The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-01-27

Vi Tile WOTk before CLle conference, al
the conference and after the confer
ence.
Broadcast Unity Is Aim
AS already urged by the A. F. of L.
Committee, this movement must be
developed on the broadcast united
front basis. Workers, organized and
unorganized, Of every political and
religious opinion, A. F.. of l.. workers,
Communist workers, Socialist workers,
non-Party workers, must be drawn
into the conference.
1t is necessary, however, for the
success of this movement, to guard
carefully against the activities of
those elements who, under the guise
OF greater unity" actually attempt
TO destroy the growing unity of the
masses. Such elements inevitably
come forward at a time like the pres
ent in an effort to stop the growing
consolidation of the masses for strug-
gle under revolutionary leadership.
They attempt, with radical phrases,
to throw up smoke screen before
the eyes of the masses, who are be-
ginning TO see the Communist Party
as the only effective leader in the
struggle for unemployment relief and
insurance, and for the other urgent
needs of the workers, They attempt
to direct the discomfort Of the masses
into reformist channels.
Descriptive Elements
Such elements were represented In
last Sundays conference by a hand
full Of delegates. Significantly, any
one of the local unions represented
had a greater actual membership
than had the organizations which
these elements represented. refer
to the three so-called Communist"
Opposition Groups (truly in oppose
ton to Communism headed by
Lovestone, Cannon and Weisbord.
These three groups, with a member
ship ranging from Weisbord and his
wife, IN the so-called Communist
League of Struggle" to a couple of
dozen in Cannon,S and Loyestone's
outfits, struggled in a total of IL or
is delegates, even after as many
more had correctly been denied seats
in the conference.
These groups, expelled from the
Communist Party, but still posing as
Communists" in an effort to de-
moralize the ranks of the most adj
vanced workers, came to the confer
ence with the sole object of pre-
venting the struggle for unemploy-
ment relief and insurance from be-
coming broad mass movement under
the leadership of the Communist
Party, which alone can win victories
for the workers. This is shown by
their concrete proposals at the con-
ference.
First, consider the speech Of Can
non and the documents presented by
his group. With a line of demagogy
worthy Of Rooevelt, Cannon talked
freely Of greater unity" "a broader
united 'front.' and even of struggle"
but the object of these high-sounding
phrases was merely to prevent the
conference from proceeding with its
work. Cannon's intentions were dis
closed by the document his supporters
distributed before the conference
opened. Without any knowledge of
what the composition of the confer
ence would be, they were already pre-
pared In advance to make the follow
ing declaration:
"The representation at this con-
ference Is insufficient for a really
effective campaign for our (shall
we say, Cannon's!--C. A. h de-
mands :. therefore this confer
ence goes on record to issue call
for second conference within two
weeks time" (my emphasis C.
A. H)
Cannon's Sabotage
In other words, Cannon proposed
to prevent Sundays conference from
issuing the call for the statewide
Albany conference. His group, to-
gether with Lifschitz, the Lovestone-
lite, and Weisbord, were the only ones
in the conference with such a pro-
posal. Ostensibly, their proposal was
only for delay Of two weeks for
the purpose of achieving broader
unity" but as we shall see, the pro-
posed two weeks delay was only to
give them time for further destruc-
tive maneuvers against the confer
ence.
Their real purpose is shown up by
the speech of Lifschitz. His was a
very revolutionary" speech, in which,
while talking of wider united
'front.'" he denounced the Socialist
Party. And vertainly, no class con-
scious worker can offer any apologies
for the Socialist Party or its leader
ship-Thomas and Hillquit. But the
speech Of Lifschitz was not against
the leaders of the Socialist Party, as
we shall see. 1t was speech directed
against the rank and file Socialist
Party workers representing the Hunt
ngton branch of the S. r. and
branches Of the Workmen S Circle. 1t
was an effort to drive these workers
out of the conference as a further
step in their futile efforts to democrat
lie the conference.
Lifschitz did not approach these
workers of the Socialist Party as did
the Communist Party spokesman.
Our speakers approached them as
honest, revolutionary workers, often
misled by their leaders, but neverthe-
less as workers who had shown their
readiness to enter into broad unity
movement for unemployment relief
and insurance, and other pressing
demands of the workers. In the
ro,,rca IF tho Str,toolo for. ithaca do
mands, the Communists knew that
these workers would come to see the
reactionary role of their leaders, and
would join hands completely with the
revolutionary workers.