Satarday, February 15, 1980 THE MILITANT age The Socialist Party and Radicalization of the Masses The ten year period following the end of the war was marked by an integration and growth of the American Communist movement and a concurrent decline in tho organization and influence of the Socialist Party. For the past year or so we have been witnessing a reversal of this process.
The relation of forces between the two contending tendencies ot revolution and reform bas undergone a change. These are the important facts which merit consideration and analysis.
it profits the revolutionary wing of the labor moveinent nothing to evade or deny this state of affairs. On the contrary it will do harm, for the radical workers see what is going on before their eyes and are apt to draw false conclusions regarding the efficacy and future prospects of reyolutionary ideas. Such indeed is the meaninz of the recent noticeable shifting of allegiance of many workers, particularly in the needle trades, who had conscientiously supported the Left wing and the Communist Party for several years. The Communistic workers are entitled to an appraisal of the situation.
The advance of Communism in the struggle against the Socialist Party, and to a large extent at its exponse, over a ten year period is undeniable, few facts: The Left wing gained a majority in the party struggle of 1919 and the Hillquit Berger machine was able to prevent its capture of the convention only by wholesale expulsions (aided, however, as has so often been the case, by stupidities of the Loft wing leadership. Even after the split in 1919, which reduced the Socialist Party membership from 100, 000 to less than 20, 000, a new Left wing developed within it under the pressure of Communist sentiments in the ranks. This culminated in the second split weak one, it is true, with still weaker leadership of the Workers Councli group at the end of 1921. The Communiets became organizationally stronger than the Socialists despite the terrific handicans of the Palmer terror and the threeyears period of underground organization.
The extended its operations throughout the country while tho Influence and strength were confined to isolated localities, notably New York and Milwaukee.
The superior strength and fighting ability of the Communists were graphically demonstrated in the big movements which engaged the attention of the workers. The Labor Party campaign, the organization of the Left wing in the trade unions, the Passaic strike, the Sacco Vanzetti movement, the needle trades struggles. The collapse of the New York Call, tko daily paper of the just preceding the establishment of the Daily Worker, symbolized the waning power of one party and the upward swing of the other. Perlod of Communist Growth Over that entire ten year period our party continued to win recruits, individually and in groups, from its Socialist rival, with no shuflling in the other direction.
The tides in those days swept out of the and into our ranks with such cminent pillars of present day Communism as Engdahl, Schneid, Olgin and almost the whole Freiheit staff, not to speak of Kruse, who has begun to drift by way of the Lovestono detour. Scott Nearing left the in 1923 and joined the , in 1926.
Weisbord, who became justly renowned as the Communist organizer of the Passalc strike in 1926, had been the Secretary of the Young Peoples Socialist League and a campaigner for La Follette in 1924, All of these people, and many others who could be mentioned, were, in one sense of the word, weather cocks indicating the way the wind was blowing.
Now, after ten years of stagnation and decay, the Socialist Party is showing manifest signs of a revival, partly at the expense of the P. The facts which demonstrate this, trend are as incontestablo AB are the reasons which explain it. The greatly increased Socialist vote in the recont New York municipal election, while the Communist vote was reduced to insignificance is one of these signs. The re establishment of the Right wing unlons in the needle trades is another. The increased recruitment of new members is a third sign. For example, the report of the secretary at the latest meeting of the National Executive Committee claimed more members enrolled in 1929 than in the whole five rending years. Socialist influence in. and renewall activity in the By James Cannon Communist Party and the incompetent leadership by appointment, which is made general trade union movement are a fourth first stages, as symptoms of deeper inove to order for Socialist progress at Communsign. The reformist Socialist Party con ment to come.
ist expense.
fronts the revolutionary Communists in The Strike Barometer The Party crisis which grows deeper 1930 as a stronger foe than at any time This is the only possible conclusion from day to day has had a profound effect since the split in 1919.
which ascertainable facts will allow. Take on the radical workers. Without underII the record of recent strikes, laways a standing the principle issues, they see only Weather cocks also reflect the new sitgood barometer of working class militancy. the splits and get and impression of disuation.
Exact figures of strike movements over a The Art of these was Schneid, integration and decay. They see a once president of a Chicago local of the Amalperiod of years are not at hand at the formally united party appearing as three moment, but the general outline is well separate factions, each publishing its own gamated Clothing Workers union, who known. The textile workers strike in the organ.
came to us from the on the tide of In such circumstances the official Communist influence in the union in 1922.
South, the sporadic strikes of auto workers assurances of unity sound to them like Last year the reaction carried him back and similar outbursts certainly show an a scared boy whistling in the dark. The to the recent convert to reformism awakening mood of the workers involved. recruiting power of the movement is paraBut altogether they have so far involved lyzed and thousands of party members fall is Hendin, once a member of the who demanded armed insurrection nothonly a few thousand workers, a number in away in discouragement and despair. Some no way comparable to the hundreds of of them have become victims of reformist ing less at the first underground convention of our party in 1920. He overestithousands who took part in the great strike illusions a fate for which they have been movements in coal and steel and on the prepared by the reign of opportunism in mated the radicalization at the time. There are many others less prominent travrailroads in 1919 and 1922. Moreover, the the Party and in the Communist International.
responsiveness of the workers generally all elling the same path; one in particlar over the country, to these strikes was negnamed Streit, who led a squad of Stalinists The Fosterite Contribution to the to break up a meeting of the Communist ligible. The elections, another yardstick The incredible weakness of the apOpposition in Philadelphia less than a year of proletarian class development, show a pointed leadership, which plles blunder on ago.
Communist debacle, a Socialist gain and a top of blunder in a vicious system, robs the roactionary victory. The various political The Course of Lovostone Faction demonstrations organized by the Communist party of its opportunity to plunge forward on the basis of the new trend in the workBesides those individuals who desert Party have yet to show serious working ing class and thus facilitates the game of Communism and pass over directly into the class support. They are real Communist the reformists. The substitution of noise reformist camp of the and more demonstrations in the sense that only Comfor thought and vituperation for argument significant are those who have started on munists take an active part in them. It is. the political method of Foster and Coman indirect route, by stages, to the same selt deception to represent curious specpany hurts nobody but the workers vanplace.
Speaking from the standpoint of tators es participants in these actions.
guard and is grist to the mill. Many political logic which is decisive and disThe unemployment movement shows promof the new recruits of the are Foster regarding personal intentions which are ise but is, as yet, only in its initial stages.
contribution to Hliquit.
not this is the destination of the LoveThe most pronounced expressions of the It is quite the fashion these days for stone faction. We do not see any ground symptoms of radicalization of the workers has been through reformist channels. Such the Party overseers to remind the workers for the permanent existence of a political is the meaning of the increased socialist of the overwhelming importance of the party hall way between Communism and vote insofar as it came from the workers. leadership they are receiving, like a gift, reformism whica is the sun and substance of the general revival of influence as it were, from the skies. The idea appears in of Right wing wisdom. The example of the among the workers; of the appearance of the Party press again and again in the most 1 International and all similar national progressive movements in the trade ottensive and patronizing manner. Leadgroupings excludes such a prospect. That unions under leadership.
Lovestone and Wolfe understand this as Such is ership undoubtedly has a great importanco the real explanation of the the fact that in the proletarian struggle. But it works well as anyone, cannot be doubted. The thousands of Forward estimate of Lovestone prosent the needle trades both ways, and in stressing this question are turning to the reorganized Right wing the bureaucrats of the day are only help work as the most useful he has ever unions. The signs of Socialist Party reviving, unwittingly, to furnish an explanadone for the working class is, from their al appearing simultaneously with the betion of Communist defeats and Socialist standpoint, a quite intelligent judgement.
victories.
ginning of working class radicalization is An ignorant and corrupt leaderIt ought to be easily understood why no contradiction. It appears so only to ship, such as now afflicts the party, can Lovestone and Wolfe cannot proceed dirdeal the heaviest blows against the cause those who grossly exaggerate the extent ectly to their political destination. Consciof the radicalization process and attempt to of the workers vanguard, and is dealing entious worker Communists, revolting substitute noisy and flamboyant proclamathem. Looking back over the ten years reagainst the stupidity and brutality of the tions for actuel moods of the masses. They cord of the Party, with its ups and downs, Foster regime have been caught in Lovecannot reconcile these imaginary revoluIts often sad experiences with leaders who stone trap. Deception and maneuver are tionary moods with a growth of reformistic have come and gone, one can say with comnecessary to keep these workers together influence and they try to dispose of the plete assurance that history insofar as it on a graduatod reactionary course. Lovelatter by ignoring or denying it. The refustakes note of the matter will sustain the atone and Wolfe need time, but they are al to see things as they are has always judgement, that the present leadership of known for speed and they are making headbeen a fool dangerous game. Nobody, the Party is the worst it ever had. We say way. They have already succeeded in leadleast of all revolutionaries, cver yet won this without forgetting any past experience ing their followers to Brandler and his a war against facts. But this is precisely at any stage of the Party evolution. The program of National Communism withFoster regime has all the stupidity of the out a centralized International. They have the whole military strategy of the Foster generals.
Hourwich group without their principle, already translated Socialism in one and the corruption of the Lovestone group IV country. the slogan under which they exA second reason for the recent proswithout their intelligence.
pelled us from the party into Communism perity which has overtaken the long inThe Communist workers, staggering in one country. This is progress enough solvent firm of Hillquit and Company, under defeat after defeat in times when for six months. The rest will follow.
bound up with the symptoms of labor radprogress ought to be the rule, will do well III icalism which the capitalists see as clearly to take the usurping bureaucrats at their number of factors contribute to the as we do and which they fear as much as word when they urge them to remember phenomena of a Socialist Party revival af we welcome, is the patronage of the liberthe decisive importance of leadership. The ter ten years of retrogression. The most al wing of Capitalism.
first conclusion they will come to after The more farimportant is the beginning of a radical sighted clements of American capitalism, serious consideration of this question will ization of the workers about which so profiting by European post war experience, be the necessity of overthrowing the premuch is being written these days. The fear a revolutionary influence on a radicalsent leadership and organizers of defeat.
fearfully accelerated exploitation involved ized working class and wish to prepare They will find since the American bureau.
in the development of industrial technique a butter against it in advance.
crats are simply the appointed agents of For this which goes by the name of rationalization purpose they are not unwilling to build the Stalin that the first steps in this direction will lead them toward plus wage cuts, plus swelling unemploy up the liberalized Socialist Party of which ment and its attendant horrors, stimulates they have no fears whatever. The good participation in the great international a labor discontentment which is beginning press which the received in the New struggle over the foundation principles of Communism which the Bolshevik Leninista to grope for expression. It is of decisive York municipal campaign, including importance to have a precise estimate of direct support of several papers, had far are defending against the new revisionists, the character and degree of this dis deeper implications than a mere gesture of The disintegration of the American Communist movement is bound up with an incontent. In this field nothing is helpful protest against the crudities of Tammany ternational situation and cannot be isolated but actual facts. In the light of such facts Hall. The New York papers were heinfrom it. real fight against this disiathere is no ground whatever for the as ing to prepare a safety valve before the sumption that this radicalization of the social boiler has begun to steam.
tegration can be conducted only under the banner of the International Opposition, for American workers has anything approach On its part, the gaining of this capitthat is the baaner of Communism.
ing immediate revolut onary implications, alist patronage has been facilitated by or that the masses are ready for Communist deliberate movement of the Socialist Party VI leadership. So far it is possible to speak to the Right. It has spared no effort to The spectacle of Socialist Party adof tentative movements in the worker establish respectability and harmlessness vancement and Communist retrogression at masses as radicalization in a strictly de to the existing social order. It is more a time when there are many signs of a new fined and limited sense. The traditional and more becoming the haven of inoffensive upward trend of working class activity are lack of class consciousness of the Amer liberals as well as the shield of labor reac transient phenomena based on illusions of ican workers, and their specific indifference tanaries such as the Black Hundreds in the the workers, cleverly exploited by the reto social questions as they record it on needle trades. Norman Thomas, as spokes formists, and misleadership and internal every occassion (the elections, for example) man who makes no pretense of Marxism, crisis in the Communist movement. In the absolutely preclude the attempt to At them is a perfect symbol of this metamorphosis temporary fluctuation in the class struggle into any European or world formula of of a Party which once proclaimed in words there is no cause for alarm, to say nothing of radicalization. This term can be used always, and some times in deed, the doc of despair in the revolutionary ranks. The intelligently only on an American scale, in trine of the class struggle.
ultimate victory belongs to Communism, comparison with the recent years of progbut there is no law that it will proceed to perity. and then only with the reservation third Important factor which has this viotory on a straight ascending line.
that this radicalization te shown in te aided the Socialists is the crisis in the (Continue op Page