The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-04-18
PARTY LIFE
Conducted by the Organization Department of
the Central Committee, Communist Party, U.S.A.
Help the Party Fight Against
BurOcracy

Bureaucracy in our work, despite the efforts
of the Party to eliminate it, still stands out as
one Of the important obstacles to the develop
ment of our Party and our mass work. Buro-
cracy is based chiefly upon fear Of the masses.
Burocrats are unwilling to develop new forces.
to develop rank and file initiative, to share
responsible work, for fear that these measures
will mean decrease in their own CONTROL will
expose their weaknesses to the sharper criticism
of larger Party circle, and might even lead
to their replacement if they are not very COM
petent by fresher and stronger forces. Besides
1t is much harder work to educate and convince
a large circle of proetarian functionaries of the
correctness Of a policy, and TO critically examine
and decide on all the new suggestions and ideas
brought up by them, than it is to merely issue
mechanical orders and instructions along the
old familiar lines OF course the excuse given
by the burocrat for sitting rank and-file ini-
tiative is that mistakes will be made" But
the mistakes will be compensated hundred
fold by the experience and development that will
be gained by the membership.
There are very few incurable burocrats in our
Party However, many functionar1es have ee-
ments of bureaucracy and burocratic practices.
Many of them are unaware of their burocracy,
or do not know specifically in what it consists,
or are unclear as to how to correct it. The
fight against burocracy must be the fight OF the
Party as whole, under the guidance of its
leading committees. One of the most effective
weapons in this fight is merciless publicity in
the Party press The Organization Department
Of the Central Committee therefore invites all
Party members as well as Party workers
to make full use of the Party Life column for
the fight against burocracy.
OF course, we do not want general articles
against burocrscy. Anyone can write them
(even the worst burocrats). Send in specific
names and cases. We want the whole story
all the facts, though of course. discretion will
be used in printing names. Make sure your
facts are correct and then go to i'll OF course
in addition to exposures Of burocratic practices
we must have suggestions and recommendations
on how the particular situation can be remedied
And it must be borne in mind that the fight
against burocracy is meaningless unless linked
up in the closest possible way with the general
tasks of the Party. The District and Section
leadership in particular must take the lead in
correcting the burocratic practices exposed in
Party Life.
OF course, Party Life will continue TO print
the same material as before. and if we get too
crowded, we may hand some of the worst cases
Vi puioCidcy d Coukie VI Colulus oFei W ooise
where they are liable to meet an even worse
fate than in Party Life and get completely
burnt up under rain of Red Sparks.
A few articles in Party Life attacking buro-
cratic practices have already had an excellent
effect in correcting them. In general, we well
come the growing tendency Of the lower ranks
of the Party and non-Party workers to make
the Party Life column their own 1T is partly
for this reason that we expect the use of this
column to give real results in the task of elm
mating burocracy
Organization Department of the
Central Committee
Technical Note-n you can get hold OF a
typewriter, type your articles, and If you type
them, make them double-space and on one side
of the paper. And preferably, no longer than
this article