3IMILIT Published Twice ai Month by the Communist League of America (Opposition)

Vol.III,No.29NEW YORK, N. Y September 1, 1930PRICE 5 CENTS

The Military Revoltin Peru

The constant struggle between Britishand North American financial interests, isclearly discernable in the present militaryrevolt in Peru. Following close on theheels of the fall of the Siles dictatorshipin Bolivia, Augusto B. Leg *ia, directorPeru, has been forced to resign the govern-ment of that country into the hands of amilitary committee.

For eleven years, Leguia has served,Wall Street well as its Peruvan "viceroy",being ever ready to support the Americanimperialist interests against their Britishrivals as well as against the masses of na-tive peons and worker's. The variousmovement® which have attemtped to strugglein one form or another against the existingregime have been suppressed arbitrarilyand in the most ruthless fashion. Conse-quently the prisons are filled with politi-cal prisoners ranging from the liberalbourgeois elements around Haya die laTorre in the A.P.R.A., which under theveil of the anti-imperialist struggle .coversup its services to British capitalism, to theworkers' and peasants' leaders who havedared to organize the masses against theimperialist! exploitation.

A. few years ago considerable attentionwas called in the revolutionary and evenin the bourgeois press to the system offorced labor existigs in te mines asd high-ways of Peru, the peasants and Indians ofcertain regions being forced to work fora nominal wage and at times for nothingat all for a certain number of days yearlyas a sort of ."patriotic contribution" to thecountry's progress.

Peru is one of Wall Stireets most pro-ductive colonies, being especially rich inoil, copper;, vanadium and molybdenum.The interests of British imperialism arealso large, amounting to $140,897,897 onJanuary 1, 1929 as against $150,889,000 forthe United States at the same date. Priorto geuiah administrations British invest-ments greatly exceeded those of the UnitedStates bankers, but the war, together withthe control by Wall Street of the politicalmachine headed by Leguia, gave Americaninterests the opportunity to expand and tooutstrip the British interests. So far ascan be judged by the information availableup to now Leguia's downfall, while herald-ed throughout the world and especiallythroughout Latin America as a blow to"absolutism" is recoglnizefl on tihe NewYork stock exchange as a blow to theAmerican investors. This is seen by thesudden drop taken by stocks of the Vanad-ium Corporation, the Cerro de Pasco CopperCorporation, and by the government bondsand sharp fall of the Peruvian currency.Calvin doolidge expressed the feelings ofhis masterh when he stated in his dailygargle that "the reports of a revolutionmaking headway in Peru are disquietingand discouraging"

On the other hand we cannot refrainfrom cautioning the editors of the Dully\Vorker against going into ecstasies overthe "attempt of the Peruvian masses toseize power". They made the mistake ofso analyzing the Bolivian military coupd'Etat of a few weeks ago. Unfortunatelythe organization and fighting abilities of thePeruvian proletariat, as well as of theBolvian, are at too low an ebb to makepossible at the present moment an effectiveutilization of these family quarrels amongthe imperialists and their lackeys.

—RUSSELL BLACKWELL.

Vote Communist! Against the Parties of Unemployment and Wage-Cuts, and the « Socialist ReformersThe election campaign is well under

way. The capitalist class ha? put updummies who execute its orders in thecity, 'state and national legislatures, andthe sham battles between the two openlycapitalist parties have begun with the usualattacks—entirely correct—upon each other'sintegrity, malfeasance and corruption inoffice, dishonesty and graft. The bank-ruptcy of the Republican and Democraticparties has rarely been brought out in suchbold relief.'

Capitalist BankruptcyThe apostle of "permanent prosperity",

Hoover, has been neither desirous nor cap-able of stemming the tdde of misery andsuffering that has inundated millions of un-employed workers and those at work whosestandards are being brutally lowered. Hoo-ver's Democratic critics, who are makingthe most of the political capital with whichhis incapacity serves them, shout all themore loudly against their Republicanbrothers-under-the-skin because they mustthemselves conceal their total failure toalleviate the indescribable conditions of theworkers in those localities where there areDemocratic administrations (New York CityXew York state, throughout the South, etc,,etc.).

The truth is that the capitalist polit-icians, who represent the system which pro-duces unemployment*, child labor, prostitu-tion, wars and misery, are cynically uncon-cerned about the sufferings of the workersexcept insofar as it gives them argumentsagainst thoss in office and for those whowant to geb at the trough.

The third party of the bourgeoisie, thesocalled Socialist Party, is still in the fieldwith its petty shop-keeper's reforms. Ithas become a pure and simple election ap-paratus, with %o more fixed membership

than Tammany Hall, with candidates whosechief aim is to attract votes and not to ad-vance the class interests of the workers.The party of Debs has become the partyof Norman Thomas, with his quack reforms,and Heywood Broun, the idol of the liberalintellectuals.

The "Bulwark against Bolshevism"..The American Socialist party is the

spiritual and material brother of the Bri-tish Labor Party, under whose administ»ra>-tion unemployment in England has grownand flourshed like the green bay tree, un-der whcrse knout, saber and machine gunthe Indian workers and peasants are beingmassacred. The Socialist Party is the po-litical machine of the corrupt labor bur-eaucracy in the needle trades and else-where, the parasites who work hand inhand with the bosses against the cruellyexploited workers. The Socialist Partyis a vote catching machine that constitutesa safe deposit for the discontentment of theworkers, It is a "bulwark against Bolshe-vism"—as the more enlightened capitalistpapers perceive—that is, a bulwarkagainst the advance of the working class instruggle against their oppressors.

The workers are confronted—not onlyon election day but all through the year—by a dictatorship of the capitalist class,by that group of James W Gerard's multi-millionaires who REALLY run ths country,a dictatorship that can be abolished onlyby a dictatorship of the workers, that is,of the overwhelming majority of the people,a "dictatorship that would be a thousandtimes more democratic than any capitalist"democracy". The whole election system is amonstrous fraud of capijtalfcsm, a fraudwhich' creates the illusion that the workerscan seriously improve their lot or take coni-trol of industry by throwing enough bits

Blumkin Dead-Is Rakovsky Next?Every day brings news of intensified

measures of repression against the LeftOpposition in the Soviet Union. Stalin istaking new steps forward. In order toapply the "law" with even greater cynic-ism, he constantly extends the meaning ofthe accusations against our comrades."Counter-revolutionist" addressed to themis not an insulting and lying epiphet, itis an accusation involving five and tenyears in prison. Comrade Trotsky hasbeen expelled fom the U.S1.S.R. with theaccusation of organizing "counter-revolu-tionary" movements—that is of organizingthe Bolshevik, proletarian resistance to thepressure of class enemies whom the Stal-inist apparatus fights in words.

At one time Yaroslavsky invented thepolice conspiracy of the "Wrangel officer"—of a socalled collusion with an agent pro-.vocateur, former Wrangel officer sent intothe Opposition's ranks by the G.P.U.—inorder to compromise our comrades in someinfamous plot. Stalin continues to create"amalgams" of this kind at every occasion.But he no longer needs such complicatedfables. He directly "amalgamates" the Op-positionists with the laws that punishcounter-revolutionary activity of WhiteGuards, capitalists and speculators. Hun-dreds of militants, revolutionary workers,have been sent into places of deportation,then into prisons and solitary confinementunder the lying accusation of "counter-revolutionary" activity.

Now we learn that a new system of

accusations has bees set going by the Stalin-ist apparatus. Our comrades are accusedof espionage in the interests of the counter-revolution when their relations with Op-position Communists outside the U.S.S.R.are discovered. This monstrosity was dis-closed by an accusation of espionagebrought against a comrade imprisoned at!Chimkent under the pretext that he wascorresponding with comrade Trotsky. Thisis no isolated fact buti a system. We learnthat comade Pestov, at Slavianskoye Selo,was accused in the same sense at the mo-ment of his arrest "of entertaining rela-tion with the counter-revolution abroad"Similar accusations are brought againstother comrades.

The aim of this new and abominable in-vention is clear. The accusation of belong-ing to the counter-revolution "in general"is not sufficient to attain the aim sought,which is the physical extermination of theLeft Opposition! To be able to lock uprevolutionists for ten years in solitary con-finement prison, to extermisate the testgroups of the Opposition by shooting themat will, they have invented "espionage" and"relations with the counter-revolutionabroad". The mechanics of Stalin are ob-vious. It is this blind and murderousmechanics that had Edumkin shot!, who fol-lowed Etutov and others to their death Sta-lin is trying to generalize his activities—wich are genuinely counter-revolutionary.

Stalin is persecuting the very best.(Continued on Page 5)

of paper into the ballot box to "elect theright men"

The control of government, of industry,of power are never decided on the floors ofcongress, but on the battlefield of the classstruggle. The elections give the workersthe opportunity of testiing their strength,their mood for struggle. The elections givetihe workers the opportunity of transformingthe fraudulent paper battle around the bal-lot box into a genuine struggle for theirdemands: a struggle in the form of dem-onstrations and strikes thati break throughthe hypocritical veil of spurious "demo-cratic" elections.

The Main IssueThe principal issue of the day is unem-

ployment, and the wage cute, evictions, andstarvation that accompany it. The Com-munist Party has properly focused the at-tention of the working class on this point.This party is the only one in the fieldthat represents! not only the immediatebut also the final aim of the proletariat.

The Comnrunist Leag<ue of America(Opposition) has many disagreements withthe policy of the Communist Party. Wewarn against the Party's tendency to makethe social insurance 1)111 the focal point inthe election campaign It is not throughbills in Congress that the unemployed willobtain relief, the evicted a rent moratorium,the workers an end to wagefcuts. Tocause Uhe workerfc to believe otherwi«<|ewould be to sow the most destructive illu-sions among them. It is not Congress thatcan and will aid the unemployed by adopt-ing a social insurance plan; it is not a billthat will aid the jobless in some dim, dis-tant future (if ever under capitalism) Itis the living, genuine struggle of the un-employed and the starving for food—ofwhich there is plenty; of the homeless andevicted for roofs over their heads andagainst the grasping landlords—and homesthere are enough—in short, it is only bytheir own struggles every day (and notaround a ballot box) that workers can ob-tain relief.

The Communist League is also opposedto the appeal the Communist Party is mak-ing to the farmers—an appeal thati doesnot unite the interests of the workers of thecity with the workers in the fields and thepoorest section of the tamers, but sets theinterests of the farmers in general againstthose of the city working class.

Where We StandBut the Communist Party nevertheless

remains OUR PARTY. Its errors andshortcomings are the errors and shortcom)-ings of a temporary leadership violently im-posed upon it. The Communist! Leaguehas appealed to the Party for united actionin support of the Communist campaign.The faction agents who run the Party bygrace of appointment have rejected thisappeal. We will continue in spite of thatto support the Communist Party campaignwith all our strength.

The Communist Party is the only Partyof the working class. It embraces the mainelements in the revolutionary movement.Despite its incompetent leadership andtheir destructive policies, the Party re-mains the only one that workers consciousof their class interests can support. Avote to the Democratic, Republican or So-cialist parties is a vote thrown away tothe class enemies of the workers and theirloyal assistants and moderators. A votefor the Communist Party is a vote for work-ing class power.

VOTE COMMUNIST! —S—n

M»erio«l' Oloft News from SouthernCarolina Demands Its _ ' / - . . • O. • ! • • A • r i-i •

Pound of Flesh Bessemer City strikes Again Callforniaf LOS ANGELES—

The hue and cry has been raised. Theposses are out for their victims. The NorthCarolina supreme court has upheld the de-cision of the lower court in the case of theseven militants convicted for their activ-ities in the recent Gastonia strike, and theauthorities are demanding tihe surrender ofthe defendants out on bail. But the de-fendants are not surrendering and they aronot to be found. It is even said that someare on their way to the Soviet Union o1.-have already arrived there. And the chi-valrous .southern lynchers of Negroes andwomen are in an uncontrollable rage.Their victims are beyond their grasp. Theyhave no intention of serving twenty oftiheir best years in the murder holes thatserve as Carolina's prisons.

The fury of the textile kings' legalfootmen is boundless. Here they went totihe expense o£ staging an elaborate frame-up in court, of producing their prejudicedwitnesses, of paying god-fearing jurors, inorder to send the active Gastonia Reds toprison for terms that mean life. And afterthe trial, and after the appeal, the cellsprepared for the workers are just as emptyas when it all began, and they promise toremain empty.

The hyenas have been cheated of theirprey; the courts of their vicidms; thebloatied textile manufacturers of their ven-hgeance. And the people who murdered EllaMay in cold blood are shouting about"honor", the people who raided and smash-ed tent colonies and relief stores, whokidnapped and tortured union organizers,who brutally assaulted picket lines, whoorganized hooded terror bands, are shoutingabout "the processes of law". The bullieswho attack women and children, wholynch Negroes when they outnumber thema hundred to one, who are immune fromreprisals by the mighty powers of the stateand its courts and police forces, are shout-ing about, "cowards who run away"!

The respecatble and "impartial" cap-italist press of the North has joined in thehue and cry for, surrendering the seven.The New York Telegram, with its pseudo-liberalism that melts away at every touchof the claiss struggle, also presumes tospeak of the missing defendants as "cow-ards". Its editors probably got the tipfrom the miserable article in the DallyWorker recently by Earl Browder, .who ac-cused comrade George Saul of cowardicefor having "run away from a six-monthchain gang sentence". This creature ofStalin, without convictions of his own orthe courage of the convictions allotted tohim by his employer, maintains a deeplence on the Gastonia defendants now, nothaving the courage to defend their refusalto walk into the life-long dungeons theSouthern Bourbons have prepared fgr them.

For our part, the prison cells of South-ern reaction may continue to be empty.The executioners of capitalist class justicehave already taken more than enough tollIn the wracked and tortured bodies ofthousands of labor's best sons. Let theassassins of Haymarket, of Little and Hill,of Sacco and Vanzetti, cynical jailors ofMooney and Billings, the Centralia men,the Communists throughout the countrylet these Shyloks demand their pound offlesh of the Gastonia militants. Their liowls1'eave the class conscious working classcold . . . and firmer in its determinationto release the class war prisoners who arestill inside.

.MY LIFE"All readers 01 the Militant and their

friends, who desire to get their copy ofof Leon Trotsky, "My Life", should make ita point to order the book directly throughthe Militant. Shipment will be made theday the order is received, and the cost ofthe book, five dollars, ($5.00), covers thepostage charge. Send your order, togetherwith money order or cash to

T H E M I L I T A N T25 Third Avenue. New York, N. Y.

On May 18, over 800 workers of theAmerican Mills, No. 1 and 2 of BessemerCity, N.C., went out on strike against a20 to 30 percent wage cut and the ruinouspace at which they are driven by the millbcteses. In, flairng headlines, tihe DailyWorker immediately announced this de-fensive struggle as being "under the lead-ership of the Na|tio*ial Textile WorkersUnion". The next issue of the Workerhowever, meekly and obscurely informedus that "there is a danger of a repit-itdon of the form of betrayal made famousin the Flint automobile strike, with mis-leadens seeking to betray the strike bywaging,,an attack on the T.U.IT.L. or-ganization which has outjlined a policyof struggle and spreading the strike."On the third day, the Daily Worker de-clared even more humbly and more ob-scurely, that "it is not true, as previouslystated that the N.T.W.U. is leading thestrike."

Leadership of strikes and other strug-gles is not won overnight, nor do betray-als take place with such startling andmechanical suddenness. Betrayals come"like lightning" only as culminatingpoints of actions and tactics over a per-iod of time, prepared in advatace in amanner obvious to the militant elements(at least they should he obvious), and lihisis precisely what the Worker tries to cov-er up. To make it clear would be to exi!-pose the results1 of the official Party'spolicy.

A Year Ago and How

One year ago, we led the strike inEtessemer City at the same time that weled the Glfetonia strike, and although thestrike committee had misleaders and stoolpigeons on it, our forces with correct tac-tics, were able to isolate them and gainthe leadership of the strike. The Bes-semer City strike, it is true, had largelybeen foreshadowed by the Gastonia strikebut it was our tactics that car-ied us for-ward, and the July 28 Bessemer City con-ference, with a couple of hundred delegatesand over 1,500 workers present demon-strated our progress/ We had a unionhall in Bessemer, held regular meetings,had two mill locals and two other groupsin the first stages of mill locals. Besse-mer City supported us through the over-whelming majority of the textile workersand the police were friendly just to thedegree that they were former textileworkers themselves and felt our strengthand the solidity of the workers.(Bessemer City, by the way, was the hometown of the martyred Ella May.)

From a condition of hegemony and un-disputed leadership and with the possibil-ities greater and favorable objective fact-ors, only one y^-ar passes for us to reach apoint where our leadership is not only re-jected, but organizers sent into the townare beaten up and almost lynched by hos-tile elements-, who, consciously or not,play the game of the bosses arid the BlackHundreds Last year, when the BlackHundreds rode Gaston County we wereable to hold our own in Bsssamer City(which is six miles from Gastonia); todaythe tables are turned.

Not all of the bombastic phrase-mon-gering, and the self-praise so disgracefulin a revolutionist, not all th3 cheap jour-nalistic talk about "Our Party being theonly revoutionary leader of the massstruggles of the American workers", cansuccessful . • conceal the lamentable fail-ure of the Party bureaucrats and vheirl.clicies. The Bessemer Citv st.ike.. likethe Flint, Michigan and Pittston strikesbefore it reveal the fact that the Partyleadership, substituting phrases and ever"-changing theses for -solid, every day pre-paratory work, is usually caught entirelyunawares by struggles in precisely those

localities and industries where it shouldhave been decisively in the forefront andleadership.

Instead of this difficult" wAi»k ofpersistent (and sometimes slow) founda-tion laying, the Party leaders follow thepolicy of making the membership drunkwith intoxicating phrases about the "mass-es following our leadership by the mil-lion", about " the crisis in American cap-italism is finally breaking it down", andsimilar blubber.

Result of Phrase Mongering

The result is that when a struggledoes break out, the Party and the Leftwing are frequently on the outside, es-tranged from the workers. This was truein the anthracite movement; and to coverup its own bankruptcy, the leadership fol-lowed its usual course of monstrous bluffto the effecti that the "N. M. U. was lead-ing thousands of miners in . a strikeagainst unemployment". The same thingheld tirue in Flint. No preparations of asubstantial, solid nature. The strikebroke out. The customary concealmentof impotence by loud shouting and bluffto the effect that the "Auto Workers In-dustral Union is leading the Flint stikers"•—until the ease with which the bosses'agent, Comstock ,sold out the workers putan end to the pitiful fairy tales of theDaily Worker. And now the BessemerCity strike in the heart of the Party'sformer strength in the South, without theslightest Communist or Left wing influ-ence on it. Here the attempt to bluffsSbout "(N.T.W.Ui. leadership" coUlapse)din two days, and the shamefaced denialhad to be recorded quietly in the Part)press.

The Party is entirely correct in point-ing out that a leadership which rejectsclass struggle unionism and direction, andCommunist participation will run thestlrike to ground. The Party is similarlycorrect in fighljing against the elementin control of the strike and attemptingto win the -strikers to the National Tex-tile Workers Union. But the Party me-thods are wrong and it is these that havegiven birth to the very forces they arefighting. To miss opportunities and fightwith false- exaggerated policies, is to playinto the hands of the reactionary elementwho can then demagogically influence theworkers against a proletarian outlook andmethod of struggle.

It must be repeated that Bessemer Cityis in the very heart .of the Party's mostsensational struggle, qf its fortres|s (tnthe South. That it is now entirely out ofthe N.T.W.U.'s hand is an alarm signalfor the Communist workers. The "thirdperiod" and its philosophy have alreadywitnessed several strikes in this country:Illinois, Flint, Imperial Valley, Pittston',and now Bessemer City. They were in-dications of the better objective situation forthe movement, and the incapacity of theParty leaderhip. The .dumping of the"third period" and its philosophers is thepreliminary condition to the progress of therevolutionary movement. Ejessemer Cityshows us why. —HUGO OEHLER

niiiiiiimioiiiiiiiiiiiEiiiiiiimiiin niiiiin iiiiiomiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiimo

ACT NOW!The Militant, Room 425 Third Avenue, New York City

Enclosed find $2.00 for one year'ssubscription to the Militant. Pleasesend me at once a copy of Trotsky'sbook Oh the Draft Program.NAMEADDRESSCITY STATE

LOS ANGELES—Trials! Every week another one! With

the exception of March 6, the demonstra-tions of February 26, March 20 (Paris Com-mune), May 1 and August 1, were, only at-tempts at demonstrations but in this re-actionary town of L.A. comrades are being-arrested for "attempting" as well as forholding a meeting.

At the head of the Red Squad is<noneother than Wm .F. Hynes, who boasts ofhaving belonged to the Workers. Party fornine months-, ;Jt ]its organization,' who}boasts of leading a strike in San Pedro —this working class traitor and boiler of -little children (for he actually punishedchildren that way) arrests 28 at one meet-ing, 16 at another, 10 at a third, puts thembehind bars, beats them, and then sentencesthem to long months of imprisonment,There is not a Communist in Los AngelesParty member or not, Y.C.L. member 01Pioneer, who hasn't got a jail "sentencewaiting for him.

Of all the demonstrations, March 6 wasthe exception, due to the newspaper pub-licity that the "Communists are going . tocapture the City Hall". The streets werepacked with great crowds who came to seethe big show. Where were the masses onMay 1 and August 1? They were not tobe seen in spite of the fact that 100,000leaflets were mimeographed and distributedfor May 1 and 35,000 for August 1. The"Red" Plaza was empty on both occasions.The Communists were not allowed to enterthe Plaza on May 1", and so a few hundredcomrades who gathered "demonstrated" onthe sidewalks near the Plaza, led by thePioneers. On August 1, the 50 comradespresent witnessed the following demonstra-tion": the Y.C.L. members and Pioneershired a truck with high sides, hid withinit, and entered the Plaza in the truck fromwhich the singing of the "International"aroused the police and 28 were arrested.Of course the papers played it up. "RedsRiot on the Plaza" is their favorite head-flne.

For the first time in L.A. the jury dis-agreed in the last two trials. Frank Spec-tor and Carl Sklar, sentenced to 42 yearsin Folsom and San Quentin were broughthandcuffed from , the California Bastillesto these trials. Of course, dates for the ne>wtrials have already been set. Californiajustice cannot afford to let its victimsloose. ' One woman juror was reprimandedby the judge for reading the Daily Workerwhile on the jury. She replied that theAfhpT jurors Bead the labor-bating LofcAngeles Times.

* * *Organizers in the Party in L.A. change

like hot cakes on a Childs' frying pan.Bureaucrat Begler is gone, charged with"criminal neglect of duty". Mobil suddenlydisappeared. Clark is in jail. So a 20-yearold girl, hardly capable of holding a posi-tion, was appointed, for the job.

* * *The Friends of the Soviet Union held

an enthusiastic meeting with Dan Donovanof the American Labor delegation to theSoviet Union. The hall was crowded witha thousand people who listened attentivelyand applauded heartily, for the story of theSoviet Union is the only one that can filla hall for the C.P. in Los Angeles. Ofcourse, Donovan did not' mention the per-secutions undergone by Oppositionists. Noquestions were asked due to the latenessof the hour, and the pictures shown didnot show the prisons and pla,ces of exilewhere Rakovsky aid hife comrades aresuffering under the Stalinist regime.

— B.B.<t>

To defeat the great, centralized bour-geoisie is a thousand times easier than to"defeat" millions ami millions' of smallowners (bosses) who in their daily, ir.perceptible intangible but demoralizing s«tivities achieve the verj\s desired b>tne bourgeoisie, v which restore tne bourge-oisie. Whoever in the least weakens theiron discipline of the party of the prolet-ariat (especially during its dictatorship),aid in fact the bourgeoisie against the pro-letariat. —LENIN

THE MILITANT, Vol.III,No.29 September 1 1930. Published twice monthly by the Communist League of America (Opposition) at25 Third Avenue, New York, N. Y. Subscription rate: $2.00 per year; foreign $2.50. Five cent per copy. Bundle rates 3 cents per copy. Editorial Board: Martin Abern, James P. Cannon Max Shachtman, Maurice Spector, Arne Swabeck. Entered as se-cond class mail matter, November 28 1928 at the Post Office at New York. N. Y. under the act of March 3, 1879(Total No. 54)

After the A. C W. ConventionIt is three months since the conven-

tion of the Amalgamated Clothing Workerswas held in Toronto. Are the clothingworkers better off today than before theconvention? The answer of the workerswill be, No! The-conditions of the workersare becoming worse day after day.

Let us analyze for a moment whathappened at the convention. The writer,in a series of articles in the Militant lastMay, foretold not to expect anything fromthe convention, because the rank and filewere not represented there.

Convention Accomplis"mentWhat did the convention accomplish

except banquetting and boozing? Theconvention was opened with "God Save theKing" and the "Star Spangled Banner"Then came greetings' and praise from thechiefs of the organization for not havinga militant Left wing opposition present.There was not a single delegate at thisconvention who had the guts to take thefloor and challenge the present administra^tion for the deplorable conditions of theworkers. Everything at this conventionwas decided unanimously.

There were two cliques at the con-vention, which fought for control of theNew York organization: the Forward.Beckerman clique and the Hillman clique,Both foughli to keep the workers in submis,sion. When the question of the New Yorljorganization came before the convention,Beckerman took th:e floor and made aspeech. He showed how the workers inX.Y. suffer, and that the organization isin a critical condition. There was ,no oneto laugh at him, and it would be pr-operwere not the conditions of the tailors sotragic. This is the man responsible formost of the evils in the N.Y. organization,such as the introduction of piece worksystems, reductions in wages every season,throwing workers off the job, blackjackingthem, etc., and he was the one to opposethe administration. This was merely a po-litical maneuver. Beckerman's speechproved one tiling; he was compelled toadmit that the workers in New York suf-fer and work under the most inhumanconditions.

It did not take She shrewd politician,Hillman, long to patch things up and makepeace between the two cliques and dividethe spoils among them. With this theopposition came to an end.

The convention went on record forlife insurance, which means the protectionof the workers when they are dead, notwhen they are alive. The convention alsowent on record for the 40-hour week, anorganizational campaign in every center,and the strengthening of the New Yorkorganization. Has Hillman made any at-tempt to carry through these decisions ?Noi

The IVew Tort lock-outIn the New York organization, a serious

situation developed. Three branches of theindustry were locked-out: canvas makers,kneepants makers and children's jacketmakers. The employers asked a reductionin wages from the already meager earningsof the workers. Hillman, instead of mobil-izing the workers for a strike and demand-ing the 40-hour week, Hhe abolition ofpiece work, production standards and re-auction of wages, is doing everything in hispower with the aid of his paid agents tosend the workers back to work with reduc-tions in wages.

Who is responsible for the lock-out ofthe jacket makers? Max Kaplan, the man-ager of the contractors' association. Thisman was expelled years ago from local 12for being a scab agent and breaking astrike of the Journeymen's Tailors' Union.He was exposed in Hillman's office andHillman has been dealing with him for thepast few years (see Fortsehrttt, officialA.C.W. organ of August 11, 1916, page 3.)Tne Amalgamated fought a lockout) for26 weeks in 1920-21 and Hillman refusedto negotiate with the manufacturers' as-sociation until lawyer Gordon was with-drawn. For the past few years now Hill-man has been dealing with a scab agent.

Is it to be wondered at that the work-ers have to yield reductions and productionand starve under such a bunch of parasitesthat call themselves union officers? Whathave the pen-slaves and professional boos-ters to say about this?

Were Hillman sincere and interestedin the suffering of the workers he woulddeclare a general strike and help improvethe workers' conditions. But Hillman'sunion is kept up with the aid of the employ-ers. How can he proceed against the in-terests of the employers? Although thelast three conventions have gone on re-cord for the 40t-hour week, Hillman hasnever made any effort to carry the decisionthrough.

Hillman, you know, is a democrat, awise statesman, an intelligent leader, a re-spectable banker. He doesn't believe incalling strikes. We in the Amalgamatedare better off than the workers in the otherneedle trades. We only work 20 and 30hours a week due to Hillman's efficiencyand speed-up .system. In reality, the work-ers in the contracting shops work 46 and47 hours a week, and the officers of theJoint Board know about it.

The "Organizational Campaign"What about the organizational can^-

paign? Hillman will surely show won-ders, just as he did in Philadelphia wherethe workers were forced to give a reductionof from 20 to 40 percent under the unionagreement. We reproduce here a letterfrom the Toronto firm of Wm. H. Leighmanand Co., signed by president John I. Mills,and dated may 6:

"From investigation, it appears thatquite a number of our group are desirousthat our shop be a Preferential Union Shop.We have given a good deal of thought tothis proposition and have come to the con-clusion that to avoid serious disturbance,it is advisable that we carry out your sug-gestion by entering into an agreement withthe Union and subscribe to the Market Ag-reement now in force with t!he greatermajority of the Toronto manufacturers

"We have arranged with the Union thatthe reduced rates offered our Group willbe available *o any or all of our employeeswho wish to join them at this time. Youwill realize that in order to be employed

be a member."If there is any information that) you

require, Mr. Black (the vice-president Ofthe firm) will be glad to have any of youcome to his office and discuss any matterthat you are not clear on."

Years ago the workers were fired forjoining a union; today, the employers urgetheir workers to join the Amalgamated.Isn't this in the nature of a miracle? Iam sure "comrade" J. B. S. Hardman-Salutsky will write an editorial for hisboss to prove that the Amalgamated is stilla militant union, as he has done on manyoccasions when the unon officialdom forcedreductions in wages upon the workers andintroduced the piece work system.

Where is the left Wing?Who is to be blamed, essentially, for

not having a strong Left wing militantgroup in the Amalgamated? The -peanutpoliticians of the "third period" who, in-stead of mobilizing the workers and pre-paring them for a fight inside the union,are calling upon the workers to join theIndustrial Union—which simply doesn'tw£>rk under the present relationship offorces. This policy will only cause a fewmore victims to lose their jobs and tiha.t isthe end again. The next day they tell theworkers to participate in elections which isadvocatted by the "co'unterTrevolutionaryTsotskyists".

The Left wing must mobilize the work-ers inside the Amalgamated and fight forpolicies of the class struggle, as we havepointed out in the Militant a number oftimes. The Left wing's zighzag policy ofpraising Hillman to the skies one day andpulling isolated members out of the unionthe next day—that is what Hillman and hismachine want. This will keep the machinein power and the workers will be left theprey of Hillman, Salutsky and Beckerman.Let us unite our forces inside the organiza-tion and .do away with the Hillman machineas we once did away with Tom Rickertof the United Garment Workers.

—A. SCHNEIDER(This article was written during the

recent lockout of a few branches of theNew Y.ork men's clothing workers.—Ed.)

Maurice Malkin Stands with the Opposition!Maurice Malkin, now serving a sentence

in Comstock prison for his activities in thefurriers' strike of a few years ago, wasthe first r#nk and file worker to rally tothe banner of the Left Opposition upon itsexpulsion from the Partly. His incessantagitation and general activity for our move-ment was a source of permanent irritationto the Party bureaucrats. They tried toend his activities by gangster methods, butwithout success. It was only after com-rade Malkin was sentenced and had al-ready begun to serve his term that the Sta-linist clique began to exert a differentkind of pressure upon him.

In October, 1929, the Daily Worker tri-umphantly published a statement allegedlywritten in prison by comrade Malkin, inwhich he was to have repudiated the Op-position and returned to the Stalinist camp.We wrote at that time, in the face-of this"repudiation" that Malkin had been an Op-position fighter and would remain one;that when the whole story of this "state-ment" was made known it would exposethe Party and I.L.D. bureaucracy in a dis-graceful light. We are now in a" positionto make the truth known, .and that onthe basis of comrade Malkins' own letter tous.

The statement printed in the DailyWorker last year was obtained in a man-ner which set a precedent—and a despic-able one—in the labor and revolutionarymovement.

"That statement was not made by me,"writes comrade Malkin, "but by some ofLovestone's agents in the D.W. office or oneof the Stalinist leaders in the nationaloffice of the Party. I challenge the Partyofficials to publish the original statementwith the one printed in October which wasextorted from me and then falsified so thatas soon as I read it in the Worker I im-mediately wrote Wm. Z. Foster demandingthat the original be printed. It had beensqueezed out of me under threats and pres-sure from the I.L.D. and Party leadershipto the effect that they would stop my devfense and economic support of my parentsunless I made a statment."

Comrade Malkin's parents are of courseso advanced in years that they are totally

incapable of fending for themselves, andrelied upon their son. The threat to with-draw the financial aid of the I.L.D. wouldhave condemned them to'Virtual starvation.Never in the history of our movement, sofar as we are aware, was financial pressureejcerted upon a class war prisoner by a de-fense organization to compel him to changehis political opinions. It remained for thecynical hacks appointed to run and ruinthe I.L.D. and the Party to use this mon-strous method of "ideological enlighten-ment".

Understanding as we do the circum-stances under which comrade Malkin wascompelled to make his statement, we do notmake an apology for it here. But thereare no words too sharp to condemn thecriminal procedure of the Stalinists in thiscase. Their boasts of Malkin's "capitulation"are groundless. He remains with the Oppo-sition. In his letter to us, he says:

" I deem it necessary to make thisstatement to .clarify my position. I wasone of the first in the C.P. of A. to alignmyself with the Leninist Opposition, thegroup that defends the teachings of Leninand Marx, and I will remain with thisgroup which is. led by Lenin's co-workerand collaborator, L. D. Trotsky, until theday th« Russian and the international work-ing class has removed the leadership ofStalin, Molotov and Co., and the Internal-tional Opposition* is returned from prisonand exile to their rightful posts.

"Only then will we be able to realize,not the building of socialism in one country—according to the reactionary theory ofStalin and Co.—but a real Leninist Inter-national and a world Communist society.

"Long live the Leninist Opposition!"Long live Leninism and its leading

defender, Trotsky!"Long live Rakovsky and the other Op-

positionists exiled and imprisoned by thepresent anti-Leninist regime led by Stalin!

—MAURICE L. MALKINComrade Malkin's re-adherence to the

ranks of the Opposition is an index, addedto the many that have appeared recently, ofthe growing strength and vitality of ourmovement. We welcome him again intoour ranks.

James MclnerneyThe n.ews of the death in Walla Walla,

Waah. penitentiary of James Mclnerney hascome as a shock to every class consciousworker in the country. Mclnerney was oneof the famous Centralia I.W.W. defendantssentenced by a bosses' court to from 20years to life imprisonment for having de-fended their hall and lives, weapons inhand, against a mob of uniformed Amer-can Legion gunmen who raided it on Arm-istice day, 1919, with murder in their eyes.Wesley Everest, one of the I.W.W. mem-bers, was lynched by the mob after havingbeen unspeakably tortured and finally cas-trated by the masked cowards.

Mclnerney, one of the finest types ofrevolutionary workers in the country, washimself tortured bestially. WitJh the bul-let wound received in the famous Veronabattle, the tortures in Centralia, and thedestructive regime in prison the last! tenyears, even his' usually robust health wasundermined. He died of tuberculosis andspinal meningitis—his blood on the handsand head of the lumber barons, their Le-gionaries and their corrupted courts.

Upon receipt of the tiragic news, theI.W.W. throughout the country organizedmemorial demonstrations. In New Yorkover a thousand workers gathered on twodays notice at 14th Street) and University.Speakers representing the Lovestone group,the Lore organization, the Socialist party,the Proletarian party, the anarchists, spokefrom the platform. Max Shachtman spokefor the Communist League (Opposition)and Herbert Mahler, the chairman, andW.I. Fisher spoke for the I.W.W. The lead>-ers of the Communist Party and tine "non-partisan" I.L.D. refused to participate orsend a speaker on the grounds that theywould not occupy the same platform "with.Trotiskyists and Lovestoneites"! This act ofspiteful and criminal sabotage did not raisethe prestige of the Party among the sym-pathetic workers; it was only greeted withbitter indignatdon.

In the meantime the balance of theCentralia men are still imprisoned, all ofthem under the threat of Mclnerney's mar-tyr death. They are among the men that-have created one of the sturdiest traditionsof the American labor and revolutionarymovement. Their continued imprisonmentremains ti rebuke to the workers—particular-ly the militants among them. The untimelydeath of Mclnerney is a startling remin-der of the obligations the working class,for whom these fighters worked so loyally,has toward them.

Are our prisoners to die in their cells,like trapped rats? Shall the hand of deathalone release them from imprisonment, orshall it be the linked arms of labor batter-ing down the steel and stone that holdsthem?

CASE OF COLD FEETKANSAS CITY—

N. Sorenson, D.O. of K.C. was adver-tised to speak August 1st at 15th and ThePaseo. When time came to call the meeting"N. Sorenson, the D.O. fails to appear.

Comrade Jenne Rovinsky, who remainsa loyal (but honest) Stalinite, gets up onthe box and addresses the 40 or moreworkers who turned out to hear the D.O.of Kansas City.

How Jennie Rovinsky who is a sincereand courageous fighter can have any con-fidence in these bluffers like N. Sorensonand the JBrowders is a mystery.

N. Sorenson shows up August 2nd andsays he was held by the police. Fear ofexposure made him change to countiy offi-cials. We have found on investigation thatno N.Sorenson (or alias) was held by citypolice or county officials on August 1st.Sorenson will have a hard time to explainhis actions to the comrades here in K.C.

""'N. Sorenson, D.O. of K.C. has left thecity and put E. Peterson in charge as act-ing D. 0.

E. Peterson two years ago defied theD.O. and District Committee—when askedto make a financial report as District Lit-erature Agent. When pressed later on he'admitted he was short over $100.00 in hisaccount. He has been looking for a Partyjob for over four years now. At last tem-porarily he is a big job holder.

Faking, bluffing and misappropriatingParty funds is not going to build a Com-munist Party in the U.S.A.

—A. A. BUEHLER

WHO WILL PREVAIL?The provisional character of the Con-

gress is displayed more crudely than themost imaginative Oppositionist might haveconceived it. What is the single episodeo£ Uglanov worth? TJiis bully, audaciouswhen he is is the apparatus, but a rag wheshe is outside o£ it, repented for the secondtime by uuresevedly recognizing all the"rhythms" and all the "periods". Does thatlook as it were enough? They laughed athim. Is that what he was asked? Are youa little child? Then acknowledge thatStalin is a born leader and countersign it.

Evidently, Uglanov acknowledged itand, of course, he countersigned it. Every-thing is now reduced to ttoat. The fiveyear plans may vary; yesterday the growthwas still 9 percent; today it is 30 percent.The five year plans may become (our orthree year plans and, for collectivization,even two year plans. Emt that is not theQuestion. Acknowledge Stalin. The as-sembling does not take place on a pro-gram, nor on ideas, nor on methods, buton a person. Stalin surrounds himselfwith a Central Committee, the CentralCommittee with District Committees, andthe District Committees select a Party.The Congress assembles only for the pur-pose of demonstrating for things settled inadvance. Taken as a whole, it is a prep-aration for Bonapartism within the frame-work of the Party. It takes a pitiful blindman or a tired official not to see it and notto understand it. But to see and under*-stand it, and to keep still, is possible onlyfor scoundrels. There are not a few ofthem among the capitiulators.

The ten hours report of Stalin—whatemptiness of bureaucratic thought!

Stalin's FiguresThe figures of success are not present-

ed to instruct, but to dazzle and deceivethe Party. The successes are incontestable—it is not we who deny it; we foresawthem and we fought for them at, a timewhen the motto of the Party was to hesatisfied with the "slow growth", at a timewhen all the Kaganovitch.es shrieked at uswhile defending the five year plan at 9percent: "Where will you get the means,demagogues?" At a time when all theYaroslavskys, in reply to criticism of theshameful minimalism of the original fiveyear plan, threw volumes of c'ontrol figuresat the heads of the speakers; at a timewhen the Molotovs jeered at the very ideaof the possibility of a 20 percent increaseafter the end of the reconstruction period.The successes are undeniable. We foresawand fought for them a long time.

Already in the first control figures ofthe state plan of 1925, very imperfect andvery timid, we discerned "the music of so-cialism in construction". What sarcasmthis expression aroused among the philis-tines, the ignoramuses, the dunces, the ta»-lentless geniuses of the all-powerful ap-paratus. Now that all the immense possi-bilities contained in the October revolu-tion have blazed a way through the moststubborn difficulty—the narrow conserva-tive spirit of the bureaucracy—the latterparades in its Congress:

"The October revolution: that is us!Socialism: that is us! And everythingelse: that is us also! For the State, isus!" After which Stalin appears and ex>-plans: "The workers' State, that is I;and all of them, they are still I." Andsince they have destroyed and trampleddown the control of the masses, they needan arbitrary power, a chief, the coronationof the hierarchy, the first among all: Stalin.

That is why they rise and proclaimIn choru: "Yes. We are he." That isthe music of the Sixteenth Congress.

The economic successes are consider-able. But the difficulties and tihe contra-dictions are still greater On that pointStalin said nothing. Or rather, he merelysaid just what was needed Co conceal thedifficulties and attentuate the contradictions.

Nothing but figures to characterize therhythm of growth! Not a figure to charac-terize the quality of production! It is asthough to describe the constitution of aman, one gave his height without givinghis breadth. This also applies to the ques-tion of net costs. The whole economicsystem, and above all, its management, is

tested by the output of labor and the trib-utary economic forms of tluj market, theoutput of labor is measured by tha pro-duction costs or the net costs. To avoidthis question is to declare a man healthyby looking at his face without either lis-tening to him or taking his pulse.

The inter-dependence of the city andthe country is regulated among us by theexchange: money is not yet a thing of thepast. Stalin said nothing about thedangers of inflation.

The problem of the relation of taxedprices of agricultural products and retailprices of manufactured commodities is oneof the central problems not only of econ-omy but of the whole social and politica)system based on the October revolution.Are the "scissors" of the price of manu-factured objects and agricultural productsclosing or widening, the "scissors" of whichone blade represents, the worker and theother the peasant. Not a word abouti thatin the report.

On the contrary, one finds there theaffirmaton that the dilemna: "Who willprevail?", is now settled and conclusively.This conclusion is drawn from the incon-testable weakening of capitalist forces inthe internal market. But this weakeningdoes not decide the question. The villagehas not yet said its final word. The con-tradictions of the country are beingbrought into the frame-work of the col-lective farms, but they have noli yet dis-appeared. They will reveal themselves. Agood harvest will revive their acuteness.The drivelers and numbskulls will surelysay that we are against a good harvest.All the Rudzutaks have Mikoyaned, all theMlkoyans have Rudzutaked on this themefor many years until, in their ardor, theyran their heads against the Kulaks' barns.That is when they proclaimed in Pravdtothat, as a result of two good harvests, theKulak had attracted the middle peasant andtaught him to conduct the grain strikeagainst the Workers' State. The less theleadership is capable of foresight, the morethe process of differentiation pursues itsfatal cour.se.It will pass through all the col-lective farms and develop the differentia-tion between the various farms and withinthem. And that is when the leadership,which is strong ifor forecast after the.event, will convince itself that the frame-work of the collective farms, lacking solidmaterial and cultural foundations are ex-posed to all the contradictions of merchanteconomy. The majority'of the bureaucrat-ically created collective farms will becomethe arena of the class struggle. That meansthat the dilemna: "Who will prevail?" willarise anew in all its amplitude, raised toa higher degree.

The World MarketBut the struggle will not stop there.

The internal forces of capitalism in theU.S.S.R. draw their importance and sig-nificance from the forces of world capit-alism. But Mikoyan—this infant prodigy—will probably have to convince himself thatthere really is "this world market to whichwe are subordinate, to which we arebound, ft-om which we Qaainot eisicapei'(Lenin at the llth Congress.) The dilemna:"Who will prevail?" is in the last analysisthe question of the mutual relations be-tween the U.S.S.R. and world capitalism.This problem is not solved but only posedby history. The internal successes are ofgreat importance because they give the pos-sibility of consolidation, of progress, andwhen it is necessary to waft, of holding on.But no more. The internal economic strug-gles are vanguard battles with an enemythe bulk of whose forces is beyond the bor-der. The dilemna: "Who will prevail?",not only on the military field, not only onthe political field, but primarily on theeconomic field, is posed before us on aworld scale—or more- precisely, it circum-scribes us.

Military intervention is dangerous. Ec-onomic intervention by low-priced products1st Incomparably more dangerous. Thequestion of economic power and of polit-ical stability leads in the last analysis to

the 'question of labor pr6ductivity. Inmerchant economy, labor productivity isexpressed by the net cost and sales price.T"e "scissors" between home prices and thej'iric«s of the world market constitute themost important measure of the relation offorces between growing socialism and itscapitalist encirclement. What has becomeof these "scissors" in the course of thelast two and a half years? On this essen-tial question, no reply. Stalin gives no ser-iously studied comparative coefficient, noMarxist formula to define the dynamicinterdependence of home and world econ-omy. The engineer who runs an electriestation must have before him a chart ofthe control apparatus by means of whichhe ceaselessly follows all the fundamentalprocesses of production and thq distributionof energy . In the same way, the economicdirection of the Soviet State must have onits "chart" the constant system of coeffici-ents which characterize—not only the ab-solute growth of industry—but also thecurve of net costs, the purchasing power ofIthie tchervonetz, theL home and forleigu"scissors". If not, the leadership is com-pelled to react blindly to economic disorder,until the saftey apparatus explode one afterthe other, fire breaks out, and the consum-ers lose themselves in the night.

The emptiness of ten hours of bureau-cratic thought will teach the Party nothingand prepare it for nothing. Quite the con-trary it can only lull it with the disgrace-ful melody of "national socialism".

The Party RegimeAt all events, the most threatening dan-

ger is not constituted today by the "scis-sors" between home and foreign prices.The most threatening danger is the "scis-sors" between the Party bureaucracy andthe working class, with the complete im-potence and the decomposition of the Party.The monstrous parade of "monolithism" iscrowned by a small, a very small circum-stance; but a very menacing one: this"monolithism" o f . t w o millions cannot tol-erate the slightest criticism of the leadeft-ship. In the thirteenth anniversary of thedictatorship, after all the economic andcultural successes, after the question "Whowill prevail?" is pronounced finally settledand when, consequently, the Party regimeshould become incomparably freer than at)the time of the civil war—the ruling Party,that is, the bureaucracy, does not toleratea single critical remark by a worker, a sin-gle timid .question by the student: "Isnot the Central Committee responsible forthe deviations?" The whole press, un-leashing its standardized rage, denouncesthe remark of the worker or the question ofthe student as the most direct and mostthreatening danger to the dictatorship ofthe proletariat.

The bureaucracy * of the G.P.U. doesnot let itself be surpassed by the Partybureaucracy, with its Yagodas and under-Yagodas grown ripe under the Stalinistsun. The Agabekovs watch vigilantly overStalinist monolithism up to the momentwhen they pass over to the class enemy.

One of the deported Oppositionists ishunted down by virtue of t"« statute onespionage for having corresponded withTrotsky. This idea undoubtedly comes fromthe Miaster himself. For his whole masteryconsists only of such ideas. In his speechto the Congress, Stalin said that the LeftOpposition serves information to the pressof the world bourgeoisie. What informa-tion? The verbose speaker said nothingabout that. However, from the informationthat the bourgeoisie gets from our pub-lications it can draw but one conclusion:that in spite of the Thermidorian lies ofStalin's agefits, we, Bolshevik-Leninijjjts,constitute an inseparable part of the So-viet Republic, its devoted aoldiers, readyto defend it to the very end and at the sametime, the Left wing of the internationalproletarian vanguard, The world bourgeoi-sie and the social democracy understandthis very well. That is why they encloseus iii a hostile blockade, for which theDovgalevskys, the Bessedovskys, and the

Cachins join with Tardieu, the Krestin-skys come to understandings with the min-isters of Hindenburg, and the Sokolnikovsconspire with the Hendersons. There isthe real distribution of , men on the greatichessvboard.

As for ourselves, we ask what inform-ation is needed by the world bourgeoisie,after what is furnished it by the officialStalinist press agency, and primarily byStalin himself. The president of the Sovietof Commissars is spoken of as a sabotagerYesterday's leaders of the Comintern arebra/nded as the "agents of the bourgeoisie".For the amusement of children, they ex1-hibit yesterday's guides of the trade unionsand of the Moscow organization who pur-ged it of "Trotskyism" for -many years.On top of this, the official press publishesinformation on the passage of "Trotskyists"from the ranks of the Red Army into theranks of Chiang Kai-Shek. Is all this ajoke? The world bourgeoisie knows thehistory of the Red Army well enough to askJ l s e l f : "If this is true, then what does itnie«ii?" At the same time, irreproachableBolsheviks, unshakable revolutionists arepersecuted for having corresponded withTrotsky. Do not these facts, furnishedevery day and every hour by the Stalinistapparatus—which tramples under foot anddrags into the mud the whole past of theParty and the revolution solely for the pur-pose of forging a falsified biography forthe provisional chief—do not these factssuffice for the world bourgeoisie?

And if that is not enough, the Stalin-ist informers appear in their second ed-ition: Bessedovsky. Krukov, Agabekovwho have ceaselessly combatted Trotskyismfor seven years, who yesterday—literallyyesterday—directed the purging of the nuc-lei, and who pass directly into the camp ofthe clasa enemy furnfishing the SecretServices of imperialism with all the secretsof the Soviet government which were con-fided to them or which they were awareof. What information does the bourgeoisiestill need after what they are constantlyfurnished with by the Staliinsts of todayand the Stalinists of yesterday, who sup-plement one another?

Stalin's RepressionsAfter the shooting of Blumkin, Stalin

replaced him with Agabekov. There is afact which sums up the policy that Stalincarries out in the Party. At t'he sametime, the Agabekovs persecute the revolu-tionists who correspond with Trotsky byvirtue of the statute which is supposed topermit Stalin to perpetrate new assassin-ations. He who does not understand thesymptomatic and threatening import of thisfact is a miserable idiot. He who under-stands and keeps quiet is a scoundrel.

Neither the repression nor the threatswill silence us. The stake of this struggleis too grave: it is the fate of the Party ofLenin and the October revolution. Not onlyof the C.P of the S.U. but of the internationf-al Party of Lenin, which has today fallenunder the direction of the adjutant Flickunder the pseudonym of Molotov. It is aquestion of the preservation of world Com-munism. The struggle between Leninismand Stalinism is still open. And here thequestion "Who will prevail" assumes itsful l amplitude.

Repression will not cause us to deviatefrom our path. The bloodiest and mostenvenomed violence of Stalin will not sep-arate us from the Party and will not opposeus to the Party that Stalin holds at thethroat. But we will redouble, and trebleand multiply tenfold the energy of ourstruggle. Today we continue to serve theaims that we served in the 1905 revolution,during the imperialist slaughter, in the 1917revolution, the civil war, the first periodof economic construction, the foundation ofthe Comintern, the struggles against thecowardice of the Philistine epigones, for abold rhythm of socialist construction, against.national socialism, for the internationalrevolution!—THE BULLETIN OF THE OPPOSITION

(BOLSHEVIK-LENINISTS)

In time International

Where is the British Party?Self-Determination

The Problem of Mobilizing the Negroes in the Class Struggle

Nine years ago the Communist Partyof Great Britain was formed. The delegatesat that unity convention in 1921, represent-ing over 5,000 members, had visions that atlast a united revolutionary party had be-come a reality.

It • would be quite true to state thatevery delegate present honestly believedthat with the elimination of sectional dif-ferences, which would from then onwardsbe settled within the party, a rapid advancewould be made.

A Mine Years' Balance

Nine years have passed and what arethe results? Have we built up that strongrevolutionarq party rooted in the masses?Has our membership gone up in leaps andbounds? Has our influence spread intoevery section of working class life? Theanswer to these questions is unfortunately,No. In fact, we haven't even held our own.The reverse is the case.

Our membership has decreased by fiftypercent Our influence is of a negligiblequality and as for being rooted in themasses, we are scarcely in touch.

Many reasons can be given and many 'excuses made. The writer puts forwardhis reasons as to why.

A revolutionary party in an industrialcountry Ifke Britain must have leadersthat continue to be in close touch withindustry. Our leaders, with few exceptions,have never been industrial workers or elsethey left industry with the formation of theparty. If a mass meeting is to be held withthree or four of our leading exeoutiivemembers as speakers, we can advertise andboost it as we like but the neb result wouldbe at the outside perhaps two or threehundred people and two-thirds would beour own members. This refers to a Lon-don meeting.

The experiences of our Russian com-rades have been accepted nd applied tooliterally. To transplant into Britain tac-tics, methods and so on, just because theyhappened elsewhere, is the height of folly,and to insist that this is the only correctline 'in spite of adverse experiences fissuicidal.

Kobotlzlng the Party

Whilst recognizing that disciplinewithin a revolutionary party is a neces-sity, to instill fear into every member thata thought, word or deed which wobbles ahair's breath of the straight and narrowpath, means' expulsion—makes it not aparty of intelligent working class fightersthat is being built, but a party of robots.Our party might well shrink by half.

Can a party really have a healthygrowth when the financial responsibilitiesare matters considered outside the jur-isdiction of the membership? The exper-ience of the British party is emphatically,Xo. A subsidized party sows the seeds ofits own destruction.

Thousands of members have left theBritish party in disgust. Where we hadlocals of fifty to a hundred strongg, we havesmall groups and in many places only con-tacts. There are industrial cities by thescore without a single party member.

This weakness reflects itself in otherdirections. The Y.C.L. is practically de-funct. To state that they have a hundredand fifty members would be putting it high.A hundred would be nearer the mark.

The Minority Movement is in a similarposition. Following any strikes wheretheir members have taken a leading, part,the Worker (organ of the M.M.) devotespages for weeks afterwards to our mistakes.Always mistakes and defeats, never victor-ies or good generalship.

The Minority Movement

A recent issue of the Worker devotesmore than half a page to a meeting of theexeceutive committee and if the brief and in-complete statements of the E.G. membersare anything to go by, it appears fairlyobvious that a general state of dissatisfac-tion exists.

In view of the fact that the army ofunemployed has reached the two millionmark, and the workers have thrown off theapathy that followed the general strike of1926, and are now fighting every inchagainst all schemes of capitalist rational-ization, a continual decline of a revolution-

ary party shows «ometbing must be wrong.The above is not a pleasant picture topaint, and it certainly would not be correct!to state that all hope has been abandoned.Recently there have been signs of an awak-ening. The mesmeric influence is weaken-ing.

Just what will happen when certainof the sleepers awake is hard to state, butit sure will be interesting. Future devel-opments within the British party are worthwatching.

—"BLACK DIAMOND"London, August 6, 1930

Rakovsky in Danger!( Continued from page 1)

A tlilrd raid and search lias just Iteen nm<teat Rakoisky's The ring draws moretightly around him. Rakovsky is in dan-ger.

Tits Left Opposition calls to everyParty comrade, to every member of theLeft wing and its unions, of the I.L.D.and the Friends of the Soviet Usion: Com-rades, it is the best Bolsheviks that arebeing exterminated. The bourgeoisie isfollowing this work of extermination witha silent joy. It is pursuing the overthrowof the dictatorship of the proletariat byevery means, including the external andinternal corruption of the Stalinist bur1-eaucracy.

Remember this: Stalin replaces theRakovskys with Bessedovskys. He uniteswith Purcell and Chiang Kai-Shek but hasonly the most brutal methods against Trot-sky. He assassinates Blumkin and putsAgabekov in his place. These changesare an Inexorable law of Stalinism.

To defend the U.S.S.R., the dictat-orship of the proletariat means primarilyto save the Left wing of the Bolshevikparty, the Oppositionists. You musf. actwith energy in the revolutionary oganiza-tions. In the Party, in the T.U.U.L., Inthe I.L.D.—raise these questions to theirresponsible bureaucrats: What are youdollar with tlie deportees? Wiiait is thesituation in the solitary confinement pri-sons? Why was Blumkin killed?

To Browder, Bedacht, Hathaway andCo. the triumphant leaders of every de-feat and setback to our Party, we ask:

What are yon doine to our deported com-rades? What are you (".oiii; now withttiikovisk}?

The Communist International has is-sued the slogan of Self-Deternjination forthe American Negro. The 7th ConventionThesis of the American Party says, "TheParty must organize the most intense strug-gle around the demand of social and polit-ical equality for Negroes, which is stillthe main demand of our party in its workamong Negroes. At the same time theParty openly and unreservedly fights forthe right of the Negroes for na'tional self-determination in the South, where the Ne-groes comprise a majority of the popu-lation. Self-determination for the Negromasses is the logical continuation and high-est expression of the struggle for equalrights (social equality)."

Is Slogan Correct!

There can be no argument among Com-munists regarding social and politicalequality for the Negro masses. The ques-tion is, does the slogan of self-determina-tion mean "the logical continuation andhighest expression of the struggle forequal rights" for the Negro of the UnitedStates?

Either class, capitalist or proletariat,can use the slogan of self-determination totheir advantage in concrete situations.The proletarian vanguard uses it againstthe imperialist in the colonial struggle forfreedom. The capitalists use the slogantoo, and a good example is its use againstthe defeated nations and the Soviet Unionas a two-edged sword in the Balkans andCentral Europe at the close of the lastwortd war. Self-determination under aSoviet power is a concession and transitorymeasure in our development toward Com-munism. Such a con«»M.von in the southmay be necessary but the conditions of theNegros, interwoven in the whole economic•istructlure vrith decisive sections in ,theindustrial centers indicates that such willnot be needed.

Self-determination for a colonial peo-ple or subjected national unit with culturaland language differences is a blow againstthe enemy forces and a step toward ourhegemony. But self-determination for theAmerican Negro can only be accomplishedby the establishment of a Soviet power andsuch a measure then would not be a step-ping stone.

Self-deternviniation at that stage in-stead of a Soviet class emphasis meanssubordinating the class issue to the race

The Fight of the New York Plumbers Helpers"Every trade man a union man is a

slogan never omitted from the juiriials ot"tte A. F. of L., but there is an aby^ be-tv een their vvorrls and their devils One 1,1tile strongholds of the A K •>" L is (liebii'ifi'lrg trades, hut the intU!»try is farfrom being organized "Patronize the unionlain:'. ', "do not -vork with u scab" andot!i9'- slogans li'c.1 it are tlvj i'avori:es ofunionism as proo'aimed by va-'ou-s AF, r.fL. organizations, but after these many yearsthe potential scab on the building con-struction job remains ignored.

The plumber's helper is a buildingtrades worker who is not only exploitedby the boss but also the goat of the in-dustry. In all the days of "prosperity",when wages ranged from $12.00 to $15.00a day and $8.00 to $11.00 for apprentices,the plumper's helper received a meager$4.00 a day. The cost of living rose withthe wage increases, but the helpers wageremained the same.

Many attempts have been made by theworkers in the trade to organize into aunion to better their working conditions andin general, to gain the benefits of organizedlabor. M'any were the lessons taught theseyoung workers that the officialdom of theA. F. of L. would not organize them. Theynot only discourage organization, but con-tinue to hinder its slightest progress.

The year 1927 was rich with huehexperiences. The Amercan Association ofPlumbers' Helpers, with more than 3,500members, was welded together in greaterNew York, fighting for recognition fromthe United Association of Plumbers, Steam-

Fitters and Gasfitters and from the bosses.The organization embraced largely young,native American workers ranging from 18to 25 years of age. Throughout the cam-paign of organization, and during the plunubers strike of that .year, the helpers con-ducted a spirited battle for organizing thetrade under the influence and leadership ofthe Young Communist League.

Picketing of jobs, agitation among theplumbers and building trades workers, werecarried on. Quite a bit of sympathy for thecause of the helpers was reflected in therank and file of these organizations only tobe choked by the soothing words and liesof the officials. Yet the boycotting of thejourneymen plumber's officials did not hin>-der the organization so much as the policythen pursued by the plumbers' helpersofficials.

Too much confidence was placed in theA.F. of L. local leadership in applying forrecognition Jobs that it was possible tostrike and hold until recognition from theboss plumber, were left alone. The failureto strike the job for job control was oneof the prime causes for the dwindling ofthe organization And an additional factorhindering the work in the organization wasthe reflection of the factional strife amongthe executive board member* impiolSedinto it by the ruling Party clique whichwas more interested in factional advantagethan in advancing the cause of the workers.

—J SPRAGUE(Another article on the problems of the

plumbers' helpers will appear in our nextissue.)

issue because all indications are that such,a stepping stone or concession is not nec-essary. Cuba, India, Manchuria or Irelandconstitute economic units with languageand cultural differences, etc., and suchslogans at certain stages can be used bythe proletariat against the imperialists butthis slogan for the American Negro whodoes not constitute such a unit only blursthe class issue of the struggle in America.

The Garvey MovementThe Garvey movement rallied a con-

siderable mass for the slogan of self-deter-mination as a petty-bourgeois movementdirecting their energies away from the classstruggle. The Party says we are turningthis right side up. In the case of Garvey-ism the slogan was right reformism andin our case it is only shifted to left reform-ism. The change from Garveyism to theParty is a change in form but not in con-tent. The change from Africa (Garveyism)to the South (Stalinism) may be far inmiles but it is quite close in content. TheNegro business man who is a watchdogfor imperialism must not be confused withthe petty-bourgeois element and ideologyof the Negro, just like the A.F.L. leadersas imperialist watchdogs must not be con-ftfsed with the liberals land petty-bour-geoisie even though all these unite on manyissues. The petty bourgeois section willjoin our bandwagon, not as a back seatdriver but as the real driver because theslogan takes the class content out of thestruggle for the United States.

Self-determination within a nationalunit must imply more than double exploit-ation, racial difference or a majority in abackward section, to be used as a slogan.The Negro race has the same language, arepart of the same economic unit and do nothave majrked cultural differences. Tft>eMexican in the southwest faces the sameconditions the Negro does and in additionhas language and cultural differences. Ifthe slogan means anything it must includehim where he is the majority.

The Party says self-determination Inthe south where the Negro comprises themajority of the population but che Partyuses the slogan mainly in the north and Inthe industrial centers.

The distinction drawn between thenorth and the south as to where the con-dition of self-determination is to be carriedout leaves the impression on many Negroworkers that we want them to Have thenorth and the industrial centers and golack south.. On the other hand it impliesthat the southern agrarian Negro is thedecisive section of our ally. We knowthai the industrial Negro (including suchcentres as Earminghaml are the decisivesection of the Negro race. The industrialand urban Negro and the Negro in the northdoes not want self-determination if hemust move south. What the Negroes wantis social and political equality where theyare. The white worker must put the mainemphasis on this side of the question.

Kacini and Economic OppressionRacial oppression is economic oppres-

sion and the class struggle in this casetakes on racial forms. But as Marxistsour aim is not to enlarge the racial formor any other dstorted form but on thecontrary, to direct our slogans, tactics andstrategy to transform this racial form to-ward the real content of the class strug-gle. The class issue must dominate andespecially the proletarian Negro where weare using this slogan the most.

The slogan also shows confusion of theproblem of imperialism and the colonialoppressed. The Negro of the United Statescannot be classified as an oppressed nation-al group as was the case of peoples underCzarism with national cultural and lang-uage differences. The decisive section ofthe American Negro is interwoven throughthe whole economic unit, just like theoppressed Jewish people are interwoventhrough the whole capitalist system. TheNegro of the United States demands socialand political equality where he is. Thedecisive section of the Negro race is scat-tered through the whole economic unit andthe Soviet power with proletarian democracycam easily remedy the situation in tthesouth. "Against white chauvinism and forsocial and political equality for the Negromasses!" —H.

B»rol»lemg of the IKovolMtiomary Movement

A Statement of Views on Some Disputed Questions. . . 4. With) the world war and ths

revolutionary ..wave that followed its wake,the epoch of imperialism entered a new stagequalitatively different) from the one existingbefore (from 1900 to 1914). Distinctive of.this new stage are the following: (a) theproletarian revolution is victorious in theU.S.S.R. (b) Post-war capitalism, with allits force, cannot get back to pre-war stab-ility The decline of capitalism cannot bestopped1. All the attempts at "stabilization"become desperate efforts merely to slackenthe tempo of Ohe international revolution.This can be seen by the fact that, duringthis time, while some revolutionary situ-ations are liquidated by the forces of inter-national capitalism, yet some revolutionarysituations cannot be liquidated and newones constantly and repeatedly arise; con-currently a whole host of other situationsbegin to take on a revolutionary character.(Germany 1923, Bulgaria 1924, Esthonja1924, China 1925-27, England 1926, Austria1928. India, China, Indo-China, besides Mex-ico, Nicaragua, Haiti, Porto Rico, Finland,etc.).

Situation Before and After WarBefore the war, neither revolutionary

situations nor actual revolutions could havebeen created by the activity of the social-ist, revolutionary parties throughout thevorld. No matter how well or tirelesslythese parties worked the bourgeoisie wastoo strong, the level of activity of themassies,, generally speaking, *too lt>w, tocause a given situation to become a revo-lutionary one. Basically, thjese revolution-ary situations had to develop by themselvesfrom the objective contradictions arisingIn capitalist society. When, during andafter the war, these objective contradictionsdid cause revolutionary situations to arise^by tihat time the subjeclve factor had be-come so powerful as to be able to maturesuch revolutionary situations in a numbarof countries, into actual revolutions. 'To-day imperialism has become so much weak-er, today, so close is the situation in a num-Ver of countries to a revolutionary one,that it is possible for an internationalCommunist movement, PROVIDED IT HASA LENINIST POLICY, and especially nowwhen it controls a state backed by 150,-000,000 workers and peasants, to developsituations otherwise still non-revolutionaryinto revolutionary situations, in DIFFER-ENT countries at DIFFERENT times. (This•does not mean that a C.I. can "order" arevolutionary tsituation in ANY country atANY time). It is a fact that today, wittythe correct policy, it is far easier in manycountries to disintegrate the capitalistarmies, to ruin the prestige of the rulingclasses, to expose the petty bourgeosie, andto activize the masses to an extraordinarydegree than before.

Every worker knows tihat, under someconditions, the activity of a Communistgroup can "develop" a strike (pituatyon,where without this Communist group, nosuch situation would have been "devel^oped". Today the Communist Partly (undersome circumstances and with a Leninistpolicy )can be the decisive force both instimulating th'e exploited and oppressedmasses with the understanding of the im-possibility of living in the old way and inhelping to make the ruling class unable togovern as of old. Since the war the oldpower and might of the ruling classes havebeen irretrievably broken. Further, the ex-periences of 1918-23 weigh mightily onthe memo|ry of the masses—fthe rulingclasses in many countries were unable togovern once before. Finally, the SovietUnion withf its tremendous economic andpolitical weight will be able to throw thisweight at times so as to help break IJheeconomic and political power of differentflections of the international bourgeoisie atcritical moments . . . .

6. What must be the cornerstone ofCommunist international strategy is therecognition of this qualitative change inimperialism. Today it is possible to have"sudden" changes to revolutionary situa-tions, "sudden" revolutions. Today therehas been raised to hitherto unhieard of de-gree the decisive importance of revolution-ary organizations, first as factors maturing("creating") revolutionary situations andsecond, as factors changing revolutionarysituations to actual revolutions (insurrec-tions).

The fatal error in the Communist "MaVJority Group" (Lovestone) is that it fails

By ALBERT WEISBORDto see thite fundamental feature of thepresent stage, and to make this feature anintegral part of any American analysis.

Errors of Party LeadershipThe fatal error of the C.I. and its

U.S. "leadership", is that it caricatures anddistorts this basic conception, not under-standing "it an.d indeed traJifcformirJg i)tinto a theory justifying putchism, makingof the party a sect more and more isolatedfrom the masses, more and more stifled byan absolutely sterile bureaucratic machine.The official C.P. "leaders" in the UnitedStates fail to see that an insurrection cancome only after the development of a rev-olutionary situation and fail to understandthat to develop this revolutionary situation

(NOTE: We print here the essentialsections of a speech delivered by comradeAlbert Weisbord at the recent plenum of theLovestone group. The National Committeeof the Communist League of America (Op-position) has decided to publish: the speechin the Militant. The second and last partof it will appear in the next issue of thepaper, at which time the National Committeewill append a statement of its views on thedocument of comrade Weisbord. The latter,as most readers are aware, was expelled fromthe Party a while ago for divergent views,and joined neither the Left nor the RightOpposition The document below representshis views on the problems of the move-moment arrived at after a period of studyand consideration.—Ed.)

one must) follow a Leninist line of masswork, united front, work in reactionaryunions, profound economia analysis, theunderstanding of the true relationiship olAmerican to international capitalist society.and the peculiarities of capitalist America;and that an end must be put to guesswork,phrase-mongering, to the fakery and lyingin the leadership, to the theory of "fas-cism" and "social-fascism" to the bureauc-racy and violence, to the Trotsky deport-ations and Blumkin murders, an end tothe theory of socialism in one country, toAnglo-Russian Trade Union Committee af-fairs, and Chiang Kai Shek mer^erls,etc. . . .

7. Secondly, an analysis of the present' situation shows that the contradictions aresharpening and the tempo of internationalrevolution is rising (that is, the "partialand temporary stabilization" of capitalismIs becoming weaker than before). The or-iginal position of the Communst "Majority"Group is here too unsound; while on theother hand, the very putchist distortion ofthis by the official Party leadership tendsto hinder the process of the cracking of"stabilization" now taking place and toweaken the revolutionary forces. Far fromstimulating the masses, the false policy ofthe C.I. actually acts as a brake on themasses.

Section B. 8. The situation in Americaexposes in even clearer light the errors ofthe different Communist groups. TheAmerican section of Lozovsky-Stalin appar-atus-men has never yet given up its "apextheory" and all that follows logically fromitl—namely, that American capitalism is onthe decline, has reached its basic crisiswith a general deep-going and widespreadradicalization of the masses. To this hasnow been added the special twist that allmembers of the A.F. of L.. are now .fullblown fascists and that all those expelledtoy the Stalin machine at once becomesecret police agents for the boss. To someextent the "Communist League (Opposition)"in America has limped uncritically aftterthe Party (without, however, the addedspecial twists). Though this oppositiongroup gave up the "apex theory" yet it didso without having thoroughly exposed theerrors inherent in it. And even today itstill talks of "growing radicalization","deep-going process of radicalization"quite uncritically.

On the other hand, the " Majority"Group merely sees in fact "deep discontent".With this group the present economic crisisis IN ESSENCE a mere cyclical one, (itseems as if latterly a section of the Partytoo is violently swinging to the point ofview) and \he dogmatic statement is made,with no appreciation of its rashness, thatnot only will American capitalism weatherthe present economic storm, but that it

will rise to new peaks only to fall to newlows.

The true situation is that with thequalitative changes of post war imperial-ism, with the weakening of world "stabil-ization", with the sharpening of the innerand outer contradictions of American cap-italism, there can be no "mere cyclicalarista", no "mejre discontent" b"ut wha|twe have to reckon with is a tenseness ofrelations, a restiveness of the masses whichcan enable a Communist Partly WITH THECORRECT POLICY to lead masses into suchactivity as to radicalize the masses. Thereis great POTENTIALITY NOT ACTUALITYof masses becoming radicalized generallyand relatively quickly. But the foolishpolicy of the party only drives the massesfurther away from radicalization.

The American Crisis9. The dogmatic statements—1. That

American capitalism will weather the pre-sent economic crisis and 2. That it willrise to new peaks, utterly fails to taketnto accounjt the international Situation.It may be that due above all to the criminalpolicies of the C.I., this eventuality MAYOCCUR, but it is impossible to state sonow as the sole solution. The "Majority"sroun fails IN REALITY to see that the•H nunnc crisis ii- th» United States /iieanseconomic crisis in many countries (for thisgroup does not make such a view a VITALpart of its living work in America); thatin some of these countries such a crisisif prolonged will lead to a real revolution-ary situation, that a revolution breakingout in Europe may not only deepen theAmerican crisis but will usher in a newand higher stage of the world revolution.Is such an alternative (or a number ofsimilar alternatives which result in theushering of a world crisis) impossible?Quite the contrary! For Communists, thewhole perspective for the United Statesmust oonsjtantly and intimately be per-ated with this view . . . .

11. Only by a Leninist policy are theCommunists enabled to radicalize the mass-es in the United States. This policy means"To the Masses", mass work in all itsforms, formation of independent mass 'or-ganizations where possible and necessary,the united front, work in reactionary tradeunions and similar bodies, Labor Party, etc.To accomplish such mass work it is nec-essary to Leninize the Party, namely to basethe Party on the most exploited sectionsof the masses, to wipe out the bureaucracy(the liars and fakers) in the Party, to de-mand as an absolute condition and pre-requisite to leadership 1. The tested ab-ility to carry out mass work in a Commun-ist manner. 2,. The liquidation of ;themountain of vulgar Marxism and syndical-ist-liberal conceptions and a real study ofthe basic works of the founders of Com-munism. 3. Profound hotteisty, integrityand courage.

To all this the present "theories" of"Fascism" and "Social-Fascism" give a deathblow. These "theories" wiping out as theydo all the Marxian-Leninist distinctions be-tween fascism and regular bourgeois dem-ocracy mean 1. The reactionary unionsare to be destroyed from now on, the work-ers in the A.F.ofL. being-,hopeless fascists,enemies of the working class. 2. The social-ist and progressive workers being "social-fascists" are only secret agents of thefascists. These two must be destroyed. 3.The Communist opposition groups becomenot only full grown Mensheviks but worse,police agents, having no place in unionsor other working class organizations. Anjaction against them up to complete physi-cal extermination is justified. 4. The linebetween Communism and fascism theoret-ically becomes very thin for overnight; nomatter how tested and loyal before, anyCommunist can become a police-agentMenahevik or fascist. Therefore the great-est violence anfl terror is theoreticallyjustified not only against the "open police-agent Mensheviks" but against the mem-bers of the party, the possible police-agentMensheviks of,the future. 5. Since everytested member tomorrow can be a police-agent Menshevik, revolutionary behaviourin mass work is no longer a test forleadership. Any faker or apparatus fol-lower can be a leader. Leaders are cheapand easily made. Distrust for the leader-ship follows. Cynicism not revolutionaryidealism pervades the party. Double-book-keeping (see the hypocrisy of those who

put forth the C.I. Address of i»z»>the rule. Correspondingly a contempt forthe membership grows. Political sterilityincreases. No policies except those printedin Moscow with a militarization and robot-ization (Stalinization) of the Party. Inthis connection the quotation from the re-cently adopted ''C.P. TWeJiis'1' which de-clares "The need of the hour is clarity ofinstructions and promptness of executions"is, illuminating of the process now goingon within the party.

There can be no doubt but that theconscious holders of these theories, (Etrow-der, Johnstone, Dunne and the rest of theCompany) if they carry these theories tothe logical conclusions and practices inav-itably flowing from them, must degenerateto become the real renegades from Com-munism, indeed the real fascists of tomor-row!

(Concluded in Next Issue)

Slander Won't WinBOSTON—

At an outing of the Needle Trades In-dustrial Union that was held the week-endof July 4 at Boston Camp Nitgedaiget, wehad a mass meeting with Ben Gold. Weall expected to hear him speak on trade unionproblems which are so vital to us, but in-stead he took up a ijtiscussityn on theTrotskyists. He tried to prove that theTrotskyists bring poison and splits intothe union and naturally this hinders thegood work.

Let us see who does more damage.All the comrades in the union in Boston(and Gold, too), know that comrade EvaWeiner and myself were among the firstto build the N.T.W.I.U. The workers trustus, know that we are always on the job tocarry out all decisions which are passed bythe members. Gold knows that the Com-munist League (Opposition) is for a Leftwing policy. We never brought in anyother kind of policies and always demandedfrom our leaders that they carry out a realLeft wing fight.

So what is Gold's motive in bringingthis question up and saying that we don'tbuild the Left wing union? To discreditus among the workers. Everyone knowsthat this is fale and that it willnot do any good for the union. We uustdraw in all active- workers who are hon-estly carrying out our policy and helpingto build the Industrial Union.

No one can split the union more thantactics like Gold's. If he wants to provethat we did any harm to the union, lethim call an open forum and invite theTrotskyists. Let him prove that we aredoing harm because we are Trotskyists.He said that we were dead. Then how canwe do any harm? Dead ones do not doanything. If the Trotskyists are deadeverywhere why do the Stalinistts comeand break up their meetings like they didin Cleveland?' What are they afraid of?

You will not be able, comrade Gold, tokill our prestige among the Boston work-ers because they know we always work fora good Left wing policy and will do every-thing to build the N.T.W.I.U. as we havein the past. — J.CHIPLOWITZ

<D

A Revolutionary «Social

Fascist »A few days ago, the Daily Worker

went into positively frantic ecstacies overas anti-Heywood Broun-S.P. cartoon byRyan Walker. It hailed Walker as anoble revolutionist who was revolted bythe scoundrelism of the Socialist Party.The Dally became so maudlin in its enthu-siasm that toward the end of the article itwas literally slobbering over Walker, itappears however, that .Walker is the staffcartoonist of the Illinois Miner, official or-gan of the Howat-Fishwick-Germer miners'union, which as even a casual reader ofthe Dally Worker knows is a pure an|d[simple "social fascist" organization, cover-ed with a Left phrase or two, but "socialfascist" nevertheless. Walker, accordingto the third period jargon, is therefore apaid agent of "social fascism'y. Or ratherhe was, for after the praise with whichthe Worker greeted him he most probablyfalls into a new category, the "Revolution-ary Social Fascist". Personally, we advisethe Worker to stick to Jake Burck.

A Review aotl Criticism

The Communists in the SouthBy HUGO OEHLER

(11) With the black hundreds in thesaddle and our activity shifted to holdingand reorganizing our forces for a comebackwe started our new work. Secret work inthe Gastonia area through mill locals andincreased open work all over the Southto hem in Gastonia and to narrow thecircle and close in. AH that was neededin the outer area was organization, for thesentiment for us was there in masses andour organizers and colonizers from theouter area all sent letters telling us theyare behind us and to keep up the goodwork. Many new contacts were gained andwork toward October 13 went ahead.

The newspapers predicted that our con-ventdon would now be a failure and thebosses openly declared that it would notbe held. We decided it had to be held evenif we had to move out of this area but asurvey of our forces convinced us we couldhold it in Charlotte as originally planned.The bhird trial was on and while the legalend was taking care of the trial the organ-izers were as busy as hell with the unionwork in the two Carolinas, Virginia, Tenn-essee and Georgia. Campaign after cam-paign was launched-against us, one on theheel of the other so fast that it seemed likeone continuation: red scare, Negro issue,revolution, etc., but this did not stop thework from progressing toward October 13.

(m) Now to consider a few of theother issues for a while. As far as thenational I.L.D. campaign by this time wasconcerned it was a flop. We had a directissue, more important to the AmeMcanworkers tdan the Sacco-Vanzetti Issue (asfar as they were concerned).. Such favor-able situations no organization had facedfor yearn nn.d naturally half an effortwould show some results but on the wholewe saw failure. Why? This failure canbe traced to the "third period" tactics andthe "third period" tactics can be traced toStalin revisionism of Marxism, of the mostfundamental international issues and theelimination of the Opposition.

In correcting the Party policy of theRight wing Lovestone leadership of "mar-rying" all possible fakers in the A.F.L. andother working class organizations we "cor-rected" this by dumping overboard with thefakers all progressives and Left wingersand Leninist united front tactics and re-placed them with "pure" united front tac-tics with ourselves. Paper conferenceswere held everywhere.

(n) And the masses of other blundersand mistakes, a volume in itself, of alltypes of mistakes from important ones tolittle ones that amounted to setbacks weremade by the incompetent leaders, Engdahl,Poyntz and Jakira. The field fractionpounded away at these errors, constantly,night and day, in every manner and formand found the leading committee at thecenter wanting because they were a hind-rance inhtead of a help. I realize this now:That a Marxian Central Committee cancorrect this but a Central Committee madeby a mechanical shift at the top replacingone variety of bureaucrats with anothervariety can only lead to further negativeregultls.

In words the center accepted our pro-gram but in deeds—-what follows showsthe contradiction between the two. Atthis point serious minded comrades at tihecenter (who were not decisive in determin-ing actions instead of words from thecenter) laughed at my enthusiasm and toldme that now since the spectacular, emo-tional part was over the bureaucrats wouldforget the south in deeds if not in words,and I would receive less support from nowon than I had. This was my first trip loN.Y. with several more to follow on thesame argument and I did not fully realizeth'B truth of this statement until riy lasttrip in December.

Yes, the spectacular end was over andthe W.I.R. (Landy's incompetence) "pull-ing stakes" with the Leaksville strike onwas followed by other departments in deeds(but not in words) and a decline set inafter the end of the trial. The objectivefactor was more favorable but our forcewas not taking advantage of this situation.Reports from our field organizers and es-pecially comrade Amy Schechter provedthe favorable situation our work had givenus this far.

The October optimism of our manysouthern organizers and mill loeal officials

with months of this inactivity was trans-formed into pessimism and our fraction ofnorthern comrades was in a similar condi-tion. The pootponed national textile con-vention held in December in Paterson didnot solve one of the basic problems of thesouth. In the meantime the A.F.L. was in-creasing its work and with the liberals anda section of the bosses was being used as adam against our advance.

Another blunder following from the"Third Period" is the lumping of all out-side the official Communist Party as Fas-cist or Social Fascist while life was provingthe clas-s struggle is not so mechanical andsimple.

In the Atlanta case the Dally "Workerhad a scare headline telling how the A.F.L.official on the jury helped indict our convrades calling for the death penalty. Butfacts prove that Steve Nance, President!of the Atlanta Federation of Trades, mem-ber of the Grand Jury that brought in thaindictment was the only one who votedagainst the indictment.. Later the TradesAssembly passed a, resolution with onlySecretary Marquardti of the State Feder-ation and one other voting against theresolution calling for free speech for theCommunists. This "third period tacticand misstatement played into the hands ofthese A.F.L. fakers as similar tactics playinto the hands of Muste, Thomas, Howat,etc. Our plan is to defeat these labor lieu-tenants and not to strengthen them.

The "Party Task in the South" reso-lution to the 7th Convention, of the C.P.says, "Our perspective must be for thedefeat of the A.F.L. and its Muste wing inthe mass industries of the south." We mustby all means defeat these fakers in theranks of labor but to say this in harshterms, that may denote our feelings, and toaccomplish the task are two differentthings. The present tactics of the officialparty is strengthening the position of thesefakers instead of weakening their controlover the masses.

Not even a half-baked revolutionist willargue that the .struggle is simply one ofthe capitalist against the workers. Theproblem in the concrete is morte com-plicated in the divisions and the many an-tagonisms within the classes and betweenthe classes. Success or failure in advan-cing our position in winning a strike orrevolution depends upon how many of theantagonisms and divisions in the workersranks can be eliminated for united actionagainst the enemy in a favorable objec-

tive situation and how wide a breach wecan make in the class enemies ranks, theunity'of the first and the division of thesecond spell success for us. But withouta favorable objective situation we cannotspeak of success.

In Marion for example, the Musteitawing of the A.F.L. first sent the strikingworkers back to work with a promise ofa settlement that we know never did come,second, they did not force the mill ownersto live up to the preliminary condition'spending settlement, third, sold these workera out after they were, back to work, andfourth, betrayed these workers in thestrike against the sellout contract.Such action DeLeon and others pointed outbefore and it is not a new and exclusivedevelopment of the "Third Period".

After all this and after the Marionmassacre the Musteites still retained lead-ership and gained influence throughout thecountry. The southern fraction tried fourtimes to break into Marion, but I realizenow that each time our advance and at-tempt at united action against these fakerswas shackled and we failed to gain our ob-jective because this shackling from the topby "Third Period" tactics predeterminedour united action from below. We werecriticized four times by the center for thesefailures that can be traced back to them.Why not ask ourselves .this: How cansue-h brazen betrayals be (rewarded bygreater influence of the Muste wing whileour class struggle of Gastonia, which evenour enemies admit was led by forces thatcannot be bought out or run out (as is thecase with the A.F.L.) have not been ableto organize our influence from this strug-gle which was on a much higher classplane?

You cannot answer this on the basisof capitalist reaction and the necessary"smallnesp" of the revolutionary forcesuntil we are at a higher stage of the classstruggle or in power, because the questionis not the organization of the majority ofworkers under reactionary leadership orrevolutionary leadership but the organiza-tion of a goodly section of the forces eitherreactionary or revolutionary in the strug-gles and strikes. We must also not forgetwe are in the "Third Period" with "revo-lutionary upsurge". Facts prove that withproper tactics the revolutionary movementcan consolidate its influence organizational-ly, as it has done in the past. In otherwords, our tactics have not only weakenedour own forces but at our expense have ren-dered aid to these very enemies we talkso much about. We do not expect to buildPOWERFUL REVOLUTIONARY INDUS-TRIAL unions in a few weeks' work, over-shadowing the few million membership ofthe A.F.L. but we can expect to build a sub-stantial influence and organization in thelabor movement under our leadership withcorrect tactics.

The Y. C. 1. Letter Brought to Light!(Costinued From Page 8)

away the ' base from the social reformists....It is preisely in the period of radical-ization that social reformism has all theopportunities of growth among the workingclass. The period likewise makes forgreater opportunities for Communism..."(The Militant, March 8, 1930.) Now theY.C.I, letter in its criticism of the N.E.C.estimation says: "It is obvious that theeconomic crisis narrows the basis for theinfluence of Social Reformism, you havealso made a reservation as to the role ofthe League. But even these reservationscannot erase the fact that such a formulationshows an absolute underestimation of theinfluence of reformism and its possibilitiesfor growth in such a country as America."Here is indeed confusion. One blind mancannot lead another. The Y.C.I, letter rec-ognizes that there can be growth of re-formism. But it is incapable of showingwhat is the basis fo^- it. Ifthe economic crisis narrows the basis forthe influence of social reformism in theUnited States, then why speak of possibil-ities of its growth. The Stalinist bureau-crats of the E.C.Y.C.I. involve themselvesin a maze of contradictions, and muddlethe minds of the young Communists.

>"o Solution of tli« Problem

of Action", which is thoroughly ulbra-Leftand adventurist. The main points of theserecommendations have been incorporatedby the N.E.C. in its "Shock Plan", whichwe have already criticized in the last issueof the Young Vanguard. It can speak ofshock troops, fronts and "storming" and allthe ouher ternis in the dictionary ofmilitary warfare. It even recom-mends red liacs for those whodo good work and black for those who don't.We suggest that the N.E.C. institutes a sys-tem of dunce caps and high stools, andspank all the naughty culprits whose namesappear twice in the black list. Thefaechildish schemes do not at all relieve theacute crisis the Y.C.L. is in.

From a political viewpoint, although itsonly merit lies in calling attention to acritical situation, the Y.C.I, letter is apuerile document. It explains nothing andit solves nothing. It may result in thechanging or removal of individuals, in de-motions and promotions. But that is to noavail. It will hasten the process of fun-damental re-evaluation in the minds of theY.C.L. .members, which w^ll constitutean important 'step in the direction of theLeft Opposition. —GEORGE RAY

If the number on your wrapper is

Blackmailers Cloaked

in Red MantlesCLEVELAND—

The Czecho-Slovakian Stalinists ofBoYnost Ludu continue to make bitter at-tacks upon me because I exposed them inthe press. They call me "ex-detective",and according to them, I was supposed tohave clubbed workers' heads in Youngstownduring the steel strike. This is one of tihemost criminal calumnies. Having noground to stand on, they invent the vilestand most vulgar stories. As a matter offact, I was shot by a scab since I was theone that grabbed him and prevented himfrom sneaking in through the gate. I wasalso on the strikers' committee, represent-ing a crew of 25. I know the methods ofthe Stalinists pretty well, yet 1 am as-tonished at such cheap and disgraceful me-thods against an Oppositionist in theranks of Communism.

The pen-slaves of Rovnost ludu, anofficial Party paper, are the kind of "Com-munists" who accept money from Czecho-slovak multi-millionaire's like Bfeta, theworld's richest shoe manufacturer who ex-ploits his slaves in the most inhuman man-ner. In Bovnost Ludu, you can find bigadvertisements from railroad companies, orCamel cigarets, not to mention various adsfrom bankers. This paper has degradeditself to such a degree that) even Mr. Brow-der and his cohorts have protested againstthese advertisements. But then, who isreally to blame for these anti-Communist)ways of the Bovnost Ludu management ifnot the Party's chiefs?

While Lovestone reigned in the PartyI warned him in letters that if he and therest of the committee would continue toneglecti their duty to discipline the editorsand managers of this paper, one of theParty's organs would soon disappear orwould end in a pit of mire. Ever sincethen, things have gone from bad to worseso that in Foster-Browders "Third Period",workers are obliged to read the announce-ment in that paper that) asks them to attendthe funeral of a fat business man In theHoly Trinity Church.

It would be well to mention that theproceeds from such ads are privatelypocketed by a most unscrupulous individ-ual named John Zuskar, who is supposedto act as secretary of the non-existentCzecho-Slovak Communist fraction. Un-der his influence, Communist morale and in>-fluence has dropped among the Czechworkers.

Before I was expelled from the Partythis scoundrel never dared make insinua-attions against me for fear of having to an-swer before the Party. Now that Stalin hasopened his murderous drive against the LeftOpposition, the ardent Zuskar never missesan opportunity to duplicate his master'smethods. (By the way, it was due to himthat the Party's criticism of Bovnost Ludnfailed to appear there, until it was finallypublished in such a thoroughly distortedform that the Fosterites would be satis-fied!)

Since this individual has continuallyimpugned my revolutionary integrity andrecord, without replying to my demandsfor proof, I now openly challenge him andthe Party to establish a public workers'court, composed of an equal number o£representatives of the Party and the Com-munist) League (Opposition) who willjointly choose one or more non-partisanmembers. Failure to concur in this propos-al will brand Zuskar and those who main-tain him in office as unscrupulous liarsand blackmailers. We await a reply.

—JOSEPH KELLER

does the letter propose as a rem-,edy for the declining condition of the Y.C.L?Does it explain the cause for the situation?It can only exhaust itself in futile denun-ciations). It recommends a socalled "Plan

54 then your subscription to the Militant hasexpired. Renew immediately in order toavoid missing any issues.

fust out! BULLETIN OF THE RUSSIAN OPPOSITION

Double No. 12—13 for June—July,1930

Published in the Russian Language

25 cents each 18c in bundles

Order fromThe Militant

•2o Third Aveu«, New York, New York

The Y. C. I. Letter IsBrought to Light!Now as a sort of climax to culminate

the whole wretched ultra-Left course andexpose the bankruptcy of the Centrist bur-eaucracy in sharp relief there appears thelatest letter from the Executive Committeeof the Young Communist International tothe Young Communist League of the U.S.A.The letter is of deep import to every youngCommunist. There will be more than onemember of the Y.C.L. who after its per-usaal will be Jolted into seeing matters In anew light. The letter, intended to placatethe dissatisfaction of the membershiptbe failures and steady decline of theY.C.L. and to make of the N.E.C. "a scapegoat for the opportunist line that emanatesfrom the Y.C.I, will act as a double edgedblade to the more serious and thoughtfulmember of the Y.C.L., cutting into the veryroots of the situation.

Amateur and Skilled SuppressorsThe letter was sent by the E.C.Y.C.I,

on April 13, 1930, but the membership hasbecame aware of its existence only now—four months later. The Harveys, t.he Steu-bens, the Greens ard the other marionetteswho so slavishly endeavored to impose theStalinist line on the League, have keptit hidden from the eye's of the League. Nodoubt they felt the letter to be a piece ofthe basesb ingratitude for their obedientservices to Stalinism. To gain a properappraisal of these people, one need onlyread sentences like "the information whichwe have at our disposal concerning thepresent situation in the American Leagueand the recent plenum results are veryscant...." and "we have not received acopy of the Young Worker for months".

The Lovestone group, which .of coursehas always been famed for upright and opendealings with the E.C.Y.C.I. is triumphantlycirculating the letter wholesale among themembers of the League. * The League lead-ership has suppressed the letter, they crywith, righteous indignation. But in truth,the Harveys and Steubens are only theclumsy pupils of the Herbergs and Zams,who were much more refined, proficientand adept at this particular kind of manipu-lation. These present crude imitators cannever hope to? attain the high degree ofskill and the fine and intricate methods oftheir predecessors. The present bunglersmerely suppress the document. Btut theirteachers when they received an embarrass-ing Y.C.I. letter, first withheld it from themembership for a certain amount of time,as long as this was feasible—but no more.TBen they proclaimed their heartfelt con-viction of the correctness of tihe letter,meanwhile conspiring, with Lovestone andPepper for the Polcom to appeal againstit. Oh, it was really most complicated, but10 was a genuine .piece of Machiavellianmachination.

The T.C.I. Estimate of the Y.C.LThe Y.C.I , letter chastises the League

leadership severely, in particular it crit-icizes the Y.C.L. Plenum held last January.The resolution adopted is condemned in nouncertain terms. "We must frankly tellyou," the letter states, "that of all the res-olutions of League Plenums yours Is oneof the worst." This is said despite the factthat the resolution was patterned almostentirely on the thesis of the last Y.C. I ,plenum. (See the Militant, Feb. 1, 1930).

Our own estimation of the reolutionhas been strikingly confirmed. "The reso-lution adopted reveals the miserable situ-ation in which the Y.C.L. finds itself—butiexplains nothing, and lays the basis forfurther decline." (The Militant, March 8,1930.) The responsibility lies with theStalinist regime.

The letter criticizes a false estimateof social reformism contained in the resi-olution. This erroneous conception wasformulated in the N.E.C. resolution as fol-lows:" "The radicalization of the youngworkers takes away the base of the socialreformists among the young workers andwhile social reformism remains the chiefideological barrier, which we have to over-come amongst the young worker, there casbe no real growth of reformist youth or-ganizations—but only disintegration pro-viding the Young Communist League playsits role." In criticism of this we said: "Itis false to say that radicalization takes

( Continued on Page 7 )

International Youth DayAs it Should Be

Tremendous demonstrations of youtto,streaming out of factories and mines, offthe fields, o.ut of the ranks of the armiesto show their spirited, active hatred ofthe capitalist system and all it means tothe wage slaves of capitalism.

Mighty assemblages to signify thfelrdesire to struggle against the slave sys-tem, against long hours of automaton mo-tions), low wages, prostitution, (Jhild la-bor, hovels, the dope dispensed by thedopesters of capitalism—church, schooland press; against the mental and phys-ical degradation forced upon the workersby the hunger system.

Particularly, to fight against thebosses war, the struggle against whichthe Fjr|Bt! Sunday in September, sixteenyears ago was dedicated by the small bandof loyal, revolutionary, young "Left" so-cialists as the Day of InternationalYouth; to fight for the revolutionary fra-ternization of the young masses in differ-ent uniforms.

As it isThe slightest scratching of the surface

of . the powerful potential force of youngtoilers by a weak isolated, poorly edu-cated, divided, misled , Young CommunistLeague and International; passing un-heard and unheeded by the millions ofyoung workers, who do not, and can not,understand the slogans and demands thatshould inspire and electrify the youth intodeterminftd action; because of the me-thods used by the Y.C.L.

What is to be DoneCorrect Leninist policy—aimed at world

Communism: leadership in the everydaystruggles of tine young workers, Marxisteducation, vigourous anti-war action;abandoning the inane phrase-flinging thatmarches cheek-by-jowl with opportunism;the acceptance into the ful l comradeshipof strugge of the Left Bolshevik-LeninistOpposition within the Party and lineY.C.L.—these will make future Interna-tional Youth Days what they should be.

TRAIJTISG THE YOUTH

The Tasks of the Young1 Communist league

(A speeoh (delivered at the Th^rd .lAU-Russian Congress of the Russian Young

Communist League, October 4, 1920.)

Comrades, I would like today to talkon the subject of the fundamental tasksof the Young Communist League, and inconnection with this, the form the youthorganizations should take in a socialistrepublic.The New 6t«ii*ratloii Will BuildCommunism

This question should be dealt with par-ticularly for the reason that, in ascertainsense, one may say that it is the youth par^ticularly which is confronted with the pre-sent task of constructing Communist so-ciety. It is clear that the generation ofworkers brought up in capitalist society,at best can fulfil the task of destroying the'foundations of old capitalist conditionsbuilt up on exploitation. At best this gen-eration can fulfil the task of creating suchsocial conditions as would help the prolet-ariat and the working classes to maintainpower and lay a firm foundation upon whichonly the generation commencing the work(under new conditions, in circumstanceswhere there are no relations of exploitationbetween men, can build.

The Task of the Youth is to AcquireKnowledge

Hence, approaching the question ofthe tasks of the youth from this point ofiview, I must say that the tasks of theyouth generally and of tihe Young Commun-ist Leagues and all other organizationsparticularly, may be expressed in one sen-tence: the task is to acquire knowledge.

Of course, this is just "one sentence".It does not reply to the principal and mostessential question—what knowledge to ac-quire and how to acquire it? And hersthe whole thing is that with the transform-ation of the old capitalist society, we cannot,adopt the old forms of teaching, trainingand educating the new generation whichwill establish Communist society. Never-theless, the teaching, training and educat-ing of the youth must start with the mater-ial left us by the old society.

We can build Communism only withthe aid of that sum of knowledge, the or-ganizations and the institutions, with theaid of the stock of human forces and re-sources which has been left us by the oldsociety. Only by radically reforming themethods of teaching, organizing and train-ing tihe youth shall we be able to guaran-tee that the efforts of the young generationwill result in the construction of a societyunlike the old society, i. e., a Communist*society.What to Learn and How fo team It

Consequently, we must deal with the.question as to how we should teach andwhat! we should teach the youth, in orderthat they may jutify their title ofCommunist youth; we must deal with I'he

question as to how we may train the youthin order that they may be able to com-plete and perfect what we have commenced.

I should say that the first aad whatwould seem to be the most natura; replywould be that the Young Communist Leagueand the youth as a whole who desire to goover to Communism, should learn Commun-ism.

But .to reply "learn Communism" H toogeneral. What then do we need in orderto Isarn Communism? What must we selectout of the sum of total knowledge in orderto acquire the knowledge of Communism?Here a number of dangers rise up whichappear every time the task of learningCommunism is presented incorrectly orwhen it is understood too one-sidedly.

Naturally, the first thing that entersone's mind is that learning Communismmeans to master the sum of knowledge thatit contained in Communist text-books,pamphlets and larger works. E«t such adefinition of the study of Communismshould be too crude and insufficient.

Theory and Practice; Knowledgeand Struggle.

If studying Communism merely meant.the mastery of whati is elucidated in Com-munist books and pamphlets, we couldvery easily get a number of Communistswho could glibly roll off Communist textby heart. This would cause a. considerableamount of harm, for these people, havinglearned by rote what is written in Com-munist books and pamphlets would be total-ly incapable of combining all this know-ledge and would not be able to act asCommunism really demands.

One of the greatest evils and misfor-tunes left us by the old capitalist society,is the complete isolation of books frompractical life. We had some books inwhich everything was.presented in the bestform, but in the majority of cases, thesebooks represented a repulsive hypocriticallie which falsely described Communist so-ciety. Therefore, the mere learning byrote of what is written in books aboutCommunism would be quite wrong.

In our speeches and writings of thepresent time ,we no longer repeat what wassaid formerly about Communism, becauseour speeches and writings are connectedwith everyday work in all its aspects.Without work, without struggle, a bookknowledge of Communism gained fromCommuniht pamphlets and books is worthnothing, for it would merely continue theformer gap between theory and pactice,the former gap which represented the mostrepulsive features of the old bourgeoissociety.

It would be still more dangerous, if wecommenced to acquire only Coninumistslogans. If we did not realize this dan-ger in time, and if we did not direct allour efforts to remove it, the half millionor million boys and girls who after sucha study of Communism would call them-selves. Communists would only bring con<-siderable harm to the cause of Communism.

(To Be Continued)

The Youth and theElections

The elections this year give tihe Convmunists an exceptionally good opportunityfor rallying the working youth under theirbanner. The growing willingness of theyoung workers to struggle, their greaterparticipation in the struggles of the work-ing class, the increased economic pressureon the young workers in the present econ-omic crisis (unemployment, further low-ering of wages, worsening of conditions oflabor) serve as a substantial base for thegrowth of influence of the CommunistYoftth.

In participating In capitalist parlia-mentary elections Communists aim to edu-cate the broad mass of workers, rally themaround the vital questions that affect them,organize them for the struggle against theboss class and its state power, and. for theestablishment of a revolutionary workersgovernment, the young Communists mustmake special efforts to attract the youngworkers.

Winning the Young WorkersThe task of winning the young workers

is organically connected with the problemof winning tihe entire working class. Theproblems of the general working class arethe problems of the young workers—sincethe latter are a section of the former.However, the young workers as such havecertain different characteristics and there-fore certain particular problems. Becauseof its physical and intellectual immaturity,the youth has special so-called social needsand requirements — educational, culturaletc. These must be dealt! with in the at-tempt to win over the youth for Commun-Jsm.

In the United States, as in all capital-ist democracies, although the youth aredrawn into industry at a low age, coni-pelled by economic necessity (and at per-iods by law) to join the military forces,in a word are forced to take upon them-selves the "social responsibilities" of anadult, they are deprived of the right offranchise. The millions of youth in thiscountry between tihe ages of eighteen andtwenty-one who are barred from votingcan be rallied around the slogan of: Avote for every youth eighteen or more yearsof age! The pretensions of bourgeois dem-ocracy can thereby more easily be exposed.

.Even the socalists, the arch-defenders otcapitalist democracy, have given supportto this disenfranchisement of millions ofyoung workers and students.

Youth Omitted in C.P. Platform

The Communist Party in its currentplatform does not ereu mention the positionof Uie working yontli; It raises not evena single demand for the young workers!The so-called leadership of the officialY.C.L. is too taken up with its "Plan o!Action" ( ! ) to occupy itself with such"trifles". Nevertheless, youth demands mustbe issued; a special effort must be madeto reach the millions of toiling youth. Thepivot point must be a contrast of the con-ditions of the youth under wage slavery andthose under a workers' Soviet government.

The Left Opposition Youtih, as part ofthe Communist League of America (Oppo-sition) will participate in the ensuing elec-tion campaign, and support the CommunistParty. Members of the Communist Partyand Young Communist League should de-mand that those organzlations accept ouroffers of cooperation in the elections.Young Communists should insist on definiteyouth election demands, Young workers,young students and young Communistsshould rally around the demands of theLeft Opposition Youth:

The right to vote for all youth 18 yearsor oven

6-hour clay, o'-day week for all youngworkers.

The abolition of child labor under theage of 16 with state maintenance for thoseat present employed.

The establishment of work-schools foryoung workers between the ages of 16 andup—modelled on the present system in theSoviet Vnion.

Two weeksyoung workers.

vacation with pay for all—JOESPH FRIEDMAN