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National Convention NATIONAL CONVENTION SOCIALIST LABOR PARTY )[" y 5- 10 . 1920 . REPORTS, RESOLUTIONS, PLATFORM, ETC. • Publi shed 1921 National Executive Committee, Socialist Labor Party, 45 Rose Street New York The modern revolutionist know s find th e revoluti onist putting himsel f full well that man is not superior to above th e organi zati on. The opposite principle, that principle is superior to conduct is an unmist akable earmark man, but he does not fly off the han- of reformer s. dle with the maxim, and thus turn the The revoluti onist recogn izes tha t maxim into absurdity. He firmly the pre sent machiner y and methods couple s the maxim with this other, of production rend er imposs ible--and that no principle is superior to the well it is th ey do-the individual free­ movement or organization that puts dom of man such as our savage an­ it and upholds it in the field ... He cestors knew the thing; that, today, knows that in the revolution demand- the highe st individua l freedom must ed by our age , Organization must be go hand irr hand with collective free­ theincamation of Principle. Just the dom; and non e such is possible with­ reverse of the reformer, who will ever out a central directing authority. be seen mocking at science, the revo- Standing upon this vigor-imparting ~~~~::~t 7~~ ~;g:::'~::ti:ndi=~i;ct~~: ~ii;~s~lai:e ~fri~:vil~:ti O:~l ftr~~ i ::;' O I ~~ Principle. He will say; "The Prin- striking contrast with the mentally ciple and the Organization are one." sickly, and, therefor e, suspicious re- former. Hence th e cry of "Bossism!" Again, the modern revolutionist is as abs ent f rom the revolutionist's knows that in order to accomplishre- lips as it is a featu re on those of the sults or promote principle, there must reformer. 'be unity of action. He know s that, if we do not go in a body and hang to- No organ iza tion will inspire t he gether, we are bound to hang separate. outside ma sses wit h respect that will Hence, you will ever see the revolu- not insi st upon and enforce discipli ne tionist submit to the will of the major- within its own ranks. If you allow ity: you will always see him readiest your own mem ber s to play monkey­ to obey; he recognizes that obedience shines with the Part y, the lookers -on , is the badge of civilized man. The who belong in thi s camp, will jus tly savage does not know the word. The believe that you will at some crtti cal word " obedience" does not exist in the moment allow cap ita lism to play mon­ vocabulary of any language until its keyshines with you; they will not re­ peoplegotheyondthestageofsav- spectyou,andtheir accession t o your agery. Hence, also, you will never rank s will he delayed. Repor t of the National Ex ecutiv e Committ ee- , Report of the Editor of th e Weekly Peopl e . Resolutions Adopted . National Platform Ad opted " . Reports of Committ ees Adopt ed Amendments to the Party Constitution Adopt ed and Approved by Referendum 51 Appendix Report of the National Execu tive Committee to the 15th National Convention of the Socialist Labor Party, May 1920 Greetings: the submerged working class, which Looking back over the fou r years so far (out side of Russia) in vain has that have elapsed since the las t con­ soug ht to overcome the monster. vc nt ion of the Par ty , on e is im pres sed In America, the final stronghold, with the faetthat changes hav e taken the backbone of Capitalist Imperial­ that none could have an ticipated is m, a like condition ex ist s, with the that short space of time , a pe - d ifference that actual war doe s no! which in Tmport ance tran scends ex ist, and the masses,though on the any period of that duration in the verge of starvatio n. have as y et not world's history. The entire civ ilized go ne through that agony of hunger world has been convulsed as if by an and miser)' wh ich ha s fallen to the earthquake. The savage wa r, ~nally lot of the working classes elsewhere. C'xtcndingtothercmotes tcor ne rs of The American Plutocracy,true to the the earth, has so affected th e com­ ide als of imperialism, ha s, how ever, plexion of the prevailing system, has introduced a reign of terror among changed its processes, or rather d issentients, which goes further than intensified a nd ha st ened the in most of the old countries. Be ing of these processes, a s :0 " illitera tes" in all matt er s perta ining it im po s s ible ever to ret urn to to th e soc ial sc iences, eco nom ics, the conditions prevailing pri or to erc., the Imperial ists of this country 1914, It has become clear by this stand bewildered at the sight of the t im e that capitalislI1proper, ca pi tal­ yawn ing abyss before them. Chokin j ism in its normal aspects, has gone with wealth wrung from a s ex ploited In its place there ha s been a slave class as ever ex isted, they a system of soci ety which, tremble with fear and wonder at the essentially capitalis t in so far rurnblingsalreadyheard.even inthis as relation to the wo rk in g clas s benigh ted country of untrammelled is concerned, diifers as mu ch from cap itali sm and labor fakerism. In su­ the capitalism of pre-war days asthe perstitious awe they strike blindly rotten ripe fruit differs from the about them, attacking in their despair ripening fruit. Death and pes til e nce, the very foundation of that fo rm of hunger and misery ravage E urope as government which they never tireof a direct resu lt of the war, the foul holding up to the world as the last social atmosphere bein g .su rc harg ed word in governtnental arrangements. with the putrid smell of the de caying, The war and its aftermath hav e fa-t decaying capitalist system, On produced a darkness that ha s filled the o the r han d, Ca pi ta lis t Imperial­ man)' with despair, and many others ism, or nascent Industrial Feudalism, (formerly clear) with confusion. That tower, apparently sup re me above th e which formerly, in the distance, was social misery and socia l decay of the or seemed clear to them has now be­ old worl d, hold in g in it s iron grip come a fog, though within gra sp and realization. Many of those groups losing their grip on the workers­ and individuals who formerly pre­ more and more are these parties and tended to be opponents of capitalism their organs revealed as the hand­ have not only dropped the pretence, maids of the vested interests, of nas­ but have become in fact the last bar­ cent Industrial Feudalism. The time ricades, the final sllpportandchief is fast coming, in short, when we may hope of the Imperialists. In the name expect to be called upon to lead of Socialism these unspeakable that working class to final victory. wretches have slaughtered the work­ One of the important acts of the ers, as witness Germany during the last Party convention was the adop­ last one and a half years. tjon of a statement on the question In all this darkness there has arisen of unity between the S. L. P. and the a pillar of flame, a piercing ray of S. P. The document adopted by the hope, a voice in the wilderness ring­ convention was endorsed by the ref­ ing around the world. Russia, czar­ erendum, and after much discussion ridden and exploited, with a popula­ and correspondence the proposed tion groping in thraldom and misery, Unity Conference took place in Janu­ suddenly arose, Phoenix-like, from ary, 1917, in New York City. Five the ashes . Young Russia, shaking delegate, from the S. L. P . and four the shackles of centuries from off its from the S. P. (one of their delegates strong limbs, stands today as that being unable to attend) attended this pillar of flame, as that piercing ray conference, which, by the way, was of hope. initiated by the S. P. The conference lasted two days (January 6and 7) and We shall now review the events of resulted, as most clear-sighted S. L. the last four years as far as they P. men expected, in absolute disagree- the Party. ment. The S. P ., true to its inherent national campaign of 1916 was bourgeois nature, naturally clung to with great vigor. Tons of its bourgeois reform program, and were distributed, our or- refused to recede an inch from its sent to almost every position as a buffer of the American That the result Federation of Labor, the strongest votes and membership bulwark of American capitalism. The need neither dismay S. L. P., on the other hand, true to us. The S. L. P. is its inherent Socialist nature, insisted the young that must and will upon a revolutionary program, in­ slay the monster capitalism, but it eluding an unqualified recognition of can not do so until that monster has industrial unionism as the sine qua exhausted its own possibilities-e-pos- non of working class emancipation. sibilities for good as for evil.
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