Vol. II No. 2, March 1935
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~-k*~""'",---;,..cc'::~~~2-.'_--4;_;,; ... ~ :"",~ i~ I, THE NEW~INTERNATIONAL (With which is merged Labor Action) A MONTHLY ORGA.N OF REVOLUTIONARY MARXISM OFFICIAL THEORETICAL ORGAN OF THE WORKERS PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES Published once a month by the New International Publishing Company, 2 ,West 15th Street, New York, N. Y. Subscription rates: $1.50 per year; $1.00 for se~en months. Canada and Abroad: $1.75 per year. Entered as Second Class matter January 26, 1935, at the Post' Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. VOLUME II Editors: 'NUMBER 2 MAX SHACHTMAN MARCH 1935 JOHN WEST TABLE OF CONTENTS The Problem of the Labor Party, by M. S. .......... 33 The Abolition of the Bread Cards in the Soviet Union, ,Where Is, Stalinism Leading Russia? .. , ............... 37 by Erich W ol'lenberg ........................ 73 The Roosevelt "Security" Program, by John West..... 40 Stalin the Theoretician, by John G. Wright .......... 74 Lessons of the Paris Commune, by Leon Trotsky...... 43 BOOKS: The Housing Question in America: I. What the P~oblem Looks Like, by Henry' Stone. .. 47 \Vells' Autobiography, by John Hart .............. 75 2. How the Problem Is"Solved", by Paul V. McBride 5J Labor Historian, by Dennis Brown ................ 76 The Political Situation in Spain, by L. Fer sen . .....,: ~ 52 To Make a Revolution, by J. W. .................. 77 Strikes on the 1935 Horizon, by A. J. Muste ....... , .. 57 Problems of the Pacific, by Jack Weber ............ 77 Lenin and Rosa Luxemburg, by Max Shachtman . ..... 60 Neurotic Society, by Bernard Wolfe ................ 78 American Trade Union Problems-II, by Arne Swabeck 64 Briefer Mention, by Florence Becker ................ 79 ,Why the Saar Was Lost, by Oskar Fischer . ......... 67 A Picture of the Socialist Party .................... 80 In a Billion Dollar Industry, by Jack Wilson .......... 69 A Note to the Reader ................. ~. 'J' ......... 80 Marxism: Science or Method? by Rubin Gotesky. .. 71 Back Cover: The Press. At Home. You can have anyone of the followhig books in combination with THE NEW New Militant) official weekly organ INTERN ATION AL as follows: NEW INTERN ATION AL for I year .... 1.50 of the Workers Party, for I year .. 1.00 Fontamara, by Ignazio Silone ...... 2.50 NEW INTERNATIONAL for I year .... $1.50 Both for $2.00 Both for $3.25 The Decline of American Capitalism, by Lewis Corey .............. 4.00 NEW INTERNATIONAL for 1 year .... 1.50 FREE - The suppressed Testament of Both for $4.50 Man's Fate, b3' Andre Malroux. A Lenin (a pamphlet) or "Left Wing" novel about Chinese Revolution 2.50 NEW INTERNATIONAL for 1 year .... 1.50 Both for $3.25 Communism, by V. Lenin with every My Life, by Leon Trotsky . ....... 5.00 yearly subscription to the Both for $3.50 'NEW INTERNATIONAL for 1 year .... 1.50 Babouk, by Guy Endore) a story NEW INTERNATIONAL for 1 year .... 1.50 about Negro slavery ........... 2.00 Correspondence of Karl Marx and NE\V INTERNATIONAL Both for $3.00 Friedrich Engels ............... 2.75 2 :West 15th Street Both for $3.75 New York City THE NEW INTERNATIONAL A MONTHLY ORGAN OF REVOLUTIONAR Y MARXISM VOLUME II MARCH 1935 NUMBER 2 The Problem of the Labor Party A. GREAT CHANGE has come over the policies of the com- instant in the equally merciless grip of a Labor party upsurge. munist party in the United States, in consonance with the Bursting with the new knowledge, he rushed home with such an Rightward swing of the whole Third International. Where, only effervesceing anxiety to impart it to the masses that he felt it would yesterday, the party elders thundered against the blasphemous be unjust to keep it from them long enough to consult with the suggestion that the united front should be made from organization presumable leadership of the party, the Central Committee, or the to organization, that the leadership of the socialist party and other membership, much less to wait for their decision. The first revela labor organizations should be directly and formally approached tion of the fact that the "party" had changed "its" policy and now they now pant pathetically at the heels of the National Executive favored the formation of a Labor party, was made at a public Committee of the S. P. Whereas the C. P. convention as late as gathering in Washington on January 6. The Central Committee the spring of 1934 set itself the task of building up the "revolu of the party, subsequently convened, put its predestined stamp of tionary T.U.U.L." and of establishing the "Independent Federation approval on the new line about two weeks later. Whether the of Labor", it now hastens to dissolve every non-A. F. of L. union formal detail of discussion and approval by the membership was it ever had its hands on. But nowhere is the change as startling, attended .to in the hustle and bustle has not yet been fully estab both for completeness and abruptness, as in its policy with regard lished-in any case, it could not have been considered very impor to a Labor party. tant. Only an incorrigible petty bourgeois democrat, we are now Best evidence on this score is offered by examining its old policy. taught, wants to discuss a policy before executing it; your modem In 1928, the prevailing line of advocating a labor party was laid revolutionist carries it out first and then discusses it, if at all. on the table. By 1930, that is, at the height of the now totally "We must change our negative position towards the Labor party ignored but unforgettable "third period", it was taken off the table question," Browder explains, "which was determined by the ab and slashed to ribbons. In the theses and resolutions presented by sence of a practical mass movement which made it a practical the March-April 1930 Plenum for the 7th national convention, we problem." (Daily Worker, Jan. 19, 1935.) But it was determined were told that the results of the economic crisis "destroy the re by exactly opposite considerations in 1930; the mass movement formist illusions with which the bourgeoisie attempted to deceive was indeed there, but the Labor party then could have as its base and pacify the workers [and] continually accelerates the narrow merely the A. F. of L., which was "outright Fascist", the trade iug of tbe very social basis of reformism" (p. 8). Reformism and unions, which had been turned ,into "Fascist troops" and the "social its illusions are not only dying of social inanition, but "a revolu Fascist" S. P. Trusting to short memories, Browder ,continues to tionafyupsurge grips the working masses" (p. 9). There is pre point out that "Now there is a mass movement and it is a ques cious little difference among the tottering "reformist organizations tion of our party's participation among these masses and influenc and elements, some of which (A. F. of L.) are outright Fascist,· ing their course". while others (socialist party, Muste group [!]) cover their Fascist With that gift of contempt for consistency which elevates Brow activities with pseudo-radical phrases" (p. II). The reactionaries der above the common run of· men, be nonchalantly denies the have turned "the labor unions from instruments of struggle on above assertion a few weeks later, and points out: "There doe. beh~lf of the workers into instruments against the working masses not yet ezut a clearly-defined Labor party movement. There ia and into Ftucist troops of capitaU.sm" (p. II). If the C. P. bas only the begillning mass break-away, within which, a struggle ia been at fault at all in this situation, then only because "it has been going on between two main class forces." (Daily Worker, Feb. a mistake on our part that we did not sOoner clearly analyze and 14, 1935.) c:har~terize tbe open Ftucism of the A. F. of L'." (p. 33)· But regardless for the moment of whether the mass movemeat ConcJellion: " Any Labor party crystallization at this moment for the Labor party does or does not yet exist, the new policy of could have only [oilly!] the A. F. of L. unions, the socialist party the C. P. most certainly does. It merits an examination which we aDd other social reformist organizations as a basis, or would be think will not prove fruitless. compoeecl only of those already in sympathy with the communist * • • • party. A Labor party made up of soeial~Fasclst· organizations One need not go far afield to study the background of the ques would not mean poUtical separation of the workers from the capi tion: what is the relationship between a revolutionary Marxian talists .•ut would mean' the delivery of the workers to capitalist party and a Labor party? The American movement haa a rich politics under the gUise of a Labor party." (P. 15.) and instructive history in tbis field, and even a condensed recapi Neither the analysis nor the conclusion could be more sober, tulation of it bere will greatly facilitate an appraisal of the prob lucid or unassailable. Be that as it may, here was the C. P. policy lem as presented today. Indeed, the latter cannot be achieved on the Labor party till the end of 19J4. It was so completely without the former. interre4, that neither in his poUtical report nor his summary at In 1922, the just organized legal communist party (the Workers the April 1934 convention of the C. P., did Browder so much as party) put forward for the first time the slogan for a Labor party mention the words "Labor party" or hint that it was' or might and launched a campaign to realize it.