The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-11-07
PARTY LIFE
Building the
United Front
From Below
By H. SHEPARD

Ml1F U1l6 N4ClOUhO OLlolGAS4lSo
W against the living standards Of
the masses by the borgeoisie, the
class struggle is becoming sharper.
All sections Of the oppressed masses
are beginning to struggle.
The masses are moving more and
more toward the left. The social
fascist tools of the bourgeoisie are
relying more and more upon left
phrases to deceive the masses and
behead any real struggle against the
capitalist class.
The Bonus March and the Farm
ers Holiday Movement are two good
examples. The left swing of the
masses has also been shown by the
militant mass section of the unem-
ployed workers in st. Louis, Chicago,
Detroit, etc.
The Negro toilers are playing a
leading role in the class battles that
are taking place EST. Louis, Chi
cago, Camp Hill, Alabama, etc.
With the rapid revolutionary up
surge Of the masses, the danger OF
our Party becoming isolated from
the leadership of the American
workers increase. There is only one
way of overcoming this danger and
that is by correctly applying the
united front tactic from below.
SOME EXAMPLES
To give an example Of how we
work from the top down instead OF
working from the bottom up in or
der to draw up workers into struggle,
asked an organizer OF one OF our
New York Unemploed Councils
what method he used to force the
Home Relief Bureau to give relief
to workers that had been taken off
the relief list. His reply was that
I'VE get a committee of the most
active and militant members of the
Council and put up fight 'for the
workers." Many times such fight
does result in getting aid for work.
ers. But such methods do not build
up broad fighting front of the
workers against the class enemy.
Many times through not drawing
the workers themselves into the
fight, we have failed to get any
results. The workers correctly blame
us for the failure. But when we
explain to the workers that only
through determined, militant action
on their part, with us fighting with
them and not not "for them can
results be gained, then workers will
follow our leadership and we can
build a mass Communist movement.
THE WORK
OF A COUNCIL
will point out how to draw the
masses into struggle on a united
front basis, and gain the leadership
of such struggles. A certain Unem-
ployed Council in the New York
District, through having forced the
Home Relief Bureaus to give aid to
starving workers had succeeded in
gaining influence among the work
ers in its territory. This Council
had established certain days to take
workers for relief. One morning
about IS families that had been
denied relief came to the Council
for assistance in getting relief. The
comrades in this Council held a
meeting in the headquarters of. the
Council with the workers, explaining
to the workers how the Relief Bu-
reaus surround themselves with a
lot of red tape to cut them off from
relief, that militant action on their
part was the only thing that would
force them to give relief. The
workers expressed their readiness to
fight for relief.
A committee Of three was elected
at the meeting to go and demand
that relief be given at once by the
Relief Bureau. The delegation went
with the demands of the workers
and was turned down. The del
egation of three went back to the
workers and reported their failure
to get aid and the workers inme-
diately demanded to go to the Re-
lief Bureau and fight for relief. The
comrades in charge of the Council
then explained that the hundreds
Of workers already sitting in the
Relief Bureau must be drawn into
the fight. The workers were in
Structed to go into the Home Relief
in small groups of twos and threes
mingling with the other workers al
ready present at the Home Relief
Bureau, explaining that the Unem-
ployed Council was going to stage
demonstration in the Relief Bu-
reau demanding aid for all present,
and that they should back up the
Unemployed Council. At a signal
agreed upon, all the workers present
we're to arise and make their de-
mands in militant manner, the
IS families leading the others pres
ent into action. This plan of action
was carried through, drawing in
workers who perhaps had never
heard Of the Unemployed Council
before.
ACTION WINS
RESULTS
The police were called In, but the
workers put up such struggle
inside Of the Home Relief Bureau
that it was forced to give relief to
the workers that had been stricken
from the relief list. Furthermore,
this action resulted in the employ
ing Of 20 new relief workers to
handle applications for aid, and the
increasing Of the budget by $500 per
day.
The organizing OF such United
Front actions must be adopted In all
OF our work II we are to assume
leadership in the struggles of the
American workers and lead them
In a revolutionary struggle for
power Of the working class.
jamestown Work e r
yTY