The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-14
On Learning the Art of Self
Criticism

We have learned that the powerful corrective
influence of collective sef-criticism. Our enc.
mics gleefully exhibit our self-criticism as thu
sign of dying movement. We can afford *
let them have what satisfaction they get ou
Of this, when we know that it is precisely thru
,elf- criticism that we have begun seriously tx
overcome these weaknesses. We are beginning
o master, according to our own weak abilities
the art of self-criticisn, SO abbey taught to tn
Party of the Soviet Union by Com
rade Stain. We can still, with great profit reaC
again and again the reports of Comrade Stain
70 the Congresses and Conferences of the G. P
5. U. AS one such contribution to our 9th Con
vention, want TO read few pages from tn,
report of Comrade Stain to the 18th Party Con
3ress in 1927, almost every work Of which has
direct lesson for us in our work. Comrade Stain
said:
let us take, for instance, the matter Of
guidance Of economic and other organiza-
tions on the part Of the Party organizations.
Is everything satisfactory in this respect?
No, it is not. Often questions are decided, not
to speak zen familIe," the family circle. Ivan
IvanOVitch, a member Of the leading group
of some organization, made, let us say, big
mistake and made a mess Of things. But
Ivan FederOvitch does not want to criticize
him, show up his mistakes and correct him.
He does not want to, because he is not dis
posed to make enemies" A mistake was
made, things went wrong, but what of it, who
does not make mistakes? Today I will
show up Ivan IvanOvitch, tomorrow he will
do the same to me. Let Ivan IvanOvitch,
therefore, not be mOIested, because where is
the guarantee that 1 will not make a mistake
in the future? Thus everything remains
spick and span. There is peace and good
will among men. Leaving the mistake un-
corrected harms our great cause, but that is
nothing! AS long as we can get out of the
mess somehow. Such, comrades, is the usual
attitude of some of our responsible people.
But what does that mean? If we, Bolsheviks,
who criticize the whole world who, In the
words of Marx, storm the heavens, II we re-
frain from self criticism for the sake of the
peace of some comrades is it not clear that
nothing but ruin awaits our great cause and
that nothing good can be expected. Marx
said that the proletarian revolution differs,
by the way, from other revolutions in the
fact that 1t criticizes itself and that in cri-
itching itself it becomes consolidated. This
is a very important point Marx made. II
we, the representatives of the proIetarian
revolution, shut our eyes to our shortcom-
ings, settle questions around family table,
keeping mutually silent concerning our mis-
takes, and drive our ulcers into our Party
organism, who will correct these mistakes
and shortcomings? Is it not clear that we
cease to be prOIetarian revoIutionaries and
that we shall surely meet with shipwreck
if we do not exterminate from our midst
this philistinism, this domestic spirit in the
solution of important questions of our con-
struction? Is it not clear that by refrain
ing from honest and straight forward self
criticism, refraining from an honest and
straight making good of mistakes, we block
our road to progress, betterment of our
cause, and new success for our cause. The
process of our development is neither smooth
nor general. No, comrades we have classes.
there are antagOnisms within the country,
we have past, we have present and flu
ture, there are contradictions between them,
and we cannot progress smoothly, tossed by
the waves Of life. Our progress proceeds in
the form of struggle, in the form of develop
ing contradictions in the form of overcom-
ing these contradictions AS long as there
are classes we shall never be able to have
situation when we shall be able to say.
Thank goodness, everything is all right
This will never be, comrades. There will
always be something dying out. But that
which dies does not want to die; it fights for
its existence, it defends its dying cause. There
is always something new coming into life
But that which is being born is not born
quietly but whimpers and screams, and the
new. between the moribund and that which
Is being born-such is the basis of our de-
yelOpment Without pointing out and ex-
posing openly and honestly, as Bolsheyiks
should do, the shortcomings and mistakes in
work, we block our road to progress. But
we do want to go forward. And just because
we go forward, we must make one of our
foremost tasks an honest and revolutionary
seIf-criticism. Without this there Is no pro-
gress,"