The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-01-17


cate the party and to purge it OF far
mer-laborism will have the same sue
cess in these centers as elsewhere.
More thoro consideration by the par
ty OF the fundamental principles in
yolYed in the discussion will enable
the C. e. C. to go to the next party
convention with the support of at
least ninety per cent of the party
membership.
The membership meetings not only
registered q complete defeat for the
rarmer-labor policy of the minority;
their fight for leadership shared the
same fate in an even more decisive
fashion. The real aim of the minor
lty, which they have pursued in a
conscious and organized manner, for
the past year, was to overthrow the
e. e. G. TO this end a nationwide
caucus organization has been main
rained The minority has confronted
the G. e. c. as an organized opposi-
ton ever since the last convention
and has resisted all our attempts to
come to an agreement with them and
to dissolve the fractional organization.
In violation Of all principles OF Com
munist organization. tine smallest de-
tails of c. e. c. proceedings were
transmitted, by means of the minor
ity caucus, down to the branches and
The party was literally flooded with
anonymous documents" rumors, ''is-
Sues" etc. 4 number of federation
secretaries and editors were incorpor-
ated into this caucus under the lead
ership of C. +. c. members of the
minority. and it was attempted by this
means to mobilize the support of the
federation members for the minority.
Tho leaders of the minority could
not by any means reconcile them
selves to a situation where the party
leadership was in the hands of "half-
educated workers" and "syndicalists,"
as they characterized the proletarian
elements in the party, especially
those who emphasized the Importance
OF work in trade unions. They were
not willing to recognize the validity
OF our mandate from the last party
convention. They seemed to take it
for granted that we would not be able
o carry out our responsibility. They
expected us to turn the party over to
hem in desperation, since they were
the self-acknowledged IN arxian
trunk" of the party. Our efforts to
formulate policies received no sym
pathy from them. And that we should
actually presume to write theses, etc,
was considered almost q personal in.
suit
The party during the past year was
confronted with the most difficult
problems since its founding, which
tested and tried the leadership of the
party as never before. The wild exag-
gerations and oYerestimations of
events. which had been committed by
the c. Z. C. last year. reacted against
the party this year with full force.
We were compelled to readjust our
selves number of times and to adapt
the party to an entirely new situation.
Our party was sick with the fever of
high politics" and 1t was no easy
task to lead 1t back to basic Com
Inunist work. The decision OF the
Communist International against the
third party alliance" the collapse Of
the farmer-labor movement, the presi-
dental candidacy Of LaFollette, the
necessity that we put up our own
party candidates-all these events re-
CURED a series of quick changes in
policy and it was a real achievement
to carry them thru without any seri-
GUS disturbances or crises in the par
ty. Coupled with these external diff
fculties, we constantly had the prob
lem Of the organized opposition fight
ing for control of the party. striving
to distort every action of the c. T..
c. to seize upon and magnify every
little mistake, real or imaginary, and
use Il for fractional purposes.