The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-11-12
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Who Are Comrades?
BY JORGE

matter that needs lot of drilling to penetrate
the heads of some Party members: In part ne
says:
quite recently, I happened to learn, through
discussions with several C.P. members, an opinion
that would be Mortified to think is, perhaps, a
prevalent one. I was told that worker who
does not belong to the C.P. is not comrade.
should not be called So. and is indirectly
ounter-revolutonary.
"a worker may, then, vote Communist, DEM
onstrate, support the movement, and yet be call
ed a counter revolutionary. The word COM
rade" them becomes title applicable only to
members of the Communist Party"
The worker, the comrade-I wish to specifical-
" point out-goes on to argue very effectively
against such viewpoint. And we want to add
right here that he is correct in two ways. First.
that this stupid, sectarian and non-Communist
viewpoint is much too prevalent in our Party;
and secondly, that it is such Party members
who are counter revolutionary" rather than
the non-Party workers to whom they apply such
terms
Communist Snobbery.
1t is downright Communist snobbery," SO
termed by Lenin, and is responsible in no little
measure for the organizatonal weakness of the
Party If some fools think that they can compel
workers sympathetic to our Party to join by
such kind of blackmail or theological blackjack
ing. they are looney
Such Snobbishness is clearly petty bourgeois
tendency, which does not appreciate the fact
that the Party is part Of bone of the bone and
flesh of the flesh of the working class, though
of course the most advanced and conscious part.
Feeling a separation FROM distinction from
the working class rather than unity with it,
such snobbilsh Communists drive away SYM
pathetic workers from the Party with SUPER
cilious treatment.
If worker does not at once say yes" when
asked to join the Party, these wise fools give
him sheer and an inSult-Which is their bright
idea of how to attract workers to the Party
OF course, workers who really wish to help the
Party, can do SO better as members, and should
try to overcome obstacles which seemingly pre-
vent them giving the most help.
In the Central Committee Penum during Octo-
ber 1929, this matter was brought up and sharp
ly condemned. 1t was there stated that each
real Communist should have circle of SYM
pathizers around him or her; that for eery men,
ber the Party should have ten or a dozen SYM
pathizerS
A Problem of New Members
Otherwise, the problem of keeping new men,
bers can never be solved, because worker does
not exist in vacuum, but comes to the Party
in spite of the objections of various relatives,
friends and SO on, who have not yet felt the
she is faced with the problem of defending the
Party among these others.
To do so, many new members try to prove
their case by bringing their relatives, fellow
workers friends to the Party meetings But
here the wise guys leap at them with demand
that they join or get out of sight, new men,
ber filled with enthusiasm for the Party, sees
before his eyes that fellow worker who he in
yites to approach the Party, is insulted and
treated like counter-revolutionist just because
he does not yet understand the Party.
Coupled with the lack of elementary educa-
ton for new members, sometimes an inquisi-
tional attitude as if the duty of old members
is to "get something on new members, some
times lack of responsive comradeship to new
members whose warmth of feeling toward the
Party is doused in ice water of kind of CLIQUE
ism, this practice ruins all attempts to build
the Party.
The Evil of Cliqui-ism.
This clique-iSm, incidentally is most marked in
New York. A new member or an old one for
that matter. who is NOS. (not our set) is not
made to feel at home-no, not even as much
as If he or she would be if they had Joined
church where at least the preacher shakes hands
with the convert and the deacons all pat him
on the back and ooze hypocritical solicititudes
as to his welfare while they ask for offerings
Here we pretend to be above the warmth
OF comradeship shared by soldiers in the trench
es OF class war. Actually are below it, One
comrade, who lives in the same tenement with
another, is surprised and hurt that the other
doesn't seem to give damn if he lives or dies
When the other calls in few of the CLIQUE to
a pleasant evening. the first comrade can hear
the laughter and songs floating up to him in
the HAT above, but because he hasn't perhaps
been formally introduced" can but scorn such
comrades as being as indifferent to his fate
as the landlord-probably less concerned.
This, attitude may be unconscious but il ia
nonetheless damaging to our Party Each COM
rade should examine himself to see if he mr.
she has this vile disease
How about the 4,5oOOO0 German workers who
voted Communist asked our non-Party COM
rade. And the hundreds of thousands of Rus
sian workers who died defending the Revolution
WHO did not belong to the Communist Partya
Were they also counted-revoutionsts?
Decidedly not, contradict And Lenn inyariablv
addressed his speeches and articles to the nom
Party workers as comrades rre,..t
Let us judge workers by their actions. be ever
pauent with their backwardness, and invariably
comradely In our response to those who inspreJ
by the vision of q and fraternal world
stretch out hand however timidy and o,,es
tioningly, to our Party as the instrument Of ito
attainment.
Things may be all right in Brazil But thew
aren't II we guess what means the departure