The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-12-24
A Communist Catechisn
More Questions and Answers

party as the basis of our movement"
Well comrades, this doesn't look much
as if the C. I. has endorsed the posi-.
ton of n-Bittelman-Fosteri
Does it? OF course, not.
II ouestion-How many contradic
- tions are there in the Foster
Cannon thesis?
Answer-Altogether too many. In
fact the whole thesis is a contradic.
ton. For instance, they accuse the
MARKHAM group Of the party, the
founders Of the Communist move
ment in America, who were members
of the G. l. at time when many OF
those who are now yelling loudest
"liquidate" were not at all connected
with the Communist movement. OF
taking political action in the narrow
sense Of parliamentary action. The
Lord have mercy on these new say.
ior of our movement! The whole
Bittelman thesis is nothing but one
overwhelming proof that whenever
the majority Of the c. E. C. speaks
Of political action it has in mind only
one form Of political action-parlia.
mentary action. The c. E. c. major
ity cannot imagine that a farmer.la
Dor party can have any other purpose
or function than that of serving as
an election machine. They cannot
imagine that even a farmer-labor
party Gin which the Communists are
the dynamic force of course) can be
made school for the working masses
in which to learn and to apply the
many forms Of political action, a
school to teach that political action
will only then become effective when
the workers abandon the idea of be-
ing saved by proxy thru elected rep.
resentatives and assume the idea
that the workers must take over the
job Of emancipating themselves thru
their own action, by mass political
action.
10 ouestion-Why does the Eos.
W ter-cannon group always insist
on befuddIing the minds of the mem.
bership by insisting that the test of
the correctness Of their proposed
change Of policy lies in the correct.
ness of the entrance of the Workers
Party into the election campaiun?
Why does this basicaIIy opportunist
group do so much yelling in it's the.
sis about the minority not euIouizinu
the decision Of the C. E. c. to enter
the campaign as the Workers Party
alone?
Answer-The minority of the G. e.
@. refuses to make a virtue ont of
necessity simply because set of cir.
cumstances which we were unable to
control developed and compelled us.
at the last moment, to abandon the
farmer-labor united front as a basis
for the election campaign. There is
no reason whatever to pretend to
theorize now that this abandonment
represents an unshakable dogma
zinoviev recently wrote to the Czecho
Slovakian Communists that: eve are
all patriots Of our own party. That
is perfectly correct But the best
party patriotism is to see the weak
side of ones own movement"
1t is on this basis that the MARKHAM
group of the party is of the opinion
that the outstanding feature of the
first election campaign Of the w. p
is the fact that 1t was nothing but an
election campaign in the narrowest
sense. The Central Executive Com.
mittee made no effort to conduct a
political campaign combining united,
front political actions, such as unem.
ployment campaign. recognition Of
Soviet Russia, ETC.. with the election
campaign In order to transform the
election campaign from one of mere
propaganda for our candidates into
one Of political action.