The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-06-07
BY WILLIAM ALBERTSON

The manner In which the workers for the last
year have been withstanding the attacks of
. the police and the fascist eXtra-legal forces
of the capitalist state brings before the Party
problem about which there has been plenty
Of talk with very little deeds. The Gastonia
strike, New Orleans, Marion, Southern Illinois,
and many of the smaller struggles which have
taken place within the last year; the prepar-
atory demonstrations before March 6, March
itself, then May LIST, in many districts, have
been high points of militancy and actual street
fighting which the Party has not given Or
ganizational form. The workers. by means of
these many important class battles, have shown
both to the capitalist class and the Party that
they are willing to struggle, and what is more,
that they are determined to defend themselves
against the onslaughts of the bosses legal and
extra-legal forces. The Party agitates for
workers Defense Corps" and organizes but
little. The fact that our Party has not utilized
these battles as high points around which to
organize the defense corps, shows that even
today regardless of our resolutions, the radical
ization and militancy of the working class is
still underestimated 1t is true that plans in
some of the districts for the organization of
Workers Defense Corps were worked out, but
these plans have remained either on paper or
were made the essence of agitation speeches
for our Party members and the workers at
district membership and mass meetings. AS
result, today, one year after the workers in
Gastonia defended themselves with arms,
where in the United States do we have an or
gained defense corps, not even the necessary
organzational forms have been laid for the
building of this important mass organization
This has been due to many reasons.
What Defense Corps Are Not.
Our underestimation Of the desire of the
10
is part and parcel of the underestimation Ct
the rehabilitation of the workers. this has been
one of the chief reasons for the fact that today
we have no defense corps. Another important
factor is the lack of directives from the Cen
trail Committee which resulted in misconcer.
tions as to how the crops should be organized,
where should be its basis of organization,
whether or not it was military organizatio
what should the daily activities of the Col.
members be, etc., etc Some of the comra
in New York stated that eve have the L2tor
Sports Union, why organize separate ORG
ization?" Other comrades expressed them
selves thus, "At last we are building the Amel.
lean Red Front" and some went lar
as the Red Army. Because of the fact that
worker had effectively used jui-juitsu in the
New York Haitian demonstration before City
Hall, certain comrades felt that that was all
that necessary for the defense corps to
know These and more problems and mis-
conceptions faced the Party members and the
non-Party workers who joined the New York
corps, and the leaders of the defense corps had
a tough time to explain the problems and to
eradicate these and other misconceptions.
The Party should utilize the month of June,
the first anniversary of the defense of the
w. 1. R. Gastonia tent colony by the strikin,,
Southern textile workers, for real beginnir;
in laying the necessary organizational basis &c.
the building of this most important mass or
ganization. The Central Organization Depalt
ment must take the time to work out the dire2
tives how to organize Workers Defense
Corps, and an organized discussion on wha
are Workers Defense Corps. If this is nc
done Immediately, will fall into the sam,
| danger that we did before; that is, befor
March we were building them for the c
after the 6 we rested while and then begar
building them for May /, and efter the l W.
are still resting. Unless the work is started
Immediately, we will soon find ourselves build
ing them for Anti-War Day on August l with