The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-04-15
CANNON EDWARDS
DEBATE HAILED AS
AID TO CAUSE.
First Free Discussion
Of Big Labor Issue

To the DAILY WORKER: James
p. Cannon's debate with Forrest Ed
wards brought into the open a dis
cussion that has been smouldering in
dark corners since the l. w. w. put
their ban on Communist discussion
in their papers some two and a half
or three years ago. This vital issue
of the necessity Of revolutionary
political action by the working class
will not down, even in the l. w. W.,
and we hope that the open discussion
that began in Turner Hall last Sun
day will be continued.
The fact that Turner Hall was
crowded and that large part Of the
audience was composed of wobblies
shows that the rank and file Of the
class conscious workers are not
welded blindly to abstract doctrinaire
concepts. The wobblies-in spite Of
an official anti-political stand by the
organization-wanted to hear what a
Communist had to say.
"Llquidate" Talk Is Bunk.
One ghost which Cannon laid bare
was the idea that the Communist Par
ty wanted to ''liquidate" or ''take over"
the Industrial Workers Of the World.
Cannon is the first to agree that the
/. w. w. is strong proletarian force
in a number Of important industries
in which the migratory workers are
the dominant element. This is espe-
cially true of the lumber industry,
and in several seasonal industries of
California they have been such an ag-
gressive union force that a hundred
brave class war captives are now ly-
ing in San Quentin and Folsom peni-
tentiaries. True, speaking Of Ameri-
can industry as whole, the Indus
trial Workers of the World are a de-
cidedly minority element. Most
American industries are either unor-
ganized or in the hands of the A. F. of
L. But where the l. w. w. is an ac-
tive force for lettering the immedi-
ate conditions of the workers-and
not mere dual union-it has the
sympathy and support Of the revolu-
tionary political movement.
Need Disciplined Party.
The Communists message to his
wobbly friends present was that mere
industrial action is not sufficient for
revolutionary purposes. The Russian
revolution was accomplished by seiz-
ing the state and using its armed
forces to repress the bourgeois
counter-revolution The German rev.
olution failed-in spite of strong in
dustrial anization-because Of the
lack of a powerful disciplined Com
munist party to seize power in the
time Of crisis.
Cannon might have added, had he
not been restricted by the limitations
of the subject, that the Italian syndi-
calists-comparatively strong, as they
were-had their organization smashed
by armed -mlitary-political di-
rect action of the Fascist. In the
final test mere unionism went down
before guns.
Folded Arms Not Sufficient.
Revolution in an industrial country
requires industrial action. Industrial
action is so absolutely necessary for
the achievement of power by the
working class that the Communist
Party is devoting itself to the task of
Strengthening the trade unions thru
amalgamation and by the developing
Of revolutionary theology in their
rank and file. But the Communist
Party realizes that mere unionism is
insufficient, that revolutionary polit-
ical action is equally vital, that the
folded arm policy, tho it can stop in
dustry in places and at times, cannot
stop machine guns and flame throw
ers which the capitalists use to crush
the working class.
In short, the Communist program
is a complete revolutionary program
that takes count of all the factors nee
essary for the conquest of power by
the workers. 1t welcomes the oppor-
tunty to discuss its principles with the
Industrial Workers of the World and
with all other valuable forces of the
American labor movement.
M. w. P.