The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-09-29
Traces Party History
And Problems, Cites
Present Tasks
By Charles Krumbein
New York District Organizer


The New York District Of the
Communist Party, although fitting
into the history Of the Party ma
tionally, because of certain condi-
tons peculiar to New York, had ad-
ditional problems and experiences.
If we trace back the history Of the
New York district we will see the
same Sectarianism and isolation that
prevailed in the Party generally.
But in the past few years especially
our district has been able to surge
forward and now can be considered
as on the road to becoming a mass
Party.
New York City, as yet the main
part of the New York District, has
large numbers Of light industry
industries that were adversely af-
fected long before the present eco
nomic crisis. The result was that
the workers of these industries be-
came receptive to our Communist
message before the working class as
a whole. For a long period of time
the class struggle had been sharp in
a number of light industries, as for
instance, in needle, food, light
metal, shoe, etc. This raised many
problems for our Party and move
ment. They consumed almost our
entire time, with the result that we
never found ourselves able to give
attention to the basic industries in
our district, such as marine, heavy
metal, railroad, city traction, etc.
Work in Heavy Industries
The adoption of the Open Letter
by our Party in July, 1888, woke US
up to the fact that unless we made
it our business to find the time,
forces and resources for work in the
heavy industries, we would never
be able to consider ourselves a seri-
Gus revolutionary Party, because
without winning the workers Of
these heavy industries, we would not
be able to achieve our final aims,
to say nothing Of making serious
gains in economic conditions for the
workers of the district as whole.
The work of the Party was ser1-
ously affected and its advances
among the masses was hindered be-
cause of the opportunis5 line of the
past leaders of our Party-the rene
gade Lovestoneites. This leadership,
with its theory of "eXceptionalism, "
claiming that America was entering
a Victorian age" which historically
meant decades of upward swing OF
capitalist development, resulted in
some very disastrous political and
organizational commissions. Life has
shattered these theories. Life has
confirmed the position of the Party
that the United States is no eXcep-
ton to the general world crisis of
capitalism and that revolutions and
wars are approaching for the United
States, as well as for all capitalist
countries.
Denounces OppOrtunists
With this opportunist line, based
upon bourgeois theories of American
exceptionalism, it was impossible to
inspire workers and win them for
our movement. Therefore in the
period preceding the expulsion of
the LoVestoneites, our Party and
movement remained very narrow.
We could count approximately 5000
members in our district, with few
additional thousands in the mass
organizations under our influence.
The Socialist Party was a large
factor in the ranks of the working
class of our district many of the
leaders being at the same time lead
ers of large A. F. of l.. trade unions.
The workers still had confidence in
the Socialist Party which OF course
made it difficult for our Party to
make inroads among these masses.
In the last period, due to the eX-
posure of the betraying role Of the
Socialist Party leadership and the
Socialist Party trade union buro-
Gratis, their support of the N. Il. A
and the Greens and VOLS; their
betrayal of the strikes of the work
ers, as well as the role Of social
democracy in Germany, Austria,
etc, caused great dissenSion in the
ranks of the Socialist Party sup
porters. bringing many OF them IN
and around our movement. Our dis
trict played large part in exposing
The role of the Socialist Party, bring
Ing forward at the same time a
positive program for the workers TO
follow in their struggle against
worsening conditions. The decline
of the Socialist Party can be seen
III the fall of their vote, which is the
main criterion of their strength,
from a previous 100000 to $4,000 IN
the last elections. The Socialist
Party, nevertheless, is still con-
siderable factor in the labor move
ment of New York and We have still
a big lob in convincing its followers
as to the betraying role of the So
cialist leaders.
Cites La Guardia Regime
The Fusion movement, with La
Guardia and his demagogy at It's
head, created illusions among large
numbers of workers, Undoubtedly
MANY former Socialist voters sup
norted IIaGuardia on the basis OF
the lesser evil theory, which has
been the main stock in trade OF
world social democracy. LaGuar-
dia's failure to carry out any OF his
prediction promises, in addition
to his open terrorist methods
against struggling workers, has re-
suited in many of his previous sup
porters becoming disillusioned and
leaving the ranks of the Fusion
supporters. Where these workers
will go in the coming elections de-
ponds very much upon us. If we
reach them with our message, large
numbers of them can be won to
support our Party.
Il The Ia 81 WARS mir PartY anQ