The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-01-08
Primarily, on the MARKHAM Root
OF Our Party.

Nm party, says the minority.
"We are its MARKHAM trunk"
It ie easy to confess Marxism. But
MARKHAM is not a confession of faith.
Marxism is even more than a set Of
doctrines. Marxism is the only sci
entifc method of investigating social
matters. To be a Marxist means, not
only to have read "Das Kapital" and
q few other books, but to be able to
apply the MARKHAM analysis to living
and therefore continually changing
social conditions. He who knows
how to apply this analysis correctly,
and whose correctness Of analysis has
been proven by subsequent events, is
. true Marxist. He who only mimicks
the methods of Marxism, he whose
conclusions are being repudiated by
the course Of events. is a pseudo.
Marxist.
This little essay wishes to suggest
that the leader Of the minority, John
Pepper, is a pseudo Marxist.
We have chosen John Pepper be-
cause It an open secret that he is still
the moving spirit Of the minority
group. If the minority calls itself the
MARKHAM trunk, then John Pepper is
certainly the main MARKHAM root. If
the root is hollow, then there is some
thing the matter with the trunk.
How did John Pepper apply the
MARKHAM analysis to conditions in the
United States! 1t must be remarked
that the application of Marxism to
history In the making, is Lenlnism.
IF we wish, comrades, to define what
is Lenlnism," said N X. Kroupskaya
the widow Of the late Lenin, in an ad-
dress before the teachers of Leninism
mobilized to instruct the "Lenin En-.
rollment," 'we must say that it is
MarxIsm applied to contemporary
realities" How, then, did John Pep
per practice Leninism In this coun-
try?
Let us take only one or two in
stances. At the Chicago convention
Of July 3-5, 1928, the federated farmer
labor party was proclaimed as exist
ing. Was it real party? Did it
have a solid foundation? Was it a
logical outcome of ripening conditions
among the working masses?
Subsequent events have proven that
it had no solid foundation, that it was
an artificial contrivance. A year after
July 3-5, the F. F. L. P. was thoroly
forgotten. Six months after its COM
ing into nominal being, it was hardly
more than a name and wish. This
proves beyond dispute that it was a
still-born organization. What was the
duty of Marxist after the formation
Of that so-called party? Plainly, ii
was incumbent upon him to give an
adequate estimation of what had hap
pened, to analyze the forces that were
operating around the party, to have a
realistic understanding of the new
organization, and thus to indicate q
correct attitude for the Workers
(Communist) Party.
Did John Pepper make such an an
alysis? True, he used all the phrase
ology Of Marxism. But this is what
he found:
Summed up in a single phrase,
the historic significance of the July
convention is this: The first real
mass party Of American workers
and farmers has been founded in
Chicago"
1.-THE new F. =. L. p. Is a mass
party. It is the first mass party of
workers and farmers in the United
States
1.-THE new F. r. L. p. is no arti-
fetal product of a mass doctrine,
but is the result Of a special Ameri-
can development"
ait is a party Of rank and file"
This is how John Pepper estimated
the new organization. That his esti
nation was entirely erroneous, en-
tirely subjective, i. e. entirely non
MARKHAM, is evident from the tota
disappearance of the F. F. L. p.
from it's non-existing at the present
time. A real party" mass party,
a result of special American de
velopment," party of rank and
file" does not disappear within si1
months. Plainly, John Pepper gave
an expression of his ardent wish, moi
OF the actualities of American politi
cal life. Plainly he did something
entirely opposed to Marxism.
But maybe he only made propa
ganda among the members of the
Workers Party? Maybe he person
ally knew the truth about the f. f
L. p. Maybe he wrote as he did only
to fire the imagination Of the Com
munists in this country in order tina
they might devote themselves thu
more diligently 10 the building Of thu
new party? II this were the case, i
would be worse than the grossest er
ror OF estimation, because nothing II
more injurious TO the cause OF Com
munism than misleading the workers
as to the character Of the organiza