The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-05-28
Statement Of the Central Executive
Committee.

7
- false rumOrs in the party relative
to the stand OF Comrade Zinoviev re-
garding the construction Of the cen
trail executive committee of our party
at the next party convention, the C.
r. c. finds Il necessary to issue the
following statement of fact as to what
actually transpired in this connection,
After the recent party delegation
had been in Moscow for over two
months, and after the issues involv-
ed had been thoroly discussed in the
American commission and the deci-
sion was about to be made, the repre-
sentatives of the C. E. C, (majority),
Comrades Foster and Cannon, had a
conference with Comrade Zinoviev in
which the latter, upon his own initia-
tive, proposed that the present ma
iority Of the c. e. c. should be given
two-thirds majority in the incoming
! central executive committee. In ac-
cordance with this proposition, the fol-
lowing clause was contained in the
first draft of the decision on the Anne
rican question:
THE central committee of the
Workers Party will retain its present
composition until the party conference
Is held and the new central commit
tee is to be so elected at the party
conference that the Foster group OBJ
tains a majority within 1t, and the
Ruthenberg group is represented pro-
portionately at least by one-third. The
two leading comrades, Foster and Ru-
thenberg, are to be reelected"
Two or three days after this draft
appeared, Comrades Foster and Can
non had another conference with Com
rade Zinoviev, in which the latter stat
ed that opposition had developed to-
wards his proposal based upon consti-
tutional grounds. He stated that this
opposition maintained that under the
statutes of the Comintern each party
had the right to select its own central
executive committee and that only IN
serious crises, where there is a levo-
lutionary situation or where the party
is In great danger, is the Comintern
justified in organizing the central exc
cutive committee. The claim was
made that no such critical situation
existed in America and that, there
fore, the direct organization of the C..
E. c. by the Comintern was inadvis-
able. Comrade zinoviev stated that
he recognized the force Of the objec-
ton that there was no critical situa-
ton in America, and would, therefore.
withdraw his proposal. He agreed to
appear before the plenum of the en-
larged executive and to state that he
had made this proposal upon his own
initiative and to give the reason for
its withdrawal which he did.
Following are the speeches In the
enlarged executive committee of the
{. J. when the report of the American
commission was presented.
CoMRADE KUUSINEN gave a re-
- port on the work in the American
commission:
The American commission, with the
American comrades, unanimously de-
cided today to recommend that the
draft resolution which are submitting
here be adopted. The question upon
which the conflict arose in the Amer
lean party was whether the party
should fight in the immediate future
for a labor party or not. AS you know,
the majority of the central committee
OF the American party opposed it, and
the minority supported ii. In the opin-
ion Of the commission, the majority
based its policy in this respect too
much on superficial temporary pheno-
mena. The minority is absolutely right
in its confidence in the vitality Of the
labor party movement.
But the question has also another
side. In speaking OF the labor party,
, it was evident that one side has an
entirely different conception of the
labor party from the other. One side
thought of the coming labor party In a
much narrower sense than it ought.
A revolutionary, or at least semi-revo-
lutionary labor party will probably al
ways remain a pious wish. A revolu-
tionary labor party is so long an i'm
possibility, as long as the Workers
Party of America will become this
labor party. But it is possible that
labor party will rise earlier than
that.
lWHAT purpose can a labor party
w serve for us? It will become a
field OF activity for our revolutionary
work among the masses, in order to
win them over gradually to the revo-
lutionary standpoint. But it will also
be a school for the working masses
themselves, where they will get the
experience Of the necessity OF class
organization, and one other very i'm
portant experience-the experience of
the treacherous role of the reformists,
who will in all probability take the
lead in this movement. We have al
ready had a clear symptom Of this
during the last few weeks. The So
cialist party under the leadership of