The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-12-18

of the Party in the mine fields there In North
ern West Virginia Excluding the Panhandle
Section) where several thousand have recently
joined the union, only one Party unit exists.
In Western Pennsylvania, there are some 5000
actually paying dues Gncluding exempt
stamps and several thousand more in the union,
and the Party has only few hundred members.
The expression ''tfe Party is interfering with
the union work" growing out of conflict of
union and Party meetings, or other lack Of CO.
ordination, in the union and Party work. can
on occasion be heard in the field AT time
when the socialist party is busy attempting to
establish its branches in every mining and steel
town, when the socialist party is giving out tons
of literature, together with relief, it gives to
the miners, such opportunistic expressions should
be combatted strongly, especially by the Party
members who leading the union work. In
the Party because of its newnesS, we have
strong evidences of white chauvinism. We have
in the Party unclarity on the demagogy of Pin
chot in some sections of the Party and unclarity
as to the role of the Party for example in the
election campaign. We have in Central Penn
sylvania, actually one local union of the N. M. U.
controlled by the socialist elements We have
the activity of the UMWA. and the social
fascist elements which are put forward by the
bosses as their main weapon. In such a situa-
tion the Party District, Sections, and units must
become more than ever before the driving force
in the union work. 1t is necessary for every Party
member who is union organizer to feel that
when he is in the field, he is the representative
of the Party as well as the union. He must
work more through the Section Committees and
the units of the Party-through his individual
efforts bring the best elements of the union int
the Party, and to guide the work of the Party in
the field, well the union work.
The District Bureau and District Secretariat
must give more theological clarity to the Party
rnen,hers on the role of the Party in the trade
unions. The building of fractions in all local
unions and groups now becomes an actual neces-
sity for the further progress of the union and
the Party. The Party must increasingly become
the driving force for the building of the unions
and through the work in building the unions, also
the Party must be more quickly built and estab-
lished and organzational looseness eliminated.
The establishment of District Fraction under
the guidance of the District Bureau is an i'm
portant task which if not carried out will mean
that the Party will have great difficulty in guild
ing the work in the mining and steel towns.
AT the present time in the Pittsburgh District,
the chief danger is the union-Party relations
is not the danger of the Party Choking" the
union but the chief shortcoming is the fact that
the Party has not exerted itself as the driving
force to give guidance direction and control to
the union work, at the same time. of course,
allowing for the independent existence Of the
unions. There is a definite underestimation in
the District Of the role of the Party in the trade
union field.
Ito Be COntinued)