The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-12-27

The following Is the concluding
part Of an article by John William
son pointing out the need for spur
ring the work of the Cleveland dis
trict of the Communist Party to
achieve the goal set In the Open
Letter Of the Party.
While the basic weaknesses OF the
entire Party were present in an &C
centuated form In Ohio as we will
examine, the District Plenum en-
phasized that a decisive factor was
the inability of the Party leadership
as 1t has been constituted to cope
with and meet the situation.
The most brazen examples of Right
Opportunism took place in connec-
ton with the election campaign. This
subject needs an entire article de-
voted to it exclusively, therefore, it
is only possible to indicate the depth
of these conceptions without an
alyzing the sources or arguments.
The basic mistake was the mega
ton of our fundamental election pol
icy Of class against class, as well as
a complete opportunist distortion of
the policy outlined under special cir
cumstanceS of a local united Front
Workers Ticket.
Instead of local United Front
Workers Ticket, the policy led to
turning the Small Home and Land
Owners into a separate political par
ty. In Cleveland, this was done in
all its political essentials in the ma
jority of the councilmanic contests.
Instead Of the Party being alert
and sensitive, and initiating the local
workers ticket on a united front
basis, with the Party stating openly
its reasons for joining such a united
front and at the same time bringing
forward our basic revolutionary pro-
gram as well as calling for support
for the Communist mayoralty can
didate, we followed tailend policy
of supporting the Small Home and
Land Owners candidates (the ma
jority of whom were Communists but
never brought the Communist Party
forward, evaded and tried to conceal
the Communist identity of these can
didates, never secured endorsement
for the Communist Party mayoralty
candidate by the Small Home and
Land Owners.
In Bellaire, this wrong policy with
out being theorized resulted in Party
members heading the local ticket of
the Small Home and Land Owners,
and issuing platform which con-
tanned this gem:
These candidates represent a coal
ition--has Democrats and Repub-
licans, and Home Owners-as Inde-
penlents, and are qualified to give the
City of Bellaire, Ohio, what 1t needs
planned economy-in fact, some
are students of Economic Planning,
and that is the only way to lift Bell
aire out of its maze of financial diff
ficulties. Our New Deal to the citi-
zens is not to be used as campaign
slogan to catch votes, but to give the
citizens a real New Deal In all that
the words imply"
In Mansfield, the Workers Ticket
became a Mansfield Labor Party,
with our comrades heading the ticket
and issuing platform Of which the
following are Just examples:
'"The Mansfield Labor Ticket can
didates and platform are wholly of,
by, and for the masses, pledged to
accept dictation from no political of
other sources except the majority of
voters.
Our candidates realize that I'M
justly used organized power such as
the Chamber Of Commerce, Manu-
facturers Association, Bankers So
cieties, Chattel and Loan Companies
and Public Utility Corporations (espe-
cially light and fueD who are bleed
ing Mansfield people and who have
brought untold suffering into our
homes without any opposition from
the old parties, can be stopped only
by the organized support given the
Labor Ticket Program. Invite,
urge and encourage transient manu-
facturers and other employers to To-
cate, establish and operate plants in
Mansfield so as to broaden job OPP