The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-04-15

Moscow. Here there are over 1000
responsible functionaries, many of
whom have nothing to do after office
hours, and have organized themselves
Illegally in the Party to a slight de-
gree, after working in an oppositional
direction for half year. Thus the
slightly greater strength Of the "oppo-
sition" in Moscow. The position OF
the Communist Central is mistaken
among the Moscow proletariat.
No split Possible.
/ come now to the conclusion
comrades.
It goes without saying that the In
ternational must make careful
study of the reasons for our differ
ences. We do not think Of asking the
international to believe every word
we say; on the contrary, it must have
all the documents involved submitted
to it.
| believe, comrades. that after you
have accorded careful consideration
to the arguments brought against us
by the Opposition" you will approve
Of our standpoint in all essentials.
That there is alarm with respect to
possible split in the Party is only
natural Well, we assure you that we
do not in the least underestimate the
Importance Of the minority around
Trotzky. But nevertheless we can as
sure you that there will be no split
in our Party, there will not even be
splitting off of any section OF Party
masses. We have every reason to
assert that we shall succeed in liqui-
dating the whole affair rapidly and
painlessly. The more energetic and
determined our fight against the
errors committed by the Opposition"
the more quickly will these be wiped
out. No complications will arise in
the Party. Just as none arose in 1921.
To sum up our differences with the
opposition in a few words, again
recount the five most essential points.
These are as follows:
Essential Points Of Difference.
1. The essential character Of our
Bolshevist Party.
2. The question Of the formation of
fractions within a party Incorporating
state power.
8. The relations between OLD and
young.
4. The estimation Of the part play
/ ed by the peasantry, as the main
question of our differences of opinion.
and finally,
5. The role and character Of our
Party and apparatus.
These are the most essential points.
think that / have amply proved that
we differ essentially from the opposi-
lions in all these five points. If we
sum up the divergence of our stand
points in these five points, we see at
once that the views held by the two
camps, taken on the whole, are d.
yided from one another by a much
wider chasm than that separating the
Mensheviki and Bolsheviki in 1908.
But matters are, however, somewhat
different today, for now we are a
large Party, comprising great masses
Of workers. These masses of work
6I6 are III q pO6lllOn W CCAl W OAOCA
those comrades who have drifted onto
wrong course, and to rapidly cor
rect the errors made by these com
rades. Naturally, much depends upon
the attitude of the Opposition" itself.
If it holds obstinately to its funda-
mentally wrong views on the above
five points, then it is possible that
such obstinacy may cause cleft in
the Party. l should like to remind
you here Of the pamphlet published
by Lenin in 1904, dedicated to the
London Party Congress held in 1903:
Zone Step Forwards, Two Steps
Backwards" in which Lenin gave a
graphic diagrammatic survey of the
results of the divisions on the most
important points of the agenda of the
London Party Congress, showing that
Martov and Axelrod inclined to the
right in every question, not only in
trivial matters, but in essentials. We
young ones did not quite comprehend
the significance of this diagram; we
shrugged our shoulders, and asked
one another: What is Lenin driving
at? How can he take such slight diff
ferences of opinion as the basis for a
whole method appeared to us some
what artificial. But it speedily prov
ed that Lenin was right. Comrades,
were we to apply this Leninian
method to our present Party conflict,
and draw up a similar diagram, we
should arrive at result even more
convincing than that come to by
Lenin in 1904 by this analysis Of the
differences between Mensheviki and
Bolsheviki
False Judgments.
One more point, comrades. We beg
you. before you form a final judg-
ment, to make thoro study of the
most important documents concerned.
accentuate this, because one OF our
best sections, the Polish, has pre-
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