The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-04-18
THE PRE-CONVENTION
DISCUSSION

ces in Sanic before the police mobilization.
Of this we saw some symptoms in New York,
and we probably can find it in other places.
It is one of the forms of the underestimaton
of rehabilitation, of the lack of understanding
of the necessity and of the possibility of mob
ilizing the masses and of the strength that
this gives US.
In some of the language organizations we
have regular swamp of opportunism in prac-
tice. We have a whole system of petty bour-
geois theology built up round the cooperatives
and fraternal societies and other little special
language activities which are used to build up
a wall between the language workers and the
general movement and the Party. We have
strong nationalist tendencies in many of our
language groups, papers and bureaus.
| must say word about one of the latest
developments of opportunism which presents
itself more or less in the form of theorizing
and that is the question that has arisen in the
course of the unemployment movement as to
whether we should set ourselves the task of
feeding the unemployed.
The Polburo has taken firm stand against
this proposal that the Communist movement
and revolutionary trade unions become the
base of soup kitchen work We have set our
selves firmly against the idea that it is our
task to 60 out and feed the seven million I'M
employed or sections of them. On the con-
trary, our task is to organize the struggle to
force capitalism to feed them In this respect
we have had resistance from some of the COM
rades, from some very important comrades,
who think the Polburo is wrong in this respect
and resist the Polburo line l don't mean that
they go out and feed the unemployed but they
appeal against decision and very in
sstent that must set ourselves the task Of
IL
employed. They make a concession to the
Polburo, saying that we will not feed the whole
seven million, that we shall feed only three
categories, those unemployed who have families
of more than eight persons, workers who have
been unemployed more than one year and ex-
pectant mothers.
Of course one can only admire the kindness
of heart of those who cannot bear to see the
sufferings of the eXpectant mothers, of the
families of eight, and those who have been out
of work for a year, but with all these qualifica-
tions, comrades, we do not see where the prin-
ciple of the thing has been changed bit. We
do not see where there is the element of the
class struggle in this. We do not see why we
should relieve the capitalist class by setting
ourselves the task of feeding the unemployed
or any special categories of the unemployed.
The preachers can compete with US and can
beat US in this game. We do not want to enter
this kind of competition. This idea that we
must get into the soup kitchen game is one
of the clearest expressions of opportunism in
our movement.
There is another side of opportunism that
shows itself in the development of "leftist'
tendencies which seem left but which are op-
portunistic. We still have manifestations of
"leftism" not expressed in any particular in
dividual but affecting the whole activity of
the movement.
ITO Be Continued)