The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-20
By A. LozovsKY

- ment the labor movement has
undergone many crises. One of the
most important of these crises, owing
to its character and consequences, is
the national and international split in
the trade union movement. The root
and source of this split is to be traced
back to the outbreak of the war, when
the leading elements of the socialist
parties and of the trade unions identi-
fed the fate Of the labor organizations
with the fate of the capitalists of
their respective countries. The four
years of war and the six years Of
peace which followed it opened the
eyes of broad masses of workers and
made it clear to them wherein lies
the source of weakness of the prole-
tartan masses. This experience has
proved the following the more peace
fully the socialist parties and trade
unions were disposed towards the
bourgeoisie, the deeper they drove a
wedge into the working class The
history of the last ten years is the
history of the decay of the social de-
mocratic parties and of the reformist
trade unions; it is the history of a
slow recovery on the part of the pro
letarian rank and file by means of the
founding of Communist parties and
revolutionary trade unions, or trade
union minorities. The splitting of the
political parties, the drawing Of all
sound proletarian elements away from
the influence of these parties, was
the prerequisite for the overcoming
of the crisis. The process of the for
nation of the Communist parties
began, with the exception of Russia
with the commencement of the war
and found its international expression
in the formation of the Communist
International, the five years existence
and success of which we have recently
celebrated. While the political labor
movement faces all the revolutionary
elements with the direct task of build
ing up the Communist parties as
rapidly as possible, the interests OF
the labor movement demand the pre-
servation at all costs of the unity OF
the revolutionary movement by means
of a struggle within the trade unions
for a revolutionary program and
revolutionary tactics. There is nc
contradiction in the fact that the revo
lutionary workers have, on the one
hand, split the social democratic and
the so-called independent parties in
order to form revolutionary Commu
mist organizations and that, on the
other hand, these same workers com
bat with all their power, those commu
nists, who wish to split the trade
unions. The different character
of these two types of workers
organizations compels the communists
to conduct different policy regarding
them in order to achieve the same
end: the capturing of the masses. The
setting up of the communist parties
was everywhere accompanied by the
slogan: Eight for the unity Of the
trade unions, fight against the theory
of destroying the trade unions, and
in those cases where such a theory
has arisen, the Communist Interna
tional declared the most energetic
fight against it.
But if the Comintern has always
fought against splitting the trade
union movement, why then was the
Red International of Labor Unions
created? The R.IL.U. was created
after the Amsterdam international
had linked up it's fate with the League
of Nations, after the Amsterdam Inter
national had. along with the represen.
tatives of the largest employers or
CARNATIONS, taken part in throttling
the revolutionary labor movement in
all countries, after the Amsterdam
International had proclaimed the
sharpest struggle against the Russian
revolution and the Communist Inter.
national. From the beginning of 1920
the discomfort with the old program
and the old tactics made it's appear
ance in all countries. but this discon.
tent did not yet possess sufficiently
clear and definite theological charact-
er. 1t was necessary to bring together
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