EDITORIALS 439 438 THE CLASS STRUGGLE Editorials The Socialist Publication Society decided at a Special Meeting to give over THE Class STRUGGLE with all the pamphlets and books published during its existence to the Communist Labor Party of the of America.
The Nat. Executive Committee of the accepted the offer gladly aud elected Ludwig Lore, Editor. Jack Carney, editor of Truth, Duluth, Minn. Gregory Weinstein, formerly the editor of Novy Mir, were elected his Associates.
Orders, payments, etc. are to be sent until further notice to: The Socialist Publication Society, 15 Spruce St.
The Communist Labor Party With this issue the Communist Labor Party, henceforth the owner and publisher of the Class STRUGGLE, makes its bow to our readers and to the American working class. It serves notice upon them and upon the ruling class that it is determined to become the Party of Revolutionary Communism in the United States, the clear expression and fearless representative of the class conscious revolutionary American proletariat.
Its coming, no difference under what name, has been a foregone conclusion for months past. There was but one alternative. Either the Socialist Party must be forced to abdicate its advocacy of pure and simple politics; either it must resolve to become the exponent and the leader of the fighting vanguard of the American working class upon the economic and the political field, or an organization would have to be created to take its place, more in accord with the trend of our revolutionary period than the has been. For at least three years the present writer has held the conviction that the Socialist Party, together with most of the European working class parties, has outlived its usefulness if it persists in its adherence to the old tactics and methods in the future, and our journal, from its first to its last issue, is witness to this fact. On the question, however, as to when and under what circumstances the inevitable must happen, that is, at what time the decision must be forced on that score and only on that score, there existed serious differences of opinion. These, recent events have set aside, but by no means have they been solved. For the question, whether this was the most favorable time for the separation of forces, is still an open one. Many sincere Communists are of the opinion that the split came too early; that the period of education and enlightenment for the membership was too short and that, therefore, good revolutionary material, that could have been converted into useful activity for a genuine revolutionary movement, will, on account of lack of understanding, continue to cast its lot with the old Party and its outworn, reactionary tactics and conservative methods.
But today the situation exists, and has to be met as it is and not as some of us would wish it to be. The is in the field and is here to stay. It is founded upon the principles as evolved by those revolutionary working class parties and elements of Europe that constitute the Third International, the principles of Marx and Engels, of Lenin, Trotzky, Bucharin, Rakowski, of Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg, of Loriot, Serrati. McLean, Platten, etc. Its existence is a challenge to the capitalist system, toward whose destruction it will endeavor with all energy and strength of which it is capable by uniting the American workers into powerful political and industrial organizations, based upon the class struggle and the revolutionary understanding of the proletariat.
The recognizes that the emancipation of the working class must be the work of the workers themselves and that no set of leaders can achieve it for them. But it also knows that revolutionary changes in society are not brought about by the masses, but by a determined and clear thinking minority, by the most advanced and trustworthy element in the proletariat. The dictatorship of the proletariat will, therefore, always be the preliminary condition for the final victory of the working class, because it will permit the advanced working class elements to socialize the important and fundamental industries without interference from the capitalist classes on one hand, and from that unwielding, unthinking mass of the workers, whose mental make up is still being contaminated from the poisoned wells of the bourgeois press. Whether this transitory stage in the transformation of capitalist society into socialist society will be of short or long duration, will, of course, be determined by the degree of understanding which the workers of a given country possess. We do not doubt that some of the leaders and a good many of its membership also believe in the dictatorship of the proletariat. But they dare not confess it for fear of frightening away the middle class voter to whom they are cater