The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-12-19
Rx EARL r. nRoWpER.

NA I1lA their usual JuuSmeHtS IuS
wv minority picked out Comrade
Bedacht to throw the 0bomb" which
was to annihilate the maJority-"Pro-
grams for Action-Words for Deeds"
which exposes" the majority Of the
central executive committee as a
bunch Of phrasemOngers while the mi
nority of Lovestone, Bedacht, Eng
dahl, Ruthenberg and Gitlow, valiant
ly try to pull the party. along with
them in action-real action. Unfor-
tunately for Comrade Bedacht, and his
political advisers, the party happens
to know something Of the comrades
on both sides Of the controversy. And
when the party hears, from Bedacht,
that Foster is no good because he is a
man of paper resolutions without any
action, great big horse laugh will
go up in honor Of Comrade Bedachts
good German joke.
There is no question that Conradel
Bedacht is burning for action. He
wants action on anything at any price
Just SO 1t is action. But doesn't action
usually have purpose? And mustn't
action be specific? Just action, for
actions sake, Is hardly a Communist
slogan. What kind of action is Com.
rade Bedacht complaining he hasn't
been given? So far as can be gath
cred from his article, the specific lack
of faction" on the part of the majority
consists of the following.
1. The unions are not amalgamat-
ed. He wants faction"
2. The Pan-American program was
presented by the majority only a few
days before the congress was to open
He wanted quicker action"
8. There is unemployment in Amer
lea, to fight against which the C. E.
c. adopted comprehensive program
with instructions to all party units to
put it into effect as fast as conditions
permit Comrade Bedacht wants
more action"
Now, let's examine these points. No.
! is surely sore point for us. The
unions are not amalgamated, that's
true, and we're all angry as the devil
about it. We're going to have to fig
ure out some new ways to fight for
this necessary measure of solidarity.
But-has the minority or any member
of it, done anything or even suggested
anything to bring this about? Not
onel The only one Of the minority
group on the C. e. G. who ever takes
any kind of part in solving industrial
questions is Comrade Gitlow, and
since he lost the editorship Of the
Freiheit he has been sulking in his
tent, refusing to give us the benefit
of his wisdom. So if we want action
on amalgamation (as, of course, we
do) I'm afraid we'll have to go some
where else beside the minority to
get it.
No. 2, the Pan-American question.
1t is true. as Comrade Bedacht saws.
that much preliminary work is. requir-
ed for such a problem, and the pro
gram should have been worked out
long in advance. We knew that. and
so we had sent our imperialism ex-
pert" Comrade Lovestone, on a long.
long trip to Mexico, at cost of good
party money, to lay the necessary
preliminary lines and bring back re-
concentrations. Comrade Lovestone
had nice trip, no doubt Of that. HE
BROUGHT BACK NOT ONE SINGLE
ITEM OF INFORMATION: HE
RENDERED NOT ONE LINE OF
WRITTEN REPORT; HE MADE NOT
ONE SINGLE RECOMMENDATION.
for the work in hand. So finally. at
the last moment, our poor "syndicaI-
list" majority had to use their rough
proletarian common sense and rule
of-thumb methods in hammering ont
a program and bunch of nantes
tos. They may have been a bit late.
and perhaps, Comrade Lovestone
could have made them much more
intellectual" The facts are that he
didn't nor did any OF the minority.
and what was done was solely the
work of the majority the C. e. c.
And-really-it wasn't so bad, was
it?
No. 3. Unemployment: Suddenly.
at the last convention, when the mi
nority first became self-conscious as
a minority, they also discovered that
their special charge was to look out
for the interests of the unemployed.