The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-04-16


into the All-Russian Confederation Of
Agricultural and Forest Workers.
Intelligenzia Favor Soviets.
Among the intelligenzia, as the re-
suit of general causes as well as Of
the improvement of their position in
our country while at the same time
the middle classes In Germany are
being pauperized, there is to be noted
general swing of opinion in favor
of the Soviet power. OF especial i'm
portance is this turn of opinion
among the rural teachers and among
the instructors in agriculture, who
can be considered as being one of
the most important connecting links
between town and country. This
turn of opinion among broad strata
of the intelligenzia in favor of the
Soviet power, while being in itself an
outstanding positive phenomenon,
can, however, also have consequences
Of a negative character, as it in
creases the danger Of the Commun-
lists being ideologically surrounded
The struggle for the theological
purity of our Party against petty
bourgeois and "Smjenoehov" Ian or
ganized movement among intellec-
tuals, especially emigrants, in favor
Of the Soviet power as being the
upholder of the independence Of Rus
sia) obsurantism is, therefore, an
equally important task of the Party.
8. Party and Workers Democracy.
The negative phenomena of the
last month in the life oe the working
class on the whole, as well as within
the Party involve the unacceptable
conclusion that the interests of the
Party in regard to it's struggle
against New Economic Policy iisdu-
ence, as well as regarding it's fight
ing capacity in all spheres of work,
demand a serious change in the pol
icy of the Party in the sense of a
real and systematic carrying out of
the principles of workers democracy.
In view of this the October Joint SEES
sion of the Plenums of the Central
Committee and the Central Control
Committee have decided as follows:
THE Plenums of the Central Com
mittee and of the Central Control
Committee entirely approve the pol
icy in the direction of democracy
which was recently adopted by the
political bureau, and they also ap-
prove of the intensiication of the
struggle against 'wasteful expendi-
lures and against the disintegrating
influence of the New Economic Policy
upon certain elements Of the Party,
as proposed by the political bureau"
Workers democracy means liberty
Of frank discussion of the most i'm
portant questions Of the Party life by
all members and that all leading
Party functionaries and commissions
be elected by those bodies immedi-
ately under them. 1t does not, how
ever, include the liberty of forming
fraction groups, which are extremely
dangerous for a governing party since
they continually threaten to split and
disintegrate the government and the
state apparatus as a WHOLE
1t is obvious that within a party,
which represents a voluntary union
of people on definite basis Of ideals
and practice, there can he no tolera-
ton of the formation of groups, the
theological content of which is direct
ed against the party as whole and
against the dictatorship Of the probe
tariat, as for instance, the "Rabot.
shaya Pravda" workers Truth) and
the "Rabotshaya Gruppa" (Workers'
Group.
Workers Democracy.
Only a constant, vital theological
life can maintain the Party in that
condition in which it had arrived at
before and during the revolution
with continual and critical study of
its past, with the correction of its
mistakes and with the collective dis
cussion of the most important ques.
lions. It is only these methods which
can give effective guarantees against
occasional divergences of opinion re-
sulting in the formation of fraction
groups with all the consequences
mentioned above.
In order to avert this the leading
Party organs must lend an ear TO the
voice of the masses Of the Party, and
must not regard every kind of criti-
cism as an Indication of the forma-
ton of fractions, and thereby drive
conscious and disciplined Party mem
bers into aloofness and create in
them a spirit Of fraction forming.
In no circumstances can the Party
be regarded as a mere institution or
an office, but at the same time It can
not be considered debating society
for every tendency. The Tenth Con-
gress laid down the principles of
workers democracy, but the same
Tenth Congress, and afterwards the
Eleventh and Twelfth Congresses,
also laid down a series OF limitations
as to the exercise of these principles
Of proletarian democracy: Forbid