NEW PARTY FORCES FOR LEFT OPPOSITION

T h e MILITANT Weekly Organ of the Communist League of America [Opposition]

t 5 ! u 1, N o. ' Telephone: DRYdock 1656 NEW YOKK. N. Y. Saturday June 21, 1930 PRICE 5 CENTS

Unemployment and Communist Tactics Defeat the Capitalist Offensive ! The fresh breaks on the stock market 'June 12 and 16, the most devastating since O rganize United Front A gainst Unemployment and Wage Cuts ! last November, burst another bubble In the tnedlclne-man tactics of Hoover, the vaunted Equipped with thousands of dollars for The tribunals of the Spanish Inquisi­ We openly conspire to rouse the work­ engineering genius whose election slogan preliminary expenses, the Senate has tion sat In judgement over bourgeois Pro­ ers to resist the mobilization plans to r ¡was “Business Administration” Cotton has launched its star-chamber "investigation” testantism. The Czarist autocracy sab in the next war by a revolutionary struggle «lumped. Steel production has declined. into Communist “plotting” In the United judgement over Ifyassian revolutionaries. for the defence of the Soviet Union. We The index for automobile production drop­ States. The Hoover government, the Na­ The United States Senate “investigates Com­ openly conspire to separate the masses in ped June 14, 36.8 per cent below that of tional Civic Federation, and the American munism". The past is replete with judge- the American Federation of Labor from taat year. Federation of Labor are a single united raenb3 of the dying over the living, of the t t j r treacherous find bureaucratic mis- But) the obviously well-fed Secretary front. With the ghost of the infamous Pal­ forces of reaction over those of revolution. leadership of the William Greens and the Of Agriculture Hyde maintains his poise. mer presiding, cabinet officials, labor ta­ But when have such investigatons and Mathew Wolls. We openly conspire to or- The nation, he declares in a statement, "is kers, stool-pigeons, hungry politicians and judgements permanently halted the advance gninze the toilers of the tinted States for back at work..W e have suffered from little the remainder of the unsavory crew bur­ of history or the development of the class the proletarian revolntioa to overthrow the more than seasonal unemployment... dening society, w ill testify to the existence struggle ? The spectre of Communism capitalist system and replace the business there was relatively little distress..." If of a “Red Conspiracy”. which Marx marked as haunting the Euro­ dictatorship by a revolutionary Workers’ you are of a credulous nature you can The Crisis ef American Capitalism pean bourgeoisie of 1848 has materialized Government. take his word for it. On the other hand Outside, in every city of the United in the Soviet power of today. Nor could But as a matter of fact the capitalist there are the very conservative figures States, members of an army of six million any Holy Alliance, Romanoff Ochrana, mas­ class has no illusions about the nature of of the official Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployed fbrm in bread line. In the sacre of Communards or strategy of • Bis­ the Communist conspiracy. The investig­ which reports a further decline of 1.6 per shops, relentlessly driven by the speed-up. marck prevent it. ation is a cover for something else. The bent in employment and 2.4, per cent in workers face the menace of wage-cuts. Mas. The Open Conspiracy of Communism ruling class aims to master the deepening payroll totals in the manufacturing indus­ ter-incited Southern mobs burn and lynch . . I t needs no investigation to establish economic crisis and improve its position tries in April of this year as compared poor Negroes. Militant labor organizers that international Communism is a great­ for a sharper attack on the world market With April 1929. of the unorganized and the unemployed in er danger to world capitalism than over be­ and by an offensive tor wage reductions. The fore. Communism is an open conspiracy. employers are fully aware that as a result U may be added that there arc in­ Gastonia, Georgia, California and New “The Communists have always disdained to of the mass unemployment and the wage- deed “unemployed” who have “ suffered York are imprisoned, sent to the chain gangs, or threatened with the electric conceal their aims". We openly conspire cutting offensive, tens of thousands of relatively lititle distress" These are the to organize the workers for immediate im­ workers hitherto faithful to the traditions ■horde of dividend -receivers whose nur­ chair. But parasitical coupon clippers gar. ner the biggest dividends in years. Con­ provements in their living conditions. We of capitalist poltics and the craft preju­ tured fingers neither tail nor spin but openly conspire to avail .ourselves of every dices of the A.F. of L. w ill be radicalized can and do clip coupons, Recorded div­ gress stamps approval on a Tariff to as­ sure the corporations still vaster monopoly strike, every lockout, every demonstration by their experience of misery. They are fur­ idend and interest payments in May of to sharpen the edge of the class struggle, ther conscious that the leaven in the work­ this year were actually $570,000,000 com­ profits. M ilitary expenditures for the to lay bare the process of capitalist exploit­ ing class is the Communist movement, that pared with $490,000,000 a year ago. next imperialist struggle reach the high­ est peak in history. ation and government suppression. the Communists understand the laws of The signs accumulate that the capitalist economy and the fraud of bour­ capitalist class w ill seek a way out of geois democracy. To suppress the Com­ this crisis by a campaign for the “de­ munists, to terrorize these proletarian lead­ flation” of the workers' wages. In,,close HUGO OEHLER JOINS OPPOSITION ers who croon no pacifist and liberal lul­ collaboration with the social democratic labies, becomes the entering wedge of the bureaucracy of the General Labor Feder­ Through the adhesion of Hugo OeHler to the platform of the Communist capitalist offensive against the whole work, ation the German industrialists have in­ League of America (Opposition), the Left Opposition recruits one of the best types ing class. itiated a movement for a ten per cent of organizers that the American Communist movement has yet developed. Comrade The Tasks of the Communist Party wage cut to challenge coal and steel Oehler was the representative Of the National Textile Workers Union In its organizing in this situation very heavy respon­ market!, of Great Britain and the United campaign in the South during the Gfustonia struggle and thereafter. He was every­ where hailed as a courageosu and clearheaded fighter and leader. sibilities rest upon the leadership of the Skates. Tlio capita Irts of the United Communist Party. Sectarianism in these States w ill not lag far behind. It will Hugo Ocliler has held numerous posts in the Communist Party. He was or­ circumstances would be tantamount to po­ be a dastardly betrayal of the interests ganizer of the Kansas District of the Communist Party, and during the Colorado coal litical crime against the interests of the of the German workers by their “leader­ miners strike directed the Party’s work in the field. He is well known to all m ili­ tants, class conscious workers and revolutionists in the West and South, as well as proletariat. The possibilities for the ad­ ship” but noiihing that the bureaucrats vance of the revolutionary movement are to the Party organization generally. Oehler has presented the statement in the cur­ of the Amerlcau Federation of Labor can­ great. But to avail ourselves of this his- rent issue of the M ililitant to the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party not emulate. torjr opportuVty, the Party must give and to the District Committee hi Chicago where lie is at present working. Government reports indicate that per leadership to a UNITED FRONT movement capita, earnings in manufacturing nlilus- The pre-conventiou discussion of the offici—it can only be obtained and held by against the capitalist offensive. The Party tries in April, of tihis year had dropped Communist Party,'the Thesis to the conven­ actual leadership in theoretical and. prac­ w ill uot be able to do so until it breaks '4.5 per cent from the levels of 1929. The tion and the Comintern organization letter tical problems- facing the working class. with its present course of blind faction­ textile ■ capitalists, bituminous coal and list the greatest number of shortcomings Leadership in the Marxian sense cannot alism aijid adventurism. The situation steel industries, where unemployment is the Party has ever had presented to any of sprout from the top like the Peppers,Love- must bo soberly analyzed for what it is. .on the ¡increase are beginning to talk its conventions. A review of these docu­ stones and the present incompetents. The There la no iinmedate “acute revolutionary openly of wage cuts. The open shop or­ ments will convince one at once that they are thesis presented dealing with the short­ crisis”. There are yet no “offensive revolu­ ganizations are becoming increasingly ac­ not shortcomings in the nature of a progres­ comings does not and cannot deal with tionary struggles” on the horizon. The tive. sing party that is at a higher level but at their fundamental causes. masses have not yet deserted the labor The situation requires a thprough a lower level in comparison witl. the past, The Menace of Revisionism bureaucrats and the social reformists. The overhauling of the present course of the especially in relation to the increasingly The Manifesto of the Communist Op­ capitalist class of this country has not yet Communist Party. The theology of the favorable objective situation. position to the rank and file and the 7th lost its confidence and Its power to rule. "third period” must give place to a Marxist Bankruptcy of the Centrist Party Regime Convention is a document that clears the But tihe defensive struggles of the workers appraisal. The workers of the United States The Central Committee is presenting to way for the membership to r. correct un­ can with correct leadership become the are on the eve not of offensive revolu­ tihe 7th convention a unanimous thesis ahd derstanding. The Manifesto points out starting point for revolutionary struggles' tionary struggles bub of defensive strug­ resolutions that have been printed in book­ the roots of the present Party crisis, not in the future. The Party must weed out gles to resist the capitalist onslaught. It let form (after Bedacht’s trip) which only facing us in this country but facing the verbiage of the “third period” or the the Party doe3 not give leadership to tlio means it is approved by our parent body our comrades in the other parties of our Party will be wrecked for years. masses. If it fails to develop a concrete In the International Office. This procedure, International. The revision of Marxism For Communist Unity! program of action, if it refuses to or­ foliowiug the Comintern organization letter by the Stalin-Bucharin leadership has de­ The Left Communists (Communist ganize a broad united front of the masses, to the convention and the admitted mass railed the movement in the swamp of the League of America) are profoundly opposed if it blindly adheres to its impotent and of blunders, mistakes and shortcomings non-Marxist, eclectic, utopian, reactionary to the present Party regime and its revi­ blind agitation against “social fasoism”, means (1.) That our present leadership Is theory of the “Building of Socialism in one sionist theories on an international scale. the social democrats and the labor bur- not capable of drawing up an analysis of country”, the colonial revolutionary policy But in the interests of the promotion of the aucrats will be the gainers; the masses of the present situation. (2.) That our in­ and the tactics of bhe “third period". Ac­ workers' United Front, we are prepared nd the Party will be the losers. ternational leadership does not trust this tivity and more activity w ill not replace to support every step that the Party under­ / The Communist movement has suf­ bask to our American leadership. (3.)That correct Marxist theory and these problems takes for a concrete prograni of action fered heavily from the present factional re­ the delegates to the 7th Convention, are first brought up by the Russian Opposition, against the capitalist offensive. Once start* gime and its false theories. Thousands not trusted with this task. seemingly remote and of no concern to the ed in this direction, we are confident that of workers have been alienated from Us A leadership not capable of drawing class struggle in America are the deter­ the momentum of the class struggle w ilt influence. But there is still time to re­ up ite own analysis is not capable of lead­ mining causes of the present chaotic con­ vindicate to the Party mebership the full trace the steps of the Party to a line of ing the revolutionary party. A conven­ dition in an otherwise objectively favorable justice not only of the strategy we advocate revolutionary realism. The great tasks tion that does not protest this action is a situation. for the every-day struggle but the histor­ before the Party demand a concentration strait-jacket) convention and not a unity The Communist Party is the instrument ical validity of the revolutionary Leninist of Communist forces on the basis of Par­ convention. Leadership of the masses can­ of the working class used as the leader and principles which motivate our tactics. ty democracy. not be appointed from tha international Contnued on Page 6 •—MAURICE SPECTOR THE MILITANT Saturday June 21, 1930 v a g e z The Hawley-Smoot Tariff and American Imperialism competitition to bear on the workers in the Amid the gathering uproar of protest) By MAURICE SPECTOR form of wide-spread wage reductions. The at home and threats of reprisals from general crisis of capitalism will be in­ abroad, the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Bill has the poverty and inability of the masses in world market. This is the significance of tensified. society to buy back—is one of the most the tariff. received legislative enactment and presi­ The plans of American imperialism are important elements in this crisis of dis­ The number of mergers and consolida­ dential sanction. It cannot be passed over titanic in their consequences and must fin­ proportion. Goods accumulate in the fac­ tions increased until (.he United States as of no concern to the workers. Its im­ ally crash on the rock of their inner con­ tories but they cannot find the monetary was dominated by gigantic industrial corpor­ plications for the development of*the class tradictions. form for ther release. The industrial crisis ations. The policy of these gigantic consol­ struggle in the United States and the strug­ Financial Yoke gle of the imperialists for the world mar­ of over production results. Its storm signals idations is to maintain a complete monop­ While seeking to throttle Europe in­ ket are far too significant. have been manifest in the econ - oly of the home market and to bid for The Hawley-Smoot Tariff increases the omte situation of the United States for a the world dominion in the foreign market. dustrially in the world market), American imperialism simultaneously tightens the fin­ d ire c t taxes on im p orts to Í630,000,900 a considerable period, Buti it was re­ The crisis will accelerate the ruin of year or about) 20 per cent above the pre- strain from full expression by the great the small businessman and small manu­ ancial noose. The foreign loans of the «entl rate. This is a direct gift by the im­ credit struct ire built up on easy rates of facturer. The wages of the American work­ United States now total some $26,000,000,- 900. Capitalist Europe is one of her heav­ perialist government of the United States interest and the brokers loans, ers w ill be deflated. The cost of living w ill to the monopolies. The masses will bear the bull market, that kept the manufactur­ increase. iest debtors. How will Europe liquidate the burden ef these direct taxes on food ing and construction industries and the Attack on the World Market her debts while her markets are conquered by American imperialism? How will she clothing, housing and other necessities of installent plan going. The European competitors of American be able to expand while being drained both life . capitalism profess to be deeply shocked by The Workers’ Position ways? American imperialism lands in the Class Legislation the cynieism of this tariff, a declaration of But more concretely, “technological un­ net of this quandary. Capitalist Europe must The tariff which is held up as a na­ economic warfare tf ever there was one, employment”—the industrial reserve army either sell goods or default. It is warfare tional policy was always one of the most coming on the very heels of the London Na­ —was increasing. The workers paid for in either case. The record of the United val Disarmament Conference. Undoubted­ obvious and flagrant instances of "class le­ the higher organic composition of capital States for armed intervention to collect gislation". The manufacturers appealed ly the .economic policy im plicit in the tariff —technical progress—with the penalty of debts is a very active one. for the support of the workers on the is the reality behind the illusions intended rationalization and displacement! by the ma­ The pressure on the workers of Europe that protectionism would fill their to be fostered by the Disarmament Con­ ground chine. Jn 1929 production was 42 per cent mush become unbearable and create new dinner pai^s and the relatively higher ference. The war that resulted from the greater than in 1919 but the number of revolutionary crises. The American sec­ economic rivalries of Great Britain and wages were pointed to in substantiation workers actually decreased in that Interval tion of the German annuities plan, $98,- the wage levels of the workers in this Germany will be a mere sketch compared But by 585,600. The Bureau o f L abor S tatistics 250,000 was recently floated q u ickly by country were due not to the tariff protec­ to the forces of death and destruction that estimated the minimum health and decency eleven of the most powerful financial houses w ill be released in consequence of the de­ tion but to a combination of circumstances, budget of a working class family of five in the country headed by J.P. Morgan and great natural resources, the higher cision of American imperialism to put Eur­ the to be an annual income o f $2,262. The aver­ Company. These bonds are an integral part productivity of labor and its greater inten­ ope on a decreasing ration and to throttle age yearly earnings of a worker's family of of the Young Plan and an unconditional her. Protected by tho monopolist tariffin the sity due to superior technical equipment, th is kin d was $1,280. F ive m illio n s of such obligation of the German Government The inflow of capital, etc. The powerful home market, United States mass produc­ the families lived below this minimum stan­ American experts congratulate themselves protection for the United States Steel Cor­ tion will resort to the policy of large-scale dard, millions barely reach#! it. The on having thus taken the reparations ques­ poration has never benefited its industrial dumping campaigns in South America, Asia, masses were heavily exploited. Prosperity tion "out of politics”. But they reckon and elsewhere. »laves. The very people who fiercely re­ was only for the labor aristocracy. without their host—the German proletariat. sisted trade unionism and proposals for so- That the other capitalist powers will Do the Amercan capitalists believe that the Dial insurance on the grounl that these This is the situation which the capit­ counter-attack is plain. Up to the present German masses w ill recognize as their ob­ were class legislation and an interference alist class of the United States faces today. American imperialism has been able to di­ ligation the payment of the two billion with "economic laws” of supply and de­ The aim of capitalist) production is the vide them by demanding the favored nation marks annually for 53 years? As little as mand, were the interests who continually realization of profit. Capital accumulates danse for itself. it has wielded its tre­ but the rate of profit at home declines. the October revolution recognized the usod their political power to interfere with mendous financial power to force conces­ French loans to the Czar for the suppres­ economic laws of the international division The domestic market alone becomes too sions. Europe barred from access to the sion of the 1905 revolution! labor and to secure ever-mounting sub­ narrow a base for the productive powers of of great American market will not panrive- The tariff is another step on the road sidies from me government treasury. And American capitalism. Plant facilities are )y accept its fate without a struggle. The that American Imperialism has mapped out ths was as it should be. The "democratic” already in huge excess of domestic require­ German industrialists have announced a for itself to unqualified world power. First, ments. Finished manufactured goods state is the political representation of the new drive on the world m arket ho release through neutrality and then intervention in interests of private property and not of amount to one half of the entire foreign the heavy stocks accumulating in the Ruhr the World War, through abstention from the the working class. The fact alone th a t sales. Between 1919 and 1928 American and the drive w ill open with a ten per cent chaos of the Versailles Conference, through the British workers enjoyed a relatively exports totalled -53 billion furnishing a sur­ wage cut for hundreds os thousands of Ger­ the “stabilizing” intervention of the Dawes higher standard of living than the rest of plus over imports of 14 billion dollars. man workers. To meet this challenge the Plan in 1924 and more recently, the Young American capitalism must gird for a the European continent during the Victor­ Ilritish and American capitalists must in Plan. ian period of indilute; free trale is enough grand offensive on the workers and the turn bring the pressure of international Towards Proletarian Revolution to prove that the tariff was not respon­ La Lihcrte, a Parisian bourgeois paper sible fo r the higher living standards in asks: “ Is cue capitalistic world doomed to the United States. die through excess of production—pimply The Economic Crisis Your Do Share! because those who direct it are inciipable The Hawley-Smoot Tariff is the pro­ of organizing it rightT’ The Communists’ The Communist League (Opposition) is beginning to take roots in the duct of a deepening economic crisis, which answer is directly in the affirmative. labor and- trade union movement, and is making marked advances in the organ­ ecnicided with the advent of the “engin- The basic tendencies of world econ­ ization of it« fractions to carry through its policies in the Left wing and working tering genius’ and “Business Administra­ omy are for international unification. The tio n ” of Herbert Hoover. its sponsors makes benerally. Through the Weekly Militant we can better voice our views and present concrete programs of activity as a guide to the workers. economic crisis, the imperialist, wars, the Advance the stock argument that it will revolutionary struggles are fundamentally kssure the return of prosperity and keep New Forces from Party and the Youth expressions of the fact that) the productive discreetly silent on the reasons ijr the forces cannot be contained within the loss of prosperity in the first place. That In the official Communist Party and the Young Communist) League of the frontiers of the national state nor the fen­ this argument is fraudulent demagogy United States there is a growing resentment and distrust in the ranks, even though ters of private property. Basically Eur­ should be patent) to every worker. largely suppressed by the bureaucracy, with the policy of the official Communist opean economy cries out for the abolition Prosperity had come to be regarded as movement. A A ¡mber of them have however openly voiced thei,r protest and de­ of tariff barriers, the whole world for the a special d iv in e dispensatio n to clared their adherence with the views of the Left Opposition. The Weekly Militant international division of labor, and the free «ie United States, an eternal institution. makes it possible to work more actively than ever to win the worker-Commuuists movement of goods. But the resolution^ Publicists and professors wrote treatises to the program of the 1-eft Opposition. of the World Economic Conference, the to prove the "bankruptcy of Marxism” in Bankers Manifesto of a few years ago, the the light of American experience of the The M ilitant and the Economic Crisis international Chamber of Commerce, the Wide diffusion of wealth making bloated The fate of the Militant as a WEEKLY still hangs in the balance. The various proposals fo r a customs union can. stock owners of the workers. Pilgrims l i i n l f r . anl supporters of the Communist League of America (Opposition) are have but little, effect. So far from the cap­ trom the European social democracy iour- beginning to rally around theMilitant. Two issues of the Weekly Militant have ap­ italists being prepared to unify world ec­ aeyed over to marvel at the wonders of peared since our appeal. But a greater response is still needed if theMilltant is to onomy, and utilize its technical resources Fordism and the “economy of high wages” continue as a Weekly, and particularly to suivive during the difficult summer period. for international cooperation, the Haw­ The bubble burst. The stock market This is the critical time. We are confident that if the supporters of the Left Oppo­ ley-Sm oot ta riff dem onstrates yet, again, began its dizzy dance of calamity. Tha sition w ill contribute financially to pass through the "dog days”, the muture will that, imperialist monopolies based on the army of unemployed swelled to five mil­ bring ripe fruit to the Opposition. exploitation of labor and motivated by I4ie lions. Grain prices fell. Cotton slumped. realization of capital, can only increase the Commodity prices declined. Output de­ The Militant as a Pivot for Communist Growth antagonisms, the misery of the workers, creased. Exports fell off. American cap­ and bring greater m ilitary conflicts. italism revela all the frailities of anarcic The possibilities for the growth of Communism, of the Left Opposition in O nly tihe re vo lu tio n a ry action o f the productoon for profit. To propose higher the Unified States are good. The Militant is the pivot around which the activities proletariat for the socialization of produc­ tanffs as the solution for this crisis is of our movement revolve. On the assumption of the continued existence of the tion can cut the Gordian knot and free the sneer demagogy. M ilitant as a Weekly, the Communist League (Opposition) has laid plans for increased forces of production for a unified world The essence of the economic crisis is activity among the workers. At present, Max Shachtman of the National Committee economy and socialist freedom of trade. the cleavage between the power of produc­ is touring nationally for the Communist League. Other organisational and propa­ The European bourgeoisie is helpless ganda tours are planned for the fall period by other members of the Communist tion and the capacity for consumption ("ef­ League. to stem the tide of the American imperial­ fective demand”) on the basis, of course of ist advance; it can only prepare for war. the relations of distribution that obtain’ in Despite the talk of reprisals the American W e need $2,000.00, over and above our regular income of subscriptions, capitalist society. The masses cannot buy tariff w ill only provisionally here and (here bundle payments, etc. to insure our existence, as a Weekly publication for the next back the amount that is produced The six onths. bring common action among the European anarchy of capitalist production for profit states. In the end the struggle for mar­ manifests itself in the recurrent fiispro- SEND YOUR CONTRIBUTION AT ONCE TO THE kets w ill intensify their mutual hostilities. portionality between the various branches New Yorfe N. Y. MILITANT, 26 Third Ave, The action of American imperialism will production and the "ineffective demand” accelerate the development of the prolet­ arian revolution.

THE MILITANT, V oI. Ill, No. 24, June 21, 1930 Published weekly by the Com munist League of America (Opposition) at 25 Third Avenue New York N Y Sub-" «ription rate*. $2.00 per year; foreign $2.60. Five cents per copy. Bundle rates, 3 cents per copy. Editorial Board: Martin Ahern, James P. Cannon Max Sbachtman Mau­ ke Spector, Arne Swabeck. Entered a * ««'•ond d»«« mail matte ».member %8. 1928. at the Post Office at New York, N, Y. under the act of March a 1879 (Todai No’ 49) Saturday June 21, 1930 T H E MILITANT

mains a powerful force in the masses. And the leadership of the Communist Party in the I toft wing movement is indisputable. Aftermath of Needle Trades Convention There is no other important power. These facts are a remarkable testimony to the vitality of the Left wdng movement 1. Questions of a Left Wing Program amoug the needle trades workers and to their deep-soated hatred for the Socialist The convention of the Needle Trades By James P. Cannon furriers is very weak organizationally at betrayers. Not ail the compulsion and ter­ ■Workers Industrial Union met at a crit­ the present time. In the men's clothing rorism of the bosses, the reactionary labor ical period in the Left wing labor move­ task that the militants of the Left Opposi­ field, the field dominated by the Amal­ leaders and ()he police, and— what is equally ment. Gieat and complicated questions of tion, who are assembling in the union, must gamated, the strongest union in the indus­ noteworthy—not all the blunders of the tihe struggle for a class union, directly af­ devote themselves. The first prerequisite try, it has nothing. In the millinery sec­ Party and Left union leadership, have been fecting the welfare of the sweated and for success iu this struggle for the salva­ tion it has little. These figures are very im­ able to change fundamentally the senti­ oppressed workers in the industry and tion of the union is clarity in their own portant as a point of departure, but they ments of the workers. The real strength bearing on the course of Left wing union­ ranks on the question of a program for the do not tell the whole story. There are of the Left wing union is much stronger in ism in general, pressed insistently upon union. This is the decisive question. The other important factors more favorable to the sympathy of the masses than its or­ this convention for an answer. They press­ present relation of forces means little; it the Left union. ganisation, as that of tCte 1 i'jht wing ed in vain. A false answer was given will be shattered by the impact of events, The figures cited above are not a true unions is weaker. there to the basic questions of external and soon enough. The correct program is representation of the actual strength of tihe The five or six thousand members of policy as well as to those relating to the the basis on which the Opposition Com­ rival organizations. The membership of the Left wing union are, for the most part, interval life of the union, munists, triumphant) forces of tomorrow, the Right wing unions, and particularly of the battle-tried militant«, the dynamic force Errors which have accumulated into will secure their victory—and the victory the International Ladies Garment Workers, in the industry. They constitute, and will a system and brougb* about a crisis in the of the Left wing workers. is based on shop control, agreements with constitute, the core of the future fighting the bosses and job compulsion. Thanks to movement which will smash the present organization, weakening it in the face of The Relation of Forces its great tasks and responsibilities and the partnership of the union officials with alignment. A Communist policy for the Our policy must proceed from an an­ the bosses, a partnership sealed by the next stages of the struggle must be based on supplying a corresponding strength to its alysis of the actual situation and the pre­ enemies, were formally ratified and laid capitalist state powed, the workers are them, as in the past. There is the reserve sent) relation of forces in the industry. compelled to belong to the Right wing power which is not shown by the mem­ down as a guiding line for the future. The Facts and not wishes are important here. Stalin faction of tho Communist Party, union in order to get work in the shops bership figures of the rival unions. Tho situation is approximately as follows: affected. Terrorism, hunger and the de­ The Needle Trades Workers Indus­ which held the convention in the steel vise In the industry as a whole there are of mechanical control, gave another dem­ moralization of the Lett wing forces were trial Union is not an artificial creation. over 500,000 workers. the whips with which the workers were It was formed as the result c? an unavoid­ onstration there of its bankruptcy on the The Right wing unions have between trail j union question. Repercussions from driven into the Right wing ranks. able split forced by the traitorous leaders 150,000 and 200,000 members. of the LL.G.W.II. and the Furriers’ Union, the convention decisions will be sure and Vitality of Lefts swift; they w ill fall upon the union, and The T^eft wing union has at most 6.000 It had masses of workers behind it. The consequently upon the workers whose fate members— less iu good standing. Sympathy for the Left wing is very Left union has a real base in sections of Is bound up with it, like heavy blows over Consider those figures for a moment. strong among large sections of these reg­ tho Industry and, as such, has every claim the head. The Right wing unions contain about 40% istered workers. A ll informed workers in to support. The first point in Communist the trade testify to this. “My heart is policy must be: to organize the unorgan­ Party Factionalism Dominates of the workers in the entire industry; the Left wing union has about 1%. A further wiMi you but l must make a living.” is a ized and build the new union. The convention was a field day for concrctizatiou shows that the membership common answer of the registered workers But this is only part of the proper pro­ Party factionalism. It was consecrated of the Left wing union has the bulk of its to the appeals of the Left wing. There is gram, not the whole of it as the convention primarily to a pogrom against the adher­ organized strength in the dross making no doubt that the Left wing influence has proclaimed. In next week’s article we w ill ents of Lovestone—a disgusting exhibition shops. Its hold on the cloak makers and declined in the past two years bub it re- undertake to explain the necessity of or­ of mob spirit, full of menace for the fu­ ganizing a broad Left wing in the reac­ ture of a union. Howls and boos and the tionary unions of the industry, the methods caucus steam-roller—these were the an­ and slogans with which this task can be swers to all criticisms and- proposals, re­ Delegations to U.S.S.R. and the Opposition accomplished, and tihe falsity of the theory gardless of their merit, which did not em­ ef “Company Unionism” which has been The International Committee of the But this doesn't exhaust the obligations anate from the Party steering committee. invented to justify a suicidal policy, Federation of Friends of the Soviet Union of the Opposition. The delegations this year Not even blows were spared in the ‘'ideo­ * * * has launched an appeal to the workers’ and assume in connection with the prevailing logical'’ struggle. The Lovestoneites, who The Militant invites Left wing Hcedte labor organizations of Germany, England, situation a particular significance and can were the first to employ these methods in Ireland, France, Belgium, Holland, Switzer­ fulfil a particular mission. Can they not be trades workers to write for its columns the Communist and Left wing movement, land, Luxemburg, Austria, Czecho-Slovak- of great service to the working class by on the situation in the union and to got a double dose of their own medicine at ia, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Canada bringing light on the general political sig­ give their vie t on the problems of the Needle Trades Workers conventions. concerning the invitations of the Central nificance of the struggle of the Russian LefU their movement. Articles written in But it was not they who will be the losers Council of the Trade Unions of the Soviet Opposition, the import and meaning of which any language will be translated into by it. The Stalinists, who imagined that Union to send Worker« Delegations in is systematically distorted by the official English and printed. The Daily Worker their mob and hooligan tactics were con­ June and July. leadership? Can they throw some light, on is the closed organ of th^ cynical bur­ tributing to the straggle against Lovestone- In the course of its struggle with the the "organizational" side of this struggle— ism, were only demonstrating how well eaucrats—the Militant aims to become official leadership of the Comintern and its and particularly the most recent phase of they have acquired some of its most abom­ the voice of tho militant rank and file. centre, the Stalin faction, the International the campaign of repression against the Rus­ inable features. The Left wing movement Left Opposition with the Russian Opposi­ sian Opposition? and the Communist Party will pay a heavy tion at) its head has despite all slander and Since the shooting of the revolutionary Trade Union Policy price for every “victory” gained by these distortion of its position continually man­ Party member, Blumkin, a considerable means. A correct policy on the trade union ifested its solidarity with the Communist space of time has passed. But up to the Pactional exclusion from the leading question and its consistent execution by workers and their Party, its unreserved very present not a word by way of self- bodies of the union did not stop at the a sound Communist leadership are decisive devotion to the Russian workers’ state. In Lovestoneites, the “excluders” of yesterday. justificution has passed the lips of those for the expansion of the Party as the its struggle with the self-satisfied official­ who were responsible for the murder. There Members of the Party who have ventured leaders of the struggling masses. More­ dom, the I.eft Opposition has never for a is nothing strange in this. There would not to exercise a mild “self-critlctsm” against over, the tactics of tho Left) wing, led by moment forgotten the magnitude of the rev­ have been found a single revolutionary the ruling bureaucrats were also eliminated the Party, a dynamic force of gigantic im­ olutionary achievements, despite the in­ worker in the world who would have ap­ from all positions Everything was cut portance, will be one of the most vital numerable mistakes of the leadership. On proved the enormity of assassinating an Op- and dried in advance to the last detail. determining factors in the future course and the contrary, to extend this gigantic labor sition Communist for his views The assas­ The “ democracy" was simply window- development) of the trade union movement. and to fortify it was the sum and substance of sins maintain silence. We must press for Iressing for the gullible. Johnstone, the The narrowng base of the A. F. of L. the activity of the Opposition. Hence we an explanation. Party representative, bossed the convention and the increasingly reactionary conduct warmly welcome the appeal of the Friends The shot which on Stalin’s order killed «ike an arrognat drill sargeant, the verit­ and policy of its leadership raise before of the Soviet Union. The workers delega­ Blumkin was the prelude to a hitherto un­ able symbol of triumphant ignorance! The the Party and the Left wing the problem of tions to the Soviet Union have always oc­ paralleled campaign of persecution of Oppo­ leadership of the union, which had al­ organizing the unorganized workers in the cupied a foremost place in the defence of sitionists for their views in prisons, in sol­ ready been, whittled down to Party mem­ basic industries, primarily the unskilled the Soviet Union against the wild cam­ itary confinement, in the wastes of Siberia. bers, was still further narrowed to mem­ and half-skilled, who are becoming radi­ paigns of the capitalist) press and partic­ In these circumstances it behooves the bers of the Stalin faction of the Party. calized and ready for. struggle. Itl is the ularly in the exposure of the contemptible workers elected by their class to investi­ Thus the Stalinists strengthen their po­ task of the Party and Left wing to lead slanders of the social democratic leader­ gate the life of our proletarian fatherland, sition in the apparatus by weakening the in the work of organizing these masses ship. The workers' delegations issuing out to demand on the ground an explanation base of the union among the masses. On into new industrial unions. The center of of the oppressive atmosphere of the cita­ and an accounting fpr the suppression of the side of internal policy the union is gravity in our trade union work belongs to dels of Imperialism breathe in a new at­ the Opposition Communists. This demand worse off than before. this sphere. This has been indicaOed by mosphere of proletarian freedom and learn was not refused the socialist leaders of the whole situation for some time and the False Attitude on Left Wing to know with their own eyes the gigantic Western Europe, the betrayers of the pro­ long delay of the Party in shaping its In the most important and decisive achievements of their class. letariat, when they asked to examine the course in this direction due to the resist­ questions of external policy the convention The call for the election of delegates conditions of the imprisoned Mensheviks ance of the leadership, has already had also gave the wrong answers. By declar­ comes at a time which is characterized by a and social revolutionaries at the time of exttremely harmful consequences. ing formally against the organization of a retrogression of the Communist movement the heaviest struggles of the Russian Work­ — FROM THE PLATFORM OF Left wing in the reactionary unions in the in sharpest contradiction to the favorable ers State. So much the less can the re­ THE COMMUNIST OPPOSITION industry the convention chopped away the objective situation. The ebb of the masses quest for an inquiry be legitimately re­ ADOPTED (CHICAGO) MAY bridge to the workers in these unions, and from Communism has unfortunately also fused to revolutionary workers who proved 20, 1929. they are the overwhelming majority of tho weakened their active interest) in the Soviet to be the staunchest fighters for the Oc­ organized workers in the industry. This Union. All the more energetically is it tober Revolution. decision, and the theory which motivates necessary that the masses participate in The Left Opposition, robbed by tti# it—that the right wing unions are “com­ the campaign for the election and dispatch bureaucratic regime of the possibility to pany unions”—are both wrong and are of workers’ delegations.. .But the huge make its demands within the framework "M Y LIFE" hour | io bring catastrophic results. pressure exercised by the Party apparatus of the Party, will have representatives All readers oi the Militant and their T h e re may be some who go so far as atus now as before hamstrings the initia­ through these delegations The delegates friends, who desire to get their copy of tive and mobility of the working class el­ will be charged with energetically ascer­ to think that this decision has sealed the of Itoon Troteky, “My Life’’, should make It doom of the new union of the Left wing. ement. Nothing could more effectively taining the facts regarding the fate of a point to order the book directly through But in our judgement such an opinion is undermine the value and purpose of the Blumkin and the other comrades who have the Militant. Shipment will be made the not well founded. The danger that the delegations than the artificial undemocratic been shot, of investigating the situation of day the order Is received, and the cost of Needle T ra d e s Workers Industrial Union methods in their composition, bureaucratic the imprisoned and exiled Communists. It will degenerate into an impotent sect no tricks and machinations. The Opposition is the duty of all revolutionary workers to the book, five dollars, ($5.00), covers the doubt exists, and this danger has been in- must fight shoulder to shoulder with the rev­ see to it that the delegates elected are postoge charge. Send your order, together err/i.-d by Hie unwise decisions of the con- olutionary workers that) the delegations be those with the necessary courage and vigor with money order or cash to v r 1 (hero is yet time to correct the the result of an active and interested move­ to take a stand for the persecuted Com V U E MILITANT e • c the course. It is to this ment of the workers niunist revolutionaries. IA \ FUAN’UEL 25 Third Avenue, New York, N. Y. Page 4 THE MILITANT Saturday ,June 21, 193*

A SQUEAK IN THE APPARATUS

In the March 30th Traxla there is assume that this swing o f collectivization an article by Yaroslavsky entitled. "From By L. D. T R O T S K Y is a complete triumph of socialism we must Left to Right”. The article is devoted to simultaneously state the fact of the com­ Opposition raised a voice cf warning, this After this (to be exact, after February 15, the "passage” of the Left Opposition.. .over plete bankruptcy of the leadership because time from the “Righti”. What were our 1928) the belated and frightened leadership into the camp of social democracy. How planned economy pre-supposes that the considerations? struck the Kulak with a hail of administra­ people, who for over two years have been leadership foresees to a certain extent the tive repressions which immediately clogged jailod and exiled for "counter-revolutionary” a) It is impossible that there are no basic economic processes. the circulation of peasant commodities, activity, and even for "the preparation of an disproportions in the project of the five practically liquidated the NEP and chased Nevertheless there is not even a sug­ armed struggle against the Soviet govern­ year plan. With the fulfilment of the the middle peasant up into a blind alley. gestion of that. Bucharin the new, the re­ ment” (the official motivation for Trotsky’s plan they w ill accumulate, and may mani­ constructed, completely collectivized andi exile)—how these old time "counter­ fest themselves sharply, if not in the first When we say that this blind alley was industrialized Bucharin admits in the Fravda revolutionaries” can only now begin to year then in the second or third year of the the starting point of the new chapter in the that bhe new stage of collectivization grew “ pass” into the camp of social democracy re­ plan which would result in the arrest of collectivization we do not discover or in­ out of administrative measures in the mains a puzzle. But what is clear is that growth. Before industry takes on additional vent anything new. We simply repeat what struggle for bread and that this stage was Yaroslavsky still has to sweat at the task speed, we must, speaking in m ilitary terms, the official Soviet press has admitted many not foreseen by the leadership "in all its of lading a “scientific” explanation for carefully examine all abutments or junc­ times. If Yaroslavsky wails that “not one concreteness”. This is put not too badly. Article 58 of the Criminal Code on the basis tions, where all branches of industry in­ reactionary has come to think of such an The mistakes of tempo they made in the of which the Opposition has been persecu­ terlap each other. abominable explanation” it merely shows considerations of planning amount all in ted. This search of an explanation takes on b) The noticeable depreciation of the that being absorbed by the perusal of Op­ all to one thousand -¡percent. And in what a particularly noisy character now, because quality of the products, which is extreme­ positionist correspondence, the poor man sphere? Not in the production of thimbles there is a squeak in the apparatus, and it ly low as it is, is a great danger not only does not read the economic articles in the but In the question of the socialist trans­ must be drowned. for the consumer bub for industry as well, Soviet press. Yaroslavsky is particularly agitated when we say that the middle pea­ formation of the whole of agriculture. It It is no accident that it is Yaroslavsky because industry itself is the chief consum­ sants have been wavering between collec­ is clear that some of this “concreteness’* who was lei loose against the Opposition, er of products. Low quality must inev­ tivization and civil war. He calls this re­ Stalin and Yaroslavsky really did not fore­ even though there are more literate and itably result in a drastic decline in the mark “complete renegacy”. (The vocabu­ see. B u ch a rin is rig h t here. wiser people in the Party. But at present, quantity of production. lary of this eavesdropper is nob very rich.) the more literate, the wiser, the more con­ c) The question of the tempos of in­ As is well known we never suspected But the whole Soviet press is full of in­ scientious either do not want to be Yar­ dustrial development must not be separ­ the present leadership of an over-abun­ formation that the peasants, i. e., the mid­ oslavsky’s yes-men, but still cannot, partly ated from the question of the living stan­ dance of penetrating ability. But it could dle peasants rapaciously exterminate and dare not speak their mind aloud, or else dards of the working masses, because the never make this kind of mistake if collec­ dispose of their live stock inventories. All are simply confused. The Yaroslavskys are proletariat is the main producing force, tivization would in reality have grown out the leaders call this situation “threatening”. not confused, for there is nothing in them to and only the sufficient rise of the material of our conquering the conviction of the The newspapers explain this matter, by be -confused. This is why the defence of the and cultural standards of the proletariat peasants by experience of the advantages the influence of the I>ulak. They certainly Stalinist) policy from the Opposition is taken can guarantee the future high tempos of of large scale collective economy over in­ do not mean “ideological” influence but on by Yaroslavsky, and he gives, let us industrialization. We consider this ques­ d ivid u a l. economic ties between the Kulak and the note in passing, a remarkable example of tion of supreme importance. middle peasant, a certain interdependence Collectivization and Adventurism the rot the Party is now fed on. These are the three chief considera­ of the whole peasant economy, market as Of course we do riot for a moment If in a way of exception we will this tions which prompted the Opposition to well as of commodities and finances. In bhe doubt the deeply progressive and creative time stop at Yaroslavky’s article, it is be­ raise its warning cry against the reckless wholesale selling of cattle as a mass phen­ significance of collectivization. We are cause with all its insignificance it is symp­ pursuit of tempos which replaced the econ­ omenon we have nothing else but a quiet ready conditionally to assume that in its tomatic, and shows very well in what place, omic lag of the preceding period. If in sabotaging form of civil war. On the other scope it approximately corresponds to the according to the German expression, Sta­ 1923-28 the P o litic a l Bureau o f bhe P arty, hand, the movement of the farm Collec­ sweep of the Five Year Plan. But where lin ’s boot pinches. not understanding the tremendous possib­ tives (Kolkhoz) has a mass character also. did the one thousand per cent additional ilities inherent in nationalized industry Isn’t it clear that the double nature of success grow out of? That must be ex­ The Tempo of Industrialization and planned methods of production were the middle, peasant who combines within plained! Let us assume that the work of Several months ago we wrote to the ready to make peace with the idea of four himself a toiler and a merchant has reach­ the Kolkhozes during the preceding twelve comrades in the U. S. S. R. that the signs or nine per cent) of growth—then now, not ed in the present stage the most contra­ years was so successful that) it could con­ indicating the too great speed of industrial­ understanding the material limits of in­ dictory expression? The middle peasant vince the whole peasantry, not only of the ization are multiplying. Quoting our Bulle­ dustrialization it makes a light-minded wavers between collectivization and civil advantages but of the feasibility of gener­ tin, Yaroslavsky writes that this evaluation jump from twenty to thirty per cent, ad­ war and to a certain degree combines one al collectivization. it is clear that this "Is absolutely in no way different from venturously attempting to transform each with the other. This is where the acute­ kind of conviction could only be developed what) the Mensheviks write”. Absolutely partial and. tem porary achievement into an ness of the situation and its danger lies. by means of Kolkhozes based on tractors In no w ay! absolute rule, and completely overlooking Ib w ill increase ten fold if we do not under­ and other machinery. It may he assumed Yaroslavsky does not surmise that the the interdependency of different phases of stand ib in time. that the overwbeln tng majority of tue question of correct or incorrect realistic or the industrial process. m iddle peasants a ctu a lly recognizes today uhrealistic tempos exists in itself indepen­ When we call for the abandonment of The Opposition Platform the advantages of working the land by the dently of what the Mensheviks say about it the formal pursuit) of quantity and for an In the years when three quarters of the tractor. But from this, complete “traclor- and is decided in connection with material actual improvement of quality—docs this Polbureau and 90 per cent of the govern­ ization” does not yet follow because we and organizational factors, and not news­ mean that we call for retreat from actually ment apparatus had their orientation on need not only the conviction of its advan­ paper quotations, all the more when these achieved successes? When we demand the the “mighty peasant”—that is on the Ku­ tages but the tractor itself. Did the au­ are falsified. utilization of a part of the accumulation for lak—the Opposition demanded energetic thorities warn the peasants of the actual In the period when we Oppositionists the actual needs of the workers—does this measures for agricultura] collectivization. situation in the sphere of technical mater­ fought) for higher tempos of industrialization mean that we endanger the industrializa­ Let us recall that in the Platform of the ial possibilities generally? No! Instead, (1923-29), the bourgeois press of the whole tion? When we demand that before the 30 Opposition these demands found the fol­ of restraining a panicky collectivization, world together with the social democratic, per cent annual growth is turned into an lowing expression they extended it by their mad pressure. followed in the foot-steps of Stalin, repeat­ iron law, we should examine the inter­ "To bhe growing ‘farmer’ tenden­ It is brue that now in order to defend the ing the accusation that the Oppositionists relation between the different branches of cies of the village we must oppose a mistake of the one thousand per cent tem­ were "romanticists” “fanatics” and “super­ industry and national economy as a whole faster pace of collectivization. It is nec­ po a new theory has been created making industrialists”. from bhe point of view of the productivity essary to m ake systematic, year-in- the question of technical resources one of of labor, the production costs—does this In 1923-25 we proved th a t even a fte r the and-year-out allowances to aid the poor tenth rate importance and claiming that, mean that we call for a retreat to the Sta­ exhaustion of all the pre-revolutionary peasants organized in collectives.” socialist agriculture ("the manufacturing means of production, Soviet industry will lin position of yesterday? — (Platform of the Russian Opposi­ kind") can be created by catechism ir­ be able to have a 20% yearly growth. We If the question is really decided so tion, page 24). respective of the means of production. Wo supported this contention on economic con­ simply then why should we stop at. thirty are however, determined to reject this mys­ And further: siderations which we w ill not) cite here (see per cent? Fifty per cent is still more. tical theory we do not believe in such a "Whither Russia—Towards Capitalism or Whoever does not wish to pull “back” must “ We must invest greater means in conception of socialism. Moreover we de­ the Sovkhoz and Kolkhoz (Soviet and Towards Socialism” , pp. 15-46, Russian ed­ inscribe on his banner at least seventy-five clare a merciless war against this mythol­ collective farms). We must afford the ition). A year after that a five year plan per cent. Or perhaps thiry percent is des­ ogy because the unavoidable disappoint­ maximum privileges to newly organized was worked out in the womb of the Gosplan tined bo be the rule? Destined by whom? ment of the peasants threatens to create Kolkhozzes and other forms of collectiv­ (State Planning Commission). According Destined how? The unfortunate leaders severe reaction against socialism in gen­ ization. No person deprived of electoral to this plan the development of industry was simply arrived at this rule by running into eral and this reaction may also embrace t)o proceed at the diminishing rate of speed, it blindly in the first stages of carrying out rights can be a member of a Kolkhoz. considerable circles of workers. from 9% to 4% a year. The Opposition con­ the twenty per cenb plan, which they them­ All bhe work of cooperation must be Stalin started his last retreat—the in­ demned this plan mercilessly. It was ac­ selves fought against tooth and nail for penetrated with the task of transferring evitability of which he foresaw on the cused of "demagogy”. Another year later several years. Now it appears that only small production into large-scale collec­ eve of it just as little as he foresaw com­ the Polbureau approved a new five year pro­ thirty per cent is Leninism. Whoever says tivized production. It is necessary to plete collectivization half a year earlier ject with a 9% yearly growth. The Fifteenth to the frightened opportunists: do not lose carry through a strictly class line in bhe when he was busy with his trivial “theor­ Party Congress approved the correctness of your heads, do not push Industry into a supply of machinery particularly izing” about the untimeliness of a social­ this rate and condemned the Opposition for severe crisis—Is, don’t you see, “absolute­ through a struggle with fraudulent ma­ ist regime for the peasanb poultry. The .. ."non-belief” and “skepticism”. This did ly in no way different from the social dem- chine-owning groups.” latest dispatches announce that Stalin has not stop the Opposition from irreconcilably ocracy’absolntely, In no way! — (Platform of Russian Opposition, succeeded in marching a considerable dis­ condemning the new five year plan. An­ Aren’t these people jesters? page 26.) tance—not forward (oh, wise Yaroslavsky!) other year and a half later the Gosplan fin­ We did not pre-determine the tempo of but backward. From sixty percent collec­ ally worked out a third five year plan with Collectivization collectivization because it was for us (it tivization to forty per cent. We do not a yearly increase of 29%. This growth co­ Matters fare still worse if possible with still remains so) a derivative proposition in the least doubt that he w ill still have to incided—much closer than it could be ex­ the peasant policy . For a number of years in relation to the tempo of industrializa­ retreat a considerable per centage more— pected—with the hypothetical prognosis of the Pol-Bureau built its agrarian policy tion and a series of other economic and always at the tall end of the actual pro­ the Opposition in 1925, and fully refuted all on the idolization of the mighty middle pea­ cultural factors. cess. Foreseeing this several months ago— the preceding clamor about industrial ro­ sant and the individual peasant economy The Pol-Bureau plan two years la­ that is In the very heat of the collectiviza­ manticism and demogogy. Such is the brief generally. The Kulak they simply did not ter outlined the collectivization of one fifth tion push—we warned against the conse­ pre-history of the question. notice or declared insignificant until he of the peasants during the Five Year F la n . quences of bureaucratic adventurism. If concentrated in his hands forty per cent The actual growth of. industry in the We suppose this figure did not simply come the Party had read our warnings as they of the marketable bread and acquired the first year of the five year plan (1928-29), ex­ to Kryzhanovsky in a dream but was based truly were and not in the belated distor­ leadership over the middle peasant in ad­ ceeded the plan, however, by fully 10%. The on technical and economic considerations. tions of Yaroslavsky many mistakes would dition. Having created his own economic leadership immediately decided, basing it­ Was ib so or not? Nevertheless during the have been, if not avoided, at least greatly self on this success, to complete the five connections and channels the Kulak re­ firs t year and a half three-fifths of the pea­ modified. fused bread to the government industry. —ojr plan in four years. Against this the santry were collectivized. Even if we should ( Continued on Page 6 ) Page 5 Batm^ay J*»» 1930 T H E MI L I T A N T

In Germany front which is always the tail-end of the social democracy—but the Leninist hectics of the united front would have unmasked the Left as well as the Right wing leaders of the social democracy. Not "Red Factory Comintern Loses Fresh Opportunity slates” at any price, not the abandonment of work in the trade unions but tireless The Wedding convention of the Com­ ary situation” in Germany—i. e., the demon, ocracy has nod only not given the workers work in all the mass organizations was the munist Party of Germany basing itself on strattonai The calender-like campaigns of the any new reforms but is actively aiding the need. bourgeiosie to deprive the workers of those the so-called “third period” invented by the Party have been successively weaker. W ith It was evident to us all that the social Sixth World Congress proclaimed the pre­ three and a half million unemployed the concessons they had already secured by democracy would be thrown out of office as sence of “an acute revolutionary situation” Party succeeded in bringing out to the the road of struggle. soon as the bourgeoisie could afford to dis­ Looking at the situation from this view­ In the country. The permanent phrase­ streets from 5 to 7 per cent only. The pense with its services. But the centrist monger, Tbaelmann, strove to demonstrate last demonstrations of February and March point everything was favorable for an ad­ leadership of the Communist Party missed this incessantly in his rhetorical reports. ended in a great fiasco. vance of Communism. Had the Communist the real point of the situation. The result Party linked its slogans and platform with The official Party press daily devoted to Nevertheless the situation in Germany has been the isolation of the Communist the every day needs and problems of the this discovery long winded articles. The has been favorable for the separation of Party inside the working class and the talk was of “mass struggles”, of “direct great sections of the working class from workers, it could have broken the tie be­ consolidation of the social democracy des­ tween the social democratic workers and assaults” that would smash the capitalist the social democratic party and the crystal­ pites its betrayals. The S.P.D. even parades their leaders and have assured the triumph state. Because we of the Left Opposition lization of a Communist mass party in now as an "Opposition” Party. The sub­ characterized this appraisal of the situa­ Germany. of Communism. jective factor in history—the Communist tion as unMarxian and mechanical we were Social Democracy Betrays But all our Communisd Party leaders Party —has again failed. designated as pessimists who had “lost The social democracy has entered into could do was to shower the social democ­ —ROMAN WELL racy with abuse. their belief in the revolution”. The prin­ a new coalition with the finance capitalist In Mexico cipal slbgan of the Party for this ‘period bourgeoisie. In contrast to its former coal­ The Fnlse Approach of the Stalinists invented by the Party officialdom was : ition policy, the situation of the S.D.P. was To this end the formula of "social fas­ “ Proletarians fight for a Soviet Germany . incomparably more difficult. Why ? in for­ cism” was invented. The agitation against On the basis of such an estimation it was mer years of itts coalition, the social dem­ "social fascism” took on a hysterical scope. Diego Rivera Retires no longer necessary to approach the work­ ocracy could still present Ike workers Not only was the Berlin Police President ing masses exploited by the bourgeoisie with some minimum reforms. The bour­ Zoergiebel characterized as a "social fas­ with the help of the social democracy, on geoisie could not so quickly forget the rev­ cist” but every worker in the social democ­ from Political Life the every day questions. olution. They still felt the temper of the racy was likewise denounced as a “social The leadership of the official Com­ October atm osphere o f 1923. The bo u r­ fascist”. The slogans became “Out with “The Acute Bevolutlonary Crisis” munist Party in Mexico have been mak­ It was clear to every Marxist that this geoisie was, moreover, n«ti strong enough the social fascists from the factories”. "Out ing incessant attacks on the expelled noise of the “acute revolutionary situation” economically nor politically to force across with the social fascist children from the Mexican Communist artist, Diego Rivera, its w ill against the resistance of the work­ schools.” was a criminal piece of rhetoric that had who for a period of time after his ex­ nothing in common with the Marxist real­ ers. The economic arid political organs of The tactics of Remmelle and Thaelmann pulsion was a member of the Left Op­ ity. The Comintern leadership which since bourgeois authority had not yet been ex­ gave the social democratic leaders their position group. The position and work of 1924 has b ro u g h t trem endous defeats to the tensively enough developed. Thè bour­ opportunity to cover up their betrayal of this talented artist is such that a gooi Communist Parties and the proletariat geoisie had still to make concessions to the interests of the workers and aided them regime in the International drew him evef) th ro u g h its false policies (1923 in Ger­ the workers. to pass over from a defensive to an offen­ «loser to Communism—a bad regime re­ m any: 1925-27 in C hina; 1926 in E ngland But the coalition policy of Hilferding- sive position. The slogan of “social fas­ pulses him. As a "fellow traveller” htS Russia, Bulgaria, Esthonia, Poland) and M u e lle r in 1928 was that of the direct be- cism” played into the hands of the social services to the Communist movement have which since 1928 has carried out an ultra- trayal of the every day interests of the democratic demagogues: "To the extent been and can continue to be in the fu­ Left zig-zag, would not take the real sit­ working class. The social democrats work­ thaf the Comintern identifies the democrat­ ture very considerable. So long as th« uation into consideration. ed not only for the extension of the power ic domestics of capitalism with its fascist Stalin faction regarded him as a useful Let us return to the realities of the of the capitalist state (cruisers, police, De­ bodyguard, it does the social democracy intellectual lackey—a la Eorbusse in German situation. What do the figures fence of the Republic Act) not) only sup­ the very best service...In those countries France and Michael Gold in the United say regarding the struggles and temper of ported the further offensive of the banks where fascism represents a power, Italy States—he was held in high esteem by the working class? and trusts (concentration, rationalization, first, then Austria and Germany, the them. When Rivera began to revolt against Facts and Figures etc.) but betrayed everything the workers social democrats have no difficulty proving the poisonous atmosphere created in the In 1928 the number of strike days in had conquered from the capitalists in the to the masses not only the differences but Comintern by the bureaucracy—he was dis­ Germany was 10.4 millions and in 1929 this period o f the revolutionary wave. Through even the hostility between themselves and covered to be a “counter-revolutionary” num ber sinks to 4.4 m illio n s : in 1928, 780,- their Minister of Labor Wissell, the social fascism. To this extent the social demo­ Owing to his conflict with the author-

Towards a Concrete Program of Action I Comrade Raymond Spector, an active member of the Communist Party and who has been oh.armf.il of same risks if tihey permit the enactment of tion. In this age military strength itself Social Insurance depends on industrial power. In tihe case the Control Commission in Section unemployment insurance in the United Brownsville, New York spoke be­ of the Soviet Union it depends not only on States. fore his nucleus on June 17th on The problem of social insurance in a industrial power but on the consolidation the policy of the Comintern in program of Unemployed Demands is treat­ W.I. King and his associate bourgeois of the proletarian dictatorship and social­ ed by the present Party leaders as an eenomists make a deep mystery of the re­ ism. But» socialism cannot be built up in ■ China and endorsed the line of illegitimate child. This despite the I the Left Opposition. His expulsion currence of the “business-cycle”. They find the Soviet Union entirely out of its own spasmodic proddings of the Comintern and I followed immediately. Such is toe every explanation of it under the sun, inner resources and separated from the th« R. I.L.U. upon the Party on different ; freedom of the pre-convention dis- but the real one of the anarchic character world market by a Chinese wall. The dif­ occasions to evince a little greater activ­ | cussion. of capitalist production for profit. The ficulties that the great Five Year Plan and ity and sincerity in this field. capitalist system is responsible for the eollectdvization are experiencing today in ? A statement of the views of The demands for Unemployment In­ “business-cycles” and for the standing and the U.S.S.R. demonstrates this exactly. ? Comrade RaymonJ Spector ,to- surance, Old Age Pensions, Sickness In­ recurrent mass unemployment. The Cap­ To hold anything else is a flagrant | father with that of other Party and surance and the like are treated italist! State must be compelled by the or­ rupture with Marxist analysis and prolet­ • Young Communist League mem- by the Browder-Bedacht pontiffs as evi­ ganization and struggle of the masses to arian internationalism. i hers will appear in the next issue dence of secret “social-fascist” cravings. ? of the Militant. shoulder the charges of unemployment International Solidarity They apparently envisage the demand for The demand for credits for the Soviet social insurance as purely parliamentary Union at once reveals the inner link be­ manoeuvering and not a by-product of the Credits for the Soviet Union tween the interests of the American work­ class struggle like all other reforms and ing class and the workers of the Soviet! concessions “granted” to the workers by Not the least of the derelictions of the Union. Millions are idle in the United Hugo O e h le r Joins capitalist legislatures. Social insurance Stalinist leadership of the Communist Par­ States. But the socialist plans of the Sov­ does not fit in with the rantings of the ty has been its failure to rally the unem­ iet Union cry out for machinery and other Left Opposition •"bkird period.” ployed around the demand for credits tor industrial equipment. Employment here Social Insurance as a By-Product of the Soviet Union. Unremittingly and wind- and collaboration with the Five Year Plan ( Continued fro m Page 1) S truggle ily the Daily Worker ’’sloganizes” for the in the U.S.S.R. would be the consequences organizer of the revolution for the over­ But for the revolutionary party to sur- “Defence of the Soviet Union”, but when o f large sGale credits. Thousands o f A m e r­ throw of capitalism The first d u ty o f ^er%’er the represent; lion of these de­ the whole international economic crisis ican workers would receive practical les­ every Communist is the success cf the rev­ mands of the socialist party, the Muste favors the crystallisation of one of the sons in the implications of internationalism olution and so long as the Party has a pro­ group or the other petty-bourgeois re­ widest! mass movements yet for (the real in toe fundamental struggle between gram based on Marxism there is an »in- formers would be a great blunder. if and substantial Defence of the Soviet capitalism and socialism and the meaning broken chain between the class, the Party the Party does that it does not seriously Union, the Stalinist regime and its Amer­ of Communism. Thousands could be mob­ and the success of the revolution. Just have regard bo the possibilities of a rev­ ican agents, Browder-Bedacht-Foster do ilized for the U. S. S. R. and against the as soon as toe leading individuals or groups olutionary utilization of parliamentary ac­ nothing but hamper toe Party from mea­ capitalist government of the United States. in the i ’. .ty revise Marxism and Leninism tion. In fact the Communist Party is suring up to its great opportunity. The The slogan of credits to the Soviet! a danger of the elimination of the Party being misled by the adventurist leader­ reason for this attitude of the Party lead­ Union is one that the labor bureaucracy as the leader and organizer of the class is ship at its head into the frame of mind ers flows not from any malice but inev­ and . the international social democratic at hand unless we are capable of defeating and tactics of the bourgeois “boycottists” itably from their false theory of “national leaders w ill resist. They would sense in it the revisionists. But if the revisionists are in the history of the Russian social de­ socialism”—Stalin’s Russian “exceptional- toe possibilities of a united front th;■■•...... ation with th.e U. S. S. It. if it, is advanced ( To Be Continued ) — u n c o 0 :: m wr Page f THE MILITANT , aturday June 21, 1930

era’ and Peasants’ Party Roy wrote: the orders of the Comintern in India anti In India "Meeting in this atmosphere o£ revolu­ being in favor of the violent overthrow o f tionary development from all sides, the the government. The Workers’ and Pea­ W orkers’ and Peasants’ Party, whose driv­ sants’ Party broke down under the offen­ ing forces are the Communists, was objec­ sive. In a few months there was no Party. The C. I. and Two-Class Parties tively the most important event of the (Clemens Dutt, Labour Monthly—July 29, moment. The Workers’ and Peasants’ Party 1929) This again compelled the official The sharpening oi the class struggle in of Stalin's sophistry on the Kuomintang. is not the Communist Party (sic!), al­ Comintern press to speak about the neces­ India finds the proletariat of that country That is the argument that the Communists though the Communists play in it the lead­ sity of a Communist Party in India. In the absence of a conscious vanguard, a did not "organize” the party buti came into ing and dominating role. Several years ago Safarov’s Apologetics for Stalin Communist Party, unable to take the lead­ it in order to get to the masses. it appeared on the scene as the first sign in a recent issiue of the Communist ership in the :rising movement againsti B rit­ It should be also noted that the phrase of radicalissation of the nationalist masses. International (Vol. VII. No. 5, English Ed­ ish Imperialism. The bourgeois and petty "at particular periods (can) be converted As such the Communists supported it and ition) G. Safarov, a former Oppositionist, into ordinary petty bourgeois parties” is an bourgeois nationalists are able to get con­ aided its growth. Practically all the great with an even more flexible spine than hi« trol of the movement, lead it into “safe” underhanded attempt to excuse the Comin­ strikes of the last two years were led under fellow-capitulators, discusses the situatios channels and ultimately betray it. The tern’s policy of building such parties "at the banner of the Workers’ and Peasants’ in India. After condemning Roy’s positio* attempts of sections of the nationalist particular times”. Party. The object of the Communists was on India be writes: “Of the same worth ar« movement, i. e., the All-Indian Youth After the Sixth Congress to make this new party the rallying ground the accusations of another careerist (!), League ,the workers and peasants of Pesh­ Not only was a Communist Party not for all the nationalist revolutionary ele­ a Max Shachtman, in the Militant, who awar, the railroad workers, the textile work­ formed after the Sixth Congress, but the ments, to develop it into a revolutionary accuses the Communist International of ‘re­ ers of Bombay, etc., to break away from official Comintern press continued to speak mass party which is a crying need of the sisting the formation of a Communist Party this leadership have met with only partial of the “Workers’ and Peasants’ Parties” moment”. (Inprecorr, Vol. 9—No. €—Febru­ in India.’ (Militant, Feb. 8). Both the Right success. as a legal expression of the Communists in ary 1, 1929). The above is a precise sum­ and the ’Left’ renegades ignore the real Why is there no Communist Party in India.' For example, the erstwhile Comin­ mary of tile tactics of the Comintern in faets, for the birth of the revolutionary India today? This question which confronts tern specialist on India, M.N.Roy, writing India for the past few years. working class In India in 1928-29 is an in ­ every Communist and class-conscious on the municipal elections in Bombay Roy however criticized the Conference disputable fact...That did not and could worker must receive a definite answer. stated: “Owing to the doubtful position of for not having made provisions for united not take place until the development of bho “The “Two-Class Party” PolJey the Communist Party (!) and the general front action with the “League for Indian class struggle had arousal the masaes, The Comintern ui*!er the leadership of antagonism to Communism that character­ Independence” (the organization of the until the slogans of the Comintern had Stalin and Bucharin (1924-28) basing izes the present bourgeois political atmos­ petty bourgeois intellectuals which Roy turned into class reality. They could only itself on an incorrect estimation of the de­ phere of the country, the election was con­ wished the Workers’ and Peasants’ Party, he embodied in the real life of India thanks gree of stabilization of world capitalism tested (by the Communists—J.C.) In the and the Communists to unite with to form to the self-development of the working and the relation of class forces, separated name of the Workers’ and Peasants’ party” his Indian ‘‘nationalist mass party”.) class, in the process of the revolutionary the question of bourgeois democratic revo­ —and later adds "By contesting the elec­ Immediately Roy was rebuked. The struggle against imperialism.” (P. 48). Sa­ lution in the colonial countries from that tion the Communists gave another sign of Conference, a Comintern representative farov undertakes a task never before at­ of the proletarian dictatorship and con­ their political independence (sic!). Most wrote, did make provision for united front tempted in the Party press—to explain why sequently based its activities in these resolute fighters for national freedom, they action with the “League for Indian In­ no C.P. was built in India. countries on dual composition class parties. will defend the interest of the working dependence.” Roy is wrong, says the writ­ F irs t, he does not deny the accusation (In China, the bloc of the four classes in class not only against foreign imperialism, er, Communists must not try and build "a of comrade Shachtman that the Comintern the Kuomintang and later the "Left” Km>- bull also native capitalism. Ey these tac­ mass nationalist party”, but must) build a resisted the formation of a C.P. In Indlui. mintang, in Japan, “the Workers and Pea­ tics of the revolutionary class struggle the Communist Party.But how about the Work­ Secondly, who denies the existence of a sants Party ', in Mexico, "Workers apd Pea­ Communists will mobilize and lead the ers’ and Peail.nts’ Party? The writer revolutionary working class in India im sants’ Bloc”—in India, “Workers and proletariat as the driving force of the na­ states that confusion exists in the party; 1928-29? Certainly not the Left'! Third, Peasants Parties”). tional revolution”. (Inprecorr—Vol. 9, No. although it is showing signs of a “decided if one is to make sense of this quotation on# Every once i* a while one read of a 12—March 1st, 1929). What could be plain­ improvement” ; its confusion is due to its must interpret Safarov as saying: There declaration of the “Communist Party of er? Roy and liis political allies, Loveston« character, in its “composition of two class­ was no revolutionary working class in In­ India” or representatives of such a “ Party” and Brandler, demogogically criticise the es, which is bound to result in rendering dia u n til 1928-29, because the development would appear at Congresses, Plenums, etc. Stalinists today for not having built a vague the proletarian line itself.” (!) The of the class struggle had not aroused the In reality there are only a handful of in­ Communist Party in India! These individ­ implications of the writer P. Sch. are clear. masses; therefore a Communist Party could dividual Communists, according to a lead­ uals who share the responsibility with the The line of the Workers' and Peasants’ not be built. Let us dissolve the Commun­ in g m em ber of tjhe A n ti-im p e ria lis t League, Stalins’ and Kuussinons for the past Kuo- Party must be a class (!) policy; the Com­ ist Party of the United States because there about 75 scattered throughout the country, mintang tactic now call for the building of munists must organize themselves in a C.P. is no revolutionary working class in this having no central organization and no col­ a Communist Party side by side with a but at the same time struggle for a class co u n try! line in the W. and P. party. (Inprecorr, Vol. lective activity. Most of them, under in­ •‘national revolutionary part}”. But) what It is the Communist Party which must 91, No. .16, M arch 29, 1929.) :,ow liere in his structions from the E. C. ('.I. worked lit il will be the role of the Communist Party? help intensify the class struggle. Fourth, in hand with petty bourgeois elements in ariicle docs P. Sch attempt to repudiate The objective logic of their policy means a C.P. could not be built) in India “until the building “ Workers' and Peasants’ parties” Roy’s above quoted characterization of the the subordination of the C. P. to the “na­ slogans of the Comintern had been turned But, a combination of events forced a tional revolutionary party”, the duplicating role of the Communists in India. The Com­ in to class re a lity ” (Page .48). Who was to “change”. This was the joint pressure of of the events of 1925-26-27 in China. intern, through P. Sch offers the concep­ propagate the slogans of the Comintern? the Left Opposition led by comrade Trot­ tion of a “Left” Kuomintnng as against a. Again, after the Sixth Congress, the the Workers’ and Peasants’ Parties, indiv­ sky the change in the correlation of class "whole” Kuomintang. hitherto scattered and unconnected Work­ idual Communists? What slogans had to forces in the Soviet Union, the crushing de­ ers' and Peasants’ parties, for the firsti in April 1929, that is only a few months be turned into class reality? The “dem­ feat of the Chinese proletariat due in great time organized a national party, the “ Work­ after the National Conference of (he ocratic dictatorshp of the proletariat and measure to the criminal subordination of ers’ and Peasants’ Party of India” What "Workers’ and Peasants' Party of India”, peasantry” or perhaps (and we are not the C.P. of China first to the Kuomintang was the attitude of the Com'ntern towards the British and Indian governments started very far from the truth) the realization of and later the “Lett” Kuomintang, etc. The this conference? a general offensive against strike leaders, a “powerful mass Workers' and Peasants’ occasion for this "change” was the Sixth The “ Workers’ and Peasants’ Party” revolutionary workers and Communists. p a rty ” ? Congress of the Comintern (August-Septem­ Discussing the Conference of the Work- Thirty one were arrested for carrying out The official press once again carries re­ ber. 1928). ports of leaflets issued by the Workers’ and At thijj time the Comintern leadership Peasants’ Party without comment of its was compelled to admit that it was re­ own. The Stalinist press gives little in­ sponsible for the "Workers’ and Peasants’ Flaunt Royal Courts at British W orkers formation as to what the Comintern is ac­ parties in India” and officially to repudiate Hclston, Cornwall ren in numbers, were seeking snob rest; tually doing in India today. such tactics. Sikandar Sur, the reporter Editors the M ilitant'__ ax can be found under conditions of over- Tile Daily Worker from time to time on the Indian question, in his summary, ' ’ ’ . .. ’ , .. , crowding. In one case, (officially reported We know that ghastly destitution . ... , _ speaks of the formation in the “near fu­ sta te d : . . , about the time of the holding ot one of prevails in your country as in ours; and the collrtg) g(iven people_ adultvk, ture” of an All-Indian Communist) Party, "The Workers’ and Peasants’ Parties in one of its issues, (Wednesday, May 21, exist owing to the wrong tactics and in­ that in your city streets, and upon the high and cbudren were foimd to be sleeping in roads affluence and misery are often sharp- on(j 1930) , it carries on its front page photo- . structions of the Comintern. The last, re­ ly contrasted whe„ the motor car of the ' no COUIltry except EtigIand can static copies of two issues of the “ Workers’ port of the Annual conference of the Ben­ Weekly”. The story underneath it runs: gal Peasants’ and Workers’ parties show millionaire scatters dust or mud on the 8uch seMel0B8 and pvovocative displays as unem ployed w o rk e r tra m p in g hopelessly tlbege Roya] Conrt8 o f onrs be found at tUe "The first. Marxist-Leninist paper published that the- party is falling into the hands of in India, is shown above in the headings of philanthropic petty bourgeoisie. Our com­ on toe search of a job which does not nt Um8. Tbat th are gtil] popular exist But these contrasts are the result am the weelthy Englisb bouv(;eoisle> two issues. The 'Workers’ Weekly’ begaW rades do not hold office there. Comrade publication in Bombay on January 26, and Shubin (Soviet Union—J.C.) is absolutely of chance encounters; the rich man is (whose female offspring make tbeir gocial out on his daily business or possibly he debut at such cereraonjes) i8 proof of the is acting as the ideological leader and or­ wrong when he talks of the inadvisability ganization center for the forces of the of forming a Communist Party on account is bent on pleasure In no case does he jnherent sn0bbishness of the English char- orgaime hundreds of h.s wealthy friends acter; and also of an incapacity to think working class in the Indian Revolution”. of objective difficulties. But should we The April 30 issue of Inprecorr avail­ surrender to obstacles or should we over­ to display themselves in gorgeous attire serioug, and detalI even on a m08t at a given time as a provocative and pressing gubj The nt gitHation Jn able at least one month before the Daily come them?” flnprecorr—Vol. 8, No. 78 p. Worker story, carries an article by V. Chat- 1473). Even here, we have no real repud­ shameful contrast to the wretchedness of England Jg t£is; the fertile soil, which thousands of the surroundng population. would feed lu„ lon8 under intensive cul- topadhayaya (one of the secretaries of the iation of dual composition class parties, World Anti-Imperialist I-eague and the lat­ but such parties in which “our comrades But this is the spectacle we can see tivation is held up in the hands of the big est of the Stalinist writers on India) with 0 C . THB MILITANT Saturday .June 81, 1«

Oar lailonal Toar One Year of Labor Red Army Men Urge G overnment Shachtman’s Tour Is Extended Trotsky’s Recall Ramsay MacDonald, tihe “big shot’’ of The tour of Max Shachtman on behalf Paul comrades prepared extensively for With the deepest indignation we Rus- the Second International has been review­ of the Communst League of America (Op­ the lectures. As we go to press, we do not sian Red Army men who under the lead­ ing tihe accomplishments ot one year of labor position) is meeting with marked success. yet have reporte oh .the meetings in St. ership of Troteky created the victorious government in office. His review is signifi­ In Hamilton, Ont., Canada, despite difficult­ Paul, Duluth and Superior. Red Army and fought in its ranks on nu­ cant for what he did not rather than what ies and tew forces, a meeting was held, The tour now takes comrade Shacht­ merous fronts to triumph over the counter­ he did say. and a growth of the Opposition is looked man into the West and Southwest—into revolution, now learn that Stalin threatens Measured by the expectations it aroused lo r as a result of comrade Shachtman’s lec­ Kansas City and S6. Louis, Mo. and then our work. For almost six years the Stalin­ in the minds ot its rank and file followers tures and report upon the program of the to Springfield, Illinois, after which the turn ist leadership, having usurped the helm the second “Labor Government" has turn­ Left Opposition, his visit to L. D . Trot­ is again toward the East, into Cleveland, of the Pari» has been menacing the achieve­ ed out to be as great and calamitous a fail­ sky at Constantinople, and the preliminary Pittsburg and Youngstown. The'comrades ments of Ihe revolution. ure as ever the Labor Government of 1924 International Conference of the Left Op­ in all these cities are on the job to put over That which millions of proletarians con. was. Conspicuously it has proven lte utter position at Berlin. A t Detroit a formal large meetings. quered under Lenin and Trotsky and thou­ bankruptcy in every basic problem it faced meeting was. not organized; scattered el­ Return Engagements In Montrael and sands of Red Army fighters secured by The failure of the Labor Government is a ements gathered to hear Sbachtman. Toronto their blood, is now endangered by the vac­ striking demonstration of the bankruptcy Chicago, Minneapolis Hold Good Meetings The branches of the Communist League illating policies of the Stalinists, now lfean of the policies of social democracy through­ - In Chicago comrade Shachtman spoke (Opposition) in-Montreal and Toronto, Can­ ing to social democracy now to anarchism. out* the world. for the Communist League before a good ada have asked the National Office to ex­ We will not permit our work to be Take domestic policy as a. first* in- crowd at the I.W.W. hall. Unemployment tend Shachtman’s tour to include return destroyed. 'jt&nce. Since the MacDonald Government in Chicago is acute and a large number of engagements there. Their request has We will not believe that* Leon Trotsky Memo into office oh June 10, 192$ the num- workers were of course admitted free and been complied with, and comrade Shacht­ organizer of the victory of the Russian and r of unemployed has actually increased listened with keen interest to the report man goes to Montreal once more on July therewith the International working clasa By 600,000, making a grand total of the and to the policy of the Left Opposition 3rd and 4th and to Toronto on July 5th has become untrue to our colors. Unemployed army in Britain of 1,739,000 on a number of current issues. A Work­ and 6tb. Both cities pledge big turnouts. But we do see clearly that the Stalin regime the biggest since 1921-22. ers Guard was at hand to protect the meet­ In Toronto, where tbhe leaders, so- which dies not hesitate to shoot prolet­ Not a finger has been raised by the Mac­ ing from any disturbance; none occurred. called of the official Communist Party of arian revolutionaries is by its policies pre­ Donald cabinet to repeal the reactionary Literature sales were good. The Chicago Canada picketed Shachtman’s lecture (evi­ paring grave disasters for the U. S. S. R. anti-trade union bill passed by the Tory comrades are pepped up now more than dently the rank and file could not stomach and the International revolution. government after the general strike. ever. the yellow policy of the officialdom and The deportation of Leon Trotsky waa Take India as another touchstone of In Minneapolis, a stronghold of the Com- would not try to prevent the meeting of a serious and shameful blow at the Soviet socialist practise. In 1924 the “Labor Gov­ unist League (Opposition) a very fine meet­ the Left Opposition), both an excellent Union. The workers of the world will ne­ ernment" decreed the Bengal Criminal Or­ ing was held from every viewpoint. Af­ meeting and a banquet were held. In Tor­ ver understand nor approve this measure. dinance to provide for the arrest without ter the lecture, Questions were put by mem­ onto, Shachtman will lecture on another We call upon all who fought shoulder trial of all opposing British authority, bers of the audience, including one mem­ subject which will be , announced in the to shoulder with Trotaky in the Red Army Hundreds ot Indian revolutionaries have ber of the S.L.P. and were answered in full noxrt isstje of the M ilitant to return to their posts of struggle. The keen rotting in jail for years under this by the speaker. The Minneapolis and St. The balance of the schedule follows: former soldiers of the Red Army who are •rdinance. The second Labor Government scattered throughout Europe must stand tame into office. Not a finger has been on guard. novod to release these prisoners. Organize that the banner of the Red MacDonald in India carries on in the Army and the Soviet Union of the interna­ test traditions of Bloody Daltour’s suppres- tional revolution is once more raised on lion of Ireland. In Peshawar, in Sholapur, Watch This Schedule for Your City high as in the days of Lenin and Trotsky. In Bombay, the Indian masses are prodded Comrades, rally to the ranks of the PAINTERS HALL 2030 Euclid. ? with British bayonets, shot down, imprt- KANSAS CITY, Mo. Left Opposition. Thursday, June 26 Membership Meet loned. The responsibility falls directdy on Friday, June 20. Mass Meeting at Demand the recall of I,eon Trotsky to ing. * Ramsay MacDonald and his Labor Govern- —HALL, 914 Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor. the Soviet Union, to the Party and the nent. The responsibility rests on the Se­ YOUNGSTOWN .OHIO I leadership of the Comintern. KANSAS CITY, MO. cond International which is an accomplice Friday. June 27. (Place to be an- * Down with the disloyal Stalinists! In ail the crimes of the Labor Government Thursday & Saturday, June 19 and 21—Branch Meetings. nounccl.)...... 4 Long live the Left proletarian wing ot is of the social democracy in Germany. PITTSBURG, PA. Z Lenin! The New York Nation feels a lititle ST. LOUIS, MO. Long live the world revolution! Sunday, June 22, 8 p.m. Mass Saturday, June 28, 8. p. m. Mass , “ embarrassed for its statesman-like con­ Meeting at Labor Lyceum, 35 Miller St. 4 —RED ARMY MEN OF SLOVAKIA tributing editor MacDonald. It seeks for Meeting at Odeon Theatre Bldg., Grand in explanation, and with the superficial and Finney. PITTSBURG, PA. | Sunday, June 29, Branch Meeting j tin of liberalism finds it in “the taming ST. LOUIS, MO. Where To Buy The Militant effect of. office-holding on the radical". Monday, June 23, Branch Meeting MONTREAL, CANADA j This explanation is false down to the SPPHINGEIELD, ILL. July 3-4th (Place to be announced 4 LOS ANGELES, Calif.: Western News ground. The taming effect of office-holding Tuesday, June 24. (Place to be later.) | Box 604, Arcade Station. for whom? MacDonald acts as he does be­ announced.) TORONTO, CANADA ] SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. McDonald's 65 cause he holds office for ttie capitalist CLEVELAND, OHIO July 5-6 (Place to be announced Z Sixth St. Blass. The social democratic policy must Wednesday June 25, Mass Meeting at later.) | WASHINGTON, D. C. Gale’s ook Sbcp r?3 breed the MacDonalds because it is class- Tenth St. N. W. Bollaborationist, nationalist, petty bour­ L PITTSBURG, Pa.: P & A News Co., 220 geois and anti-revolutionary A British Federal St., N. S. reformist cannot support an Indian revolu­ Capitalist »Disarmament« U.S. Imperialist Contradictions CHICAGO, ILL., Cheshinsky’s Bciok Store, tion. He can stifle the masses and try to Meanwhile, the internal contradictions 2720 W. Division St.; Horsley’s Book Store, arrange a compromise with flhe native H ail to the Kellog Peace Pact! God of American imperialism, bound up with 1633 W. Division St.; Walden Bookstore Bourgeoisie. bless Disarmament and those noblemen its world economic interdependence, are 311 Plymouth Ct.; Britscke’s Store, 1611 A comic touch to th e . tragedy is the Hoover and MacDonald. The League of maturing a severe crisis which is fore­ NT Kedzie and on various newstands truly entertaining'argument of the friends Nations has just issued its armament year shadowed by the current partial industrial SPRINGFIELD, ILL.: Joe Angelo, 431 No. of the Labor Government that MacDonald book for 1929-30 and the upshot of lie fig­ depression. The present situation, which We-’ sy St. “has not had a chance”. He had to take ures is that in 1928 when the Kellogg Peace i3 only the harbinger of this coming BOSTON, Mass.: Shapiro’s, 7 Beach Sti over all these knotty problems of India Pact became effective there were 50 per crisis, has already brought to a high level near 'Washington,: Andelman’a 284 Tre- Egypt, unemployment, etc. from the Tories. cent more cruisers than in 1913 and that the process of rationalization and attack mont St., Newsstand, 38 Causeway St. That wasn’ti fair. MacDonald would be there were three times more in process upon the standards of the working class ROXBURY, MASS., Goldberg s Store, 536 well on the way to introducing socialism— of construction than in 1913. that Is causing It to move progressively Warren St. if the capitalists had been gracious- enough Italy, which had no cruisers building in away from itis previous Inertia into a REVERE, MASS., Trachtmau's Store 87 to introduce It for him. But all they care 1913, not only led the world in this re­ period of struggles. The realization of Sherley Ave. about is to trip him up and make things spect in 1929, but, with 71,000 tons under the crisis which w ill intensify the pro­ MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. : Engelson News harder for him. construction, was building more than the cess of rationalization, unemployment, and Co., 234-2nd Ave. So. Meanwhile to this day Hillquit, the total of 68,300 tons the whole world was lead to severer attacks on the living stand­ KANSAS CITY, MO.: Buehle-’s Book Store, leader ot the American socialist party has buildii s in 1913. Japan stood second in ards of the workers, w ill result in an even -20 West 12th St. not breathed a syllable of protest against 1929, with 40,000 tons building; the Unlten broader basis for the radicallzation of the PHILADELPHIA, Pa.: Newstands at 19th the misdeeds of his British confrere—and States third with 30,000 tons; Spain fourth, American workers and their entry into and Market, S. E. Cor.; 15th and Market, when a resolution was introduced at the with 20,000 tons, and France fifth, with struggle. It is a process which must be S. E. Cor.; 13th and Market, N. W. cor.; convention of the Socialist Party in Penn­ 10,000 tons. analyzed not only in comparison with the Warwicks News Depot, 262 S. 11th St.; 11th sylvania to demand the freedom of India Submariens formed 1 per cent of the Leftward movement of the European and Market, N. W. cor.; 5th and Market, from British Imperialism, it was violently world fleet tonnage in 1913; 3 per cent workers, but chiefly on comparison with the S. W.cor.; 5th and Pine Sts., N. E. cor.; attacked by the leaders and finally altered. when the war ended, and 6 per cent when historical backwardness of the American 9th and Locust Sts., N. E .cor.; 40th & the Kellogg Treaty went into force. working class. Upon this development is Girard Ave., S. E. coi*. New York O pen A ir Meetings The world’s total naval tonnage, which conditioned the coming period of struggles NEWARK, N. J.: Alter’s Stand; 58 Prince The New York Branch of the Com­ in 1913 was 6,391,000 tons, stood at 5,312,000 of the American workers and the necessity St munist League (Opposition) Is holding tons in 1929, the difference being due to the for the revolutionary Party to understand CAMDEN. N. J„ 326 Siarket St. large and successful street meetings every sinking of the Gesman fleet and the limita­ it) and prepare itself properly for it. S3ATTLE, WASH.: Raymer’s Old Book Saturday night at the corner ot 126th St. tion of battleships in 1922. The figure for — FROM THE PLATFORM OF Store, 905 Third Ave. and 5th Avenue. The workers have been 1929, however marked an increase of 21,000 THE COMMUNIST OPPOSITION TACOMA, Wash.; Walsh, 1,203 Pacific St. addressed on numerous issues of Import­ tons over 1928. ADOPTED (CHICAGO) MAY TORONT), ONT.. CANADA: On various ance by comrades Maurice Spector, Martin There wll be disarmament until the 20, 1929. newsstands. Abern, Albert Glotzer, Max Rose, George workers are stong enough to disarm the NEW YORi., N. Y.:On various newsstands la Clarke, Charles Curtiss, RuBsell Blackwell capitalists. Military disarmament will fol­ New York and Brooklyn; Biederman Book­ and other members of. the Branch. The low on the economic expropriation of pri­ MILITANT OUTING store, 2d Are and 12th S t; Rand ' -okstore, Branch reports, that the interest shown vate property. Capitalism and universal Members of the New York branch ot 7 East 15th St.; The Militant, 25 Third Ave, by the workers this year Is greatly In­ disarmament are contradictions in terms. the Communist League of America (Oppo- CALGARY, ALTA., CANADA; Boston News ssition) ami sympathizers w ill have an creased. A gpod amount of literature. M il­ Co., 109-8th Ave. West WIN FIVE-DAY WEEK outing Sunday. June 22, at Hunter Island itants, etc. Is regularly sold. The Branch In addition to the stores listed above, intends to hold an additional meeting a NORWICH, Conn., June 14—Organized Hikers will meet at Pelham Bay Park Sta­ week at another corner. Other members bricklayers secured the five-day week. Hod tion at 10:30 a. m. The Militant also can be -Malned t’-- ugh of the Branch assist in the work of organ­ carriers and laboreres are equally success­ Bring lunch, bathing suits and sport members and branches of the Communist ising the meetings. ful. equipment. League of America.