The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-05-08
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Think 1t Over
BY JORGE

Speaking of the all-important question Of
approach" says reader, 81 have seen number
of organizers trying to create nuclei in some Of
the main industries fall and I must say that
their failure was not the fault of the workers.
These organizers hardly had any understand
ing of the psychology of the native American
worker.
Generally speaking we know the American
is bold in practical affairs. He sets to work In
plain, blunt vigor. may say that simply be-
cause he has nothing essentially to live for Gn-
dvidualism), he can take chance he doesn't
give DAM he take the breaks and tough
luck and take crack at it again
"And who can organize him? Only he who
has, in similar PITCH great boldneSS or
courage; rather because he has something to live
for-boldness out of essential postiyeness, a So
cial policy. Such a man will be native to him.
He'll be in the know He'll belong"
Which is all very interesting, and we do not
mean to question the value of studying the
psychology of the masses. But our reader has
psychological too much. In fact we left out
long paragraph dealing with the historical back
ground of the American workers mind, just to
clear away the underbrush and get at the real
point
There is altogether too much nonsense writ
ten about the special and mysterious mentality
of American workers as compared to workers
of other lands and races About SO per cent Of
this is an alibi for radicals" who shrink from
the job of organizing these workers. 1t is
soaked up from bourgeois "intellectuals' who
try to comfort the capitalists with hokum about
American workers being different"
If there is anything that ails the American
workers psychology" it is simply capitalist
And SC lt,tyy ~ fha
Communist organizer to replace that by Com
munist influence in the course of daily struggles
for concrete aims. This mysterious American"
psychology is merely capitalist psychology
More if the Communist organizers don't sue
coed in that our correspondent is correct in say
ing that it is not the workers fault. Yet, what
ails the organizer is not lack of a college edu-
cation in psychology, even American" psychol-
ogy, but the lack of really Communist line,
remnant-more or less rooted-of right OPP
portunist disbelief in the third period" and its
practical possibilities, derived from the same
bourgeois theological influence. In short, the
lack of "boldness and courage" is not physical,
nor psychic, but political.
But still even this is not an adequate ex-
plantation Some comrades may fully under
stand the political perspective and indeed spend
valuable hours expounding it to each other at
inner party meetings but fall down on building
organizationally what they say can be built.
We will not write thesis on it, but just re-
mark that too much steam is wasted in "large'
doings in abstract general work to the neglect
of pains-ta detailed work, the patient, per-
sistent approach to individual workers. % get
results I'm hurry a crowd factory or a
city is sort of sprayed with propaganda fire
hose" whereas the genuine quickest way is to
learn from that old adage about water dropping
on rock. We fancy you'll hear more of this,
so take 1t seriously.