The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-12-08


which does not state that the move
ment towards class political action is
dead, not so long as the Workers Par
ty continues as Communist Party.
1t states that the movement towards
the organization OF a mass farmer
labor party" was successfully killed
by LaFollette and that the latter is
the theological leader Of those masses
who once CROPPED around for an easy
way out of their misery and are now
satisfied that the Wisconsin senator
is their one and only Moses.
The proof of the pudding is in the
eating and the proof of the truth of
the Foster contention is in the fact,
that the pied piper OF Hamlin never
blew on his flute with more effect than
did LaFollette when he sounded the
siren call that alienated the affections
Of farmer-labor leaders from their
former political love, and inveigled
them into the more seductive love
palace of the c. P. P. A. and it's bour.
geois afilnities.
Today, a fne-toothed comb could
not scrape up a trade unionist willing
to be seen walking the street with a
farmer-labor enthusiast, whereas two
years ago the woods were full of
them. Sentiment for a farmer-labor
party shook the big international
unions two years ago; today this
sentiment is confined to what is left
Of the socialist party and the right
wing of the Workers Party.
Glass Struggle Still with Us.
Ruthenberg in his article, writes
1.-THE policy of the united front was
and is that Communist parties shall
take up the immediate issues growing
out of the class struggle !" Quite
true. But the organization Of mass
farmer-labor party is no longer an i'm
mediate ISSUE 1t is so far in the fu-
ture that it is an open question
whether it shall ever again arouse the
masses.
But the class struggle still lives and
it is prolific source of slogans. There
will be strikes, unemployment, open
shop drives, injunctions, attacks on
the foreign-born workers, wars and
threats of war etc. "Ah," Ruthenberg
may exclaim, "but these are industrial
and not political issues" But we
have not travelled so far from 1919
that we do not remember how we in.
sisted that every struggle of the work
ing class against the capitalists,
whether it be in an election campaign
or in a strike, is a political struggle.
The great majority of our party still
holds to that healthy point Of view.
Ruthenberg seems to think that the
reason the c. E. c. decided to adopt
the slogan Of farmer-labor party
was because no such party already ex.
listed. and not because of the fact that
there was a mass sentiment for such
party, which it was our duty to i'm.
pregnate with Communist propaganda.
1t is certainly new and interesting
deviation from Communist tactics that
we must organize the workers whose
theology still is petty-bourgeois into
farmer-labor parties, simply because
such parties don't exist. This is a
novel conception of the function of a
Communist Party.
Barren Conception Of Party Role.
In the entire article Ruthenberg
never once hints that the Workers
Party has any other function on the
political field than to set up a fake
farmer-labor party, into which we
could inveigle "the most conscious and
radical workers in the labor move
ment." This is amusing. It seems to
me that the place for "the most consc-
ious and radical workers" is the Work
ers Party. The best probationary
school for members of the Workers
(Communist) Party is in the work
shops and in the trade unions and not
in halfway house such as Ruthen-
berg proposes to set up. A donkey
may be induced to speed his gait by
dangling carrot before his nose, but
the workers are not donkeys. Com.
munism is not moonshine and our role
is not that of political bootleggers.
1t is fundamental fallacy to as
sumo that 1t is the duty of a Com.
munist Party to build a political cor
raj for those workers who are not yet
ripe for the Workers Party. We nigh,
then use the second party to build an
other corral for those not ripe enough
to feel comfortable inside its walls
And SO on ad infinitum. And our mem
bers would be kept quite busy caucus
ing to maintain control of those politi
cal man-traps. The secretaries OF
these fake parties would be Commun
lists. So would the members OF the
executive committees. The members
OF the Workers Party would supply
the funds and Comrade Ruthenbere
would have jolly old time writing
the manifestos. The Workers Party
would be all dressed up with no place
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