The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-01-23

to be understood further, that
diplomatic attitude toward the
leading bodies of the Party and
of the C. /. represents an even
worse offense against Communist
discipline than an outright breach
not a lesser one. Skillful maneuv-
ering on the battlefields of the
class struggle is an excellent thing
and constitutes an essential part
of feminist strategy; maneuver-
ing within the Party and the C.
l. not only means a waste of talent
on the part of the strategist, but
discloses that he considers the
Party as a battlefield of conflict
ing interests. This is diametrical-
ly opposite to the feminist concep-
ton of the Communist Party as a
monolithic bloc.
The most essential prerequisite
of constructive Party discussion
is that there be outspoken frank
ness, scrupulous honesty of critic
ism, without keeping anything in
the back of ones head. Careful
apportioning of criticism, be it for
the purpose of prospective bar
gaining, be it for the preserva-
ton of a ready-to-b break unity of
the faction, or for any other rea-
sons, constitutes striking ex-
ample of impermissible inner
Party diplomacy. This is exactly
what the opposition was guilty of
at the congress of the c. l., this
is what it's broken ranks try to re-
peat now.
4. Trying to explain away the
depletion of the ranks of the OPP
position, its new leadership re-
sorts to the time-honored method
of mud-slinging. "Well, he is
jumping on to Lovestone's band
wagon" is the usual contribution
toward raising the theological level
of the Party. In my case this
gag could not work for several
reasons. So another one was on
hand: "He is a Cannonite." This
seemed to be more promising, es-
pecially due to the fact that /
parted with the opposition in the
very moment when they were
shaking off Cannon, and exactly
in direct connection with this in
teresting procedure.
5. None the less, the shot mis-
sed. The short, matter-of-fact
statement of my position toward
Trotskyism and its American ex-
ponents has proven satisfactory
to the Gee, and was characterized
as a clean-cut one. For this rea-
son, it could not satisfy the new
leadership of the opposition, which
l felt forced to characterize in my
statement, according to my deep
est conviction, as being politically
dead.
So Comrade Bittelman could not
help insinuating again, at the New
York membership meeting of De-
cember 9th, that am, at least
to some extent, a Cannonite; adj
ding, with touch of condescen-
sion, that he is very glad to see
that | have not drifted away en-
.tirely from the Party toward Can
non, altho | am lin Comrade Bit
telman's opinion) very confused in
these matters. To this Comrade
Aronberg gently contributed the
information" that they (the OPP
position) have split with me on the
ground that l did not want to part
with Cannon and on the ground
of my criticism Of the c. l. which
they did not share. In corrobora-
ton of this, Comrade Aronberg
added emphatically---he has in his
pocket statement Of mine, and
/ had better be careful.
Comrade Aronberg's "informa-
tion about the Splitting" is not
true. They did not split with me
on me on any grounds. In fact,
they did not split with me at all.
1t was I who declared my with
drawal from the opposition, after
they decided t oexpel Cannon. I
believed then that he was expelled
without sufficient reasons and