The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-01-08
MARxISM OR PSEUDO-MARxISM?

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what Is real mass party. At any
rate he proved to be less of Marx
list and more of the type that Lenin
admonished in the following words:
LESS political cIatter. Less intel
IectuaI reasoning. Nearer to life"
(Article ION the character OF our pa.
pers.")
John Pepper not only maze the mis-
take of heralding the lifeless organ.
ization as the mass party of Ameri.
can workers and farmers, but he per
sisted in his mistake. For months in
succession, even as late as March,
1924, when the F. F. L. P. was nc
more than a shadow, he continued to
view the future leadership Of the
Workers Party in the class-struggle
as based on the non-existant F. F. l..
p. So strong is the influence Of John
Peppers mistakes on the present
minority of our c. E. c., that its latest
thesis still invokes the ghost of the
F. F. L. P. and it still asserts that the
Workers Party could have made the
F. F. L. P. a living thing if it wished
to do so. Strange conception for
Marxists. A small party, numbering
score of thousand members, could
have created greater party number
ing at least hundreds of thousands!
And vice versa: A mass party, "a
real mass party of workers and farm
ers," springing from special Ameri-
can development" ceased to exist be-
cause a small party, avowedly not a
mass party, failed to send out few
organizers and speakers to help it.
If this be MARKHAM conception,
what, then, is the voluntaristic con.
ception which was fought against by
Marx-Lenin, and how far is 1t from
the theory of 'heores and masses?"
But let us return to John Pepper,
John Pepper knew very well that it is
the duty of the Communists to lead
the workers. He knew it as doc
trine. He also realized that it is
necessary for the American Commun-
lists to lead the American workers.
Out of this theoretical realization
sprang his conviction that the Work
ers Party is already leading the work
ing masses. In numbers of articles
and theses he stressed the idea that
America had reached stage where
the workers were just looking for the
Communists to lead them. This may
seem preposterous after the expert.
ences of June II, July and the cleo
ton campaign of 1924, but this is
what John Pepper told the Commun.
ist International in an article, 1.-THE
Workers Party at a Turning Point
Inprecor, Sept. 81, 1929:
"The Iaboring masses of the U.
| S. consider the Communists as
their leaders, and they expect US to
show them the best ways and means
Of fighting against the capitalists
and the capitalist government"
When a Communist makes such
statements before the Communist In.
ternational they can have only one
meaning: that the popularity Of the
Communists and their party is wide
spread among the non-partisan work
ers, that the non-partisan workers
have gropingly come to the realiza.
ton of the necessity Of combating
the capitalist government, and that II
is up to the Communists to throw out
slogans and take the lead. Tested by
the situation of September, 1928, and
by subsequent developments, such
statements appear to be bombastiC
phrase. 1t is against such statements
that Stain warns in his book ION
Lenin and Leninsm."
GAS against revolutionary empty
clangor," he writes, "Lenin empha
sized the simple everyday affairs
thus making it clear that revolution
ary' fiction was contrary both to the
spirit and the letter Of true Leninism
Less luxurious phrases, says Lenin
more simple everyday work
Less political clatter, more attention
to the simplest but living facts Of
Communist contructive work (Article
Great Beginning)."
But how is it that John Pepper
could make such elementary errors In
MARKHAM judgment? 1t is because his
entire conception of American life
was as he wished to see it and not as
it appeared in reality. John Pepper
the supposed Marxist, the man thai
still holds the G. z. c. minority under
his sway, lived in world of illusions
Wherein lies the strength of Marx
ism? In its adherence to reality Of
social life, in its ability to analyzt
the facts Of social life so as to fine
the law Of their development, so as Il
be able to forecast the main lines o.
the future. Theory does not form
an independent kingdom" says the
Russian MARKHAM philosopher, Debor
in, in his book, "Lenin as Thinker.
Theory that stands the test Of prac
tice is objective truth. We SHOULD
not conflne ourselves to objects tha