The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-07-14
BY EARL BROWDER.

BY EARL BROWDER.
WHAT are the main characteristics of the stu
alton in the United States today? We wit
ness most vicious offensive of the capitalist
class against the working class. The capitalist
class is attempting to solve its crisis by throwing
all the burdens upon the shoulders of the work
erS, 1t closes down the factories and throws
onto the streets more than ten millions of work.
ers, while more millions are working only few
days per week. Wages are slashed by more than
40 per cent since the beginning of the crisis.
Machinery is speeded up to unheard of ex-
tent, throwing more workers onto the streets,
and running the health of those at work. And
whenever the workers resist, when they demand
unemployment relief and insurance or strike
against wage-cuts and speed-up, the capitalist
class and its lackeys reply with the sharpest
suppressive measures, with police clubs. gas
bombs, jailings, shootings and Killings. That is,
concretely, what we mean when we speak of the
offensive of the capitalist class.
The working class is beginning to resist the
capitalist offensive. The widespread and deep
going rehabilitation is beginning to overcome
all hindrances and develop into mass struggles,
despite the strengthening terror and intensified
demagogy Of faScsts and social-fascists. These
defensive struggles are more and more taking on
xganized form. They are moreand more put
ting forward concrete demands They are broad
ening their mass base and deepening their class
character, developing to higher stage The
working class is beginning to pass to the
development of a counter offensive.
1t is the task of the Communist Party and the
Young Communist League to arouse and
strengthen this resistance of the workers and
develop the broad counter offensive 1t is only
in the process of carrying out this task that the
Communists can win the ma jority of the work.
ing class. 1t is only in. the very heat Of this
struggle that we can build the Party and
League,
The political line of the Communist Inter
national must penetrate and guide every strug-
gle of the workers. This line can be established
only by the most decisive and Incorporating
struggle against all deviatons The struggle
against deviations is the most practical aspect OF
the practical work of a Marxst-Leninist. There
is nothing abstract about it. There is nothing
mysterious or artificial about it, We can only
develop the clear revolutionary line in the strug-
giles of the workers for immediate demands and
for our principal slogans, provided we have
clear understanding of the devations from that
line which we must fight against.
Let us review the work of the past year of our
Party in the light of the struggle for the cor
rect line against deviatio1ls Consider our strug-
gle for unemployment relief and insurance. The
greatest danger to this fight, as generally in
our Party, is the right danger, the underestina-
ton of the rehabilitation of the working Masses
of their readiness to struggle and, as result
the neglect of the detailed needs of the masses
and an incapacity to formulate these needs in
concrete partial demands of struggle
Only through the most resoute fight within
our movement against all tendencies towards
passyity. against all lack of faith in the masses,
we're we able TO develop the mass struggle for
unemployment relief and insurance. Every COM
rade who has had any contact with the unem-
ployed work will be able to give hundreds of
examples of this tagging behind the masses
which we had to overcome. When we began to
organize street demonstrations we always found
some comrades who felt that the masses are not
yet ready. When we began the state hunger
marches the first task was to batter down a
veritable wall of lack of faith IN the support
of the workers and disbelief in our cwn capacity.
In the building of the unemployed councils, the
entire work has been choked by paralyzing
lack of faith in the readiness and ability of the
workers to build these organizations not to speak
of the general lack of confidence in the creative
capacity of the revolutionary masses-a conf
dence which is an integral part of Leninism.
These are examples of what we mean by the
we have developed the unemployed movement,
even to the degree we have at present, if we had
hesitated for one moment in fighting with all
our power against this right danger.
What was the cleft" danger in the unemployed
movement? This expressed itself in the attempt
to run ahead of the masses, in neglecting as
'unirnportant" the necessary small struggles and
organzational details of the bolshevk method
of mobilizing the masses, in the attempts to
overcome and cover up our organizational weak
nesses and incapacty to mobilize the masses, by
slogans which ignored the concrete situation and
therefore become mere phrases. The comrades
| afflicted with the left deviation thought it nee
essary to run ahead even of the Central Com
| mittee directives. They thought that the task
| was not so much realization in life of the al
ready made plans, but rather by rushing ahead
| to more radical" slogans and activities to make
unnecessary the hard work of realizing plans.
This tendency developed at one time very def
nitely toward abandoning mass work in favor of
| small secretly organized food-raiding expedi-
tions, which it thought would arouse the
masses by heroic examples of brave" ind-
viduals
The right danger, tagging behind the masses,
| lack of faith in the masses, is the main danger.
| The cleft" danger, equally opportunist in con-