The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-10-09

~ country, the leading, most re-
sponsible and most influential com
rades, took decided stand against It;
and the final result was that ma
jority voted In favor Of our proposal
We were then willing to consider the
difference which arose over the Com
munist International decision as liqui-
dated on the basis of the adoption of
our policy, which was decisive pol
icy of responsibility for the party,
But this policy Of responsibility for
the party did not develop as the pol
icy OF Comrade Foster after the con-
svention. We were no sooner out of
this crisis than we Immediately plung-
ed into a new crisis in the group,
that is, amongst the comrades who
belonged to the former group. This
conflict was organically connected
with the conflict at the convention
1t was over the appeal to the Com
Munist International.
1t has been stated here by Comrade
|sBedacht, and l think it is known to
every Communist that it is not only
the right OF a Communist who dis
agrees with a decision of the Com
munist International to appeal for a
reconsideration, but it is his duty to
do so. 1t is the duty Of any Commun-
list who thinks the Communist Inter-
national needs more information on
any question to furnish this informa-
ton.
I~disagree totally with the impli-
cations Of Comrade StachePs state
ments here that an appeal to the Com
munist International is in itself in
any sense violation of Communist
rights. However, there are two sides
to thisNquestion of appealing to the
Communist International.
ION the one hand it is the duty, not
- merely the right, of comrades to
appeal to the Communist Information
al. On the other hand it is imper-
missible for them, when they are ap-
| pealing to the Communist Interna-
tional to appeal, at the same time to
the party, because that negates the
whole principle involved in the appeal
to the Communist International. An
appeal to the party on the basis OF
an appeal to the Communist Interna.
tional is nothing less than an attempt
to put the party in position of oppo.
sition to, the decision of the Commun
list International. No matter what Is
ones intention, this is the objective
effect Therefore we opposed the
tendency that developed within oul
group to- present resolutions to the
party organizations endorsing the ap
peal Of the former majority to the
Communist International
What was this conditiohed upon
To us it was very clear, after a little
consideration. that if the group of tbs
former majority would present sucl
a motion to a meeting of the party
it could only be adopted on the con
ditions that the comrades presen
would be convinced that the appea
was justified and valid. In othel
words, they would have to be con
WINGED that the decision was an er
ror. In order to accomplish this Il
would be necessary, and would fol
low, in spite of all intentions, tina
propaganda and agitation would b,
made to convince party comrades tina
the decision of the Communist Inter
national is wrong. This Is not permits
sible, because this is appealing in tht
party to the opinion and view-poin
that the Communist International de
cision was made with snap judgment
or made without due consi !eration
This in itself has an inevitable tend
ency to discredit the Communist In
ternational before the party com
rades, to break down faith in tn,
Communist International decisions
1t is step away from the Commun
list international. This was the posi-
ton we took.
| TT is significant, in confirmation O
= my statements that this confiic
over the question of the appeal hat
an organic connection with the con
vention conflict, that the alignment O
comrades on this question was identi
cally the same as the one in the con
vention caucus, with only a chang,
here and there by comrades who hat
not understood the real question in
volved.
A very severe crisis developed
which, made it impossible to agree t,
a unified policy. am sorry to sa!
that comrades in several parts of tn,
country, under influence of the polio,
which was sponsored and given sup
port by Comrade Foster we're mis-
led into taking what consider som.
false steps. These comrades who hat
a certain resentment against the Com
munist International decision began
to speak quite openly against 1t.
Efforts within the group to compe
the comrades to abandon this polio,
were not successful. In the New Yorl
membership meeting as was reported