The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-06-20
Agitprop Work in Our Party

of members in the Party who look upon the
school as an outside institution, as a sort of
an appendix to the Party.
The Party must bring sharply to the atten-
ton of the membership that the Workers
School, the central school of the Party, and it's
branches are an integral part of the appar-
atus of the Party, and an indispensable in
strument in our agitprop work.
Certain steps have already been takeus by
the c. c. in this direction, through the recent
decisions of the National Agtprop Committee
to strengthen the Workers School and put it
on functioning basis as a national school,
to build school in the South, to establish full
time district training schools this summer, to
run week end courses in all districts, to Or
ganize another national full time training
school in the Fall, to develop correspondence
courses, to carry on educational work in the
labor unions jointly with the T. u. U. L.
Discussions in the Units.
This second phase in the training of our
members is of tremendous value, but up to
the present time it has not been carried out
correctly, with the result that it has con-
tributed but very little to the development of
our comrades.
The following shortcomings are to be noted:
1. Mechanical separation of the discussions
in the units from the immediate tasks in our
work. The tendency has been to discuss our
campaigns, manfestos, theses, etc., separate
and apart from the immediate practical tasks
This is non-Leninist approach to the prob
lem, it makes the discussion too general and
abstract, and as was noticed during the re-
cent discussions of the Thesis, the Party men,
bers were unable to connect the Thesis with
the practical concrete tasks. In some units,
there was even resistance to the linking up
of the Thesis with the immediate problems.
"The Thesis should be discussed theoretical
ly," remarked comrade in one unit. Here
again we see how important it is for our men,
bers to be trained in Leninism for Leninism
does not permit separating of theory from
practice.
2. Little or no coordination between the
Agitprop Department and other departments
of the Party, such as Organization and In
dustrial Departments. This particularly ap-
plies to units, sections, and some districts.
Only through close coordination of the work
of the various departments can we achieve
success in our Party activities.
8. Weakness Of the Agitprop Apparatus.
In several districts of the Party, there is
no organized agitprop department In many
units and sections, comrades who occupy the
position of agitprop director, are not fit for
the Work, Wnlle III 0CnerS tnere are tendencies
of specialization. This must be corrected at
once. The agitprop committees must be
strengthened locally and nationally. The Ma
tional Agitprop Department must be aug
mented with a number of comrades exper-
fenced in agitprop work, who would serve as
agitprop instructors, to be sent by the c. E.
9. to various districts to aid the district in
building our agitprop apparatus. These COM
rades should make periodic visits to the dis
tricts to observe the agitprop work and re-
port to the National Agitprop Department.
The National Agitprop Department should
organize national conferences of all agtprop
directors, preferably at the time of GEO.
Plenum or Convention. This will coordinate
the agitprop work of the individual districts
In the units and some sections, two wrong
tendencies have been noticed from time to
time. Prior to the Party's policy of prole-
tarianizing the leading committees, the ten
dency was to relegate agitprop work to the
professional or intellectual stratum of the
units When an agtprop director had to be
chosen, dentist, physician, or lawyer or any
college bred individual was nominated for Of
flee. Why diploma to practice dentistry or
law should qualify one for agitprop director
is difficult to understand Subsequently when
the active process of proletarianizaton was
introduced, the tendency to go to the other
extreme, that is to eliminate comrades who
happen to be professionals from active and
responsible wtgk, even though the comrade
in question was long standing member in
the Party, politically developed, and capable
of rendering the Party good service. Both of
these tendencies are absolutely wrong and
must be corrected
A more detailed treatment of this subject
is impossible for lack of space in the press
My aim is to draw the attention Of all active
comrades to this important phase Of our ac-