The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-01-23
Can estimation of the first half of the Drive)

very favorable political situation. The
economic crisis and its consequence for the
working class-mass unemployment wage
cuts general wOrsening of the conditions OF
labor. general decrease of the workers stand
ard of hfe, deepening and widening OF the
rehabilitation of the masses-creates all poll
teal prerequisites for the rapid growth of the
political influence of the Party and strength
ening it organizatonally. The inner Party
situation-the liquidation of the factlonal light
of many years standing and the unification OF
the Party on the basis of the revolutionary
line of the Communist International-is an
other important factor enabling the Party to
transform itself into mass political Party,
closely connected with the working class.
The recruiting campaign so far (from De-
cember 10 to January 15) shows IN general
satisfactory results, in some instances a real
good progress. The Party has successfully
followed up its first appeal to the American
working masses after receipt of the Address
from the Cominten and after liquidation of
factionaism in the Party. The Membership
Drive is a test for the Party and with the
industrial districts Except Pittsburgh leading
in the campaign, the Party has shown up to
date that it is standing its test. Not only that
close to 1000 new members have been brought
into the Party, but the social composition of
these new members is overwhelmingly proe-
tartan. largely factory workers. The Recruit
ing Drive means already new fresh wind in
the inner political life of the Party, and If the
last weeks of the drive will be still intensi-
fed there is no doubt that this drive for
strengthening the Party completely will be
successful
In spite of all this, there have sbeen many
shortcomings, both in leadership and in prac-
teal work.
l. The drive has not been carried on as
general political task of the whole Party, 1t
has been looked upon too much as technical
task of the Organization Departments Of the
Party. There is insufficient political life in
our Party units-and we lack most of all, espe-
cially in our few shop nuclei, political initiative
Consequently, our units have met great diff
culties in their attempts to combine the general
political slogans of the drive with important
local issues to connect the drive with other
drives of the Party at present and with a gen.
era Strengthening of our mass work. The
Recruiting Drive should have been connected
with the struggle against the results of the
crisis: unemployment, wage cuts, worsenlng of
working conditions and with the struggles of
the Party against social reformism, against
the opportunist renegades and, most important
of all, against the war danger.
Only in Detroit district has the Party 'been
able successfully to connect the membership
drive with the unemployed campaign. The Par
ty failed to combine the membership drive with
the very important and by our Party neglected
anti-war campaign, especially in connecting
the drive with more anti-militarist activity
among the soldiers and sailors. On the ques-
ton of taking part and leading the struggles
of the Negro workers, the drive showed real
IS oo.l,r
members so far recruited 400 comrades are
Negroes e., 209o of the recruited new men,
bers This is progress for our Party, in spite
of the fact that these results were achieved
with only three or four of our districts really
active in recruiting Negro workers.
Also, the main organ of our Party, the Daily
Worker, has not by any means sufficiently
succeeded in combining the drive with other
political campaigns of the Party and with the
daily struggles of the workers, in spite of spe-
cal criticisms from the Organization Depart
ment.
9 Revolutionary self-critcism: so far we
have failed to draw our membership into active
self-critcism during the drive. Self-criticism
is the basis for revolutionary competition. We
have not been able to carry out and lead the
revolutionary competition to such an extent as
planned in the outline for the drive by the
Central Committee Instead of that, we have
had an empty Dragging by raising quota" but
not single district living up to them. This
proyes that we still have tendencies of "oppor
tunism in practice;" that we have not yet sue
ceeded completely in breaking with the old
methods in our Party of accepting decisions
and not carrying them out, which has led to
careless attitude in general towards Party de-
cisions This again leads to a passive men,
bership--wth most of the members inactive
and only few members carrying out regular
Party work, mostly functionaries, the old social
democratic dualism in organization. This
is one of the reasons for the weaknesses in
our drive, and every District Committee, Sec
ton Committee and unit must take decisive
steps to liquidate it.
g. This cannot be overcome through routine
actvity-letter activity-leadership by circular
letters. This old bureaucratic method has for
years hampered our Party in its development,
and must be supplanted by direct, political
leadership through personal contact, through
personal instructions, beginning with the Sec
ton Committee and up to the Central Com
mittee.
A. Our Party has so far failed efficiently
70 control the carrying out of decisions, which
resulted in a great part of important decisions
remaining only on paper. There has been a
very weak system of reporting. The recruiting
drive has partly broken this tradition in our
Party, but far from completely. STILL even
district committees do not send in regular re-
ports on the drive and most of the section
committees in the Party fail in this matter.
regular system Of reporting must be estab-
lished in our Party from every individual men,