The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-12-14
Party Lite
Work and Tasks
On Waterfront
Is Discussed

" VI N oAAA 4 uoA6
! On Waterfront
Is Discussed
ONCE We helped to make some of
" the mistakes of Section
/, District Q in waterfront work,
unit "a had a very clear conception
of these errors.
We knew that we had to have
several developed comrades from the
docks themselves to lead the rank
and file work or it would fall apart
and not reflect the actual needs
and moods of the men. We also
knew that pure and simple trade
unionism did not reflect adequately
the needs and interests of the men.
So We did not hide the face of the
Party in any sense.
What We did was to first concen-
trate on the four most likely con-
facts. Only one of these proved
unsuitable for the Party and so we
soon had paper dock nucleus
which we proceeded to develop into
the habit of meeting regularly and
to work with, giving and taking po-
litical education from the men. To
the entire unit membership we en-
phasized the need for becoming
part of the lives of their contacts,
at least until these contacts were
fully developed.
AS soon as the nucleus was formed
we issued dock paper. Because of
the marine strike the first issue was
brought out in a great hurry and
contained errors. But even the
first one had almost all the informa-
ton furnished by the workers, and
it became popular Immediately. The
workers objected only to the Party
name but not to the political ar
ticles, and we refused to change the
name. The fourth issue, Just out,
is already edited and written almost
entirely by the longshoremen them
selves. This was the most popular
issue, and furthermore, an inter
mediate issue, where we wrote more.
was the least popular. (Four in the
outside unit have earned their liv-
ings as writers)
We knew that the principal OBJ
| lection of the workers on every
dock to activity was danger of lob
discrimination. So we adopted
strictly underground methods of or
gan1zation, advertising our careful
investigation of all applicants, and
at the same time we assured every
new Communist that he would
eventually have to fight for our pro-
gram in the union.
The first of our leaflets from the
outside; was called What the Com
munist Party Me ans to You" and
explained why outside Communists
were on the docks, that the Com
munist Party Means to YOU" and
of all workers. We have also issued
Leaflets on the Daily Worker, the
way to win strike, on relief, on
unemployment and social insurance
OF course, we sell the language
press and the Daily Worker as well
as pamphlets.
Outside of a correct union and
Party line and concentration, our
principal emphasis to the outside
workers has been on precision in
keeping appointments and being
seen with the literature. The men
stress this a great deal, and we
have obtained it. We do not ask
any one to accept an unreasonable
number of assignments, even though
we have only about 10 members
of the outside unit who can appear
on the docks.
But this tells only half the story:
We think we were able to get such
a high standard of discipline be-
cause, first, the section sent us Sc
lected comrades, to begin with, and
second, because Of the high quality
of the agit-prop work eve always
have our discussions and have them
linked up with our day-to-day work
and we accept regular reading as
SignmentS which are checked upon
But shall leave the description of
this work to our Agit-prop. The
Buro has also issued circular on
methods of work to the comrades,
We also certainly have our short
comings. We have rather constant
guidance from the Section Buro in
trying to eradicate them, and the
rank and file in the unit is develop
ing healthy tendency to criticize
and suggest as it gets more expert
ence.
After about 8 weeks of work we
have a functioning nucleus, and
many more or less qualified con-
facts for the Party and the union
rank and file. We hope that we
shall soon get forces to develop the
latter. Furthermore, we understand
that by learning the same lessons
from practically the same mistakes
Section No. has already completed
its quota in the membership drive
for longshoremen.
Comradely,
L. S., Organizer,