davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The daily worker., 1925-06-23

of shop nuclei. The fact that this is a
result of the reorganization is of the
highest Importance. But even of great
er Importance is the fact that the new
members thus secured by the Com
munist Parties are members drawn
from the shops and factories-that is,
that element which must be the back
bone OF the Communist Party.
The reason why this is true is not
difficult to explain. At present, our
membership in territorial and lang
uage branches. think of their work in
relation to their branches and their
functions and when they are trade
union members in relation to the work
in the trade unions When a shop nu-
cleus is organized in a factory, the
factory becomes the basis of the work
of this unit The effort and energy
of the members are naturally directed
toward agitation and propaganda and
Communist work of every character
among the workers employed in the
factories where their, nucleus is or
ganized. In other words, the form of
organization, the basis OF organization,
directs the work toward those workers
who are most important for us to
reach.
The shop nucleus naturally bases its
agitation on the concrete experiences
OF the workers In the, factory where
fhav ara an, r,niovad TShu. a. ia oaeto,
to approach and convince workers.
The workers see the activities of the
members Of the nucletis and the most
militant are attracted TO the organiza-
tion and thus the party membership is
built up.
This is the universal experience Of
the European parties with the shop nu-
clei. Once our party undertakes the
work OF building shop nuclei in earn
est we will find what Is most import
ant for us, that our membership will
begin to increase.
What are the Possibilities7
In view of the poor results obtained
thus far, the question may beraised as
to what proportions OF our party mem
bership can be reorganized on the
basis of shop nuclei. It is true that
we will be unable to ,reorganize the
who.e party, that is, the whole 10000
members. into shop nuclei immediate
ly II is, however, possible that so
per cent Of our membership or even
90 per cent can be reorganized into
shop nuclei; that is, In place OF having
500 members in shop nuclei as at pres
ent, we should have l2.OoO members
at the least thus organized.
The daily worker., 1925-06-23
WHERE ARE The SHOP nuclei?
81 RUTHENRER0, Exeoutive seCretary, Workers Party

Communist form of organization as
against the old socialist form of organ
ization. 1t proves conclusively that
our party members and our respons-
ible party workers do not yet realize
the importance of this work of reor-
ganizing the party and that the Cen
trail Executive Committee and the
Communist International expect us to
do something more than to play with
the idea of the new form of organiza-
tion.
Why We Must Reoreanize.
Preceding the sessions of the En-
larged Executive Committee OF the
Communist International last March,
there was held in Moscow an organiza-
tional conference at which most OF the
big Communist Parties OF Europe were
represented. At this conference, the
question of the reorganization of the
Communist Parties on the basis OF
shop nuclei was the principle point OF
discussion. The reports showed that
in most of the countries OF Europe the
work OF reorganization was we'll under
way or was practically completed.
No one who listened to the reports
OF the various delegates showing the
results obtained from the reorganiza.
ton on the basis OF shop nuclei could
be otherwise than enthusiastic about
this reorganization. The Communist
international had invited workers
from various sections of the European
parties who were directly concerned
in the reorganization and who were
functioning in the work OF the shop
nuclei to participate in this confer.
ence. Without exception, these work.
ers enthusiastically supported the re.
organization. showing, by concrete
achievements, the advantages for their
party accruing from this organization.
The reorganization OF the Commun.
list Parties on the basis of shop nuclei
is not merely an organizational meas
ure. The results OF reorganization are
Of the highest political Importance.
Character Of Membership.
Practically every party in Europe
which has made substantial progress
IN the work OF reorganizations report.
ed an influx OF new members as the
result OF reorganization on the. hasis
The daily worker., 1925-06-23

ok months ago, the Central Execu-
- tive Committee of the party sent
instructions to all district organizers
and c. c. C.'s to begin the work Of re-
organizing our party on the basis of
the shop nuclei. A detailed plan for
this work was furnished to all party
units. Altho six months have elapsed
since these instructions were sent out,
no section of the party has taken up
the work of reorganization in earnest.
This is shown by the reports made
to the national Office at a recent meet
ing of district organizers in Chicago
and in writing since that time. These
reports show the following results for
six months Of effort to bring into ex-
istence shop nuclei:
Number Of Shop
The daily worker., 1925-06-23
Denny Sullivan Soon
to Show What Recent
Injunction Law Means

The first test Of the injunction lin
itation bill signed by Gov. Small, al
most the sole salvage Of Illinois la
boris legislative program in the 1925
session, will come July /. Chicago
Cigarmakers' Local Ia, enjoined by
Denis Sullivan, the injunction kingpin
of the Chicago branch, will seek 10
have the writ modified in accordance
with the new law which forbids re-
staints on peaceful picketing and on
quitting Of work.
The formerly union cigar factory OF
Wengler g Mandell, Chicago, has a
Sullivan injunction against the local
forbidding the union members from
picketing or maintaining any picket
or pickets at or near the premises
of the complainant, from distributing
or displaying any notice, card, design
or matter in front OF or In the vicinity
OF the complainant's place of business
which tend 10 cause persous 10 abb
stain from entering into the COM
plainant's employment or to abstain
from dealing with the complainant OF
10 keep away from the complainant's
place OF business" and from doing
many other peaceful and customary
things when a labor dispute is on.
The firm manufactures the Tom
Palmer cigar, once a popular union
brand, now made by scab1 in Florida,
but extensively sold In Chicago.
The daily worker., 1925-06-23

specialists for definite departments
and functions in propaganda and or
ganization work. Specialization and
differentiation of this kind, to the
greatest possible degree, among the
functionaries of the Bolshevist parties
will alone enable us to issue slogans
and carry on actions which are not
only general" but which are adapted
to the given concrete political and so
cial situation that political and con-
crete situation (which alters in the
most direct and immediate manner
the condition of an action, and in con-
sequence the tasks of this action" !"
Ienin.)
To concentrate the program of in
struction for the Bolshevist central
school in a brief formula, we may
say: The extensive exposition mate
rial on the part of the teachers must
be replaced by its intensive assimila-
tion on the part of the students
ME must now turn to the actual me-
W Theological and pedagogic prob
lens of the Paris school Instruction
was divided into two parts. The morn
ing was devoted to theory, the after
noon as a rule to the questions of
practical party work in France, and
the evenings to practical work on the
part of the students in the factory
cells, public meetings, conferences,
etc. This last department of work
the applied" department, as our
French comrades have designated it,
has proved the most successful. "A
really fighting character has been i'm.
parted to the whole school by its
means The students have proved
competent in every respect of carry
ing out the tasks allotted to them 1t
is obvious that the road thus pointed
out by our French comrades, enabl-
ing constant contact to be maintained
between the masses of party members
and the future party leaders, is the
road which must invariably be follow
ed by all central party schools. All
that is further required is to secure
immediate activity for the students in
the special sphere of propaganda or
organization for which their special
training has prepared them. This is
an excellent medium for testing the
capabilities of the students. On the
other hand, the line drawn by the
French school between theoretical
questions and questions of practical
work appears to us of questionable
advisability, and likely to lead to an
overgrowth of the former at the ex-
pense of the latter. AS soon as the
syllabus of instruction has been con-
centrated upon a few definite SUBJ
jects, and a corresponding specializa-
| tion and differentiation of instruction
has been organized, this dividing line
becomes superfluous for the most
part
With regard to the treatment of
the various subjects, our comrades re-
port that the employment of the con
/ crete, actual and known" as starting
/ point has proved excellently adapted
| to it's purpose. The student is grad
ually introduced to the abstract and
theoretical. Thus for instance the ex-
position of the fundamental concep-
tions of political economy is COM
menced by first dealing with the FAC
tory surroundings of the worker" and
then passing gradually to the abstract
ideas of labor as commodity" etc.
The greatest difficulty arises, how
ever, when the fear of excessive alb
The daily worker., 1925-06-23
Bronx to Celebrate
Opening of Workers
Party Library, June 27.
Especial to The Daily Worker,

NEW YORK, June 21.-All get
ready for a grand and glorious time.
We're giving you something for moth.
ing. and this is on the level.
The Bronx Library Committee Is ar.
ranging a social and housewarming
to celebrate the opening OF the Bronx
Library at 1347 Boston Road. A good
musical program has been arranged
games, dancing, prizes for the best
man and the worst man, plenty OF
fun and good cheer. Absolutely free.
All you need TO bring along is your
best smile and your best girl or beau.
and II you haven't any. you won't feel
lonesome either. Go where the crowd
goes. BE there II you want to meet
all your best friends and comrades.
Refreshments will be served--ice
cream, sodas, candies, sandwiches.
The Young Workers OF the Bronx
are actively participating and are
promising TO make this affair record
OF hilarity and fun to be long remem.
bered by everyone who attends. Don't
forget the date. Saturday, June 9th
at l347 Boston Road. The Bronx IA.
brary Committee invites you all
The daily worker., 1925-06-23

Practically every party in Europe
which has made substantial progress
IN the work Of reorganizations report.
ed an influx Of new members as the
result Of reorganization on The. hasis
The daily worker., 1925-06-23
ne E@nHnEST C0nfFaE P9FfV SCk1OOA LLnk

functionaries, there must not be one
moments interruption in the living
association between the scholars and
the proletarian masses in their work
places, in the shops and factories,
and also in the street, where the pet
ty bourgeois atmosphere surrounds
and influences the worker at every
step.
It is solely in this manner that
we can undertake, an effective rup-
ture with the social democratic ira
ditions to which even our own ranks
have tendency to cling, traditions
which demand that theory should be
kept clear" of practice within the
walls of the school at least, with the
alleged object of securing the OBJ
jectivity of science. The first Lenin-
.ist central party school outside of
Russia led an immediate attack upon
this false tradition of social democ-
racy, which loves to drape itself in
the cloak of purity" and of classless
scientific investigation, and chose as
its motto the unity of theory and
practice.
TNHE theory of Marxism-Leninism is
L not to be presented to the prole-
tartan students as a finished dogma,
as a recipe which they have merely to
swallow in order to become omniscient
political or trade union leaders. No,
the dialectic nature of Marxism- Len
inism implies of necessity that it must
be experienced and felt by the fu-
ture leaders of the proletariat as
guide to action" and the proletarian
students must enter upon the COM
plete consciousness that the teachings
of our revolutionary postmaster are
based upon entirely concrete econo-
mic historical processes in social evo-
luton. and have thus attained univer
sal validity of application, whilst at
the same time they are to be verified
and preserved by that same revolu-
tionary actuality in which they origin
ated. This confirmation and preserv-
alton renders it imperatively neces-
sary that the Bolshevist party itself
and it's functionaries are becoming
familiar with the economic historical
circumstances and situations of So
cial process, down to the smallest de-
tail, in order to exercise effective re-
evolutionary influence.
The general formulas forming the
principles of the educational work un-
dertaken by our French comrades
! have been based approximately upon
these, views. In order to put these
principles into practice, the Paris
| school states it to be it's chief en-
deavor to avoid the teaching of dead
I knowledge to its students, and to ac-
complish the revolutionary orientation
of these students, applicable in every
emergency and turning point of the
present stage of the declining capital
ist state of society, with the aid of a
minimum of political and economic
knowledge THE attainment of the
been accorded the first place. The
material comprising historical and
4 economic statistical facts has thus
had to be deliberationately thrust in.
to the background. Unfortunate il
has not been possible for our French
comrades to entirely realize these two
leading principles, intended to char
acterize their system of education.
The chief cause of this has been the
great difficulties encountered in draw
ing up the syllabus, and in the selec-
The daily worker., 1925-06-23

tion of subjects of instruction and
the fixing of the order in which they
are to be studied; these are points
which can only be settled by expert
ence.
THE character of the Raris school,
4 as exponent of activity, demand
ed that the instruction should deal
with the daily problems encountered
by the students. The subject chosen
for the preliminary hours of instruc-
ton was thus a discussion on the ac-
tual nature of Imperialism, special
reference being made to phenomena
closely bound up with party life.
These themes had of course to be
/ treated at first descriptively only. AS
soon as it was desired to explain them
it became necessary to trace them to
their source, that is, to go back to
the general theoretical prerequisites
of the Marxist conception of history
Up to this point the order in which
the subjects were studied correspond
ed to the object of the instruction.
Difficulties arose at once on the
/ question of fixing the minimum of po-
litical and economic knowledge requir
ed for thoro comprehension of ac-
tual problems. AS neither the amount
of knowledge already acquired by the
students nor their abilities were
known to the teachers, the endeavor
was made to open out as many
spheres of knowledge as possible. and
to present living ideas and object les
sons in place Of abstract material
But this again led to the historical
! facts of the development of society,
of the bourgeoisie, of the labor move
ment, ETC., etc, until the question Of
Imperialism once more arose as lead
ing factor and had of necessity to
be split UP again into the hundreds
of different aspects and various rep
reservations of the main characters
tics of Leninism, of the role played
by the C. l., of the essential character
of the Soviet state. and so forth. The
result of such syllabus of instruc-
/ tion has been however, so far as we
can judge from observations up to
the present: 1. A tremendous over
burdening of the scholars with new
knowledge and thoughts, and 2, in
consequence of this neglect of the
problems of the utmost importance
to the French party.
THE French school has thus by no
4 means succeeded in finding the
right method with regard to the syl-
labus of instruction. Here further ex-
perience must first be gathered and
thoroly dealt with in the discussion
anticipated on this matter. One point
has however, been ascertained, and
that is that the character of our me-
thods of education with regard to ac-
tuality and activity can only be fully
maintained if the plan of instruction
is confined to a certain number of
subjects only. This salone would Sc
cure that Attainment of the methods
of dialectic materialism' which our
French comrades have rightly made
the aim of their school.
The main endeavor of the school
must thus not be directed towards
turning out general theoreticians and
practicians moving with equal GER
tainty, or rather with equal uncer.
tainty, in every sphere (the brief dur
alton of the courses fof instruction
renders this impossible in any case as
a rule), but towardsathe training of
The daily worker., 1925-06-23

A FTER the fifth congress, the neces-
a sity of a theoretical training for
our party functionaries induced vari-
Gus sections of the Comintern to place
the problem of the feminist central
party school on their agenda.
For the expansion of agitprop work
involved the necessity of beginning
and accompanying the education of
the masses of the party by the sys-
tematic training of propagandist and
organizatory cadres in the Commun-
list vanguard. How is this object to
be best attained, what type of school
should be created? The past has
taught us that as far as organization
is concerned practically nothing can
be accomplished for the schooling of
party functionaries by means of short
improvised courses of instruction CIV
en- by visiting teachers. We have been
realizing more and more of late that
the principle upon which instruction
in Bolshevism is carried out must diff
fer essentially from the methods of
instruction formerly adopted by the
social democratic institutions.
These are however, negative conclu-
sions, and must be supplemented by
positive endeavors towards the estab-
lishment of a school based on the
principle Of Leninism. 1t is to the
French Communist Party that the
honor falls of being the first Of our
sections to take the initiative in this
matter, and thanks to the efforts Of
this party we have already valuable
data on Bolshevist education at our
disposal.
THE object of the following is thus
L chiefly to inform the international
party public on the results of the en-
deavors of our French comrades. The
arising discussion should be made
part of a detailed debate on the me-
thodic thematic and organizatory
forms of the feminist central party
schools. 1t need not be emphasized
that the questions raised at present
can only be those pertaining to the
working out of the most important
factors of this problem. Special en-
phasis should be laid on the following
factors: 1. The character of the
feminist central party school; 2, its
syllabus of instruction; 8, the method
of instruction; 4, the organizatory
forms of the school.
1t should be stated that the French
comrades have already accomplished
pioneer work with regard to all these
points.
THE character of the school is the
4 first point for consideration. There
is no doubt that in Bolshevist meth
DDS of education the center of gravity
lies in the activity of the scholars
and in the actuality of the subjects
taught, and that it must be the aim OF
all instruction to keep this fact in
view, and to base subjects and me
thods on practical experience" and
on the solution of the acute and cri
tieal problems of the daily proletar
ian struggle, eliminating in the fina
goal of revolution. This first prere
quisite was put into actual practice al
once by the Paris school, which pro
claimed as it's first principle: Study
is not to be academic, but polemic."
This means that in a Bolshevist
educational institution, whether in
tended for the lowest or the highest
The daily worker., 1925-06-23
By M. J. LOnsky

stractions leads to the excessive use
OF the object lesson, and thence to
the danger of vulgarization. A SINH
lar danger is encountered in the at
tempt to describe the methods of
dialectics by means of certain indica-
tions or rules"
In the French school instruction has
been given in the form of question
and answer, followed by mutual cri-
ticism, thus avoiding long winded
lectures on the subjects taught. An
excellent explanatory medium for the
oretical questions was found in the
drawings, diagrams, and maps made
by the students themselves in the
course of their collective work
The greatest Importance has been
attached to collective work, and the
replies to questions summing up vari-
Gus subjects have for instance been
required to be given as result of a
collective consultation among the stu
dents, s In the sphere of method our
French comrades have indeed accom-
plished wonders in the way Of "clari
f1cation work. and their success
would have perhaps been still greater
If their syllabus of instruction had
not suffered from overlooking with
subject material.
In conclusion, few words must be
devoted to the forms of organization
of the school, The course of instruc-
tion lasted about two months. the
number of students was considerable,
and the lack Of suitable teachers was
thus acutely felt
| MUCH caution was exercised in Sc
A'A lecting the students Most of
these were of course recruited from
the ranks of the industrial workers.
especially from the most developed
and important districts. The ages of
the students varied from 20 to 80
years. For the most part they had
| Joined the French c. P. in the years
1920 and 1921. The conditions i'm
posed for admittance to the school
did not include any preliminary theo-
retical knowledge, but on the other
hand proof of active and capable
participation in party life. Valuable
information is supplied by the auto
biographies written by the students,
! for the most part statements of the
reasons which induced them to join
the G. P; here excellent hints for
individual pedagogic treatment may
be obtained. The teachers appointed
/ for the school first received full in
formation from the agitprop of the
French c. P; by means Of a program
matte letter, on the type, methods,
and aims of the school. Cooperation
among the teachers was secured by
by the lecturers before commencing
! instruction. In the course of time, the
| beginnings of system of instruction
as complete complex developed,
but were not carried thru consistently.
| To sum up the results of this en-
deavor on the part of our French
| comrades, it may be said that they
have not only done pioneer work in
this special sphere of carrying on a
feminist central party school, but
have contributed to the solution of
the general problem of the Bolshevist
education of our non-Russian parties.
! Here we must once more emphasize
that the above observations are in
tended as a basis for a detailed dis
cussion of all the urgent problems
! thus raised.