The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-12-20
BY ALEXANDER RITTELMAN
"a report to the C. (. c. of the W..
P. on the Convention Of the German

Secttonl
THE GERMAN SECTION Of the
party was the first Of our Ian
guage sections to hold national con-
vention since the Fifth Congress of
the Comintern. 1t was. therefore, at
this convention that the central exec
utive committee Of our party had its
first opportunity to present its new
thesis on the immediate tasks of the
party and its program for the Boil
shevisation of the Workers Party.
This convention was in many respects
test for the German section of our
party, of its readiness and willingness
to admit past mistakes as pointed
out by the Comintern and by the cen
trail executive committee of our party,
and to bring itself more closely in ac-
cord with the fundamental principles
of Leninism. AS will be seen from
this report, the German section, thru
its national convention, manifested a
sincere desire and determination to
break loose from old prejudices and to
come into closer contact with the par
ty as whole and with the Commun-
list International.
Report of Bureau Lacks Aggressive
ness.
1t must be stated from the very be-
ginning that most of our leading Ger
man comrades are working under
kind of psychological depression
which makes them see things in a
much darker light than they really
are, and which paralyzes to a certain
degree their initiative and aggressive
ness. This spirit of depression was
particularly noticeable in the report to
the convention on the activities Of the
German bureau submitted by Com
rade Lore as the secretary Of the Sec
ton. There was nothing wrong with
the main facts of his report. His an
alysis of the situation among the Ger
man speaking workers of the United
States was substantially correct. No
one in the convention, not even the
opposition minority, challenged the
facts and the analysis of the report.
The thing that was wrong with the
report was its general spirit of hope
lessness and pessimism. There was
no sign of any attempt at all to devise
political and organizational means for
shaking up che German-speaking
workers of this country and setting
them in motion for the class struggle.
1t was natural to expect that if
there was any real minority opposi-
ton present in the convention it will
direct its special criticism against this
negative, passive, and fatalistic feat
ure of the report of the bereau. This,
however, was not done by the minor
ity. 1t fell to the task of the re-
preventative of the C. e. c. to direct
the attention of the convention to
these Objectionable features of the re-
port, and to point out the error Of
such fatalistic attitude towards OBJ
jective conditions. 1t is my opinion
that if there is any single lesson that
must be driven home to the leading
comrades in the German section it is
this; that it is the duty of Communists
not only to study conditions but also
to change them. More faith in the
creative abilities of Communist
Party to hasten developments and to
change situations is one of the things
the German section of our party really
needs.
Generally speaking the report Of the
bureau shows slow but continual pro-
gress of Communist activities among
German-speaking workers. The men,
bership is still very small, only about
600. The internal political life of the
section is not as intensive as is de-
sirable and necessary. But in spite
of these drawbacks our German sec
tion took an active part during the
period covered by the report in every
important political activity Of the
a