The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-08-11
FigE1t MacDonald, Zin0viev TelLs COMMUNISM

the necessity OF bringing up this ques
ton again at the Sixth World Con
gress
In conclusion just few words or
the future leadership of the Interna
tional. Here again must quote Com
rade Bordiga because he showed com
mendable courage in raising the fol
lowing questions. He says literally
the following:
Where is the guarantee that the
International will become a world
Communist Party? The fact that the
best comrades of the Russian Party
take part in the executive will not
suffice because we have to deal with
the historical situation. Deeds upon
which we dared hitherto because we
enjoyed the leadership of the genius
Of Lenin, we must now give up as
dangerous to the Communist move
ment Of the proletariat"
Comrades, we need no ceremonies
We must say frankly that Bordiga is
partly right on this question. We
have no grudge against him if, now
that we no longer have Lenin beside
us, the universal confidence can not
be so boundless as it was, for we our
selves do not feel so confident as we
did when our decisions were, so to
speak, ultimately ratified by Comrade
Lenin; when we knew that his deci
sion would be so right, so objective
so wise, and so MARKHAM. 1t is our
misfortune that we have lost the best
head, the best man, and the most
farsighted leader. This is bound to
have tremendous effect in all respects
We have also become more circum.
spect.
Filling Lenin's Place.
But what are the conclusions to be
drawn from this? We no longer have
our Lenin with us, nor anyone to take
his place, but the struggle of the
world proletariat must be led. The
conclusion to be drawn is this: The
international leadership must be more
collective. All the parties must give
to the executive the best disciples OF
Marx and Lenin, the best heads and
the best organizers. What other
means than these can we apply? Yes
we miss Lenin. To fill his place, we
must draw the best forces from all OF
our parties to organize the leadership
of the International. But after hav-
ing brought about this organization
after having put the executive on a
more international footing than
hitherto, we should enforce not merely
formal discipline, but truly probe
tartan, Communist discipline. We
have mo grudge against Bordiga; we
are not so foolish as to imagine that
although Lenin is dead everything will
go on as usual. We ourselves appeal
to you, comrades of all fraternal par.
ties: Lenin is no longer with us, we
must make collective efforts to re
place him at least to some extent
We need the International for the
emancipation Of the working class
we must achieve collective leader.
ship, a steel leadership, which will
really lead and which will embody
the collective wisdom of the whole
working class.
Cases of Violation of Discipline.
During the period, we had cases of
lack of discipline, some of which were
left UNPUBLISHED. For instance, from
the Right, Comrade Hoeglund, who
was backed by Tranmael, and from
the Left from Bordiga, who refused
to stand for parliament, although the
party and the executive insisted on
doing so.
We tried to liquidate these cases
quietly, because of the high esteem
in which we held these comrades per
sonally. Hoeglund, during the war
and Bordiga after the war and now
have shown themselves TO be good
revolutionaries. / say frankly that IL
no guarantees will be furnished By the
Congress, against repetition of such
breaches of discipline, we cannot take
all the responsibility. The discipline
must be even more stringent than il
was when Comrade Lenin was alive
We must not look backwards, we
must look forwards and try to grow
into World Party and to have al
International Executive with an In
ternational leadership. Hencefortf
no one should dare talk of formal
discipline. For this would put us OF
level with the Two and a Half Inter.
national. We would not be the heirs
to Marx and Lenin; we would not be
much better than Crispien. We mus
fight for a unified Communist Party
without fractions and groupings.
RUSSIAN COMMUNISTS