The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 6, 1934, Page 5

DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1934 Page Five Real, Active Personal Contact With Your Fellow- Workers Is the Key to Winning the Masses for the Communist Party The Central Gommities of the Communist Barty) 5. S. A., has addressed the following letter directly to every member of the Party, discussing how he can win recruits and do his part in building up a mass Party of the Amer- ican working-class: October, 1934. Dear Comrade: The Central Committee of the Party addresses this letter to you personally, in the hope that you will read it most carefully and help solve one of the most burning problems confronting the Party at the present time; a problem which will largely determine the ability of the Party to stand at the head of the rapidly developing eco- nomic and political struggles of the masses; the problem of the growth of the Party membership. The problem of the rrowth of the Party is concerned with both the numerical growth of the Party and the quality of the Party membership; that is, to strengthen the Party, in the first place among the workers in the large factories and trade unions in the basic industries of steel, mining, marine, railroad, auto, textile, etc. Closely connected with the growth of the Party membership and the quality of this membership is the problem of the tremendous fluctuation (turnover) of the Party member- ship. Let us consider some important facts. For many years, including the first years of the crisis, the member- ship of our Party stood around the figure of ten thou- sand. Finally, through serious effort, we more than doubled our membership in the last two years; so that at the time of the last convention we had close to 25,000 members in good standing. The con¥ention decided that we set the goal of 40,000 members in good standing by the end of the year. It is now more than five months since the convention. What is the situation? It is indeed most serious. Our membership today, as far as dues’ payments go (and for the present it is the most reliable measurement we have), is even a little less than at the time of the convention. It is clear that at this rate we shall not reach the goal set by the convention. On the contrary, unless the course is changed, we face the danger of further decline. Surely you will agree with us that here we have a problem which must receive the attention of every Party leading committee and of every Party member. The Masses Are Ready for Us To what can we attribute this decline; the failure to move ahead towards the goal set by the convention? Can it be a result of the lessening of the interest of the masses in Communism? Can it be the result of less favor- able conditions for our work than in the past? Not much argument is necessary on these questions. We are sure that without a»moment’s hesitation you will agree with us, even on the basis of your own experience, that the masses are more receptive to our message than ever be- fore; that the conditions for the growth of the Party have more than multiplied. All we need is but think of the great and heroic strike struggles of the last period, strikes like the recent textile strike of half a million workers, the historic general strike in San Francisco, the Toledo, Minneapolis and Milwaukee struggles, to come to the conclusion that never were the masses so ready for our message as today, never were the conditions for our Cent Convnites Adiypies Letter To Every Member on How to Recruit ness, our own lack of efforts, our own wrong and bad | methods of work that are responsible for this decline, | for the failure to go forward. But we have repeated this very often. And yet the problem is not solved. We have already discussed the basic weaknesses of the work of | the Party; we have suggested certain solutions for the improvement of our work among the masses, for the im- provement of the work of the Party nuclei and the frac- tions. But there is one point to which we did not yet give sufficient consideration, although this was one of the central points raised in the Open Letter to the Party mem- bership—namely, the question of establishing personal contacts with the masses, the development of the initiative of the Party membership, the activization of the Party membership. Now let us ask you a question. If the Party called upon you to perform some important Party work and you | needed assistance, could you draw around you five non- Party workers, sympathizers, who would aid you in your work? If you cannot satisfactorily answer this question to yourself, then you are not yet fulfilling the most ele- mentary duty of a Party member, to become a leader among the masses. Some could lead more, some less, but surely every Party member must aim to become a | leader of some workers whom he can influence, draw into | activity, ete. For after all, the tasks which confront us cannot be carried through only by Party members. These tasks, which increase, can be carried through only by | constantly drawing into activity more non-Party workers, always aiming to recruit the best, the most advanced into the Party, and again further increase the activity of the masses. How Many Workers Do You Know Well? | Now why will many comrades, if not the majority, | be unable to state that they have five such workers around | them? Because many of the Party members in coming into the Party, break off their former relations with their friends, relatives, former mass organizations, etc. Further- | more when they come into the Party they join some left | wing organization only, if at all, and do not become part | | of the broad mass organizations, especially the trade unions. The fact is that only about one-third of the mem- bership belongs to the trade unions, even though the | eighth convention demanded of all Party members that they join the trade unions. How are we going to influence and win over the millions of workers in the trade unions | unless we join them and work within them. Another reason for the failure to group at least five workers around each Party member, is to be found in the fact that the Send me more information members do not work Join the Communist Party! 35 EAST TWELFTH STREET, NEW YORK CITY How many homes of such workers do you visit as their shop-mate, fellow trade unionist or friend? Unfortunately most of our members spend all their given time to Party work in “inner” meetings, where they meet only with Party members, or in organizations where the majority of the members are Party members and their very closest sympathizers. Is this not true? Think about it please. Now ask yourself how much literature do you sell or distribute in your shop, in your trade union? How many Daily Workers? How many workers do you bring from your shop or trade union to Party mass meetings? We do not state that the average Party member is unwilling to carry on work. On the contrary, a large number of our members are willing to sacrifice all for the Party. But it is largely a problem of how to work and where to work. It is a question of working, not among ourselves, but among the masses, and working in a manner that will get results. Let us apply this specifically to the problem of re- eruiting, for by attacking this question correctly, we not only tackle the building of the Party, but the entire char- acter of and approach to the mass work of the Party, with- out which the Party cannot really be built on a solid foun- dation. What Have You Yourselves Done? You surely would like to see the Party grow. No doubt you have also been thinking why it is that the Party does not grow more rapidly. Perhaps you have even been very critical of the situation and are wondering why it has not been corrected. Permit us therefore to ask you a question. What have you personally contributed to solve this question? Please think about it. Ask yourself how many members have you brought to the Party in the last year, in the last three months, in the last month? Five to ten percent of the comrades reading this letter will be able to say to themselves with satisfaction, “I have brought one member, or two or more into the Party.” Some will even be able to say, “I have brought not one, but ten or twenty ; or as high as fifty members into the Party.” But unfortunately fully 90 per cent of the readers of this letter will be compelled to say, and we are sure, in not too loud a voice, even to themselves, “I have not brought in a single member.” For these are the facts: That all the new members brought into the Party, come to the Party thru the general activities of the organizations and through the personal efforts of no more than ten per cent of the Party Membership. Let us give you a specific example that recently came to our attention. Ata meeting of 266 Party mem- bers belonging to a number of A.F.L. unions who were assembled as a fraction, the on the Communist Party work more favorable. Such a conclusion, however, also forces the answer to the question as to the cause for the considerable weaken- ing in the growth of the Party; that it is our own weak- among the workers in their shops and trade unions. Ask yourself how many ad- _ dresses of workers in your shop and union have you? NAME ADDRESS question was asked, “How many of the comrades pres- ent brought in at least one member of the Sinclair’s Candidacy and the Issues in California Have National Importance for the Working Class By Sam Darcy District Organizer and Communist Candidate for Governor of California, On Sept. 20, in Sacramento, the California State Conventions of every political party were held as required by law. The center of the stage was undoubter'y occupied by the Democratic Party. The entire slectorate of Calitornia and much of the rest of the country watered to see what would be the outcome oi the “fight” over the platform between the old-liae Democrats of the McAdoo machine and the Sinclairites. The Sham Battle The “fight” between these two was really only a sham battle con- ducted in the newspapers by news- papermen only, and not by Sinclair or McAdoo. At the Sept. 20 con- vention, Sinclair completely sur- rendered to the Democratic Party and openly announced that he was “merging” the Epic with the New Deal program. A careful re-reading of the “merged” program clearly shows that there was no merging at all, but a complete surrender of whatever was different in Sinclair's platform from the platform of Roosevel'. As a matter of fact, this was not a very difficult surrender, because Sinclair's Epic platform in essence was the minimum sub- sistence plan of the Roosevelt ad- ministration, but couched in ex- tremely radical phraseology. The McAdoo machine even eliminated most of this. However, in his speeches, Sinclair still talks as he did prior to the primaries in radical sounding phrases about “re-opening the fac- tories,” “re-possessing the idle lands for use,” etc. This demagogy has fooled many people who do not take the trouble to examine the detailed circumstances under which Sinclair proposes to re-open the factories or re-possess the land. Actually, his proposals aim only to re-establish the old discredited barter system. Sinclair’s Tower of Babel The only way the tower of politi- cal Babel that constitutes the Sinclair movement can be held to- gether, is by playing these varied tunes at the same time; an old line Democratic party platform to hold the recipients of Federal patronage, upper middle-class elements and bourgeoisie; and the radical speeches of Sinclair to attract the unemployed and underpaid workers, and the small farmers who are los- ing their land or groaning under the burden of public utilities rates and taxation. The Sinclair movement includes at one pole some of the richest exploiters of the state, such as the head of the C and H Sugar Refinery and at the other pole it includes thousands of unemployed workers, some of whom participate in Com- munist-led demonstrations and strike movements, but are inclined to give their vote to Sinclair because “the Communists haven't a chance to get elected, and Sinclair will be a tremendous improvement over Merriam.” Sinclair’s Promises With the promise of an old-age pension of $50 per month, Sinclair has attracted the votes of about 400,000 retired farmers, ‘mostly emigrants from Towa now in South- ern California to spend their old age. These people eked out a living from their precarious income from small mortgages, small stock and bond holdings, etc. The crisis, how- ever, made the largest part of them destitute, and Sinclair's promises of old-age pesions have brought their yotes. It is interes‘ing that this very same element were the ones who made up the largest part of the Ku Klux movement which achieved such large organization in Southern Salifornia only a few years ago. The most vociferous part of the Sinclair movement are thou- sands of tired radicals and old Socialists, most of whom are frankly cynical and openly say that they are in the Sinclair movement only to feather their personal nests. The Sinclair movement also in- cludes all the liberals; peculiar California brand of liberal whose political complexion in New York would approximate the ideol- ogy of Al Smith. Needless to say, | all of the A. F. of L. fakers and racketeers of every description in the state, plus the Technocrats, Single Taxers, Social Sredit follow- ers, Silver Shirts and Utopian So- that is, a) ciety. being received from these elements. The Utopian Society This last group is undoubtedly the most demagogic of all. Before an applicant becomes a member of the Utopian Society, he goes through “five cycles.” The first and second cycles are really dialogues in Greek drama form performed by Holly- wood actors and witnessed by the applicants. These show the bank- ruptcy of the industrialist, landlord, merchant, banker, and in fact, the entire system. The third and fourth cycles outline the Utopian program to the new applicant. This approximates the Utopia of Edward Bellamy in “Looking Backward.” It also tells the applicant that Utopia can be achieved by an “expression of will,” and without any violence or political agitation. They are ex- | tremely vague on this point, except- ing that they specifically speak against the need for doing anything at all except “expressing their wi by paying $3 for membership fees. The fifth cycle is a secret initiation of the applicant into the society, where he is given his organizational instructions of what is to be ex- pected of him. In fact, however, the entire content of the fifth cycle is nothing but an effort to mobi- lize the new applicant to get more applicants at $3 apiece. The whole atmosphere created is that their program is for abolishing capitalism in favor of a Utopia. Before people enter the Shrine Auditorium, which is their meeting hall, they are faced with a huge picture of Upton Sin- clair. This entire Utopian move- ment is part of the Upton Sinclair agitation. Sinclair—A Safety Fuse What has made the Sinclair movement possible? It can be said without any doubt at all that prior to the period of the end of May, 1934, when the fierce: armed attacks |on the maritime workers came, and | later the general strike itself, that the Sinclair candidacy was regarded as a publicity campaign for his books. Few took it seriously. Creel, Sinclair's opponent, had the nomi- nation fairly well secured. Then Governor Merriam and Mayor Rassi From all over the country sent the thugs, troops and police) those disillusioned people who voted huge contributions to Sinclair are | against the strikers, the raids on|for Sinclair might become fertile | workers’ halls took place, and the| wave of resentment throughout the State following these acts was tre- mendous. Overnight, Sinclair’s can- didacy took on serious proportions. | The accumulated discontent of years | burst—tragically, into the harmless | safety valve provided by the capi- talist class. Consider for example the long- shoremen’s union in San Francisco. Here the Communist influence was strong, yet the overwhelming num- ber of longshoremen in the few days following these battles, went down to re-register as democrats so they could vote for Sinclair. The men did not bother to examine the details of Sinclair's platform or the implications involved in his nomi- nation or election. They were mo- tivated by only one thing, the de- termination to get rid of Merriam as a demonstration against his ac- tions. The whole Merriam machine has smelled badly for years. It has "| taken over the tradition of Rolph. | The bulk of the people of the state | were sick of the reactionary pro- \lynch statements of Rolph, the ter- ror in the agricultural fields where workers were murdered for strik- ing against 75 cents to $1.25 per day wage scale, etc. They were re- sentful of the salés tax which was the product of the Rolph-Merriam administration. Even within the Republican Party there is a feeling that Merriam can’t meet the pres- ent situation for them. Haight, styling himself as a Pro- gressive Republican candidate for governor, has entered the race and will undoubtedly split tens of thou- sands of votes away from Merriam. At present outlook, unless any startling changes occur, the possi- bility of Sinclair's election is very strong. The Menace of Sinclair What difference would Sinclair's election make for the revolutionary working-class movement? The hun- dreds of thousands of workers and poor farmers who are voting for Sinclair have the idea that they are voting for some sort of a “radical” even a “mild Communist.” When Sinclair gets elected and the failure of his demagogic program and phraseology becomes evident, ground for the fascist reaction | {against militant working-class ac- \tivity. The success of the capital- ist class’ line in the use of a type| like Sinclair in California at the polls on Nov. 6 will undoubtedly jhave national influence on events. | | The Sinclair candidacy and cam- |Paign, therefore, constitutes the | most immediate and main danger to the interests of the working- class and revolutionary movement. It represents the up to now largely successful efforts of the capitalist | class to turn the leftward move-| ment of the masses into safe chan- | nels for itself. The Communist Party is waging | an energetic campaign against this movement with every resource at its disposal, and under the great difficulties imposed upon our .Party because of the terror, which is now | raging in California. At the pres- | ent tinte in at least two, some-| times three, radio broadcasts a week, in hundreds of thousands of leaflets distributed each week. in letters sent directly to 164,000 vot- ers, in mass meetin in the “Western Worker,” etc. our Party has brought the Communist pro- gram before the masses. ~ Turn Sentiment Into Action Throughout the state great friendliness is shown to us every- where. Our speakers are well re- ceived. On the Red Sundays. when our comrades go from house to house, they report wide-spread in- terest and welcome to their visit. | The unprecedented vote for an out- spoken and well-advertised Com- munist (against whom Sinclair | |made many speeches), in the case | of Leo Gallagher, who got 05,078 | votes, all indicate the friendliness of the masses to our Party. In the anxiety of the masses to get rid of Merriam, the danger is. however, | that the greatest part of this vote, | despite everything the Party can At one time, the Socialist Party came within only a few thousand votes of electing a socialist mayor of Los Angeles. The City of Berke- | ley has already had a_ socialist mayor. This year it is doubtful whether the Socialist Party will poll more than a small fraction of its 60,000 votes of the previous elec- tion. They are weakened by the defection of most of their leaders to Sinclair, and of more than one- third of their rank and file to the Communist Party. This is the first election in which our Party is a legal Party in Cali- fornia. The obstacles to becoming a legal Party in this state were great, but they were overcome. Our Party now has a splendid oppor- tunity to poll a large vote, and es- tablish itself permanently as a legal Party. There is no doubt that failing to do this, the terror against the Party will be increased in a large measure after the elections. For that reason also, this election campaign is the most important campaign our Party has every en- gaged in, in California. Every Party member and sympathizer, aware of the great importance of it must. put his or her shoulder to the wheel and help bring the Communist Party platform to the masses, and win a huge vote for our candidates. The success of the Daily Worker | $60,000 drive means a better, larger newspaper. Donate and get dona- tions today. Send the money im- mediately to the “Daily.” MATTRESSES STUDIO COUCHES DIVANS - SPRINGS At Proletarian Prices Also Mattresses, Pillows and Quilts Sterilized and Made Over ACME BEDDING CO. 897-899 WESTCHESTER AVE.. BRONX Phone: LUdlow 4-7212 do, will go to Sinclair. | The Socialist Party | The Socialist Party, in previous years in California, polled a con- siderable vote. In the last state! elections. the socialist vote was| over 60,000. Even that vote repre- | sented a considerable come-down | WEST SIDE WORKERS SNe ataes BROWNS HA LAUNDRY 239 West 72nd Street Between Broadway & West End Ave. WE CALL AND DELIVER WE_DO POUND WORK ‘TRafalsar 7-0496 from the height of socialist strength. Party in the last month?” The reply came that on ten Par memb. had brought in one or more members in the last month, while 256 had brought in none. Does this not indicate one of the basic causes for the weakness in our recruiting? No doubt this reflects and is an expres- sion of the general weakness of the activity of the mem- bership. But even the ivades who are otherwise active in other respects, do not carry on work to recruit members into the Party. Imagine what would happen if instead of ten per cent of the Party mer ship carrying on re- cruiting, the mass of the membership would carry on daily recruiting. Is it not clear that we would more than fulfill our aim of 40,000 by the end of the year. We would easily have 100,000 members in the Party even on the basis of our present mass activity if the problem of ree cruiting was undertaken seriously by the membership. If the mass of the Party men rship were recruited through personal contact a efforts of the individual Party members among the shop-mates, fellow trade unionists, neighbors, relatives, friends, ete., would this not make it more possible for us to retain these new members and educate them to become good Communists? Would this not help to overcome the very turnover which, in the last eight months, y <pressed in the fact that while 16,000 workers joined the Party during this period, the present membership is even below the figure for the first three months of the year? For in this case, the new recruits would feel a personal attachment to someone in the Party to whom he could personally come and take up questions. He would feel that he has common problems with his shop-mates or fellow trade unionists, etc., even if the new recruit is assigned to a unit other than the one to which you belong, the very same manner in which you came to know him and contact him would still provide the basis for keeping in touch with him, at least for a while until he has gotten into the work of the Party. As a rule members of the Party who weather the first months and are drawn into suitable activity remain active mem- bers of the Party. Some comrades will say that it is dif- ficult to work in the factories, to distribute literature, to recruit, ete. Granted that there are many difficulties for our work within the shops (and many of them can and are being overcome by many of our comrades), why is it* not possible to meet your shopmate outside the factory? Win Five of Your Friends for Our Party! The special recruiting campaign now being undertaken to last until November 7th has for its object to develop the above methods, so that we will not only gain new mem- bers, and retain a larger number of them, but also te change the methods of work of the Party and the indi« vidual members so that we establish for the Party what the Open Letter calls for: “solid personal contacts with the masses.” Your unit received full details of the plan which you will discuss. You will be called upon to give the names of five workers among whom to concentrate for the month of October, keep close touch with them, provide them with literature, bring them to our meetings, schools, etc., and see how many of them you can bring into the Party by November 7th. We urge you to study this letter. Think about Examine your own work, your efforts in the Party, in the light of this letter, and your achievements. Think over what you could do if you apply the methods we propose. These are methods that are being used in some nuclei and fractions with startling results. Help make the discussion in your nucleus a profitable one. Come prepared with your prospects; outline how you intend to go about your work; give your experiences, your difficulties, your probletms in your work. Write directly to the Central Committee or to your District Organizer about the problems you face, of any suggestions or proposals that you have to make. We shall be glad to print your experiences, your proposals, your achievements in the Daily Worker for the benefit of the entire Party. it. Comradely yours, RAL COMMITTEE, COMMLI Fall Men’s New TOPCOATS OVERCOATS SALE 5 Made to Sell for Caught short with a tremendous stock of high grade men’s clothing by one of the worst weather periods we've experienced in years, we are compelled to offer a select assort- ment of new Fall garments for im- merliate sale—without reservation— at a price that marks this event one of the greatest buys the public has ever known, TOPCOATS—HarrisTweeds,Camels. Cheviots,Shetiands, Knitted Textures, SUITS—Worsteds, Tweeds, Cheviots, 23.50—$35 Serges, Valine in Every Garment 0'COATS—Fleeces, Tweeds, Boxes Ragians, At this price no man can afford to miss this sale, Latest Colors and Weaves. Sizes to 52. OPEN EVENINGS q RADIO SERVICE BY MEN WHO KNOW HOW SPECIAL DIs- COUNTS TO COMRADE. READERS “OF THE “DAILY” SQUARE RADIO CO, 19-19 THIRTEENTH AVENUE, WINDSOR 8-280 BROOKLYN, NEW YORK WE GO ANYWHERS , Ss