The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-07-30

1922, l delivered a speech before the
Enlarged Executive on the question
of the United Front tactics, in which
l said: 1.-THE united front does not in
the least involve political concessions
or diminish the dependence of our
Party. 1t means that our independent
Communist parties must formulate
their slogans with view to expe-
diency; the slogan of the Workers
Government is a pseudonym for
Soviet Republic" l was at once
taken to task, and l must say that l
could not at first see on what grounds
/ was assailed. For instance, COM
rade Ernest Meyer attacked me in a
speech before the Fourth World Con-
gress in connection with this ques-
ton. Comrade Radek tried to act as
mediator, although he did not entirely
associate himself with my formula
My mistake consisted in that did not
see at once that it was a question of
opportunist misinterpretation of a
good slogan. l did not think of the
fact that by formulating the slogan
so sharply, l may have made it diff
ficult for the comrades to agitate for
this slogan; in a word, could not
see at once why this sentence has
reused SO much opposition.
Workers and Peasants Government
One word on the Workers and
Peasants Government. An attempt
was made to misinterpret the slogan
of the Workers and Peasants Gov
eminent too, as a government by all
the Labour parties and by some
peasant parties. What is the origin
Of this slogan? 1t is pretended now
that this slogan was to serve for
whole period; that it implied the al
lance of "all" labour and peasant
parties in the framework of bourgeois
democracy and other puppets of tAis
kind. As matter of fact the slogan is
connected with the Russian revolu-
ton. What was the meaning of this
slogan in the Russian Revolution? 1t
was pseudonym for the proletarian
dictatorship; no more and no less.
When after the July days of 1917 we
saw that things were moving, that
the workers and soldiers were with
us, and that we could win over some
of the peasants, we were confronted
with the question of formulating the
goal of the struggle in the simplest
and most attractive way. The slogan
of the "Proletarian Dictatorship"
would not be so Ineligible to the
masses. How was the illiterate Rus
sian mujik or soldier to understand
these Latin words: Proletarian Dicta-
torship? 1t was then that we trans
lated these words into Russian. We
said: you are peasant, a working
man, soldier. Do you see the clique
we have the weapons! Won't you set
up a Workers and Peasants Govern
ment? We simply translated the Latin
into the Russian for their benefit. The
peasant, the worker and the soldier
were not bouhd to understand the
meaning of the term: Proletarian
dictatorship; but they readily under
stood the meaning of: Workers and
Peasants Government"
Things went so far that some
parties interpreted this slogan as a
government by 'alp labour parties in
CONJUNCTION with some peasant parties
and thus convert it into it's very
opposite. This had to be combatted
in the most determined manner. ~
Formula of United Front N
You know the many discussions
that took place on the question:
united front from top or from the
bottom, and so on. believe we can
formulate the question in the follow
ing manner.
United Front from the bottom.
Properly speaking, these tactics are
always necessary, perhaps with the