The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-06-21

FOR OFFENSIVE STRATEGY

the form Of surrendering the strategic line of
the Party in mass organizations (Ukrainian
Toilers. Polish I. L. D., Bridgeport), or in the
form OF failing to prepare the workers for the
continuation of their struggles (Blumenthal
strike, Bridgeport Ludlow textile strike, U. S.
Rubber lockout Underwood strike, Hartford),
lead to isolation from the masses.
Revolutionary Initiative.
Revolutionary initiative of district and local
Party committees as well as of individual
comrades, is an outstanding problem of our
Party. The enormous size and uneven develop
ment Of the crisis in the United States requires
the greatest possible initiative on the part of
the comrades. Too often we see the failure to
carry out the political directives of the Central
Committee in important industrial sections due
to the lack of initiative on the part of leading
comrades.
The failure of the district committees in the
Pennsylvania Ohio steel and coal regions as
well as in the rubber industry (Akron) to mi
tate struggle for immediate demands since
the beginning of the crisis Except in the
Youngstown section), is a clear example of
this. Likewise this failure of the District Com
mittees in New England Mass, Conn., to util-
ize the despair of thousands of workingclass
families in the decaying textile regions for the
development of political struggles Gree rent,
immediate relief no evictions, etc..
Particularly important is the development of
revolutionary initiative in the one industry
company towns, Hardly any metropolis shows
the class lines so sharply as these company
towns where the interrelation of economic
political and social forces in the struggles are
daily exposed.
Our District has organized and engaged in
fOr or
political demands against wage cut, against,
speed-up, for more wages against the terror,
etc. in the metal and textile towns. But the
failure to develop sufficient initiative on the
part of the local comrades often resulted in
entering the struggles from the "outside."
Such leadership often fails to win the conf
dence of workers evolved in the fight. An
other dangerous system is the reliance on colo
nization," frequent rushing of flying squa-
drons to strikes and demonstrations in small
towns, and the monopoly of publishing shop
bulletins in the District Office with few ex-
ceptions). This reliance on the colonizers or
on special distributors is likely to develop even
in the daily activities of the local comrades a
tendency of breeding instead of destroying op-
portunism.
Tactics Must Fit Tempo
Our tactics must be adopted to the tempo of
ueVeIOpmenI OF tne economic cflSlS. OnemplOy-
ployment, for instance, is steadily increasing in
New England for the last 16 months This
particular steady growth here is due to the
aforesaid decay of the textile industry (due to
the international crisis of the industry and to
its moving to the "cheap" South. An almost
steady decline is also noticeable a the brass
and light-metal industry. This fact alone war
rants strong well-organized unemployment
campaign to be conducted by the Party and the
T.U.U.L., more so than in some of the heavy
industries, where although the effects of the
crisis are sharper, a slight and temporary re-
covery noticeable in the months of Febru
airy and March. Also, the development and
background of organized struggles is an impor
tant factor in determining the tactics In the
South, where the development of rationaliza-
ton and mass production is more rapid with its
drastic "stretch-out" systems results in q much
faster growth of militancy of the workers than
the relatively slower industrial adjustment" of
the North. In the former aggressive mass ac-
lions can much sooner be organized
Political Developments Uneven
The political developments are equally I'M
even in their course. The effects of the tariff
bill are very acute in New England, which has
been one of the most important exporting Sec
lions of American manufacture. The democra-
VIZ party Is dlreduy making neaQWay IN tne
"wettest" state on this issue, linking up the
prohibition and tariff issues with unemploy-
ment. 1t is evident, too, that the socialist
party, discredited as it may be in Connecticut,
will play once more an important role in the
coming elections. The situation imposes addi-
tional tasks upon cur Party in the coming cleo
ton campaign.
The tactics of our Party are, a rule, too
stereotyped. Demonstrations developed into
system particularly in our DISTRICT. A strong
opportunist tendency developed to substitute
everyday revolutionary organizational work
with occasional distribution of leaflets. This
reliance on the spontaneity of the masses often
results in failures Hartford anti-lynching),
or defeats (New Britain, May y with retardng
effect upon further advance in the struggles.
An offensive strategy for our Party today
means neither putchism, nor head-on-collison
struggles. 1t means careful, thorough organ
ization of the Party, and under its leadership
the revolutionary unions, the left wing in the
A. F. of L., the workers in the cultural and
socia[mass organizations, and the entire Ameri-
lean working class for a struggle to advance,
step by step, but in revolutionary direction.