The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-01-28


scattered and too fragmentary to
give us any immediate basis for
practical proposals for action of
this sort. But given even a few
months of energetic and correct
work in the factories and the con-
solidation of our growing influence
in organizational form, this may
rapidly be changed.
LIVING CONTACT WITH THE
WORKERS
To the extent that our work is
improving in the shops, it shows
itself most clearly in our growing
understanding of the methods and
forms of workers democracy, of a
close consolidation between the
Party and the non-Party workers,
in the joint working out of de-
mands and grievances. Growing
from this is better connection be-
tween leadership and masses,
growing initiative from the lower
organizations of the Party and
trade unions and growing mass
initiative, liquidation of the buro-
cratic methods of leadership from
above by decree and the develop
ment of organic leadership which
has less of the artificial about it,
a more living contact with the
masses.
In this effort which we are
making to get close and intimate
contacts with the masses of the
workers, to form the basis of their
immediate needs, even the smallest
of these needs, we can see that we
also have to guard against certain
distortions of this line. These dis
tortions take the form of certain
narrow practicalism or a certain
tendency to set up economic queS-
lions as against political questions,
to exclude political questions, and
to set the smallest economic de-
mands not as the path to the larger
and greater demands, but to the
exclusion of the larger demands.
CONNECTING UP IMMEDIATE
4NLGDS WI n DEGOf1OLn
POLITICAL ISSUES
We must guard against this
narrowing-down tendency, which,
if allowed to develop inevitably
leads toward the grosser devel-
opments of opportunism, 1t already
has been spoken in the discussion,
how this tendency sees the raising
Of political questions in the shop
work as an obstacle to the develop
nlent of our influence and organi-
cation. This is not true. This is
a completely wrong idea, that the
raising of political orestions. even
of the highest grade of political
questions, h ig h politi
international politics, are obstacles
to the penetration to the shops.
On the contrary, will say that it
is impossible to thoroughly mobil-
ize the workers in the shops if we
ignore these high political questions.
We must take up these political
questions. We must bring the fight
against the war danger in the
shops. We must take up all of
the questions of the international
antagonisms. Especially we must
bring out the role of the Soviet
Union. We must raise the issue of
China in our shop work. The ques-
ton is HOW we do it. Not whether
we shall raise these questions or
whether we shall not raise them.
We must raise them. But the ques-
ton is how. 1t is quite true that
the usual method of raising these
questions does not help the work
in the shops. But this is merely
because we do not handle these
questions in the correct manner.
We bring them abs5ractly. We
bring them forward as substitutes
for the questions that are closer to
the workers. We bring them for
ward in the wrong way.
1t is the proper linking UP of the
shop questions with the larger
questions that is the problem that
we have to solve And the solution
of this question is not fastened by
ruling the political questions out of
consideration in the work of the
shop unit. On the contrary.
LACK OF ATTENTION TO
NEGRO WORKERS
Another outstanding weakness of
our shop work is the va-''' II
our Negro work in relation to the
shops and trade unions. In the
unemployed work, l think it is
possible to say we have made some
progress in winning the Negro
masses to participation in the
struggles and into our organiza-
lions and winning the white work.