The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-10-24
BY BERTRAM o. WOLFE.

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2 have revealed that even members
of that committee do not understand
this fundamental fact. The educa-
tional activity of our party must be
thoroughly recognized as to form
and content if it is not to remain on
the old social-democratic and narrow
"monopolistic" basis on which it has
hitherto stood.
The gulf between the leadership of
our party and the membership must
be bridged over The theoretical
fundaments of Communism must
cease to be a monopoly of little
group. Every member Of every shop
nucleus must be educated stimultane-
ously in the fundamentals of Lenin-
ism. The political level of our whole
party must be raised.
The Role of the Shop Nucleus.
II the reorganization is not to be
a mere mechanical change in struc-
ture; if the shop nucleus is not to
degenerate into mere center for
shop talk" in which the level of the
discussions will never rise above the
discussion of the unsanitary condition
of the toilets in the shops and the
"toughness" of the foreman Tim
portant as these may be-; if the shop
nucleus is really to become a basic
political unit of the party and the
center of all discussions from the
immediate problems of the shop to
the fundamental political problems of
the American and world working
class;-then our educational activity
must not stop at the central school,
the library and the study class but
must go further along with the rest
of the party into the shops.
livery big crisis in the American
- party-and the history of our
party has been series of big crises
has demonstrated the unpleasant
fact that great masses of our mem
bers, the majority of them, have
little or no theoretical basis for their
political thinking and do not know
how to judge and execute a correct
policy. To mention only two such
crises--the goose" crisis and the
labor party" crisis-is sufficient to
demonstrate the fact that when a
change in objective conditions mott.
ates the adoption of a new policy by
our leadership, it is soon face to
face with the powerful passive opposi-
ton of whole majority of our mem
bership and that the party must in
each case go thru severe crisis be-
fore the new policy is adopted. This
can only mean that however low the
theoretical level of our leadership
may be, even so there is between it
and the mass of the membership
considerable gulf in capacity for
political thinking and analysis which
gulf must be bridged over. l do not
mean to say that we must neglect
the necessity of further educating a
leading group in our party, but of
much more fundamental Importance
is the task of raising the theoretical
level of the whole mass of our mem
bership and this must be done, not
in few scattered classes in geograph-
zeal areas, nor in central school but
precisely in the shops where the
mass of our membership is to be
found.
Every Member to Be Trained in
Fundamentals of Leninism.
THE agitprop department of district
= 2, therefore, is recognizing it,
self in line with the reorganization of
the party; and the major emphasis in
our educational work for this winter
win be placed in the shop nucleus
and not in the central school or Sec
tons. The plan OF district 2 is that
of simultaneously educating every
member Of every shop nucleus, right
in his nucleus, IN the fundamentals
of Leninism.
But where will you get SO many
teachers?"
tfThor., x.rf1l -. I-..lA