The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-04-08

3. The Young and the Old in our
4. The degeneration Of the Old
Guard, especially of the core Of the
Old Guard.
5. Economic Questions.
6. Special Differences Of Opinion
with Comrade Trotzky.
z. The Proportion of Forces IN the
Party.
I shall now deal with these seven
points.
Essential Character of the
Bolshevist Party.
This question forms the real CEN
trail point of our discussion.
Our Party as a party which has
already held power for over six
wears. possesses number OF pecu-
liar features which we find In no
other Communist Party. During the
course of the discussion. one Of our
oppositional students observed that
the whole misfortune of the Russian
Communist Party consisted of the
fact that it was in possession OF
power. In certain sense this Is
right. But only in certain sense:
for on the other hand the whole
fortune Of our Party lies in the fact
that it ia in possession of power.
If we are to express ourselves with
perfect correctness we must, there
fore say: The whole difficulty of the
problem consists precisely of the
fact that we have become state
party.
The history Ct our Party is very
singular; to certain extent it IS
unique in the history of the InAer-
national. We can look back upon a
history extending over % years. or
at least-if we take as a starting
point the year 1908, the year of the
first split with of the Party into
Bolsheviii and Observation-Disclosures 20
years. Our history thus goes very
far back, q whole quarter Of CEN
fury. But, the living inventory OF
the Party, The majority Of the mem
beers, have only belonged to the
Party for a short time, two or three
wears. This is a very remarkable
state of affairs. Other parties have
developed organically. successfully.
But we have developed along entire
w different lines. First, we passed
thru a period of 20 to 25 years of
preparatory work, of illegality, and
then suddenly an immense influx Of
quite young comrades streaned into
the Party who now form its bony
framework
I shall now attempt to give you a
schematic survey of the peculiar
position of cur Party.
The Various Factors.
This popularity is characterized
by the following factors:
First factor: Territory OF unheard
of extent. The union of our republics
comprises no more and no less .han
the sixth part of the total surface
of the globe, with one united party
for the whole Of this territory.
Second factor: The national factor.
Within our territory we have at
least 100 nations, but at the same
time one united party. Inc national
factor is not allowed to play any
role in our Party. We thus possess
united international Organization,
involving, however, great complica-
tons.
Third factor: Russia's ecoomic
many sidedness. Lenin pointed out,
in one Of his works" that we in
Russia possess various systems Of
economies; firstly. a purely indus
trial economic system, which may
fairly deserve the designation Of
Communism and then large number
Of economic systems which are ac-
tually very backward, reminding us
, of conditions ruling in the middle
ages. Thus the economic many sid
edness of Russia forms a factor
greatly complicating the work Of
the Party.
Party Membership.
Fourth factor: The large number
Of Party members who have only
belonged to he Party FOR a short
time. This I can illustrate with the
aid Of small table.
At the present time we have
100000 members. OF .hese $500
comrades belonged to the Party be-
fore 1905, that is, before the first
revolution; 1000 are comrades who
Joined the Party up to the year 1917,
making a round total Of 10000
comrades who were already mcm-
bers Of the Party before the year
1917. In 1917 $4,000 new members
joined. Thus we have about $4,000
comrades who were members by
1913. The year 1918 brought us
(c N: Lenin "The Tax In Kind"