Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1889-08-10
NATIONAL EXECUTIVE.
Can the Charges Made Against 1t De
Sustained.
To the Work,me1l's Adrocate =.

New York German Section, s. l.. p,
against the National Executive having
hitherto been monopolized by our Ger
man comrades it is about time to also
make our English-speaking comrades
acquainted with the present stage of
this very much veXed matter. AS a
member of committee appointed by
the New York American Section
to investigate these charges, | am in
a position to perform this mission, and
that, too, believe, in all fairness and
justice to those mostly concerned. The
charges originated, am informed, with
Comrade Foth after he had resigned
from the Executive. He caused the
Central Committee of the German Sec
ton to appoint a special subcommittee
for the purpose of drafting charges,
which have since, at the request of vari-
Gus Sections, been published in German
by the National Executive. They are
arranged under six heads, covering the
conduct of the National Executive in
the matter Of Garsde, the Paris Con-
gresS, the Derossi case, the matter of
Secretary Hintze, the policy of the
party organ, the conduct of its editor,
embracing over fifty itemized counts.
The Executive had appended to this
publication a brief statement, calling
upon the German Section of New York
to appoint committee for the purpose
of investigating the charges as to their
truth or falsehood, protesting that the
charges were mainly invented, without
the least attempt having been made on
the part of the aCCuSerS to examine the
| books and other documents freely ac-
cessible to the said subcommittee.
The injustice on the face of the
charges consists in the fact that they
cover period during which COmrade
FOth, their originator, was member of
the National Executive, and from the
minutes of the National Executive and
otherwise there is proof that most of
the very acts whereof the same is &C
cused were virtually the acts of a small
majority consisting of Foth, kirchner,
Gretch and Meyer. Since the resigna-
ton of FOth, and after Comrade Sauter,
of the American Section, was elected in
his place, the charges made their ap-
pearance. Meanwhile Kirchner had
gone to the Paris Congress. And SO we
are confronted with the remarkable
spectacle that charges are brought and
| investigated against a body that has
been materially changed in its compost
ton from what it was during the period
covered by the charges; Foth, being
virtually, if not nominally, his self
acCuser, while another of the accused,
Kirchner, was investigated in his alb
sence, and Sauter, again, was investi-
gated concerning acts that could not
have been charged against him at all.
As a matter of fact, then, it is not the
National Executive at all, which has
been charged or investigated, though
strange to say, the subcommittee of the
Central Committee of the New York
German Section demands the resigna-
ton or suspension of the whole National
Executive. What a mess,
Practically, therefore, the charges are
aimed against only three members of
the Executives Rosenberg, Gerecke and
Hintze. These formed, until Foth's
resignation, that minority in the EXecu-
tive which adhered to the socialistic
political policy decided upon by the
party last year, as against the trades
union economical policy advocated by
the New York VolhSzeitung, and sup
ported by the majority of the Executive
at that time. That the charges are
really aimed against this minority, and
only on account of the standpoint they
occupied on the vital question above
stated, is evident from the fact that
when the Central Committee laid its
charges before the New York Ger
man Section, out came Shevitch, Praast,
Jablinowski and others, all well known
FOlkszeitung men, and stated that the
charges as brought were of no value,
that the real question had not been
touched and that it was not the charges
that needed so much investigation, but
the whole activity of the National Ex-
ecutive. And thus the cat was let out
of the bag Schevitch, Praast, Jabli-
nowski and two more VolkSzeitaug men
were elected to the Investigation Com
mittee, and only two from the other
side. The result of the investigation
from that quarter must be foregone,
inevitable conclusion. Another strange
fact in this connection is, that the
WoRKMEN's ADVOCATE, which, of
course, as a party organ, has followed
the same policy as Der Socialist, is not
charged or investigated whereas Der
Socialist is bitterly attacked and its edi-
tor undermined. Our Englishspeaking
comrades must infer from that that the
intriguers would not dare to attack our
English party organ for having done its
duty, whereas they believe, and per-
haps rightly so, that they will be able to
find enough tools among our German
comrades to serve their personal ends.
This will throw light upon the whole
subject. Commentary is superfiuous.