The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-03-07
BY JACK STACHEL

ok years ago March 2nO G. E.
~ Ruthenberg, then General Sec
rotary of the Party, was snatched
from our ranks by death. Ruthen-
berg was at that time in the prime
of his life. He was a. His early
death was due to the ardous &C
tivity which he carried on over q
period of some twenty years.
During this period his sturdy
body was undermined through the
many struggles in which he par
ticipated, the underground period
of the Party's existence, and espe-
cially the repeated periods that he
spent in imprisonment. The ma
iority Of our present membership
did not have the good fortune OF
knowing Ruthenberg, Of personally
coming in contact with him.
But what is unfortunate is that
thus far we have been slow in &C
quainting the Party with the life
and work of G. E. Ruthenberg.
This weakness is not divorced from
the general underestimation of the
Party Of its history and traditions.
n. z. RUTHENBERG was the
y founder of the Communist
Party of the U. s. A. Already be-
fore the world war he was iden-
titled with the left currents in the
Socialist Party. He fought against
the socialism Of Victor Berger and
Morris Hillquit. The whole move
ment IN this country was at that
time unacquainted with the Boil
shevik Party of Russia and the
teachings of Lenin and for that
reason was unclear on many Of the
fundamental questions Of the class
struggle.
FOUGHT REFORMISM
AND SECTARIANISM
Nevertheless G. E. Ruthenberg
was already at that time aiming
his guns against reformism. He
not only fought the reformism Of
Hillquit and Berger, but also the
opportunist sectarianism of Daniel
De Leon. And unlike Debs, Ruth
enberg followed his views to their
Organizational conclusions.
Around him and the Cleveland
organization which he developed
into a mass organization there
began to crystalize the more re-
evolutionary elements within the
Socialist Party. During the world
Srroys oy,d ~, ~ III fo1xT foIIOry;,ao, %I,a
Russian Revolution he threw all
his energies into the formation of
the left wing within the Socialist
Party and carried this movement
finally TO the building Of the Com
muniSt Party in September, 1919 in
the city of Chicago. Ruthenberg
at the time Of his death was q
member of the Executive Com
mittee of the Communist Interna-
tional, He trained the Party in
the spirit Of internationalisrn in
the spirit of answering loyalty to
the Communist International.
WHAT WE CAN LEARN
FROM G. z. RUTHENBERG
n. z. RUTHENBERG did not leave
v any theoretical works. All his
writings are in connection with
the problems connected with the
struggles in which he participated
On many Of the questions in the
days before the Russian Revolu-
ton he was still unclear, as was
the rest Of the left movement. But
all the time he was moving closer
and closer to the teachings Of
Marx and Lenin. He never took a
step backwards. His whole devel.
opment was forward. His greatest
contributions are to be found in
the field Of practical activity, in
the methods Of organizing thu
masses. There are four points
that stand out in the life and WORK
Of Ruthenberg. They are:
TIE FIGHT FOR
SOCIAL INSURANCE
First his insistence on the or
ganization Of the masses. He more
than any one else in our move
rnent embodied the teaching Of
Lenin, without organization the
working class is nothing, organized
1t is invincible."
Second he understood how to
combine the struggle for partial
demands Of the masses with the
fight for the overthrow OF the
whole capitalist system. He fought
on the one hand against the sec
tarianism Of De leon of the So
cialist Labor Party and on the
other hand against the socialism
Of Berger and Hilluuit. Already in
1910 r1r wrote or TIRE necessity Sne