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Volume 2, Number 7, July 1 1920

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Volume 2, Number 7, July 1 1920 ALL POWER TO THE WORKERS! OFFICIAL .oRGAN OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF AMERICA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VOL II., No. 7 JULY I, 1920. PRICE 5 CENTS The Counter-Revolution in Germany By LOUIS FRAIN A, International Secretary, Communist Party of America Berlin, March 28. aotion; but the Socialist-bourgeois Government tainecl the ascendancy of democracy. The petty had disarmed the proletariat, while aggressive bourgeois democracy. accordingly•. adopted a poli­ The Ebert-Noske-Bauer Government shorn of measures against the reaction would have meant cy of "watchful waiting''' and "neutraJity," whicb. Noske and Baqer, is again in power. The streets an open break with the Right. and the colJapeo under the circumstances assisted the counter­ are still a mass ·of· barbed-wire entanglements of the Government under pressure of Right and revolution-democracy did not defend Itself against erected by the counter-revolutionary troops against Left. At a meeting of the National Assembly the Left, with whom there could be neither com­ the Government troops, armed with rifles, shea.th­ on March 14, Socialist Ch.anc.ellor Bauer said: pomlse nor merger, It might be. unpleasant for bayones and hanel-grenades, patrol the streets pre­ "After mature deliberation the Government decided the military reaction to cOnlluer•. put a satisfactor~· pared to shoot down the workers (scores havl3 not to enter Into a bloody struggle with the Kapp agreement could be arranged. already been flhot)-the identical troops that dLt upstart!', and therefore. determined to leave Berlin, This, then. was the consequence of the Socialism not fire a shot in defense of the city aga.lnst tho) thereby avoiding violence." (J\.gain~t the. Com­ of the Social-Democratic Party-that. In affirming counter-revolutionary Invasion of Luttwltz-Kapp. munists there never was any thought of "avoidin~ democracy as the means to Socialism It developed The old apathy is again dominant In the streets violence"! Rut that' is miserahle equivocation. means for, the ascendency of Junker-Capitalism. of Berlin-thltt cold. hopeless apathy which im­ The Government had .at its disposal in Berlin thereby ..freetly promoting the coml·ng of military mediately impresses the observer ,In Germany. alone 30,000 trooP!!! and 50,000 armed civilian:!. counter-r~volution, In the "high life" districts, .in Unter' den .Linden and about 300,000 In all Germany; yet the Govern­ and Friedrichstrasse, the swirl of frightful gayety ment evaded a struggle with 10,000 counter-revolu· And after 18 months Of murdering the pro­ again 'ru!lhes on; while in the proletarian <1istrlct~ tlonary tr·oops. Why? Because the Government letariat and Socialism. the Government and the there Is sullen resentment, tempered by partial knew that Its troops. reliable in crushing a Com­ Social-Democratic Party were compelled-to call anticipations of a new struggle. munist. uprising, were completely unreliable as a upon the proletariat and Socialism to act against means of defense against a reactionary uprising its own creation, the military counter-revolution. Five daYEt ago it appeared as If this new struggl'! MQreover, an open military struggle would compel might start Immediately. The proletariat of Berlin 2.-DEVELOPEMENTS OF THE CRISIS was still on strike, In spite of the Eber.t Govern­ In choosing the alternative of a General Strike ment and the trades union bureaucracy having the Government and the Social-Democratic Party Issued orders to end the strike. In city after were fully aware of the fact that the strike might city the workers used the opportunity of the AGENDA develop beyond the limits imposed upon It as a. crisiS to usurp power. developing the General stri1te in defense of democracy and the Govern­ Strike beyond the limits Imposed upon It as a FOR 'rHE SECOND CONVENTION ment. But the Government was equally aware strike in defense of the Government. In West­ ·that It might depend upon the military In the phali!!, and the Rhineland, In the Ruhr mining OF THE OOmlUNIST PARTY event of the General Strike assuming revolutionar~­ districts, the working class, while not yet wholly OF AMERICA proportions; and, m·oreove1'. the Government. simul­ clear on means ana purposes, was in com'pletE: taneously with the call for a General Strike-issua·l control, seizing government power and organizing I. H ..port .. , in name of Ebert, Bauer. Noske, Muller and David an active Red Army of 3"0,000 men, with 50,000 in a) C. E. C; and National i;lecretary. (Noske afterwards denied subscribing t.o the call} reserve. But, for reasons which will develop later, b) International Relatlem, Committee, -prepared measures to nrevent the General Strikd these. hopes against the Red Army. w,hleh h8.3 c) Editorial Committee, becoming revolutionary. In the Ruhr district. been compelled to acoept an armistice: disaster d) Defense Committee. for example, revolutionary and under a state of and massacre will come in the Ruhr. martial ·law, the strike was consciously limited. II. CUrrl'Dt FUDd;'_DtRt Problems. and it did not become a General Strike until These are the inescapable facts of the eituation: a) Present world situation. March 17, when the struggle was no longer against thtl Ebert Government is In power, but the military b) Present situation in the United the militafy coup but against the Socialist-bour­ coup ,I'.. tat has partially conquered since it has States. geois Government, compelle.d the· Government to compromise and c) Rovlet Russia. move more to t.he Right; the Government is wlth~ d) Communist International and Par­ In accepting the alternative of a General Strike drawing its concessions. or rather Its .promiseA ty International Relations. the Government, moreov.er, simply "legalized" an of concessiosns to the masses; the interests behin·1 e) Our attitude t.owards Parllament­ accomplished iact, since the masses' acted in- the 'milltary coup are securing concessions as arlsm. dependently of the Government. against. the proletariat which rallied to the Govern- P Mass Action. On Saturday March .13 the. General Strike wa.!'§ . ment's .dt-fense; the Go'\'erJlment is' compelled to g) ·In<lustrml Unionism a'nd S)-mH~ proclaimed' 'in Berlin DY ihp'trades unions, th'~ rely more than ever on military forces; while the call~m. SoCial-Democratic Party and the Independent Cabinet is being reconstructed according to the 11). Our' Attitude towards E~onomlc, Socialist Party. -All three proclamations agreed policy of the' Right and 1"\ot according to the Educational and other Legal in fundamentals-strike' against the coup, In de­ demands of. the Left. The proposal of the In­ Workers' Organizations. fense of democracy; the Independents juggled witb dependent Socialist Party for a "Socialist Govern­ i) Workers' 'Counclls Before, During revolutionary phrases in characteristic style. but ~ent" (Cabinet coalition of Independents and nnel After the Revolution. proposed no definite revolutionary measures; whila Social Democ;rats) has been contemptuously re­ IlL n .. vlllioll of tile Program and ~Ianl~ the trades unions spok'e of the "legal" Government jected-a reje-ction accompanied by a new Terror: f ....to. being menaced by the coUP. of the danger of re­ the Socialist-bourgeois Government, having to action being restored In state and shops, of th(l IV. OrgaDI..... tlon Problems. choose between the proletariat and the reaction, Republic being in danger. There was no clea~ 'again chooses reaction. a) CQmmunist Party Centralization call to revolutionary action, not even from the and Discipline. Communist Party which. on Saturday, declare] The revolutionary crisis produce.d by the mili­ b) Underground Organization and Its against the General Strike on the assumption that tary coup, developing conditions for the final forms. the military cQUP and the Government were identi .. struggle for power, is being eonverted into .a c) Communist Party units and C. p, cal.' Cabinet-parliamentary crisis. with the Independen~ Shop CommitteE's. Socialist Party manipulating the situation to se­ .1) Functions of Language Federa­ The response of the proletariat to the General cure Cabinet conoessions and parliamentary power: tions In the Communist movement Strike was in:;medlate and complete; In Berlin. ··the Independents having, a~1 throguh the crisis, of Amf?rica. .the struggle immediately and completely assume.(] aoted not with an eye to the revolutionary seizure e) Propaganda, Agitation and Other the character of a proletarian struggle against tpe of power, but with an eye to (1) the reconstruction Jo'orms of CommUnist Bducablon. military-bourgeois reaction, of the Cabinet on a "Socialist" basis, and (2) the 11 General Propaganda and Agita­ The situation in Berlin was most chara-cterlsti~ ooming elections in which they anticipate becomIng tion. of the General situation in Germany. The collapse the majority party; while the Communist Party of 2') Claasee for Propagandists and of the Government was complete; there was not' Germany (as represented by the' Reichs~Zentrale) Other Communist Study Classes. a trace of. Its authority or Its resistance. ,. Hen' i sassisting the "conversion of the revcilutiollli.ry f) Party Press and Literature. KaPIl occupied the Chancellery;whlle General. von crisis into a parliamentary crisis by not measuring 1) Policy, Luttwitz installed himself In the Ministry of War up to the requirements of the situation and by 2) Literary, from whenoe Comrade Noske had issued orders ot rendering criminally opportunist encouragement 3) Technical. death against the Communist proletariat. This to the Independents in their proposal for a "Social~ g) Communist Unity vs. "Centrist Government distri<lt, now a fortress of barbed wire ist" Government. Un1ty'" entanglements, machine guns and artillery, opens h) Defense aPld Relief Work. on the Tier-Garden where, t11'teen months ago, Karl And the masses? The masses are stirring un­ Llebknccht urged the proletariat to Revolution; easily. baffled and betrayed; and they may yet, Y.
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