The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-06-19
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
AGAINST RIGHT DANGER
By SAM DARCY.


over one year ago To date we have made con-
siderable advances in that struggle. But the
shortcomings in this phase of our work were
and still are so great that they have prevented
decisive defeat of fright" tendencies. At this
moment not in our trade union work alone,
but in many fields of our activities, opportunist
approach, methods of work, ETC., characterize
the activities of our Party organs.
This situation demands of the Party as
whole, and of the Party leadership especially,
a careful examination of its fight against OPP
portunism and such correction as is necessary
to make more effective the work of Bolsheviza-
ton.
The Roots of Opportunism.
We must put the question: IN the right
danger simply the problem of a few leaders
who have developed bureaucratic tendencies
and the Conservatism of officials" or is 1t the
failure to win large sections of our Party to
the correct line which flows from the COMM
tern analysis of the present historic moment?
ere it simply the problem of a few in
div @lual leaders, as some comrades claim, it
wo-l be a comparatively easy task to defeat
the right" But when opportunist tendencies
are militantly defended by whole or large sec
ticils of Party fractions las is the case in the
hce needle, printing, building industries, etc.,
o. when defeatist analysis and consequent OPP
'-v uhist tactics are proposed in many Party
units. then we must beware Of the superficial
a~-vyer that merely few leaders in mass
organizations have developed "office conserva-
tisn1' or bureaucratic hestancy and thus created
right tendencies.
For Example-The Shoe Workers Situation.
The fact is clear that we have not yet won
the entire Party membership to a complete I'M
Outstanding of our Party line and the conse-
ouences in the new tactics, new methods, ETC.,
which must be adopted in order to carry
through that line. Let US take for example
the situation which developed during the shoe
workers strike: The comrades there developed
the theory that the situation became difficult
for them because the union grew too fast. This
rapid growth, according to certain comrades,
provoked the attack of the bosses and the De-
partment of Labor. Had we moved slowly,
we could have avoided or at least have lessened
the attack. Out of this theory there naturally
followed an open and hidden resistance to the
main points of strategy in the Party line; the
rapid spread of the strike, concentration on big
Board of Trade shops, the demand for the 40
hour week, connection with the general poll
teal struggles, etc. Against the Party line
the comrades attempted to win few shops at
a time, not to call out others until the few
that were already out were settled, to make de-
mands which the bosses "were in position to
grant and which, according to them, "the
workers were willing to fight for" to elnin-
ate every trace of political character in the
struggle, ETC., etc. The organization of the
strike suited these wrong tactics. There were,
for example, no broad committees on a united
front basis in the shops for more rapid mobil-
ization than was possible with the existing
union machinery. This line was followed not
merely by few comrades at the top but was
aggressively championed by the entire Party
fraction.
What do such errors showf Inherent bad
nature of few leaders? Rather they show
that very many Of our comrades do not under
stand the nature Of our struggles in the pres
ent historic moment; the interests of big banks
and investment trusts in even small strikes and
the rapid mobilization of the state by the banks
against workers in struggle no matter how few.
They do not understand that every small strike
has the potentially for rapid transformation
into major political action of the working
class, and that our organization for strikes
must be such to give play for mobilization
Of elemental forces which in this period are
frequently unleashed in the struggle. They
do not understand that strike leadership at such
moment cannot be limited to pulling COM
mittees' from the union office. The comrades
above all do not realize the necessity for reach
ing the big shops and chain shops to which
basie production is rapidly shifting. And
ffualiy there isn't even a glimmer Of realiza-
with the major political issue means that the
bosses through the very introduction of the
state into the struggle have weapons which
We in the spirit of the A. F. of L. fail to use.
Destroy the Poisonous Roots.
We are citing these examples in order to
show that the basic source of these errors is
the failure of our comrades to understand
the character Of the present period and to
draw necessary corresponding conclusions as to
tactics.
If we examine the nature Of the fight that
we made against the fright" with facts such
as cited above in view, then we can see our
shortcomings much more clearly. Our fight
against opportunist tendencies was not con-
Quoted so as to undermine the basis for right
errors Instead of concentrating on the winning
of the membership to an understanding of the
analysis of the current historic moment which
was the basis for our tactics and crticsing
each right error from this angle, we tended
to treat every error by ITSELF
The result was superficiality and eclecticsm.
In the shoe workers situation, for example,
the nature of the Party position in the mind of
most workers is that if one was for the 40-hour
week then one was true to the working class,
but if one was for the 44-hour week then one
was right winger." Similarly if one was for
endorsing the c. P. in the election campaign
one was against the action possibly because
it was not prepared, then one was a right
winger. The reasons for these slogans and the
relation of these slogans to the entire program
and analysis was never made clear to them.