The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-02-25
$4,000 Members is Goal of 1.-TWO.
In Preparations For Convention


International Workers Order is
gaining momentum. The object Of
the drive is to build the Order to
rs. 900 members by MAY 5th.
On February l the total member
ship of the Order was 62,721. Since
February the national office has
received 2,481 applications. One
more week is left in February. In
dications are that this week will
not be behind the total of last week.
Therefore, the recruiting during the
month Of February will surely reach
about $500, children included. With
unavoidable suspensions, this would
raise the membership to minimum
Of 5000 by March l. This leaves
5000 new members to be recruited
each for the remaining two months
of March and April, if we are to
reach 5000 by the opening of the
convention. Such recruitment in the
remaining two months is entirely
within our possibilities.
The last two weeks have shown a
rapid increase in the recruiting. The
recruiting for the week ending Feb.
II brought e38. and the week ending
Feb. 10 brought 1852 applications.
The English Section with a neces-
ssry weekly quota Of 1870 sppliea-
tions recruited in the last three
weeks an average of 152 members
per week. The Jewish Section with
weekly quota of 24O per week re-
cruited an average of 2a5 per week
during the three weeks Of February.
Hungarian Section Improves Work
There are very definite signs Of
an awakening Of the Hungarian
Section. That Section trailed at the
tail end of the procession in the
last drive. In the last few weeks,
however, it achieved an average
weekly recruiting Of II as against its
weekly quota Of 70. The tendency is
on the upgrade.
The remaining Sections must pick
themselves up energetically II they
want to live up to their promises
and satisfy expectations. The Polish
Section fulfilled only three-hfths,
the Rumanian Section two-thirds,
and the Italian and Ukrainiau Sec
lions each only one-half Of their
weekly quotas during the three Feb
ruary weeks. There is no reason for
this tagging behind except inatten-
ton. The leaders of these sections
must keep in mind that the quota
shortages Of past recruiting weeks
cannot easily be made up in the
future.
The pre-eonvention membership
drive Of the Order is giving the
branches Of the Order an oppor-
tunity to achieve the right to larger
delegations to the convention. or
the right to any delegations. Espe-
eially the Section tagging behind in
the drive should consider this. If
the italian Section will not energize
its drive, its 81 branches will be
represented at the convention by
only "a delegates. The SO Ukrainian
branches will only have 81 delegates,
and the 81 Polish branches are at
present entitled only to 81 dele
gates at the convention.
Convention Must Be Made Repre-
sentative
Such under representation would
be calamity. Great problems con-
front our Order, because the prob
lens Of the working class are grow
ing. The future Of our Order will
depend On our ability to be Of serv-
ice to III members and to the work
ing class. The ability of our Inter
national Workers Order to serve the
working class does not depend on
planning only. It can only be the
result of a perfect blending of plan
ming and action.
Our convention therefore must
not merely be deliberstive body to
plan the best possible policies and
activities. 1t must also be the in
strument of mobilization for action.
1t must prepare the delegates to
take leadership in carrying out the
plans adopted at the convention.
The delegates must be the bearers
of the experiences of the members
and the needs of the workers to the
convention. They must be the bear
ers Of the spirit engendered by the
convention and an understanding
of the decisions made by the con-
vention back to the members. 1t is
clear therefore that the success of
the convention will depend in a
measure on the fullest representa-
ton of all branches at the con-
vention.
Language Work Important
With the language sections the
need for a full representation of
the membership is even more evil
dent. The Order does not have the
to penetrate all sections
Of the working class if it does not