THE COMMUNIST Three At Last The Centrists Unite!
Intiranaticerna tohle mouthink the porases ciuthe But. poor chap, he is an the grip of forces and needs ko along. But he serves notice in his articurrents top powerful to cope with and must. CONVENTION OF REVOLUTIONISTS. cle in the lines as well as between the lines fame is still the same old In its frank (A CONVENTION OF REVOLUTIONISTS. to the masses systematically and persistently, as attack upon the one is almost tempted At last a copy of the Convention number of the one of the cardinal points of the Communist to believe that an enemy of the had writUnited Centrist Party of America has reached us.
program. Yet these same opponents of ours Centrists ten it instead of one of its sacred founders. The Aside from the Program and Constitution of the in character and tendency have now apparently old proverb, preserve me from my friends. new party minority and which we completely reversed themselves on this question.
will take care of my enemies is aptly Illustrated shall review in the next issue, the other two articles What does it mean? It means that when Centrists in the case of require attention. In order to analyze the program begin to use revolutionary phrases they are most Indeed. is an Incorrigible Left Winger!
and constituion of a party it is necessary to know dangerous.
As Lenine says: These men are apt Note the title of his article THE CONVENTION who drew it, how It was framed and under what to recognize anything and sign anything only in OF REVOLUTIONISTS. What kind of revolutioncircumstances. Therefore an analysis of the United order to remain at the head of the working class ists? There are bourgeois revolutionists, anarchist who call themselves revolutionists, Centrist Convention is both interesting and necegmovement.
sary as throwing light on the program and constitu opposed to the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. Centrists who think they are revolutionists.
ialists who style themselves revoution 210W Socand French Social patriots and Centrists also sign tion of the new party.
There are two articles on the convention, dealing under the resolution for Dictatorship of the ProIn using this indefinite, entirely non Communist with it from two different angles. One, evidently term revolutionists, permits the reader his own letariat. They do not deserve any confidence.
choice written by. Damon, the editor, bears the slogan AT And the reader, if he is a Communist, after going through his article, when the time comes just as they betrayed CONVENTION Obears the euphonious title of that it it was convention of revolutionist it was the rank and file of the Communist Party at the the associate editor. Indeed it was unnecescrucial moment of the organization.
sary to sign his name, for it bears all the earY. GIVES SOME INSIDE STUFF of fact, they have already betrayed that memberAs a matter His introduction, giving a survey of the Commarks of the notorious author of HAN It Been ship which followed them out of the Communist munist inovement in this country during the last While. Party in the belief that these leaders would fight ET LAST year is a gem in itself.
for the position enunciated in the statements issued One wonders is he in earnest is he sarcastic or, is he just playfu.
Damon article, as the title implies, is a sicken by the minority. Damon Co. It has been amply a condition from which he states the unity coning sweet, sentimental sigh of relief that unity proved, have no position of their own they are vention suffered during its seven days when it has wat last been achieved. He shuts his eyes to ready to accept any position that will place the was not engaged in uniting through the process everything but the accomplished fact of the merger of the two groups. And well he may. While on this questin we may mention that the of splitting every day, and every session.
Then a grandiloquent gesture. Sometime reFor no Communist can read the story of that fact that Damon. Isaacs Co. and the old Centrist cently. somewhere between the Atlantic and Paconvention without realizing that the only unity leaders of the are still in control of the cific, between the Gulf and the Great Laker, to achieved has been one of name only. The groupnew party is sufficient proof of the Centrist chargroups of elected ings within the convention remain the same acter of that organization. real Communist party delegates assembled Unity Conference. He then proceeds to dipinneither side having given up an iota, either in would never again TRUST men of such well known to the convention. Its a cold plunge and reader principles or control of the new organization. opportunist tendencies, much less entrust the shivers as he flops into the frigid atmosphere of Central Executive Committee composed of ten are one the unity convention. Let us follow him.
members. five minority and five and the type of the MacDonalds, Longuets, Kautzkys. In spite of the fact that these delegates came ten alternates, five minority and five revolutionary in words and opportunist in deedsminority alternate to take the place of minority leaders who possess the ideology of the Second spite of the realization of the fearful blow it would vacancy and alternate to take be to the Communist movement in this country the place of vacancy gives a glowing International Any if unity were not at once achieved, it was not until illustration of the kind of unity achieved.
and deliberately elects them as their leaders is a consciously noon of the seventh day that this issue was decided But Damon gives a sigh and sighs at last. His party which has not yet cut the umbilical cord mission in the Communist movement, he feels has which still holds them to the ideology of the In spite of the placards AT LAST on been accomplished. Unity, of a sort, has been Second International their revolutionary prothe breasts of the delegates? Funny kind of achieved, praise the Lord and Damon! The torture gram to the contrary notwithstanding. unity convention this. What was the reason?
of his seven month sojourn with the Communist Note how Damon (in the last quotation from AT Listen to Party, especially with the super bolsheviks and LAST. already distorts the concept of the final Neither side was fully conscious of the un great theorists of the his artificially struggle: He says that the final struggle takes dercurrent of sentiment on the other side. Faeprepared split his stealing of party funds and place between the workers and the capitalists.
tional controversies (he probably means the issue property his renunciation of Communist principles between the exploited and exploiter. How about of principles but never talks of principles and tactics (as published in first two statements the capitalist State? Will it be a private war bein controversies, controversies are always factionof the minority subsequent to the split. everytween the workers and the capitalists leaving the al: this is a typical bourgeois intellectual viewpoint.
thing has been worth while now that unity enpitalist State somewhere on the side neutral. Ed. of nearly a year standing surcharged the athas been accomplished! Poor fellow! The mounWill the capitalists arm themselves and mosphere with suspicion suspicion not only across tain labored and brought forth a mouse.
and fight the armed workers, or will the employ out the lines but within each camp. No wonder, with The minority and leaders are politicians the armed forces of the capitalist State the police, such recognized and well known Centrist leaders of a very low order; with the cunning of their type the army, the navy, the bureaucracy, the stoolas Damon Isaacs Co. in their midst. Ed. having noticed how Hilquit and Berger had stampigeons, the thugs and gunmen and the whole None of the delegates were willing to surrender petied the convention by mere device of unhorde of mercenaries and kupporters their reservations (he means their suspicions of at their command?
the leaders. Ed. until after a long series of veiling a life size portrait of Debs at the right time. they conceived of a similar scheme to whip The whole question of force in the revolution debates, some of little intrinsic importance, many up an artificial enthusiasm and stampede the dele is related to end inseparable from the State.
on basic questions of Communist understanding questions which had never before been really gates for unity. What Debs was to the convention, unity was to the United Centrist And in view of his previous accusation of agentfaced in the United States. Italics ours, Ed. convention.
Really, that last remark is a crusher. They But let Damon describe this delicious provocateur at the CE of the Communist scene himself: When after meeting as have evidently discovered or invented a new arate Party on the question, we are inclined to believe he does know but is opposed to it.
American bran groups for a day the delegates from the two organiof Communism copyrighted, zations were united, there quickly appeared upon In that same quotation is another glaring illustration of his lack of understanding of Communist patent aunlied from or fringements will be punished the breasts of most of the delegates the words CAUCUSES AT LAST in great black letters. circular bearprinciples; he speaks of the capitalist system also ing that caption had been distributed among the being overthrown by armed insurrection. The All the sessions of the delegates, both as separato delegates and the bodies and as a unity convention developed into words had been torn from it capitalist system is not overthrown by armed to give expression to their sentiment.
insurrection only the capitalist State can be thus caucus action, despite the early decision of the overthrown. The capitalist system is abolished in Damon then goes to prove how many meanings unity conventions to abolish caucuses and in and through the process of the Dictatorship of the spite ofthe minority abhorrence of caucuses ana packed conventigainst the majority in the about which they raised that this new slogan has as many meanings, Proletariat, the suppression of the bourgeoisie as as mass action has to Damon in the course of a class, the nationalizing of the banks and inCommunist Party.
his meteoric career in the Communist movement.
dustries and building up the workers own ecoThe United Communist Party makes no pretense nomic administration of production. This process and Kasbeck used to thunder against caucuses!
of legality. It has attempted to express the fundais long and arduous, including all that is known as It was treason for the majority to caucus damental Communist principles in a way to make the transitory period from capitalism to Comin a Communist Party Kasbeck even went so munism.
tiem pass the far as to call it counter revolutionary. How Say our herioc lignidship or its bitter enemy.
Behind this apparentSimilar mistakes, discrepancies and ommisions about caucuses. members of the United Centrist Party of America?
abound in the program of the and in ly innocent remark. aside from the very obvious FIRST SESSION.
attempt to make a virtue of necessity. lies the which Damonu undoubtedly, had a great hand in As soon as the first joint session opened, a bolt clue to the manner in which they framed their formulating. In general. it is an unbalanced, program. On one side a number of delegates, conuncorrellated structure exposing in itself a lack of nine or ten delegates from the minority seemed imminent because the leaders wanted to proceed and highly distrustful to the aforrodd were descious of the Centrist tendencies of their leaders of clarity and understanding of Communist principles to the eection of committees and these irreconby the merciless criticism of the understand Communist principles and tactics. They cilables wanted to take up the program first.
termined to make the program Communist to the These nine or ten were evidently the left elestill play with revolutionary phrases as Damon best of their ability; on the other side, the leaders, does in his article still give lip service to the ments of the minority who had learnt from the who receded inch by inch from their own wellrevolution in words but in practice recede from criticism of the majority and were suspicious of the leaders of both sides. They wanted to known positions under the threats of bolts and see how the convention would act on the qusetion their splits and who only accepted the situation because NOW SO BLIND.
of mass action. etc. before they gave They not to have accepted It would have meant political There is little more of interest in Damon article consent to remain with the convention.
oblivion for them. Damon guilty conscience except a few braggart phrases which mean nothing were defeated on the motion, but in order to Speaks in that last quoted paragraph.
at all and have been placed there obviously for a vert a split with motion was reconsidered and LIGHTSING CHANCE ARTIST DATION effect. For instance: While there still remains the program was next taken up. By the way outisde of the united party a faction made up this business of re introducing defeated motions That the program was framed by the leaders with of part of the language groups, the logic of the was the constant order of business at the the view of averting a split in their own ranks, situation will compel them to join the united unity convention from the first day to the last and to off criticism by the majority. party or bring about the disintegration of their in order to keep the various antagonistic factions and not with a clear, sound knowledge of Com organizations.
from splitting away Tunism is forcefully illustrated in the following As if the Communist Party of America no longer In the folowing paragraph is at his best.
quotation from Damon article which proves that their chief theoretician Editor in Chief of their exists just because Damon Co. ignominiously split away! Damon has always proved himself blade. we wonder if the members of the United national organs and presumably the leading light a good business man he computes Communism Centrist Party also see the joke.
in the Convention, is not clear on toimuninin him in terms of dollars and cents or membership The opening debates were sparring matches, Three depending upon the occasion. When he was about with a undercurrent of nervousness.
The program of the party declares that the final to spilt away from the he bragged about scores, engaged in a criminal conspiracy.
capitalism struggle between the workers and the capitalista, the wonderful organizing capacity and what. spent two hours to decide we the between the exploited and the exploited, will take good Communist Fisher way, because he collected breaks down in that it fails to of the United Communist the form of civil war, and tu t is the function more than live thousand dollars for the National systematically to Office. After the split, when he had stolen the familiarize the working class with the necessity to provide. After considerable uncertainty (italparty funds in his possession, the five thousand ics ours, Ed. the argument prevailed that capitalof armed insurrection as the only means through dollars collected by Fisher suddenly turned out ism, in spite of all its equipment, stultifies produc.
which the capitalist government and the capitalist to be nothing more than loans which had to be system can be overthrown. Italics ours. Ed. repaid to the Chicago District Simllarof profit, regardless of all capabilities for producIn the first place compare the foregoing with ly when he threatened to split in the CD.
tion; crisis or no crisis, capitalism has never funof the masses.
Damon own statement speaking for the minority he stated with magnificent gestures that it was cca to provide then just prior to the unity convention.
morally certain majority the playfulness of the debate was expressed tain that the relaxation and the forestalling of another pre In carrying on the work of agitation and education on the question of armed insurrection the social of the party membership would atond him as against the he had no way of proving mature clash. This was the safe way of getting and industrinl conditions must be considered. To it at the time, but we have since proved to acquainted the suppressed form of the struggle for unity.
talk to the workers about arming themselves and armed insurrection at After you have stopped laughing at this sally.
evident discomfiture. But now, that he has when the masses are still without any revolutionary consciousness is to united with the The 25 of the L he must and bargained for 32 delegates against make a farce of and discredit Communism and this convention discussed questions which had need keep up the bluff, that he carried the major never before been really face in United States.
shows a fundamental lack of understanding of Communist principien.
part of the membership of the with him Indeed, we make bold to say that this question into the united centrists. That it is a lie doesn was never before discussed in any convention in While the minority will work for a clenr the Communist movement, not even by the Com matter to Damon 60 long as he thinks it will e presion on this point in the party program and munist International!
help him crush ho Communist Party The Bis in the literature expomstances in eaeh kiven Communist principles, Bluír of Bolshevisin which he so thoroughly There 15 None little discordant note thoro it will consider the however, you must remember is a lawyer.
hates and detests because it is usually right and with a bourgeois intellectual and so he naturally cane and the general development of the revolution has proved him wrons on all questions.
cannot free himself from borgeois phraseology.
rry ecopages of the INNEN in deciding whether the His reference to a so called Coromunist convenfor armed insurrection shall be THE CONVENTION OF REVOLUTIONISTS prend among them.
We now come to the more Interesting of the tin as a criminal conspiry is not two articles. Damon writes of the centrist conY. stil secrety holds to his old How comes this sudden change in Damon Co. sarcastlegality his formal acceptance of the her who has at last found the land 12 it possible for them to have changed overnight of the vention it desire the Centrist swamp. CP, apparently illegal osition to the conToh any organization on so fundamental a question? If so, whom are we trary notwenderen is makes no such pretenses. He has no illusions eriminal conspirato believe? Damon of the minority, or Damon of the functioning the United Centrist Party?
erente, but, like worth mons connuelped to who is to acknowcy.
This was cne of the important issues between in with unity six ledge its authorship much against his will Not So ended the first day ses at the second day.
the majorityand the minority in the recent being a Communist he dislikes it for the reason days off. Now let us read a controversy within the Communist Party, and one y convention 01 that it even pretends to be a communist organt It was a peaceful as a of the causes behind the split. We were accused zation. His heart still yearns for the Lett Wing Kilkenny cats.
PROGRAM of doing agent provocateur work, of being closet conquest of the Communist Party for a reTHE MAKING OF broke Restrained resentment philosophers. Big Bluft of Bolshevism. etc. just transformation of the Communist Party into the session.
loose into a furious storm du because we stated our position uncompromisingly Left Wins of year ago with its delightfully. th ogram (a typically At the first statement in the on the question and nature of force in relation haxy utterly non Communist and concettons ined on to the proletarian revolution and its propaganda atmosphere.
it.
well.
Committee tine about