The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-07-16

| comrades, come now to the exam.
nation OF the Saxon experiences,
What did they consist Of? Comrade
zinoviev does not criticise the Com.
munist Party for not deciding to en-.
ter upon the struggle for power in
october. He says in his thesis that
1t was right to avoid this, because we
had no arms. He says, too: "Since up
risings and civil war are not under
taken in order to provide opportun-
tiles for an heroic death, but in order
to win victory, it was wise to attempt
them" How does he criticise the at
titude of the party? He says that
when we went into the Saxon govern
ment and it became evident that we
could not grasp power, we should at
least have demanded the arming of
the proletarists and the specialization
of industry, and that if the social
democrats would not join with us in
fighting for this, we should have
broken with them and left them. He
criticised Fritz Heckert for making a
speech in which he said that he stood
by the constitution. .Comrade Heckert
should not have said that. 1t was non
sense to say that because his adj
versaries did not believe him. All over
the country the party had spread ma
nifestos- Workers Arm Yourselves. 4"
A Traei-Comedy.
Comrades, the Saxon affair is no
comedy. 1t is tragic-comedy and not
parliamentary tragic-comedy but the
tragic-comedy of a Communist Party
which has not learned to prepare for
battle.
What is the lesson of the experiences
in Saxony? The lesson which we
must learn if we are to avoid further
defeats? The lesson is, first, that one
canot take jump unless one has
jumping-off ground One cannot, all at
once, simply because the party has de-
cided that one is to undertake the
fight for power, enter upon actions
which require considerable time for
their development, and which involve
the masses of the people.
The second lesson is still more i'm
portant. l am in absolute agreement
with comrade Zinoviev that one can
not have a united front from above
unless one has it from below. And it
was the United Front from below
which we had not organized; our fac
tory councils were divided into bits,
they were nothing but separate atoms.
The Central Committee governing the
factory councils was no better than
shadow and we had not bound them
to our party.
If the Saxon government had sup
ported itself upon the congress of fac
tory councils 49,.
(Severing: why was it not called
together?")
That is just the mistake which I adj
nit.
(severing: I'VE asked for it six
times!")
That points the moral: without
mass organization, workers govern
ment is doomed to death. 1t must
lend either with fight or with a. de-
feat.
Refused to Consider Question.
What light have these experiences
to throw upon the questions whether
in certain circumstances we should
enter into coalition government with
the S. d. in order to further our revo-
lutionary ends? Comrade Zinoviev has
not told us clearly here, whether he
excludes the possibility of our enter
ing coalition government with the
s. D. in the future if we are stronger
than we were in Saxony. The German
Left refused to consider this question.
What is the view of the Executive?
/ do not think that comrade Zinoviev
will refuse to consider this problem,
for to do so would mean that we re-
linquish all hopes of fruitful mass agi-
tation among the social democratic
workers and can show them no way of
escape.
To say that the question is one of
reform or revolution is nothing but a
rhetorical phrase which nobody who
has any grasp of the situation could
take seriously. What we are con-
cerned with is what Zinoviev summed
up in the phrase: Finding out a way
for the future.
Varga in his thesis says that since
1870 we have been in new state of