The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-10-10
Shop Papers and the Elections

that, compared with less than so
papers during the whole of 1927,
over IS shop, neighborhood and
tenement papers were issued in the
Berlin district alone during May,
the election month.
Under all this special stimulus,
it is no wonder that much credit is
being given the shop papers. An
article in "Funke," June, 1928, page
T. comparing the election results of
the Communist Party with the So
cialist party in the Berlin district,
saws; at is noteworthy that we OBJ
tanned the greatest number of votes,
even compared with the socialist
party, in the proletarian districts,
which means that our increase in
votes came primarily from the work
ing class. whereas the increase of
the social democrats came much
more strongly than ours from petty
bourgeois elements"
Froehlich says; "The brilliant
election results in Berlin are due
primarily to the work of our fac
tory nuclei and their papers. They
are ore of the most important wea-
pons for gaining the leadership of
the working class in their economic
and political struggles" ("Funke,"
July, 1928, page 4.)
Important Gains.
And Hans Pfeiffer, making a
critical ANALYSIS of the election re-
suits ("Frnke," June. 1923, mage 81
says; Whoever believes that the
results of the Party in The election
campaign are due to the four or
five Sundays devoted to the house
to house agitation which the Party
conducted during the campaign. is
mistaken. Of course. they contrib
uted to the success. but it's basis was
primarily the constant influencing
If the workers in the factories them
selves"
The effect of any intensive work
in connection with any Party cam
paign is always mutual-the cam
naign is always greatly helped. and
that aspect of work ALWAYS receives
Z tremendous stimulus. In addition
to the contribution the shop papers
made to the excellent election re-
suits, the stimulus which the shop
paper work itself received was i'm
mediatelv evident.
AS in the case of our own Party,
~'"Hh was lost by not continuing
after the elections, and the "Funke"
is full of warnings not to allow the
enlerdid start to he frittered away
hy neglect and Lapse of interest.
But much was saved in the way of
Yew permanentlv-establiehed papers.
n convincing doubting Thomases in
the factories of the value and need
and possibility of issuing papers,
and in the experiments in new de-
partures. such as the neighborhood
and tenant papers.
Lessons for u. S. Party.
That we can learn much from the
German comrades in how to conduct
an election campaign in general it is
not necessary to mention. Espe-
cially necessary, however, is it for
Us to learn from their successful ex-
periences in work close to the
masses, work in the factories them
selves, the patient plodding work
of the factory nucleus. and the al
most unlimited possibilities Of reach
ing the real proletarian worker
through the shop paper
Our own work in shop papers is
ouantitatively on such low level,
our. own membership understands so
little the necessity and the posi-
bilitv of this very important means
Of blazing trail to the masses, our
own functionaries do so little to help
and stimulate work! We can learn
much from the experience of our
German comrades. We can begin
right now to lay the foundations for
occurring the same successes in the