The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-02-14


50 before long. But it Is clear that
q party dominated by such . leader
ship, even if it called itself q Labor
Party. would only be another edition
Of the LsFollette movement Of 1924.
which in a previous period Of up
heaval led the movement of into a
blind alley, betrayed it, and dis
persed it.
Two Dangers
Against such party, organized
from above by such leaders and
controlled by them, the Communists
must fight. allying ourselves with all
loyal fighters for a Labor Party Of
struggle against capital
In this struggle, we must guard
against two deviations, two errors,
which will appear again and again,
in all sorts Of DISCUSSES. First, is
the error Of narrowing down the
broad class-struggle section Of the
movement only to its revolutionary
wing. to those who accept the class
struggle clear up to and including
the revolutionary overthrow Of CAPT
talism and the dictatorship of the
proletarist. Against such narrow
ing tendency we must fight, de-
handing the fullest united front of
all who are ready for the militant
fight for the immediate demands Of
the workers. for support to the trade
union struggles, strikes. ETC.; for the
Workers Unemployment. Old Age
and Social Insurance Bill Oh. r.
262D, for Negro rights, for civil
rights generally, against developing
fascism and war, and for q Labor
Party democratically controlled from
below. Beyond these basic items,
there should be no further best of
loyalty to real Labor Party, except
the actual carrying out of q disci-
plined and organized fight for these
things.
The second error. or deviation.
which must be guarded against, is
that of compromising with, or fail
ing to struggle against the enemy
camp within the general mass
movement, with the top trade union
bureaucracy, with the LaFollettes,
the Olsens, the Sinclairs, the Longs,
the Waldmans. The Labor Party
is not. for us Communists, a means
Of making peace with these gentle
men, but on the contrary a means
to make more effective war, to de-
feat them and isolate them from
the masses. Unless this dominates
all our thought and activity, We will
be certain to make damaging op-
porturist mistakes which objective
ly betray the interests of the masses.
Initiative of Communists
To what extent do we propose
that the Communists shall take
initiative in bringing about the for
nation of such Party as we en-
dorse? We propose the fullest i'm
mediate initiative by all Commu-
nists, everywhere, in raising this
question, discussing it among the
masses. and bringing the organi-
cations to adopt resolutions of sup
port for such movement, thus
creating the solid foundation to
bring such q party into existence.
We do not propose to initiate at
once q movement TO organize such
z Labor Party on national scale.
Before that is done, we want all the
political-class issues involved In the
party and its program to be raised
clearly before the masses; We want
to give the masses the opportunity
Of an intelligent choice between the
class-struggle line we propose, and
the disqualification line of the
enemy camp. 1t is the opportun-
lists, the reforrnists, the conscious
social-fascists, who want to rush
quickly into the organizational crys-
utilization of the Labor Party from
the top, on a national scale, before
the masses below have had a chance
to prepare themselves for an efec-
tive participation in deciding the
character and form of the Party.
We, on the contrary, base our
selves upon the masses in the lower
organizations, In the localities. And
in the localities We find MANY places
where the issues are more clear. the
movement more matured, than is
true on national scale. In ali
such localities. the moment the time
seems to be ripe We urge all who
follow US, to Join in taking the ini-
t1at1ve for the formation of a local
Labor Party of the sort We have
described. A measure of ripeness for
such a move is to be seen in whether
or not the ma iority. or consider
able section, Of the local trade
unions and other workers orgsni-
cations, are ready for participation
in the movement.
Communists Stay on Ballot
me QuesClon Is being asked, would
the formation Of a local or State
Labor Party means that the Com
tnunlst Party would disappear from
the ballot, would cease to conduct
its own independent campaign. The
answer to this is, NO, by no means.
The Communist Party, participant
ing IN such a Labor Party, would
register it's own ticket on the ballot
placing in nomination the same can
didates who are named by the Labor
Party as a whole. 1t would con-
duct its independent campaign,
urging all workers to vote the Labor
ticket, and urging all who agree
with the necessity to strengthen the