The daily worker., 1924-12-13

lt1cal soul oil the present minority was
the so-called third party alliance. This
was another product of Comrade Pep
per's fertile opportunism. In common
with many others, the present G. E.
c. fell victim to it. 1t was my hard
task to defend it in the Comintern.
No sooner did hit Europe and ex-
plain it to the first Fevolutionist l met
than / encountered a drastic con-
demnation of it as most dangerous op-
p0rtunism. And so it continued all
the time was on the continent. Never
on my whole trip, in Russia and else
where, did | meet a single Communist
who did not wholeheartedly repudiate
this proposition. The action of the
Comintern presidium was unanimous
in rejecting it as manouvre unfit
for the Workers Party to make. There
is no need here to make further ar
gument about the opportunism of the
third party alliance. This is admitted
everywhere except in the thesis of the
minority. The corrective action of the
Comintern in this matter saved our
party from serious difficulty.
In passing it may be noted that the
three grand labor manouvres en-
gineered by comrade Pepper and the
former c. E. c., namely the Chicago
convention, the August thesis, and the
third party alliance, were all con
lemned by the Communist Interna-
tional in its latest decision on our
labor party policy.
The Grab at the Farmers
Another opportunistic manouvre by
the former G. E. C. was the adventure
among the farmers. The split at the
Chicago July 3rd convention cost the
Workers Party many valuable rank
and file union connections in the
various Industrial centers. 1t dam
pened the labor party movement there
very much. Just about this time com
rade Pepper discovered the impend-
ing 'LaFollette revolution" the back
bone of which were the farmers, then
in strong state of ferment. Inn
mediately in the policies and state
mems of the former C. E. C. the farm
ers emerged as a great, if not the
great, revolutionary factor. The party
turned it's major attention towards
working among them, the more diff
hcult work among the trade unions
being sadly neglected.
Largely forgetting that the indus
trial workers must of necessity be the
base of our party activity, they shifted
the center of gravity to the farmers.
The trade unions were systematically
minimized, the whole A. F. of L. being
denounced as simply an organization
of labor aristocrats, Notwithstanding
the great numbers of miners and other
genuine proletarian elements amongst
the unions. Efforts were made to min
imize the Importance of the working
class itself in the revolution and to
prove that the United States is more
Of an agricultural than an Industrial
country. In Moscow Comrade Pepper
even went so far as to state that in
respect to its industrial development
the United States resembled Russia
more than it did England.
The Workers Party must win the
support Of the poor farmers. They are
essential to the success of the rev.
olution. But this support must not
be won by the sacrifice Of real prole-
tartan support. Realizing this, the
present c. e. c., then the minority,
carried on a ceaseless struggle to
keep the heads of the former C. e. C.
from being turned altogether by the
easy pickings" amongst the farmers
and from neglecting the far more vital
work amongst the industrial workers.
The opportunism of the former C. e.
c. ran riot in connection with the
farmers.
The st. Paul Convention
Then we came to the St. Paul con-