The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-03-15
BY JOHN EDWARDS.

y
made mighty strides towards our
goal. Our work within the existing
craft unions for amalgamation into
Industrial unions, our campaign for
a labor party, the launching Of a
daily paper, has connected us def
nitely with the organized mass of
workers in this country. This has
been done principally by setting up
systematically of factions within the
union.. Since then, every forward
step we have made on the political
and economic field-all our cam
paigns towards the ends enumerated,
have been advanced and furthered
among that section of the workers
which we have reached, by our
union factions Especially by the aid
for the party committees, city, dis
trict and central executive).
The greater proportion Of our
membership, which has no union offil-
iations has.been able to do little in
the way of mass activities, outside
of distributing and selling literature.
Our successes in the past have
been, for the most part, among the
organized workers. Now it so hap
pens that the great mass, the vast
majority of the workers in America,
are not organized, either industrially
or politically. For example, the real
proletariat, the factory hands and the
unskilled workers, steel workers,
metal miners-have practically no or
ganization. They are at the complete
mercy of the master class. Yet
these machine slaves, according to
Marx, are the most revolutionary
strata of the modern capitalist
society.
For a Mass Party.
In order to become a mass Com
munist party, in the true sense Of
the word, we must press the slogan:
Organize the un0rganized into action!
The Workers Party must definitely
connect itself with the most ex-
tremely exploited section of the
working class. Our party must lead
them in the every day struggle for
better living conditions, and thereby
gain their confidence. We have to
prove by deed and action that our
slogans and revolutionary words are
not empty phrases. A positive infu-
ence must be left upon the working
class, which must transform itself
into an organizational form in order
TO establish the progress Of our
activity.
How are we to go about a sys.
tematic work among the unorganized
masses? Factions is an impOssibility
where there is no working class or
ganization. Is our present form of
territorial party structure suitable
for such a task? Let us examine our
present form of party structure.
The branch, the lower unit of the
party, made up, as it exists, Of men
and women who live in a given ter
ritory, without regard to their occu-
pations, may have in it building
trades men, machinists, clerical
workers, clothing workers ana Gin
tellectuals," and other kinds Of
workers, too numerous to mentihn.
II is not far fetched to say that a
branch of 40 members will represent
over a dozen occupations. 1t is next
to impossible to discuss intelligently
all the problems met with con the
job" in the shop, let alone to map
out any kind of work for the COM
rades within the work place,
Another thing must be taken into
consideration, and that is that the
branches usually meet but twice a
month. At these semi-monthly
meetings of the branch, is taken up
routine business, such as reports Of
branch official, reading Of minutes
and communications, orders from
higher bodies, education in the form
of lectures and discussion. There is
no time for the discussion of work in
thu shop.
Modifying The Workers.
Now let us consider another thing,
which is essential for a Communist
party. That is, to be able to mobil-
ize our membership in the shortest
possible time for work. In the case
Of any crisis within shop or indus
try, our party could not bring to-
Eether it's members (if it had any
within the particular shop), within
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