The producers news., 1935-08-02

sion tnat there must be new par
ty and a new international, and set
up the Provisional Organizing
Committee Of the American Work
ers Party.
Thus there were two groups,
which had come from very differ
ent directions to the same conclu-
sion. Soon the ella. and the A.
W.P. entered into discussions. We
said, eff we really mean the same |
thing when we talk about a new
party, we should build it together"
We were deliberate about the thing |
however. We decided that we must |
not fuse politically unless we were
really in agreement on the funda-
mentals of a program. Lacking
such agreement, we could still
work together on concrete issues
but political merger must be on
the basis of principle. Thus for
eleven months discussion went on.
At the end of that time a joint
committee of the two organizations
wrote a Declaration of Principles
and a constitution which were a
dopted at their conventions and
which constituted the basis of the
merger and of the formal launch
ing of the Workers Party of the
United States.
NOT A HASTY DECISION
1t is clear, then, that here was
no hasty, irresponsible decision to
go and launch another party" The
workers in the C.L.A. and A.W.P.
acted in the most careful and re-
sponsible manner in dealing with
the problem before them, as revo-
lutionists should.
The W.P. does not, however,
trace it's history back to the former
A.W.P and C.L.A. The members
of these organizations had been ac-
tive in labor and revolutionary
work, here and abroad, long be-
fore the organizations themselves
came into being. So it came about
that in the founding convention of
the W.P. there were present not a
few OF the founders of the C.P. and
C.I., workers who had been active
In the Socialist Party in the DAYS
when that was a progressive force,
workers who had participated in
, the Russian revolution, workers
who had stood firm in the trying
days of the Great War, who had
taken a leading part in the labor
struggles in the U. S. for the past
thirty years and more. The Work.
ers Party is rich in tradition and
experience.
OUR CREDENTIALS
A party needs more than tradi.
tions, however. You and your fel
low workers have a right to ash
whether we have credentials from
the working class today, what rol,
we are playing in the surging mo
vement and the vast struggles O.
the present. Our answer is tha
we do have such credentials. w,
point to the fact that in the foun
, ding convention of the W.P. tn
leaders of the National Unemplov
ed League, the strongest and mos
stable Of the unemployed organi
zations which have come out O
the depression, the leaders of tn
. great Toledo strike, the leaders o
tn great series of strikes in Mir
!, neapolis, active workers in stee
4 automobiles, textile, rubber, trans
! portation the public utilities too
: part. We are an integral part i
all sections Of the country Of tn
working class movement and tn
!, struggles Of the masses.
Let me go back for a momer
and emphasize again that the Y
! P. is the result of a merger. Fc
e ten years and more we have see
: splits and disintegration in the r,
= volutionary movement. Sometime
- it seemed as if every week produ,
!; ed new party, group or groul
let. No wonder that you and man
other workers felt discouraged ar
! even sometimes disguised. Here
last we have case not Of "an
- ther party" not of two groul
where there was one before, b.
- of one organization where befol
= there were two. Here is an examp
- = Of revolutionary unity. This, v
- submit, means more than just a
- ding one and one to make two. IT
establishment Of a unifying cent
marks an rhetoric turning poi
4 in the revolutionary moveme1
Of This example Of unity will be
on contagious, we believe, as was {
o. example Of splits in an earlier pc
n iod. The feet that the former C.
c. A. and A.W.P. were able to beg
tie this process Of unification Is pro
k that they represented healthy, vi
ly orous and responsible elemen
Il That they may work with the
he elements to further the crucial
he of unifying the revolutionary Il
nd ces is one big argument for wei
ng ers joining the W.P.
K UNTTY-ON WHAT BASTS3
eu When we speak Of unity tod
ISn 81 We have TO understand clearly WI
we mean Unity-on what basi
y Merely repeating the word ''unti
ns or united front" viii not acoo
VI plaah anythAng.
Attsl her