The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-01-11

subjected to individual Interpretation
and selection. If every communist
would be given the right to carry
out Party decisions only when he
sees fit to do so, if every Party
member would carry out only those
decisions he agrees with, then we
would not have a Communist Party.
The Party must be positive that
every member is going to carry out
all decisions and instructions given
to him, even if he does not agree
with them. Any violation of Party
discipline Lenin considered as an
act against the interests of the
Party, and in the interests of the
bourgeoisie.
"He who weakens, no matter
how little, the iron discipline Of
the party of the proletariat (es-
pecially during the period of die
tatorship) effectually helps the
bourgeoisie against the proleta-
riat."
CLenin-Infantile Sickness)
Lovestone's Conception of Party
Discipline.
Lovestone's theory of exceptional
lism concerning the economic and
political developments of American
capitalism is also being applied by
him to the organizational principles
Of the Communist Party. The Love
stone group took upon itself the
right to determine which decisions
of the Party and the Communist In
ternational should be accepted and
which are to be rejected and fought,
which decisions are in the interests
of the Party and which are not. A
real and sincere member of the
Communist Party subordinates what
ever personal opinions he has about
the decisions of the Party to the
collective judgment and decisions of
the majority of the party and the
Communist International-the en-
bodiment of the experience and
knowledge of the International revo-
lutionary movement.
To conceal his unprincipled fac
tionalism and open warfare against
the Comintern and its program,
Lovestone, like all other opportunists
of the past, parades as the "defen-
der" of Leninism, as the "savior"
of the Comintern and the American
Party. In one of his documents
Lovestone states:
"Every conscious communist,
everyone Who regards the defense
of Leninism as his highest duty,
UW necessarily refuse to alIow
formal discipline to stand in the
aoay of SAVING the Party. A cor
rect revolutionary policy is the
end to help carry through
1ohicb Party discipline is the
means. When the tWo conflict,
the means must be subordinated
to the end" (LoUestone-in the
document of Aug. 31st 1929
"Question of Party Disciplinary.
However, who is to judge if Len
inism is being revised if not the
Party membership and the Comm
tern? What unprincipled faction
alist will ever say that he is not
fighting for Leninism or against the
interests of the Party? What crimes
did not the opportunists commit in
the name of saving Marxism and
Leninism. Bernstein revised Marx
ism in the name of saving Marxism.
Trotsky even today while fighting
the Soviet Union, is also pretending
to save Leninism. 1t is not words
that count but deeds, not intentions
but the objective meaning of poll
cies and the direction in which they
lead. Lovestone's conception of dis
cipline very closely comedies with
the position of Trotsky on the same
question.
discipline is acceptable only
IN so far as it guarantees the pos
sjbiIity of struggle for 1ohat one
thinks is right, IN the name of
1ohat one accepts as discipline"
(Our Political Tasks.
The established feminist principle
in the communist movement is that
in case of any political disagree
ments in the Party, these disagree
ments, after a discussion, are re-
ferred to the highest authority of
the world party-the Communist III
teraGtional, and its decision is final.
One has only to read the constitution
and rules of the Comintern which
were formulated with direct partici-
patton of Lenin to see that.
"Tke decisions of the ECCI are
obligatory for all sections of the
Communist International aud
must be promptly carried outsp
(ArticIe 49,.
This question brings us also to a
similar period of the Second Con-
gress of the Russian Social Demo-
cratic Party in 1908, when Lenin and
the majority of the Iskra assumed
the leadership of the Party and the
Mensheviks refusing to carry out
the decisions Of the Congress and
the Party because "they were not