The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-04-09

cracy, the twin brother of the work
ers' aristocracy, and the increasing
Importance of this bureaucracy in the
whole proletarian movement, and
particularly in the policy of the
Party.
Stratum of German Party.
followed up Robert Michels by
drawing up the following diagram Of
the structure of the qualification in
German Social Democracy:
Chairman of the Party Committees.
Party Committees.
Party officials.
Participators in general meetings.
Party members.
Voters.
To this observed:
"The base of the pyramid is
formed by the four millions of So
cial Democratic voters. Then comes
another stratum, also numerically
powerful, formed by the Party
members, counting about a million.
| Then come the participators in the
general Party meetings. already
much fewer in number. Above
these stands a small ruling group
of Party officials. And the apex of
the pyramid is finally formed by
the small staff of the most promi-
nent Party officials, the committees
and their chairmen."
The three main factors mentioned
above are all counter-revolutiona
in effect, and Anton Pannekoek was
thus entirely in the right in his criti-
cal articles in which he threw much
light on these aspects of Social
Democracy. The workers aristocracy
is, and always has been, reaction
airy caste. But none the less we had
to admit, even at that time, that a
comprehensive labor movement can
not possibly entirely dispense with a
certain bureaucratic apparatus. To
be sure: if we have only 1000 mem
bers, then we can dispense with paid
functionaries with ease. But it is
impossible for extensive memberships
to manage without a certain number
of paid workers bureaucrats. In the
end it is a question of so organizing
matters that we obtain a really good
labor bureaucracy, one entirely in ac-
cord with the working masses.
BOlshevik Party.
The labor bureaucracy of our
Party cannot by any means be desig.
mated as especially bad. The tradi-
tions of the Bolsheviki, who have
fought for decades against the Men
sheviki, and have thus formed a
chosen elite of revolutionists, have
enabled us to create fairly CON-
petent Party apparatus. 1t is not ex-
cessively powerful in numbers, for
$4,000 comrades serve the machinery
Of the apparatus over gigantic ter
ritory, comprising sixth of the sur
face of the globe.
Over one half of these $4,000
comrades are technical workers,
whilst only 1000 to 5000 comrades
are politically active. Quantitively,
the number does not appear to us to
be excessively high. And it must
not be forgotten that our Party APP
paratus is not merely occupied with
propaganda and agitation as is the
case in other countries, but that its
main efforts are directed towards the
regulation of the state machinery.
The Party apparatus has to concern
itself with every question, whether
i it relate to the mobilization of an
army, to the grant of debentures for
gold loan, or to some campaign to
be undertaken out in the country.
We are of the opinion that our
Party apparatus is the best part OF
the Party, that it forms the firm bony
framework Of the Party. When our
Opposition" begins to criticise the
apparatus, we declare such an atti-
tude to be entirely un-Bolshevist. II
is completely unpermissible to oppose
these two ideas, and is equal to an
attempt to oppose the bony frame
work of human being to the human
organism as such. Of course it goes
without saying that the framework
does not suffice in itself. Bones can
do nothing without muscles.
Degeneracy Into Menshevism.
The Party apparatus represents
the bony framework of the Party. We
know very we'll that there are such
things as diseases of the bone, even
Isncurable ones. But this does not
apply to our framework. 1t is solely
the semi-Menshevist elements, unable
to bear the Bolshevist fist, the Boil