The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-05-17

Jan. 2Sth relative to the policies of the
Workers Party and the Trade Union
League. AS l understand
the situation, your analysis of social
conditions is faulty, your facts are in
accurate, and your conclusions are
wrong. The four main points you
would establish, and which shall con-
slider one by one, seem to be about as
follows:
Il. There is no revolutionary senti-
ment among the working masses of
this country, save in few localities
and among the foreign-born work
ers.
2. The reactionary state of the
labor movement, especially as it is
expressed in trade union conven-
tions, is a true reflection of the
state of mind of the broad rank and
file of labor.
8. The militant program of the
w. p. and T. u. E. L., carrying with
it an active participation in all the
struggles of the workers, is not only
wrong in principle and futile in
operation, but also actually harmful
to the left-wing movement in gen
eral.
4. The program of the left-wing
should not be to plunge into the
workers struggles but to carry on
a careful and systematic campaign
Of educating and organizing the
scanty revolutionary forces in pre-
paration for the struggles Of the
future.
The weakness Of your whole con-
- ception is that it is based upon the
false assumption that there is no con-
siderable mass revolutionary senti-
ment in this country. Turnout your
letter, and as the very heart of your
tactical considerations, you estimate
the body of revolutionary sentiment
as being expressed solely by the small
of conscious, clear-sighted,
You overlook com
pletely the revolutionary significance
of the prevailing discomfort among the.
working masses. And by ignoring this
tremendous factor you naturally draw
conclusions which are valueless for
our movement.
| TNDENIABLY there is a great
~ volume of discomfort among the
masses of American workers and
farmers. This arises inevitably out of
the clash of class interests within the
frame of capitalism. This discomfort,
it is true, is mostly unconscious, blind,
stupid, timid, and easily misled. But
it is essentially revolutionary, never
theless. 1t is the raw stuff of which
revolutions are made. Revolutions are
not brought about by the type of clear
sighted revolutionists that you have
in mind, but by stupid masses who are
goaded to desperate revolt by the
pressure Of social conditions, and who
are led by straight-thinking revolu-
tionaries who are able to direct the
storm intelligently against capitalism.
Never mind how stupid the mass dis
content now is in America; never
mind if the workers thinks~as you say
they do, that "times will pick up again
under the present system" The un-
rest is basically revolutionary, not
withstanding. Capitalism cannot allay
this discomfort by granting the de-
mands of the exploited. 1t must in
crease in volume, Intensity, and in
telligence until finally it eliminates
in the revolution. You make a funda-
mental error when you conclude that
the only revolutionary discomfort is
that of the handful of class conscious
militants, and when you ignore the far
greater factor, the general discomfort
of the masses.
THE w. P. and the T. u. E. L. do
! not assume that there exists a
large body of consciously revolution
airy sentiment. On the contrary they
merely assume" the unquestionable,
deep (even if vague) discomfort OF
the masses. They know that the real