The daily worker., 1930-03-27
BY BILL DUNE.

THE greatest weakness of our Party at pre-
sent is its lack of capable forces-writers,
agitators, teachers, organizers-and especially
organizers. (Our Party also has as yet devel-
oped no outstanding theoreticians but 1t Is one
of the great contributions of the Communist
International founded by Lenin that its collec-
tive leadership eorrects and overcomes the
theoretical weaknesses of its sections)
The wide masses that have responded to our
campaign against unemployment, the huge
scope Of the demonstrations on March 6, the
enthusiastic reception being given our ltera-
Jure, the response to our speakers, the rapid
spread of the influence of the Trade Union
Unity League-all have shown more clearly
than ever before the speedy progress of the
rehabilitation process.
Cannot Now Supply Demand.
But this favorable situation-whch has
astounded and frightened the capitalists and
their government heads, as we'll as surprising
the doubling Thomases still in our ranks-is
calling sharply to our attention the fact that
we have not enough competent Party workers
to supply the demands made upon us by the
working class.
1t is not too much to say that in many in
dustries-especially the basic industries-steel
and metal, coal and metal mining, lumber, tex
tile, etc-thousands of workers are waiting
for organization and leadership that can be fur
nished only by our Party.
Where We Are Weakest.
Our worst weakness is in the field of trade
union work. 1t is in this field that the lack
Of trained organizers and leaders is perhaps
felt the worst Such is the weakness of forces
available for the major task of organizing the
millions of workers in revolutionary trade
unions-the basic instruments of working class
struggle-that we are unable to keep pace with
the masses.
One concrete instance:
In the Westinghouse plants in East Pitts
burgh and neighboring towns-employing be-
tween $4,000 and 10000 workers-there was a
big turnout for the March demonstration Many
workers left the shops for lunch taking their
street clothes with them-expecting a general
strike to be called.
Practically no organiZational work had been
done in these plants for months preceding
March 6-principally because of lack of forces.
ut is true, of course, that some comrades cover
up their underestimation of the extent of radi-
calization-which March proved again to be
nationwide and not confined to certain indus
tries, as the Lovestonetes claim-by complaints
about lack of forces)
But the Party as a whole is driving into
mass work and the failure of our Party now
to do more, or, as it is in many instances,
1Ofc6u TO scatter lUS acIlNlIeS IN specially 1aV-
orable, but on the whole, comparatively unim-
portant situations, rather than to conduct care
fully planned and well organized campaigns.
must be ascribed to the scarcity of capable
workers.
. Demands Have Multiplied.
1t is true that far greater results are Sc
cured now with the same amount of forces
than ever before. But the opportunities are
far greater and the demands made upon US by
the working class have multiplied many times
in the last year.
Another concrete instance:
In a number of fairly large cities several
thousand workers gathered around the city
halls and raised the unemployment slogans of
our Party without anything in the nature of
Communist leadership except our literature. In
at least one of these cities there was not even
Party unit.
As the Comintern has emphasized, Party
is out of the period when its main activity was
that of propaganda. For the first time it can
be said truthfully that masses of our class are
looking to us for leadership. The class strug-
gle does not wait If we cannot produce the
forces necessary then we will contribute to the
decentralization of many workers and make it
easier for their being misled and betrayed into
the morass of social fascism.
The Result in Two Industries
In the textile industry it is principally the
lack of forces which makes it possible for the
cleft wing" of the social fascsts-the Muste-
ites-to attract numbers of workers and sell
them to the bosses.
In Southern Illinois at present it is the
weakness of the forces of the National Min
ers Union, the scarcity of Communist trade
union organizers, which makes it possible for
the coal operators to begin offensive
shielded by the Howats, Brophys and Hapgoods
and Germers-working shoulder to shoulder
with the blackest social-fascst types under
the direct instructions of the Peabody Coal
Company
Drawn From the New Reservoir.
We must admit that long factional struggle
prevented the normal development of new
forces in our Party. That struggle is now his
tory but some of its heritages remain One
Of them is the slowness with which we have
drawn new proletarian elements into leader
Ship the slowness with which we are still GO
ing about the all-important task of selecting
and training new forces for mass work.
The recruiting campaign has supplied our