The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-08-08
Are the Firms Social-Democrats?
By Henry Askeli


beliey Of the party leadership, but
the Socialist party had an organiza;
ton. prestige and propaganda faciii=
tea, which were worth somethir I:
With little tactic they could be cap.
tured and made to serve revolutionary
socialism,, Il was sad sight to see
ten per cent expel ninety per cent,
this was the tactic selected by our left
wing comrades. They were about
ninety per cent Of the party. Still they
let ten per cent reactionaries expei
them.
When the left wing socialists were
expelled from the socialist party, they
organized themselves, wrote their pro-
grams and declarations Of principles.
which were decidedly leftist docu-
ments, so much so that later the Co.
mintern had to correct them in sew
eral instances.
or course we could not then with.
draw from the socialist party. We
knew that it was not an easy matter
to sever such old political ties, with
which we were tied to the socialist
party. Many of our members we're
still faithful to the socialist party, and
We had to start strong campaign of
education in the federation against the
socialist party,s and its reactionary
leadership, and in favor Of withdraw
ing from it. This took some time.
but we could not help it. We wanted
to take the entire federation with us
when we were ready to withdraw.
Then we were severely criticized.
Our left wing comrades criticized us
as right wingers and opportunists:
and the Socialist party leaders and
their supporters, criticized us as Com
munists, impossiblists, ETC. Many I'M
just criticisms were thrown upon us.
We were between two fires and
must confess that it was not an easy
matter then to correctly analyze the
conditions and find a correct policy to
pursue. Had we followed the instruc-
tions and orders from our left wing
comrades and Withdrawn. from the So
cialist party then oweu would have
wrecked our organization. So we de-
cided to stay until our federation, as
a whole, willingly withdrew from it.
However, there were other forces
working, not always wholesome ones,
and we were compelled to withdraw
from the socialist party prematurely,
resulting in the loss of about $500
members, many halls and one daily
newspaper We pointed this to our
well meaning left wing comrades, but
they refused to believe It. They had
the leftist tendencies to very marked
degree and our maneuvers were fool
ish to them. Now every honest "after
the battle" observer admits that we
were correct in our contention. that
our policy had been the better one.
However, we could do no better than
leave the socialist party TO a handful
of reactionaries and bureaucrats,
when all other left wing comrades
were expelled, or withdrawn.
In this controversy we got rid Of
the right wing element, social-demo-
Gratis and the supporters of the Two
and-a-Half International. Principles
of social-democracy" and its entire
theology was condemned by our mem
bership.
I do not need to say much about
our stand in the Workers Party and
the role we played in its organization.
Everyone who has been with the party
since it's organization, knows that we
have worked to our utmost to make
the Workers Party an efficient instru-
ment in the fight for the workers
rights. We are strong for organization
and education. Maneuvers do not, In
our opinion, make the Workers Party.
We must build the Workers Party
first; make it into something, SO that
1t must be recognized when American
workers begin to organize politically.
AS long as We are weak, small and In
efficient, we will not be considered as