The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-11-30
|BrOOkWoOd : Is
It Communist?
By BERTRAM D. WOLFE.


cracy of the American Federation of
Labor. The usual charge that is
levelled by Vol and Green against
everything they attack has been lev
elled against Brookwood Labor Col
lege, the charge of "Bolshevism."
Some workers may be misled by this
into believing that Brookwood La
Dor College is Communist institu-
ton, or at least one which bases it
self on a clear class struggle pro-
gram. This would be just as enron
eous as to believe that John Haynes
Holmes or Jane Adams or the
League for Industrial Democracy are
Bolshevik, just because the D. A. r.
labelled them so.
The Executive Council of the A. F.
of L* has pretty we'll choked out of
existence the Workers Education
Bureau, yet no one would charge
that organization with being tinged
with Communist leanings or class
struggle character. Brookwood also
falls under the ban.
Brookwood Anti-W Working Class.
Yet Brookwood has repeatedly
d made common cause with the trade
union bureaucracy against the work
ing class. Thus, we have the ex-
ample Of A. J. Music, director of
the institution, trying to establish
the supremacy of the y. T. W. in
New Bedford after it had betrayed
the New Bedford strike. We have
the example of this same gentle
mans actions to stifle discussion at
the Youth Conference called by
Brookwood, when the viewpoint of
the revolutionary youth was put for
ward in the form of resolutions for
adoption and when genuine efforts
were made to have some results in
the organization of the morgan
lied youth on a class basis come out
of the conference.
What Brookwood Teaches.
AS to what is taught in Brook
wood, my experience with students
who have graduated from the insti-
tuition and my study of the schools
outlines lead me to the following
conclusions:
1.-The teaching is such that it
leads the students to see two sides
of a question. even if it has only
one.
2.-The teachings of the school
tend to have paralyzlng effect
upon the fighting will of the left
wing workers who have gone there.
3.-The "inquiring mind" which,
within the limits of investigation for
the sake of effective action, is a
good thing, is developed in such
form that the graduates tend to con-
| tinue inquiring when action is nee
essary and becomes permanent
feeble question marks.
4.-Much material on the labor
movement from bourgeois academic
sources is used uncritically.
5.-The inquiring spirit is especi-
ally applied to the life and death
question of class struggle or class
collaboration. The B. and 0. Plan,
the general theory of worker-man-
agement cooperation, etc, receive
philosophic Investigations FIR m
which no conclusion is derived, or
the conclusion is that maybe this
is a way out"
GA point of view that in tech
nical language might be called
, trade union ideology'' is system
atically fostered. Trade union
theology is the breeding ground of
, reformism and of non-revolution-
airy viewpoint, and an obstacle to
political (class) theological .devel-
: opment unless it is definitely out
grown. For most Brookwood gradu-
, ates, however, the dose seems fatal.
Teaching Liberal, Petty Bourgeois.
THE view of the liberal, which
: is petty bourgeois in its roots, per-
! vades the schools teachings rather
! than the viewpoint of the revolution
list, which is proletarian in its roots.
Liberal theology is often in form to
: the cleft" of the official viewpoint
of the bureaucracy of the A. F. of
: L., which tends to take its stand
. on the platform of big business and
the extreme reaction in America.
Thus, liberals often advocate the
recognition of the Soviet Union, but
Green and Woll are more anti-Sov-
let Union in their utterances than
the chamber of commerce or the
bankers of the Federal Reserve Sys-
tenn.
1t is not my purpose to go at any
length into the characteristics of
Brookwood education" Sufficient
to say that if A. J. Music succeeds
in getting new trial from William
Green, and he wants to call in ex-
pert testimony, we will be glad to
make affidavit that Brookwood is in
no sense a Communist, institution.
icOrich Norro HorO