The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-09-26
BY W. HANKA

there are two conclusions to be drawn
from the estimate made Of the politi
cal situation. and from the lines laid
down for the development OF Bolshe-
visit mass parties, by the enlarged ex-
ecutive of the Comintern april, 1885
First of all It is of the utmost i'm
portance to recognize the necessity Of
devoting intense attention, in the
Communist Parties, to the work Of the
co-operatives. All Communists, with
out exception, must become members
Of the co-operatives. and must take
active part, and in an organized man
ner, in all events relating to the CO.
operatives, and in the solution of the
daily questions arising in co-opera-
tive life. A second and no less i'm
portant aspect of the question relates
to the methods and starting points
of our practical activities in the CO.
operatives, the tactics by which we
are to win over the millions, organic
ed in the co-operatives for revolution
airy class warfare At the III, w, and
V. World Congress it was already
pointed out that 1t is the duty of the
Communist Parties to devote adequate
attention to the co-operatives, and
during the present period Of Bolshe-
vization, and Of systematic building
up of our parties as real leaders of
the masses, this duty is placed more
emphatically in the foreground.
TN the theses issued by the execu-
4 tive, work among the existing mass
organizations is designated as the
most essential prerequisite of Bolshe-
vization. Besides the trade unions,
with regard to which the enlarged
executive categorically declares that
the Communists have to work in them
even when they are in the hands Of
arch-reactionary leaders, there are in
all countries huge cooperative organ
izations, again mass organizations of
the proletariat. The international
Cooperative Alliance London)
alone comprises 100000 cooperative
organizations belonging to 80 coun-
tries, affiliated to the alliance thru
their central unions. This involves
the enormous number of so million
members. We must wrest these many
millions from the hands of the re-
formist leaders! The slogan: ''To the
masses!" must be realized in the
cooperative movement with our maxi
mum of intensity, energy, and per-
severance. We must endeavor to en-
list this gigantic organization of the
exploited, created in the course of de-
cades, in the united proletarian fight
ing front against capital.
An intense fractional activity with
in the cooperative organizations gives
us Communists the opportunity Of
contact with strata of the working
class which we encounter neither in
the trade unions nor in the factories.
Thus, for instance, work in the CO.
operatives offers the best possibility,
or may even be regarded as the first
premise, for really useful party work
among the proletarian housewives.
MANY proletarian housewives, hav-
Ai4 ing learned by bitter personal
experience the necessity Of organized
opposition against the profiteering in
food practiced by the capitalists,
against high prices and speculation,
join the co-operatives. But the So
cial reformist managers of the CO.
operative societies exert their utmost
endeavors to paralyze the fighting will
of these masses by the propagation
of illusions as to the possibility of
overcoming capitalism on peaceful
lines with the aid of the co-operatives
only, without the necessity of the re-
volutionary class struggle. To bring
light into this obscurity with the torch
of Leninism, to show the proletarian
housewives, gathered together in
these organizations in compact mass.
es and who are otherwise inaccessible
to us, the real task and means in the
struggle against capitalism, and to
lead them forward in this struggle
this is duty imperatively incumbent
on the Bolshevist parties, and, one