The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-12-18
WHO is BANKRUPT?
BY ALEXANDER HITTELMAN.

(OMRADE RUTHENBERG is salts
~ fed that the policy of the central
executive committee is bankrupt. He
says 1t with smiles, but that does not
make his statement any more convinc-
ing than if he were to say it with
frowns. Proof is what we want, real
proof, and not doctrinaire, oracular
proclamations filed with platitudes.
Fundamentals Versus Generalitles.
To save the party from bankruptcy,
Comrade Ruthenberg finds it neces-
sary, in his article Of Dec. Is, ito re-
state a few fundamentals" This is
very nice. Fundamentals, am sure,
can't hurt us. The more often we
restate them the better for our party.
But, Comrade Ruthenberg, we want
fundamentals, real fundamentals and
not platitudes or empty generalities.
Karl Marks teachings are not OF
the nature Of salad dressings to en-
bellish or to make palatable certain
kinds of otherwise rotten food, physi-
cal or mental. You cannot success
fully employ MARKHAM phraseology to
cover up an essentially non-Marxian
method Of analysis and reasoning.
You want fundamentals, don't you?
II so, let us begin the business IN
earnest. What is all this fuss about
II / am not mistaken, we are trying
here to formulate policy for the
immediate tasks Of our party. Are
we not? Remember, for the lmme-
dIate tasks of our party. We are try
ing to find-in the language of Lenin
that particular link in the chain OF
present day events, which we can
seize upon and hold on to, in order to
null the whole chain in the direction
of our general strategy. This, Com
rade Ruthenberg, is one Of the funda-
mentals of both Marxism and Lenin-
ism. We want you to remember that
what we are now trying to do is not
to show the world that we are ia
miliar with Marian Technology
(altho this, too, is very importantly,
but to determine the immediate tacti-
cal objective of our party, upon which
we can concentrate and for which
we can carry on a successful struggle.
Assuming that we all agree on our
general strategy, which is to make
the Workers (Communist) Party
real factor in the American class
struggle, our immediate tactical OBJ
jective should be determined by two
main considerations.
First, the specific nature Of the
class struggle of today, mind you. not
the nature of the class struggle OF
year ago or of year later, but the
peculiar characteristics of the pres
emit day class struggle. This, too,
Comrade Ruthenberg, is Marxism.
The class struggle is not fixed, sta
tionary proposition. And if you really
believe what you say, that capitalism
in America is on the decline, then
YOU should know that one of the main
characteristics of the period OF de-
clining capitalism is a constant
change in the groupings and relations
of social forces. This being the case,
your immediate tactical objective
must be determined, not by the class
struggle in general, not by its inten-
sification in general, nor by general
discourse on independent political
action, but by the peculiar, concrete
characteristics of the social group
ings and their mutual relations as
they exist in this particular situation
Second, the strength Of our own
party. This is the second considera'
ton that must determine our imme-
date tactical objective. 1t is just as
important as the first one. An ex-
ample might be of service. None in
our midst will deny that it would be
very good for the revolutionary move
ment of America to overthrow the
domination of the Gompers machine
in the American Federation of Labor.
Wouldn't it? But because of the COM
parative weakness Of our party and OF
the left wing in the trade unions gen.
orally, the above aim has not yet be-
come our Immediate tactical obJec-
tive, altho the winning over Of the
unions is part of our general strategy.
The strength of our own party plus
the peculiar characteristics of the re-
lation Of social forces at each given
moment always determine the nature
Of our immediate objective and the
nature of our tactics.
Ruthenberg's Fundamentals.
The above is solid, sound Marxism
and Leninism. Does Comrade Ruthen-
berg follow this road? No, not in the
least. It is too difficult and thorny.
It requires real, hard work. The road
that Comrade Ruthenberg actually
travels is an easier one: it is the road
of smiles and platitudes.
Just read this:
"As Marxians we recognize that the
development of a movement among
the working masses toward politi-
cal class struggle is a logical and
inevitable outcome of class relations
under ~ capitalist system
You teodfd think, from the reading
of thig quotation, that Comrade Ruth
enberg is delivering an academic lee