The daily worker., 1930-05-06
By /. AMTER.
written in Jail.)

nF all the tasks confronting our Party and
" the coming Party convention, the most i'm
portant is building the Trade Union Unity
League. This is not a mere reiteration of the
decision of the Comintern, but is based upon
the actual conditions and the needs of the work
ing class and the struggle
We are in the third period of postwar capi-
talism that is the period of the breakdown
of the precarous stabilization of capitalism
the period of its breakup. This is not an
automatic process, but is based upon the con-
ditions of economic production and distribution
and the will and power of the workers to fight
in an organized manner. Without this latter
fact, capitalism will decay-it will adopt other
forms of ruling, but it will continue to hold
power 1t will mean pauperization of the
working class-the introduction of new form
of feudalism.
No worker understanding the present period
will question the possibility, necessity and will
ingness of the workers to struggle-except
Green, Lovestone. Thomas ONeal Gitlow, the
Trotskyites and Woll.
Not Sufficient To Talk Struggle"
But it is not sufficient to say that it is pos
sble to struggle-that the conditions demand
struggle-that the wage slashes and unem-
ployment demand struggle. The workers must
be enabled not merely to show rebellion-they
must be organized to make the flight.
There is sentiment in the Party and among
the revolutionary workers that in this period
of imperalist wars-and every intelligent
worker knows they are here and an interna-
tional blood-bath has been prepared in London
by the naval disarmament" conference-it is
unnecessary to do more than engage in wide
spread propaganda and fill the workers minds
with hatred of the system and will to fight.
Even more-that in view of the fact that gi-
gantic imperiaist slaughter is coming, we
should not bother about such slogans and is
sues as the 7-hour day and 5-day week. fight
against speed-up, for unemployment insurance,
etc. The Proletarian Revolution will take care
of that-and our immediate task, these COM
rades think, is preparation through propaganda
of the workers for turning the coming imper-
ialist war into civil of the workers and
| poor farmers against the capitalists.
There is the other attitude among Party
| members and revolutionary workers that in
| this period of economic crisis, the workers are
| afraid of losing their jobs and therefore, al
| though resenting it, will accept worsening of
! conditions. This opinion is very close to that
| of the socal-democrats, Lovestoneites and
| Trotskyites. These comrades still do not rec
| ognize the significance of March and of the
! May Day strikes and demonstrations. They
| project their own unwillingness to struggle
and sacrifice into the minds of the workers.
| Such an attitude is dangerous to the Party and
| to the working class and must be mercilessly
| combatted. 1t is democracy. 1t is the
| attitude of the skilled craftsman who cannot
| see the objective conditions surrounding the
! working class as a whole. 1t is the position of
the potential renegade.
The Workers Fight Back.
The workers will struggle, Witness the
| strike of the wool workers of Amoskeag N. H.,
| the steel workers of Indianapolis, the strikes
IL,
Elizabethton, New Orleans. The workers will
struggle and they must be given the proper
forms, slogans, leadership.
Can the Party discard the slogans of imme-
diate demands and use only those of the Prole-
| tartan Revolution? To do so would mean to
| isolate ourselves from the masses. 1t would
appear to be cleft" position, ultra revolution
ary point of view, but in reality is oppor-
| tunst position for it condemns the Party to
! mere propaganda.
The PrOletarian Revolution does not come of
| itself. 1t comes through the struggle of the
| workers against the increased pressure placed
| upon them by the capitalist class and capi-
tast government. through wage cuts, in
! creased hours. intensified speed-up, unemploy-
ment, etc This struggle in this stage takes
! on a political form Witness the cooperation
| and leadership of the U. S. Department of
! Labor against the Independent Shoe Workers
| Union of New York; of the state government
| of New York cooperating with the cloak and
| dress manufacturers together with Sigman and
Schlesinger Of the International Ladies' Gar
ment Workers union against the workers. Wit
ness the struggle in the South, with the state
and county authorities themselves and with
the fascist Ku Klux klan and other organza-
tions that they have sponsored, in open fight
| with the bosses against the workers.
| DESPITE all forces against them, the workers
| will fight-even they are fighting under
| far harler conditions in some countries of
Europe-wool workers in England, railway and
textile workers in India etc.
| Recognizing this willingness TO fight. the
| American Federation of Labor has made
skilful maneuver. The A. F. of l.. is against
struggle, the leadership having taken an open
| fascist stand with the bosses against the work.