The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-23


cratic parties can be prophesied
safely. LaFollette did not announce
his adhesion to the May 30th Con-
vention in st. Paul; on the contrary
he inspired a move to postpone that
gathering. The Conference for Pro-
gressive Political Action did not en-
dorse McAdoo, because of his newly
acquired oil faint, but neither did it
commit itself either to LaFollette or
to May 30th, and its vague talk Of
''third party" was evidently but a
stop-gap to fill in a lack of any policy.
The net results of the Teapot bomb
seem to be: McAdoo was seriously
damaged, and his labor following is
now wavering uncertainty between
him and LaFollette; his chances of
the democratic nomination are not
so good as they were. LaFollette has
received new hopes of becoming the
republican nominee, and thus a re-
publican president, thru the blow de-
livered Coolidge by the scandals; the
chance of his splitting has been re-
duced to the extent that the republi-
can machine has been demoralized
by the shake-up. LaFollette is d.
recting all his forces toward obtain
ling the republican nomination in
June; or failing in this to get con-
cessions in the shape of platform
planks that will satisfy his followers,
he is the one candidate in the capt.
talist parties that gained strength
from the Teapot being spilled.
1
Within the Labor Movement.
Until February 18th, the Farmer
Labor Convention agreed upon for
May S0th, at st. Paul, was the only
rallying center for the organizations
wishing to unite for the presidential
election against the republican and
democratic parties The elimination
Iof McAdoo, who was slated for the
endorsement of the Conference for
Progressive Political Action on that
date in st. Louis, created the situa-
ton that forced the progressive"
Headers on February 18th, to talk of
a "third party" and call a conference
In Cleveland, for July 4th, ''to con-
slider the question of presidential
candidates"
Critical Situation.
This has created dangerous situa-
ton for the Farmer-Labor movement.
Both the LaFollette and McAdoo
forces are now out to knife the May
Both convention, wishing to use the
threat Of later split to force con-
sideration for their old-party con-
ventions, and hoping to split the
Farmer-Labor forces and drag away
sections for the republican or demo-
cratic party if LaFollette or Nc
Adoo obtain nomination. There is
little guarantee that July 4th will be
anything but another great betrayal
Of the farmers and workers, and there
are many new reasons to expect that
it will be such betrayal.
Dangerous as the situation is for
the Farmer-Labor movement. it
forces one development that is fav-
orable for the left-wing. All the
class-conscious elements among the
workers and farmers can be made TO
see the great danger and to fight for
the holding of the May Both conven-
ton as the only safeguard and guar
antee of the Farmer-Labor movement
against betrayal. while the door to
July 4th can still be left open for the
possibility of that gathering break
ing with the old parties. Thus we
are now witnessing, in the lineup
4 for and against May Both, the be-
ginning of the true class division be-
tween the representatives of the
Farmer-Labor class party on the one
hand, and the petty-bourgeois and
capitalist-Iackey elements on the
other.
The struggle for a class party Of
the farmers and workers in the
United States has thus, due in large
measure to the effects of the Teapot
being upset and dripping oil over the
political landscape, becomes fight
against postponement of the May
30th convention in st. Paul The