The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-12-09
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labor bureaucrats, who happen to be
controlling them at a given moment,
synonymous? Surely, one must be OBJ
sessed with narrow point of view
Of the composition Of the working
class and of the development of the
class struggle to arrive at such a
conclusion.
Are we not on the basis Of the de
veloping economic crisis heading fol
a situation in which these masses will
revolt against their reactionary lead.
ership? Is it not necessary for the
Communists, who always set the pace
for the masses and strive to advance
the political theology of these masses,
to throw out, on the eve of the i'm.
pending sharp class conflicts, such
slogans as For a Farmer-LabOr
Party, to be built on the organizations
Of the workers and poor farmers?
is it not our task as Communists to
throw outssuch slogans which if propa.
gated and applied will satisfy a mass
need and win hasten a revolt Of the
masses against the bureaucracy and
the capitalist government?
These movements towards working
class action must not always some.
how or other develop themselves. AS
long as the economic and political
conditions prevailing demand such
movements, it is our task to facili-
tate and hasten their development.
Raising questions like Immediate
success" and the immediate organiza-
ton Of an "aIl-embracing mass farmer
labor party" during the present party
controversy, is only throwing dust
into the eyes Of the party member
ship.
The Crux of the Problem.
The question we must ask is this:
Is there an economic basis for a
slogan of this sort-for a slogan of a
united front farmer-labor movement?
No one will contend that there is
TODAY" NOW" a mass demand
for Communism or for amalgamation.
Yet we very properly today, now
propagate and work for Communism,
for the Workers and Farmers Soviet
government and for amalgamation, be-
cause there is an economic basis for
these slogans.
In so far as the slogan for amalga,
nation particularly is concerned we
must continue to work for it and propa
gate it because of the fact that it is
sign of an oYerworked imagination
to believe as Comrade Foster would
have us believe. in his article appear
ing in the DAILY WORKER of Dec. 4,
that Fully 100000 union workers
were won over to giving organized ex
preston in support of our amaIga-
nation slogan" Foster would have us
believe today, in the face of the Ell
Paso convention and similar unpleas-
ant facts, that the majority of the
organized workers in the United
States have consciously and know
ingly accepted the amalgamation
slogan as put forward by Communists
in all its Implications.
The fact that it may take some time
before we will achieve what Comrade
Foster is trying to lull us into beIiev.
ing we have already won, does not
mean that we have to desist from the
immediate and energetic use Of the
amalgamation slogan. On the con-
trary, because we have not yet won
over a majority OF the unionized work
ers (not certain union officials or
some convention delegates the
united front from below and not from
the top) ito giving organized express
sion in support of our amalgamation
slogan" must we continue this cam.
paign.
Communists do not measure the
validity Of their tactics and program
with the same yardstick that the
vulgar bourgeois pragmatists do.
Communists do not test the revoIu
tlonary value Of their slogans or prin.
ciples by the chances Of Immediate
success A COMMUNIST campaign
for amalgamation does not depend on
such Immediate success" likewise.
the value to our Communist party OF
the slogan and campaign for united
front OF the workers and poor farm
ers thru a farmer-labor party does
not depend on such immediate, arbi
trarily defined success
II is thru our propaganda and or.
ganizaton efforts for such working
class slogans that we are able 10
hasten the development OF an organ.
lied, Of a political expression OF,
revolt against capitalism among the
mas~--