The daily worker., 1924-12-13
FARMER-LABOR OPPORTUNISM


gram of the F. FL. P. A committee
entirely controlled by the w. P. pre-
sented to the convention program so
conservative in character that it was
acceptable to the most reactionary
elements and was adopted unanimous
Iy. (Comrade Pepper was especially
pleased with the courage OF our
party in supporting the petty-bourge-
ois money plank which was supposed
to win for us the support of the farm
ers). Comrade Pepper was pleased
over this incident, almost as much so
as some months later when he heard
that our comrades in Minnesota had
decided to vote for Magnus johnson.
He declared that we must have such
errors in the platform, because behind
this confusionism stands great mass
es, and of course we had to cater to
catch them. Another fine sample Of
the opportunism of the former c. E.
c. at the Chicago convention was the
failure to introduce a resolution for
the dictatorship-it was feared it
would pass and break up the show.
The August Thesis
Among the very worst opportunis-
tic development of the w. P. labor
party policy stands the so-called
August thesis. This was the chef
d'oeuvre of .Comrade Pepper, master
opportunist, the shrewdest yet pro-
duced by the American Communist
movement, and one who understood
how to cover up his opportunism with
heavy mask of revolutionary phrase
ology. His August thesis, enthusias-
tically supported by the former C. E.
c., proposed sort of get-rich-quick
scheme. 1t was very seductive
shortcut" to the revolution. Its
essence was that the Communists
should, by grand manouvre, sort of
sneak up unsupported upon the labor
movement, tear off great section
of it and become overnight the lead
ers of a mass-movement.
The August thesis proposed the
wonderful and opportunistic scheme
Of two mass Communist parties in
this country. One of these, the fed
Grated farmer-labor party, was to con-
sist of general mush of trade unions,
singing societies, fraternal orders,
hiking associations, self-advancements
clubs, ETC., and it's function was to car
ry on an opportunistic campaign
amongst the workers on the basis of
their immediate demands. The other
Communist party, the Workers Party
was to stand modestly in the back
ground, serving to salve our revolu-
tionary consciousness and to pro-
pagate Communist principles in the
abstract.
The present C. e. c., then the min
ority, fought the August thesis un-
Irelentingly. They forced its ad-
vocates to lay it on the shelf. At the
last w. P. convention, the defenders
of the August thesis lacked the moral
courage to make fight for it. They
evaded the issue But they still have
this thesis definitely in their minds.
1t is the basis of their labor party pol
icy. Comrade Minor admits this
frankly in a recent article.
Comrade Peppers political stock
gamble, as exemplified by the August
thesis, was sharply condemned by the
G. l. in its recent decision on the
American farmer-labor policy. In the
face OF Comrade Peppers vigorous op-
position, Comrade OIgin and | made
war against the August thesis in Mos
cow The result was that the fol-
lowing paragraph in the decision,
which is entirely in accord with the
policy OF the present G. e. c., was
proposed by comrade Kuusinen and
adopted unanimously by the presid-
ium:
az The aim to strive at is not
TO split the left-wing from the labor