The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-02-10
A Strategic Weapon to
Fulfill the Open Letter
Shop Papers VII Help Communist Party to Grasp
the Leadership of the industrial ProIetmi0t
BY GERTRUDE HAEssLER


countries more time to prepare itself
to turn imperialist war into civil
war? We must explain this slogan
to them, make them class conscious,
and show them how this can be done
otherwise we cannot rally them to
our anti-war program,
Preparing for Possible Illegally
OF course, this can also be done. to
some extent outside the shops, in the
mass organizations, on the street
corners. But we must root ourselves
organizationa1ly and ideologically in
the shops We must organize the shop
worker, for the mass organizations
will not always be accessible, the
street corners viii be taken away
from usi
In preparation for possible period
Of illegality of the Party and its open
organs, the shop paper is strategic.
BY It's very nature 1t Is an Illegal Oh
semi-illegal organ. # iIlegality should
come, the network of shop papers
will be there to take up the tasks of
the Daily Worker, which will meet
with great obstacles under illegality,
in reaching the shop workers. How
is ii possible for active Party COM
rades, II they claim to understand the
Open Letter and the 18th Plenum
resolution, to ignore OF underestimate
such an obviously necessary weapon?
1t is under conditions Of illegality,
such as exist in Germany at the
present time, that the shop paper
occupies a key position. But it cannot
do that without careful and thorough
preparation under conditions of leg
atty. The shop paper at the present
time is educating the workers, is
preparing them for our program. 1t
is convincing them, by its handling
Of the day-to-day grievances in the
shop, and It's constant pointing out
of the political lessons of their eco
nomic struggles, that the Communist
Party is part and parcel of the work
ing class, not something trying to die
tate to them from the outside, but
actually the only force which offers
: way out Tor the workers. All OF
this the shop paper does, in addition
to, and as an integral part of, organ
izing the workers for their economic
battles against the employers. 1t ex-
poses the social faScists, the fascists
the A, F. of L. leadership, and other
agents Of the bourgeoiSie on the basis
of their concrete activities in the
shops on the job.
Developing Political Leaders Out OF
the Shops
Out of the basic industries will
come our future leaders, the leading
cadreS who will become our chief Of
staff when the final battle is on, The
shop paper will help to bring them
out Of their present obscurity, and
to develop them The shop paper is
our main instrument for carrying out
the basic task set for us in the res
olution, that is; Securing within the
shortest time possible a decisive turn
to the work in the factories, concen-
trating the forces of the Party organ
ization in the decisive enterprises and
raising the political level of the
leadership given by the factory nuclei
to the daily class struggles"
We must. boldly grasp the leader
ship Of the working class now. The
workers are becoming more disil-
lusioned in Rooseveltis program every
day. A cursory glance at the mail of
the Daily Worker on any one day
brings that forth without any neceS-
Sity for a deep-going analysis. They
are cropping for a way out. They are
looking for leadership If we don't
seize it openly and boldly, the mis-
leaders will, for they are already sue
ceeding in doing SO because of our
hesitation and because of our weak
neSses. And this on the eve of the
most terrific war the world has ever
known. This, on the eve of impend-
ing class battles which will Danish
exploitation of man by man if given
the right direction. The resolution
tells us that THE economic policy
Of the financial olgarchy for over
coming the crisis :. is unable to re-
store the sterilization OF capital
ism. !" What does this mean2 A
resolution OF the CT. is a serious
matter, and it calls upon us to act
in a serious manner.
Abolish the sRed Scare
The shop paper must therefore
bring skilfully, and clearly before the
workers the Communist program, and
no fear OF the red scare" that DOGGY
man Of our Party members who are
active. in the unions, must make us
hesitate. The way to deal with the
red scare" is not to side-step it, but
to meet it face to face with an open
Red challenged If the shop paper
clarifies the role of the Party, and
can convince the workers that the
Party has the only correct program,
the bourgeoisie will be unable to
freighten the workers by this tricky
maneuver, and thus we rob our
enemies of the ared scare" DOGGY.
THE factories are our fortresses, -
Lenin declared We must batter away
at the factories, for they are our
fortreSSes. And We must use every
weapon we have for capturing these
fortresses. The shop paper is one Of
the most strategic. All we need to do
Is to learn how to use it.
The general underestimation by the
Party of the shop paper, is part and
parcel OF its general underestimation
Of shop work, We must not forget
that the shop paper is an integral
part of the Communist Party press.
Comrades who overlook that, don't
understand what the Party press in
the shop means. This misunderstood
ing obtains even in the highest bodies
Of the Party. Take, for instance, the