youth. A striking manifestation of the capitalist determination to capture the youth is to be seen in the vicious campaign now _ being carried on in the Hearst papers against the Young Communi. Student League, whose activities, limited though they are, the American im- perialists greatly fear as a deadly obstacle in the way of their winning the youth. The Denger of Fascism Now the most dangerous element in the whole situation is the mani- fest susceptibility of the youth to this fascist, militarist campaign. The Central Committee draft con- vention resolution correctly says: “Especially hard hit as a result of the crisis is the youth of the wor! ing class, farmer and middle class. Few will dispute this statement in view of the huge numbers of work- ing class youth cast into unem- ployment, hobodom and destitution by graduating from the schools and by being thrown out of the in- dustries. The young toilers of the cities and farms, entering into manhood, are denied the right to earn a living and to satisfy their natural instincts to establish a family, The youth are greatly discon- tented at all this, They want to fight for better conditions. But it is exacly in this militancy of theirs that we face both a great oppo! tunity and a great danger. If we are intelligent and militant enough we can organize and lead, for rev- olutionary ends, the discontented toiling youth. But if we are not we may be sure that the fascists will mobilize the youth for fascism, war and counter-revolutionary ends generally. The struggle to win the working class and farmer youth is one of the most acute phases of the general struggle between the cap- italists and our Party to win the masses. In Italy and Germany, the fas- cists doubtless have had much success in winning the youth, not only of the city petty-bourgeoisic, but also, to a considerable extent, of the working class and farmers. But it would be a grave mistake to conclude there from that somehow or other, the youth are fascistically inclined. All we have to do to con- tradict such a notion is to look about us. Signs multiply of the naturally revolutionary tendencies of these young toilers, Among such are their increased and often lead- ing activitics in industrial strikes, farmers’ struggles and unemployed fights. And in every ¢ollege and university in the country there is a growing radical sentiment among the students. Spreading discontent, growing class consciousness, in- creasing political activity, are characteristic of the proletarian °@ 1 farmer youth in every place where they are to be found. Youth Will Not Come Spontaneously to Us But let me repeat: all these out- croppings of radicalism and mili- tancy are by no means guarantees that the youth will spontaneously Y.C.L. to take up the special economic problems of the young work- them clear and concise develop social and cul- tural activities and organizations that serve to hold the young workers, and clearly and popu- revolutionary aims and objectives of the working class movement. —From the Draft Resointion for the 8th Convention of the C.P., U.S.A. and automatically gravitate to class consciousness and the Communist Party leadership. We can win the youth only by the most relentless struggle for them against our fas- cist and social-fascist enemies. And if we fail to carry on such a struggle the youth, inexperienced in the class struggle and still poisoned by the capitalist school system, will fall victims in large numbers to fascist demagogy. This would mean that instead of being the most mili- tant revolutionary fighters in the great strikes and revolutionary up- ‘country in the world where youth|i2 an abstract and formal manner | play such a role as in the United| Md to make the Y. C. L. a youth leaders. In Negro work, the youth are a most vital factor and also in| anti-war activities; » the natural link bei tive and foreign-born workers, et In short, in the task of mobilizing the great masses of the workers the} organization of the youth is of | fundamental importance. We can-| not successfully fight against fas-| cism and war in which the cap- italists make such strategic use of) the youth, unless we win this very} youth ourselves. Has the Party Mace a Determined! Effort To Win the Youth? Considering the great importance ung workers, both from] the standpoint of their great effectiveness as fighters in the rev- | olutionary army of labor, and also| from the standpoint of the danger of their falling under fascist and social-fascist leadership, can it be said that our Party and the rev- olutionary oragnizations behind it have made a determined effort to organize the working class youth Unfortunately, the answer to this question must be a categorical NO! For proof of this, all we have to jdo is to consider the weakness of j;the Young Communist League, which is only one-fourth the size of the Party, and the fragmentary character of youth organizations and activities in the T. U. U. L. unions and other left, wing bodies. | Our youth activities are mani-| | festly inadequate. They, in no way, | correspond to the possibilities before Jus to organize the youth. Conse-| jquenily, our forces generally are | being rgely denicd the splendid | fighting rit, tirelessness and enthusiasm of the youth, while at j the same time we run the serious| danger of seeing these vital forces fall under the leadership of the capitalist army. The Y. C. L. is only) }@ fraction of the size and strength it could and should be; our youth | | activities represent only a shadow of our possibilities, The chief causes for the weak- ness of our youth work may be| | briefly summed up as follows: | | Our Weakness in Youth Work | Our Tasks 1, A widespread and stubborn underestimation of the role of the| 2 youth are! | olution. | States. In the unemployed work) duplicate of the Party instead of pretty much the same condition|® broad mass organization. This prevails—the youth are natural| 2d tendency partly originates in the inexperience of young workers in the class struggle, but its main source arises from the tendeney in he Party to relegate the whole outh question to the Y. C. L. and thus to isolate it from the general struggles of the Party. These wrong tendencies must be liquidated before serious work among the working class and farmer youth can be accomplished. The | Party must be educated as to the true role of the youth in the class struggle in this period of developing fascism, war and proletarian rev- As headway is made in this work, then the question of methods of youth work will take on a live interest in the Party and Y. C. L. and some real progress will be made in applying C. I. and Y. C. I. decisions on these matters. The Party will then be brought to a fuller realization that the or- ganization of the youth is a major Party task, just as much as the building of the trade unions, the organization of the Negroes, etc., and that it is not simply the job of the Y.C.L. Then also the Party will keep the youth question to the fore in all its mass activities. With this as a fact, I am convinced that much of the sectarianism of the Y. C. L, will disappear and it will swiftly branch out into a wide or- ganization of the youth and be- come a powerful contingent in the revolutionary forces led by the Communist Party. IT am glad the question of the youth is one of the orders of busi- ness at the coming Party conyen- tion. And I hope that advantage will be taken of the occasion to develop, for the first time in our Party conventions, a fundamental discussion of the youth question and the development of a compre‘ensive program of youth activities for the whole Party and all the revolu- tionary organizations that follow its political leadership. We must pay more attention to the young workers. We must quadruple our efforts to win the working youth. Our Party must become youth con- scious, youth-minded. Then our progress will be greatly hastened for the winning of the broad deci- sive masses of the working class. We Must Increase Our Work in the 21 Railway Unions (Continued from Page 4) ganized workers to do, infuriates many party members. Instead of | placing the blame on themselves in ing for so leng outside these’ in failing to fight side byj e with the members of these unions against the roads and the] union officials, in neglecting to have} | established unity between the rank and file in the 21 crafts, they con- tinue to tili at windmills because events have found them isolated and | the workers leaderless. Yes, events have found us un- prepared! We heve neglected to build oppositions in the railroad! unions. We are still talking in many| important railway, centers about building new unions. Many leading comrades do not know that the Na- tional Railrond Industrial League ceased to exist over a year ago... it ceased to function leng hefore that. Many of us still confuse in our own, minds and therefore in the minds of the workers with whom we have continued the ques-| tion of the leadership of the right wing unions with the~functions of these unions. If we have no confidence in the membership of the existing unions, if we do not see that it is possible for the rank and file to force ac- tion within these unions, if we are unwilling to take the trouble to work in these unions and establish left wing leadership over these or- ganizations to which almost half a million workers are affiliated, how can we expect to sweep a hundred thousand scattered shop forces out of the company unions and orgenize the unorganized on every road into some magic union which can defy the terror of the railroads and the inroads of the A. F. of L. apparatus with organizers already in the field, funds for membership drives and the agreement for every craft? The task ef organizing class con- scious fighting groups of railroad workers inside the existing unions, among the unorganized and even in the company unions is a difficult, slow end perhaps discouraging task. We have hardly made a be; of building Party nuclei on the rail- roeds. But this work can and must be done. The organization of unions is a serious business. We have learned this in our work among the coal miners, among the New York furriers where we already had a strong militant organized union under our leadership. The railroad workers have been confused long enough with mechanical amalgama- tion schemes, and dual industrial leagues. A new industrial railroad union will and must be built, but it will grow out of the fire of actual struggle in the shops, in the yards and around the grievances of the members in the existing unions. The groups which are formed today in the fight against the wage cut, to maintain conditions on the job and win unemployment insurance, must be extended and united for this task