The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-04-22

group and the syndlcalst "lndustrlallstl
group thrived on this pettybourgeois swamp,
the latter spread its influence also to the Fin
nish organization of the Workers (Commu-
nist) Party and pushed its members to the
right This was mostly to be seen in two
main spheres: in the life of the Finnish work
ers' societies and in the co-operatlves
1. The Finnish workers societies, which
from the very first occupied central position
in general among the small section lat present
about 100000 persons), Finnish immigrants IN
the United States were, by their character.
cultural political clubs for workers, which
owned total of over $50 peoples houses, with
their libraries newspapers, publishing centers,
dramatic circles, choruses, orchestras, sport
circles, youth and women sections, etc. On the
one hand, it must be admitted, all this spoke
for the considerable organizational capabilities
of the Finnish comrades, but, on the other
hand, it was also proof of their extremely
weak capacity for freeing themselves from
their national limitations and exclusveness and
for merging with their American environment.
The achievement of outer organizational re-
suits, such as the enrolment into the workers
societies of new members the collection OF
funds and the distribution of newspapers, de-
veloped into the predominatingly chief aim
1.-THE same as, in recent years, was the case,
in the Swedish Communist Party, much
so, that along with it, the political and gen.
eral theological content of the organizational
activities became matter totally alien to them,
and received from them no serious attention
or regular consideration. Of course the CEN
trail slogan of these mass organizations was
"the class struggle" but actual participation
in working class conflicts (the Sacco-Vanzetti
campaign, election campaigns) became ever
4l,o,,. oafx
Perhaps the best side of the activities of these
mass organizations has been the collection of
funds for such purposes as famine relief in
Soviet Russia, legal assistance to the leaders
of the Communist Party arrested in Michigan,
support for the Finnish revolutionary Labor
Party" and the DAILY Worker" and, lately,
the support of the strikers of Gastonia. How
ever, even the raising of funds had for its pur-
pose only the maintenance and the covering of
expenses of these same peoples houses and
"clubs," and this was done by arranging dances
and other empty, and often harmful, amuse-
ments.
The reorganization, which, in connection
with the general reorganization of the Party
the leadership of the Communist Party carried
out in 1926 also in the Finnish organizations,
was unquestionably necessary and organiza-
tiondlly correct measure. But in preparation
for this important orgdnizdtiOndI change, the
leadership of the Party made no attempt to
conduct any kind of deep political, truly Boil
shevk, educational work VIII <ever. The Fin
nish mass organization was formally converted
into a club of Finnish workers standing out
side the Party, and only about one-fifth of
its membership (out of 5000, about 1,500) re-
manned members of the Communist Party, of
its general nuclei, and its fractions inside the
Finnish mass organization. At the same time,
in the absence of political preparation there
unquestionably remained outside of the Party
organizations a considerable number of prole-
tarians who could have developed even into
better Communists than many of the old func.
tionaries in the labor movement who at that
time remained in the Party, but who had not
the courage to get rid of their old theological
ballast. True enough, its organization had
gotten rid of some of the opportunists who op-
posed the reorganization (Alanne, Askel and,
later, Boman, Laitinen and Nelson), and thus
averted the threatening split. The newspapers
were brought under more direct influence of
the leadership Of the Party, as the result of
which great change for the better has been
effected in their editorial work. But no new
life and new content have been given to the
activities of the organization: the party nu-
clci and fractions to this day still fail to carry
on lively work, and the life of the club or
CARNATIONS has become even more empty and
petty bourgeois in character. Federation sep
aratism of the Firms in the Communist move
ment of America is still far from having van
ished.
One of the reasons why the reorganization
was not better success was undoubtedly the
fact that many years of fierce and largely un-