The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-02-13
By LEON PLATT.

THE Communist Party has only begun to un-
derstand how to utilize municipal elections
in the struggle against capitalism and how to
combine the immediate problems facing the
workers on local scale with the revolutionary
program of our Party. In the municipal cleo
tons that took place in II states, the Party put
up the candidates and a program only IN IA
cities. This in itself shows how little our Party
has done in order to reach the masses OF work
ers during elections.
Political Background of the Municipal
Elections
A very outstanding characteristic of the
position of the capitalist parties in last years
municipal elections is the fact that the two
official parties of American capitalism-the
Republican and Democratic Parties-were
widely split and permeated with internal dis
sention and strife. Certain cities where the
Republican Party was in power in the munl-
cipal elections, the Republicans were split into
three factions. This occurred in Philadelphia,
Pittsburgh Chicago and other cities. In a
number of larger cities the Republican Party
lost control of the city council which they
maintained for years. Another characteristic
point for the workers to note is the fact that
in the last municipal elections, neither of the
caritalist narties raised the slogan of 'pros-
perity' and the "full dinner pail The issues
around which they tried to gain mass support
were: "honest government" "clean govern
ment against corrupt government "a vote for
the peoples ticket" We therefore find that
in number of cities, such groups and parties
were organized to put up their candidates in
the elections under the name of independent
Republicans" Square Deal Party Honest
Government Party" ETC. We also find that in
a number of cities like San Francisco, the CAPT.
taist parties did not enter the elections Off
cialy. There the scheme was to have mon
partisan elections, where the candidates with
the exception of the Communist Party ran as
individuals not as representatives of any poll
teal party.
The splits in the state and local Republican
Parties was reflection of the general crisis
which at present prevails in the Republican
Party nationally, as best expressed in the
struggle in the Senate around the tariff ques-
ton This crisis in the Republican Party has
its basis in the present economic crisis In the
United States and its effect upon American
capitalism.
The non-partisan elections or the "Honest
Government Against Corruption" slogans were
raised by the big bourgeoise themselves for
the sole purpose of misleading the masses and
covering up the craft and corruption that ex-
lists in the boss-controlled government.
These splits and struggles in the Republican
Party not only represents conflict between
the petty bourgeoisie and large capital, but it
also represents in the main, a struggle be-
tween various sections of large capital itself,
fighting for machine control. 1t is also true
that the liberal and petty bourgeois elements,
smarting under the heel of trustified capital
were modified under the "Honest Government"
parties, the independent Republicans where
the Socialist Party was not in the field, as a