The daily worker., 1925-01-03
GITLOW is NOT A LIAR
BY ALEXANDER elrTELMAN

majority does not need to resort to
proof" Of this kind. Poor Gitlow is
perfectly welcome to the use of all
the epithets he can lay his hands on.
They will avail him little. Our mem
bership is already beginning to open
their eyes to the menace Of farmer
labor Communism" The party will
not be fooled into a policy of oppor-
tunism. And no amount of mud
sling;-g and billingsgate will deter us
one fla from telling the party exact
ly. what we think OF our farmer-labor-
ties.
What Happened at the Hungarian
Conve ntion?
Gitlow says Bittelman plainly lied
about what happened at the Hungar-
ian convention. 4 serious charge
isn't it?-expressed in rather strong
language. But what was it that hap
pened at the Hungarian convention?
The Hungarian convention accepted
the position Of the minority. This is
what reported to the C. E. c. on the
Hungarian convention. 1t is a lie?
No, of course not Gitlow will be
the last man in the world to deny it.
Then, what else did l say? l said that
by accepting the position of our farm
er-laboristic minority, the Hungarian
convention proved that it is in cap
tivity by the farmer-labor ideas.
said that the Hungarian convention
was so obsessed with farmer-laborism
that it could not imagine the further
development of our movement without
this slogan.
This is what actually took place.
Does Gitlow disprove it? OF course
not. How could he? To disprove this
would mean to deny the fact that the
Hungarian convention accepted the
minority position. All l said in my
published report was that by accept
ing Comrade Gitlow's Communism"
the Hungarian convention went wrong.
1t went opportunistic. The fact that
Gitlow captured" the convention
means that the convention was cap
tured by farmer-laborism. Isn't that
so? And that was all said.
Quite naturally this does not please
Gitlow. But, then, permit me to ask
question: Is it my duty to please
Gitlow, OF to tell the party the truth?
My Second "Lie".
In my report to the G. e. c., said
that in order to disprove my charge
of opportunism Gitlow asked the Hun
garian convention to examine the
personnel of the majority and minor
ity. He attempted to prove that be-
cause some of the leaders of the mi
nority, at one time or another, went to
Jail for their activities in the move
ment, therefore, they are not oppor-
tunists.
Gitlow calls this lie. And how
does he prove it? Read the following
portion of his article:
What I said was in answer to
the charge that the majority calls
the minority iQuidators. In refer
ence to this asked the delegates
to examine the personnel of the
minority and their service in the
Communist movement to determine
whether or not the minority is made
up Of comrades who want to liquid
ate the Communist Party. / pointed
out that the minority was composed
OF members who had been active in
the left wing of the socialist party
and in the organization of the Com
munist Party of the country.
stated further that these comrades
had fought for the party, defended
It in all kinds Of situations, and had
gone to jail for it. These are facts.
Bittelman and the whole majority
cannot deny them. AS a further
example let us take Comrade Rut-
henberg. Comrade Ruthenberg is
of the minority. The majority