The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-06-20
By A. MARKOFF.

THE agitprop work in our Party may be
divided into two main groups:
1. Mass agitation and propaganda, which
includes propaganda in the shops, mills, fac
tories, mines, ETC., by means of leaflets, fac
tory papers, factory gate meetings, open air
street meetings, mass meetings in halls,
pamphlets, and Party press, and individual
agitation and propaganda carried on by every
Party member in the factories and mass or
CARNATIONS.
2. Education of our own members in the
theory and practice of Marxism-Leninism.
This is accomplished in three ways:
(a) Through the Party schools by organ
izing classes full time training courses, study
circles, special lectures, forums, etc.
(b) Through discussions of various Party
campaigns, issues, manifestos, theses, ETC., at
the meetings of the units, shop nuclei, Sec
tons, etc.
(c) The most important method is active
participation in the political campaigns of the
Party.
1t is with the second division of our agit-
prop work that / deal with mainly in this
article.
Raising the Political Level of Our Membership
Due to the growing crisis of capitalism IN
the United States, with its tremendous I'M
employment, the struggles of the masses of
tionalization, ETC., are becoming sharper and
assume greater and greater dimensions. The
open support of the imperalist forces by the
fascist A. F. of L. bureaucracy, the class col
laberation policy of the social fascist socialist
party and Music group, make the workers IN
the United States realize that the Commu-
mist Party is the only leader of the workers
in their struggles 1t is up to our Party then
to supply this leadership, to organize the
unemployed workers in their fight for work
or wages, etc. This requires an army of ca
pable functionaries to lead the workers in
their struggles.
This problem, the problem of creating new
cadres of functonaries, of developing new
leading forces, is the most important problem
before the Party at the present time, and must
receive immediate consideration The lack of
members in the Party who are trained in the
theory of Lennism, is in my opinion one of
the chief contributing causes to the "dispro-
portion between the Party influence and weak
ness in organization" (thesis and resolutions
for 7th Convention of the C.P.U.S.A.). This
gap must be brdged over, and as quickly as
possible
The training of our members, new and old,
is the first step.
The most effective and direct training is
actual participation in the struggles of the
workers (strikes, demonstrations, work in the
labor unions, etc., but also sound theoreti-
cal training is essential for the development
of leading cadres.
1t is especially in the present period, the
period of world proletarian revolution, that
we must understand Marxism, and know how
to apply the MARKHAM method to our tasks. In
other words we must know and understand
Leninism, for Leninism is the continuation
and further development of Marxism under
the conditions imposed by the epoch of i'm
perialsm, and the development of socialist
revolutions.
The Central Committee of our Party has
already outlined number of steps to be
taken in connection with the training of our
members. The resolution on keeping New
Members" should be put into immediate prac-
tice by all units sections and districts. This
resolution should help to break down the non
feminist attitude which manifested itself from
time to time in some units in New York, where
theoretical training was looked upon as in
tellectualism, where comrades active in this
work were referred to as intellectuals who
are not doing real Party work. This is due
perhaps to the fact that the Party as whole
failed to emphasize the Importance of Marxist
c~i-ist education, and the role of the Work
srs School and its branches in this activity.
Inc resolution on Keeping New Members
is therefore a healthy sign.
But even at this time, the Party has failed
to give sufficient recognition to the Workers
School, Not one reference to the school is
made in the Thesis and Resolutions This, in
my opinion, is a shortcoming, an underestima-
ton of the role that the Workers School plays
in our Agtprop work.
Hundreds of Party members and workers
outside of the Party who have received in
struction in the Workers School, appreciate
it's importance, but there are still a number