The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-19
PARTY LIFE
Action, Not Merely DEGREES,
Needed to ActUize the Units
Chicago West Side Unit Which Developed Real
Mass Fight for Free Speech Is Cited

In yesterdays column we spoke
Of the Bolshevik self criticism car
ried out by Section 5, Chicago, and
Of the thorOugh-gOing analysis
undertaken by the section of the
entire work of the units. Today the
Section Organizer tells of the results
Of this criticism and the resulting
discussion in the units.
Our section Committee does not
feel that we can win out in our I'M
dertaking Simply by drawing up
Communist DEGREES" II we did, we
would be suffering from what Lenin
called, Communist vanity"
We pointed out to the comrades,
that the present high fluctuation in
the Party was due mainly to the lax
ity and apathy which existed in units;
that this condition existed because of
the pickering, the pointless discus
sionS over routine questions, the gen.
eral looSeness and the failure to de-
velop mass struggles in the neighbor-
hoods for the immediate interests
Of the workers.
We reminded the comrades of the
fact that when a unit on the North
West Side actually developed a mass
struggle for free speech during the
summer NOTWITHSTANDING a period of
real decline in our movement, this
unit, at that time one of the worst
units In our Section actually vibrated
with a new life and drew the com.
radeS away from their inner Party
orientation to the masses - to
struggleSl
Every unit in our Section has read
the Letter from the Section Com
mittee. Special meetings are being
called by units on days other than
the regular meeting night. Just as
in the Section Committee, each
member Of the unit, starting with
the Buro, joins In the discussion,
starting with himself. These discus
sionS inevitably bring out into the
open every tendency which before
existed, but was hidden. Who of us
will readily admit that there is any,
thing at all wrong with ourselves? Is
it not much easier to point the finger
at the other fellow?
1t is important to note that while
unit when seen from the minutes
seems quite good to the reader there
is often a different picture presented
when you examine carefully its COM
poSition-itS work-its outlook. We
have already learned that going be-
low with the comrades helps us to
understand their problems better.
In one unit, at such a meeting, we
found the following: One. comrade
refused to attend the meeting if a
certain comrade was present. An
other demanded transfer because
he couldn't get along with the COM
radeS. Another one dropped the
Party because she couldn't stand the
gossip. The financial secretary did
not attend to her business for four
weeks-but the unit did nothing about
1t. The Unit Buro did not really try
to solve the problem-decided that
only the Section could solve such a
hopeless mess, as they themselves
termed 1t.
AT this meeting, one old Party
member made the following state
ment to a comparatively new mem
Der: Il, as an old BolShevik, don't
give snap for your opinion!" One
member of the unit, who was func-
tionary in another Section and at
one time in Section Five said: "While
I'm not acquainted with this mess
I'm glad to say I'm out Of it en-
tirely." And yet these comrades with
the higher understanding" were in
this unit all the time and permitted
things to reach the stage they did!
AS result Of this meeting the
Unit elected new Buro- strengthened
out the comrades engaged in petty
squabbles-and worked out some con-
crete steps to improve the situation