I
83d Congress, 2d Session
Union Calendar No. 625
House Report No. 1694
ORGANIZED
COMMUNISM
IN THE
UNITED STATES
AUGUST 19, 1953
(Original Release Date)
May 28, 1954. — Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on
the State of the Union and ordered to be printed
Prepared and released by the
3-7^
b
Committee on Un-Ameriean Activities, U. S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C
P U ^
^'^M'
Committee on Un-American Activities
United States House of Representatives
eighty-third congress, first session
Harold H. Velde, Illinois, Ohairman
Bernard W. Kearney, New York
Donald J. Jackson, California
Kit Clardy, Michigan
Gordon H. Scherer, Ohio
Francis E. Walter, Pennsylvania
Morgan M. Moulder, Missouri
Clyde Doyle, California
James B. Frazier, Jr., Tennessee
Robert L. Kunzig, Counsel
Frank S. Tavenner, Jr., Counsel
Louis J. Eussell, Chief Investigator
Thomas W. Beale, Sr., Chief Clerk
Raphael I. Nixon, Director of Research
Public Ia\w 601, 79th Congress
The legislation under which the House Committee on Un-American
Activities operates is Public Law 601, 79th Congress [1946], chapter
753, 2d session, which provides :
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
of America in Con ffress assembled, * * *
PART 2— RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Rule X
SEC. 121, STANDING COMMITTEES
m ***** *
17. Committee on Un-American Activities, to consist of nine members.
Rule XI
POWERS AND DUTIES OF COMMITTEES
(q) (1) Committee on Un-American Activities,
(A) Un-American activities.
(2) The Committee ou Un-American Activities, as a whole or by subcommit-
tee, is autliorized to make from time to time investigations of (i) tlie extent,
character, and objects of un-American propajianda activities in the United States,
(ii) the diffusion within the United States of subversive and un-American propa-
ganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and attacks
the principle of the form of government as guaranteed by our Constitution, and
(iii) all other questions in relation thereto that would aid Congress in any neces-
sary remedial legislation.
The Committee on Un-American Activities shall report to the House (or to the
Clerk of the House if the House is not in session) tlie results of any such investi-
gation, together with suoli recommendations as it deems advisable.
For the purpose of any such investigation, the Committee on Un-American
Activities, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit and act at such
times and places within the United States, whether or not the House is sitting,
has recessed, or has adjourned, to hold such hearings, to require the attendance
of such witnesses and tlie production of sucli books, papers, and documents, and
to take such testimony, as it deems necessary. Subpenas may be issued under
the signature of the chairman of the committee or any subcommittee, or by any
member designated by any such chairman, and may be served by any person
designated by any such chairman or member.
m
RULES ADOPTED BY THE S3D CONGRESS
House Resolution 5, January 3, 1953
Rule X
STANDING COMMITTEES
1. There shall be elected by the House, at the comiuencement of each Con-
gress, following standing committees :
q. Committee on Un-American Activities, to consist of Hine members.
• ****•*
Rule XI
POWERS ANB DUTIES OF COMMITTEES
17. Committee on Un-American Activities.
(a) Un-American activities.
(b) The Committee on Un-American Activities, as a whole or by subcommittee,
is authorized to make from time to time, investigations of (1) the e.xtent, char-
acter, and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United States,
(2) the diffusion within the United States of subversive and un-American prop-
aganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and
attaclis the principle of tlie form of government as guaranteed by our Constitu-
tion, and (3) all other questions in relation thereto that would aid Congress
In any necessary remedial legislation.
The Committee on Un-American Activities shall report to the House (or to the
Clerk of the House if the House is not in session) the results of any such investi-
gation, together with such recommendations as it deems advisable.
For the purpose of any such investigation, the Committee on Un-American
Activities, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit and act at such times
and places within the United States, whether or not the House is sitting, has
recessed, or has adjourned, to hold such hearings, to require the attendance
of such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, and
to take such testimony, as it deems necessary. Subpenas may be issued under
the signature of the chairman of the committee or any subcommittee, or by any
member designated by such chairman, and may be served by any person desig-
nated by any such chairman or member.
IV
CONTENTS
Vast
Introduction ^ 1
Origin 3
Socialist Party Left-Wing Section Convention, 1919 4
Manifesto 4
Committees 9
National Conference of Left-Wing 10
Call for conference 10
Left-Wing National Council, manifesto 13
Convention To Organize Communist Party 25
Joint call for Communist Party Convention 25
Communist Party of America, 1919 29
Manifesto 29
Program 35
Constitution . 37
Communist Labor Party, 19^19 42
Platform and program 42
United Communist Party, 1920 47
Constitution 47
Communist Party of America, 1921 (merger of Communist Party of
America and United Communist Party) 51
Constitution and program 51
Constitution 62
Workers Party of America, 1921 69
Party organization 70
Convention and constitution 72
An open party and an underground party 77
Workers Party of America, 1923 (merger of Communist Party of America
and Workers Party of America) 79
Workers (Communist) Party of America, 1925 SO
Constitution 80
Communist Party of the United States of America, section of the Com-
munist International, 1929 89
Open letter from Executive Committee of the Communist Interna-
tional 89
Constitution 90
The Communist International changes its tactics 98
Communist Party of the United States of America, 1938 99
Constitution 99
Communist Party of the United States of America, 1940 108
Constitution 108
Communist Political Association 114
Constitution 115
Return to status quo ante bellum, Duelos letter 119
Browder's reply 120
End of Communist cooperation vplth capitalist countries 120
Communist Political Association 1945 Convention 120
Communist Party of the United States of America, 1945 122
Constitution : . . , 122
Voice of the Kremlin in American Communist activities 128
Relationship of American communism to the Soviet Union 129
Alleged dissolution of the Communist International 133
Resurrection of the Comintern (Cominform) 138
VI CONTENTS
Faff*
Splinter groups 141
Proletarian Party of America 141
Communist League of America (opposition) 141
Socialist Workers Party 142
Communist League of Struggle 142
American Workers Party 142
United Toilers 142
Communist Party, U. S. A. (opposition) 143
What does the future hold? 143
Index 145
Union Calendar Noe 62
83d Congress ) HOUSE OF EEPEESENTATIVES j Report
£d Session j ( No. 1694
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
May 28, 1954. — Committed to the Committee of tlae Whole House on the State
of the Union and ordered to be printed
Mr. Velde, of Illinois, from the Committee on Un-American
Activities, submitted the following
REPORT
[Pursuant to H. Res. 5, S3d Cong.]
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE
UNITED STATES
INTRODUCTION
Any nationwide opinion survey as of early 1953 would disclose that
99 percent of the American people are unequivocally and emphatically
against communism.
Yet, on February 25, 1953, J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, told the House Committee on Appropriations :
Communism is still with us and is as much a menace today as ever.
This seeming paradox is at least partially explained by the fact that
a major segment of anti-Communist opinion has remained apathetic,
or at least passive and inarticulate, largely because the great Ameri-
can public has no real understanding of the Communist threat — and
for the further reason that a considerable aggregation of self-serving,
self-proclaimed "anti-Communists" are actually helping the Com-
munist cause by their continuous carping criticism of every honest
effort to expose and combat Communist subversion — a situation which
likewise is flourishing because of a lack of public appreciation of Com-
munist methods and objectives. So, while it appears that almost
everybody is against communism, a collective inquiry as to just what
they are against would disclose an almost unanimous divergence of
opinion, and, to a lesser degree, would reflect ulterior motives and a
serious conflict of interest.
It is quite possible that no two anti-Communists would express
themselves similarly as to the meaning of the term "communism."
Many would declare, and rightly so, that communism is a conspiracy,
but any attempt at further definition would bring confusion worse
confounded. Most would say, of course, that communism is un-
American or anti-American, and let it go at that.
But the more thoughtful would contend that communism is socialism
in action. And not a few might quote the observation of a distin-
guished American commentator who said that communism is socialism
m a hurry.
Some would insist that communism is Marxism. Others would
explain that the communism they are against is really Stalinism — and
that Stalinism isn't communism at all ; that it has no relation whatever
to Marxism or to "scientific socialism."
Such a survey would undoubtedly uncover some ex-Communists who
still believe that "communism is 20th century Americanism," as the
Communists claimed not so long ago, or that communism is "real
democracy," but who would insist that they are really "anti-Com-
munists," nevertheless, because they are against present Communist
leadership.
And there would be still other "anti-Communists" who would ignore
the issue of communism and denounce "Communists" (with a capital
2 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
"G") who belong to the Communist Party, but who would exclude
from their criticism "communists" (with a small "c") who just believe
in the Communist philosophy and want to supplant the American
system by violence or "by democratic means," but without the help of
a foreign power.
In fact, many of the latter-type Communists would be found to be
outspoken "anti-Communists."
It is because of all this confused thinking on the subject of com-
munism that so many self-styled "anti-Communists," with Socialist or
Communist or Communist-front backgrounds, are able to get away
with their attacks on congressional committees investigating com-
munism — attacks which are aiding and abetting the Communist con-
spiracy in the United States.
Aud it is because of the lack of understanding of just what com-
munism is, how the Communist movement was organized and how it
works, that so many good, conscientious Americans have allowed
themselves to be influenced and to be used in so many ways in the
Communist-inspired campaign which is attempting to disparage and
discredit the important and necessary investigations that the Congress
is undertaking.
There are diflFerent kinds of communism and different kinds of
Communists, but they all have for their purpose the undermining
and overthrow of our Government and the destruction of the Amer-
ican way of life.
And there is a difference between communism and socialism, but
there is also a similar purpose, which explains, to some extent, the
confused thinking that exists in the minos of so many people who
claim to be "anti-Communists," but whose actions belie their words.
Earl Browder, for many years the top Communist in the United
States, explained the similarity quite clearly to the National Press
Club in August 1936, when he said :
The program of the Socialist Party and the program of the Communist Party
have a common origin in the document lino-wn as the Communist Manifesto.
There is no difference, so far as the program is concerned, in final aim.
The more satisfactory explanation is found in the birth, growth,
and development of the American Communist movement, which began
with a split in the old Socialist Party, has changed its name and
program on a number of occasions since 1919, and inspired the organ-
ization of numerous splinter groups.
A careful study of tne calls, conventions, constitutions, manifestoes,
and directives adopted or issued throughout these past 34 years will
give the American people a better understanding of the true meaning
of communism, and will effectively demonstrate that it is not only tlie
threat of Soviet-inspired subversion, spying, and sabotage that con-
stitutes a danger to our free institutions, but that the philosophy of
communism in whatever form, or whatever name it may appear, re-
gardless of how cleverly it may be camouflaged, or how attractively it
may be packaged, is an even more dangerous threat to the American
system of society and government.
The following resume of the background of Organized Communism
in the United States is intended to serve this purpose.
ORIGIN
A resume of the Communist movement in the United States
necessitates a partial review of the history of the Socialist Party.
The Socialist Party of the United States was founded in 1890. Like
that of the American Communists, the history of the Socialist Party
is one of factional fights, splits, and splinter groups. The first split
in the Socialist Party occurred in 1899. Numerous disputes within
the party from 1907 to 1912 resulted in another split in 1912. In 1916,
a number of extremists organized the Socialist Propaganda League at
Boston, and issued a newspaper called The New International. An-
other publication, The Class Struggle, made its appearance in April
1917.
During 1917 and 1918, the radical elements of the Socialist Party
continued activities contrary to the platform of the Socialist Party,
and in November 1918 a Communist Propaganda League was formed
in Chicago. During the same year, the Boston branch of the Socialist
Party began the publication of The Revolutionary Age, in which
Communist tactics were advocated.
As a result of all this dissension within the ranks of the Socialist
Party, a left-wing section was formed in New York City in February
1919. The program and manifesto of this left-wing section were
adopted by many of the Socialist Party locals and all of the Slavic
federations of the Socialist Party, with the result that they were all
expelled from the Socialist Party of America.
In June 1919, the First National Left- Wing Conference of the
Socialist Party was held in New York City. The purpose of this
conference was to form a Communist Party in the United States.
Within this so-called left-wing section of the Socialist Party, a fight
for control developed even before a new party was formed. Under
the impact of the Kussian revolution, the foreign-language Socialist
movement in the United States grew by leaps and bounds. The for-
eign born were organized into language federations, and the leaders
of these federations aspired to control the new party. Another fac-
tion within the left-wing group wanted an American leadership be-
cause the foreign-born were unfamiliar with the American economic
and political scene and did not understand the psychology of the
American workers. As a result of this dissension there was a definite
split within the ranks of the left-wing section before the Socialist
Party Convention in September 1919.
Much of the history of the events leading up to the formation of
the Communist Party in the United States, as well as its stormy exist-
ence in later years, is recorded by Benjamin Gitlow in his book, I Con-
fess, and by James Cannon in his book. History of American
Trotskyism.
Gitlow goes into some detail and names the leaders, not only of the
movement, but of the several factions. He says that the Bolshevik
revolution gave the left-wing Socialists the program they were look-
8
4 ORGANIZED COIVIAIUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
ing for — that the first news of the Czar's overthrow was received with
great rejoicing. One of the first demonstrations in the United States,
according to Gitlow, was held at Hunt's Point Palace on September
13, 1918. John Reed, who had just returned from Russia, was the
speaker and started the spread of Bolshevism that swept the Socialist
Party like a prairie fire. The Greater New York local of the Socialist
Party took the first important step to consolidate the left-wing sec-
tions at a convention held on February 16, 1919.
Socialist Party Left- Wing Seciion Convention — 1919
manifesto
The following program for the convention was prepared by Louis
C. Fraina under the title of "Manifesto of Left-Wing Section of the
Socialist Party of Local Greater New York" : ^
Prior to August 1914 the nations of the world lived on a volcano. Violent
eruptions from time to time gave warning of the cataclysm to come, but the
diplomats and statesmen managed to localize the outbreaks, and the masses,
slightly aroused, sank back into their accustomed lethargy with doubts and
misgivings, and the subterranean fires continued to smoulder.
Many trusted blindly — some in their statesmen, some in the cohesive power
of Christianity, their common religion, and some in the growing strength of
the international Socialist movement. Had not the German Social-Democracy
exchanged dramatic telegrams with the French Socialist Party, each pledging
itself not to fight in case their governments declared war on each other! A
general strike of workers led by these determined Socialists would quickly bring
the governments to their senses.
So the workers reasoned, until the thunderclap of Sarejevo and Austria's
ultimatum to Serbia. Then, suddenly, the storm broke. Mobilization every-
where. Everywhere declarations of war. In thre« or four days Europe was
in arms.
The present structure of society — Capitalism — with its pretensions to democracy
on the one hand, and its commercial rivalries, armament rings, and standing
armies on the other, all based on the exploitation of the working class and tlie
division of the loot, was cast into the furnace of war. Two things only could
issue forth : either international capitalist control, through a League of Nations,
or Social Revolution and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. Both of these
forces are today contending for world power.
The Social Democracies of Europe, unable or unwilling to meet the crisis,
were themselves hurled into the conflagration, to be tempered or consumed by it.
The Collapse of the Second International
Great demonstrations were held in every European country by Socialists
protesting against their governments' declarations of war, and mobilizations
for war. And we know that these demonstrations were rendered impotent by
the complete surrender of the Socialist parliamentary leaders and the official
Socialist press, with their "justifications" of "defensive wars" and the safe-
guarding of "democracy."
Why the sudden change of front? Why did the Socialist leaders in the parlia-
ments of the belligerents vote the war credits? Why did not Moderate Socialism
carry out the policy of the Basle Manifesto; namely, the converting of an
imperialistic , war into ^ civil war — into a proletarian revolution? Why did
ft either openly favor the' war or adopt a policy of petite bourgeolsfe pacifism?
The Development of Moderate "Socialism"
In the latter part of the nineteenth centnry the Social-Democracies of Europe
set out to "legislate Capitalism out of office." The class struggle was to be
won in the capitalist legislatures. Step by step concessions were to be wrested
from the state ; the working class and the Socialist parties were to be strengthened
» Lusk Committee Reports, vol. I, p. 706.
ORGANIZED COMIVIUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 5
by means of "constructive" reform and social legislation ; each concession would
act as rung in the ladder of Social Revolution upon which the workers could
climb step by step, until finally, some bright, sunny morning, the peoples would
awaken to find the Cooperative Commonwealth functioning without disorder,
confusion, or hitch on the ruins of the capitalist state.
And what happened? When a few legislative seats had been secure the
thunderous denunciations of the Socialist legislators suddenly ceased. No more
were the parliaments used as platforms from which the challenge of revolutionary
Socialism was flung to all the corners of Europe. Another era had set in, the
era of "constructive" social reform legislation. Dominant Moderate Socialism
accepted the bourgeois state as the basis of its action and strengthened that
state. All power to shape the policies and tactics of the Socialist parties was
entrusted to the parliamentary leaders. And these lost sight of Socialism's
original purpose; their goal became "constructive reforms" and cabinet
portfolios — the "cooperation of classes," the policy of openly or tacitlv
declaring that the coming of Socialism was a concern "of all the classes," instead
of emphasizing the Marxian policy that the construction of the Socialist system
is the task of the revolutionary proletariat alone. "Moderate Socialism" accepted
the bourgeois state as the leaders, was now ready to share responsibility with
the bourgeoisie in the control of the capitalist state, even to the extent of
defending the bourgeoisie against the working class — as in the first Briand
Ministry in France, when the official party press was opened to a defense of the
shooting of striking railway workers at the order of the Socialist-Bourgeois
Coalition Cabinet.
"Sausage Socialism"
This situation was brought about by mixing the democratic cant of the eight-
eenth century with scientific Socialism. The result was what Rosa Luxemburg
called "sausage Socialism." The "Moderates" emphasized petty-bourgeoisie social
reformism in order to attract tradesmen, shopkeepers, and members of the
professions, and, of course, the latter flocked to the Socialist movement in great
numbers, seeking relief from the constant grinding between corporate capital
and awakening labor.
The Socialist organizations actively competed for votes, on the basis of social
reforms, with the bourgeois-liberal political parties. And so they catered to
the ignorance and prejudices of the workers, trading promises of immediate
reforms for votes.
Dominant "moderate socialism" forgot the teachings of the founders of scien-
tific socialism, forgot its function as a proletarian movement — "the most resolute
and advanced section of the working-class parties" — and permitted the bourgeois
and self-seeking trade-union elements to shape its policies and tactics. This was
the condition in which the Social-Democracies of Europe found themselves at the
outbreak of the war in 1914, Demoralized and confused by the crosscurrents
within their own parties, vacillating and compromising with the bourgeois state,
they fell a prey to social-patriotism and nationalism. . .
Sparticides and Bolsheviki
But revolutionary socialism was not destined to lie inert for long. In Germany,
Karl Liebknecht, Franz Mehring, Rosa Luxemburg, and Otto Ruble organized
the Spartacus Group. But their voices were drowned in the roar of cannon and
the shrieks of the dying and the maimed.
Russia, however, was to be the first battleground where "moderate" and
revolutionary socialism should come to grips for the mastery of the state. The
breakdown of the corrupt, bureaucratic Czarist regime opened the floodgates
of revolution.
Three main contending parties attempted to ride into power on the revolu-
tionary tide; the Cadets, the "moderate Socialists" (Mensheviki and Social
Revolutionists), and the revolutionary Socialists — the Bolsheviki. The Cadets
were first to be swept into power; but they tried to stem the still-rising flood
with a few abstract political ideals, and were soon carried away. The soldiers,
workers, and peasants could no longer be fooled by phrases. The Mensheviki
and Social Revolutionaries succeeded the Cadets. And now came the crucial
test: Would they, in accord with Marxian teachings, make themselves the ruling
class and sweep away the old conditions of production, and thus prepare the way
for the Cooperative Commonwealth? Or would they tinker with the old
machinery and try to foist it on the masses as something just as good?
6 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
They did the latter and proved for all time that "moderate socialism" cannot
be trusted.
"Moderate socialism" was not prepared to seize the power for the workers
during a revolution. "Moderate socialism" had a rigid formula— "Constructive
social reform legislation within the capitalist state," and to that formula it
clung. It believed that bourgeois democracy could be used as a means of con-
structing the Socialist system ; therefore, it must wait until the people, through
a Constituent Assembly, should vote socialism into existence. And in the
meantime, it held that there must be established a Government of Coalition with
the enemy, the bourgeoisie. As if, with all the means of controlling public
opinion in the hands of the bourgeoisie, a Constituent Assembly could or would
ever vote the Socialists into power.
Revolutionary Socialists hold, with the founders of scientific socialism, that
there are two dominint classes in society— the bourgeoisie and the proletariat;
that between these two classes a struggle must go on, until the working class,
through the seizure of the instruments of production and distribution, the
abolition of the capitalist state, and the establishment of the dictatorship of
the proletariat, creates a Socialist system. Revolutionary Socialists do not
believe that they can be voted into power. They struggle for the conquest of
power by the revolutionary proletariat. Then comes the transition period from
capitalism to socialism, of which Marx speaks in his "Critique of the Gotha
program," when he says: "Between th« capitalistic society and the communistic
lies the period of the revolutionary transformation of the one into the other.
This corresponds to a political transition period, in which the state cannot
be anything else but the dictatorship of the proletariat."
Marx and Engels clearly explain the function of the Socialist movement. It
is the "moderate Socialists" through intellectual gymnastics, evasions, mis-
quotations and the tearing of sentences and phrases from their context, who
make Marx and Engels sponsors for their perverted version of socialism.
Problems of American Socialism.
At the present moment, the Socialist Party of America is agitated by several
crosscurrents, some local in their character, and some a reSex of cleavages within
the European Socialist movements. Many see in this internal dissention merely
an unimportant difference of opinion, or, at most, dissatisfaction with the
control of the party, and the desire to replace those who have misused it with
better men.
We, however, maintain that there is a fundamental distinction in views
concerning party policies and tactics. And we believe that this difference Is
so vast that from our standpoint a radical change in party policies and tactics
is necessary.
This essential task Is being shirked by our party leaders and oflBciais generally.
Already there is formidable industrial unrest, a seething ferment of dis-
content, evidenced by inarticulate rumblings which pressage striking occurrences.
.rVThe transformation of industry from a war to a peace basis has thoroughly
disorganized the economic structure. Thousands upon thousands of workers are
being thrown out of work. Demobilized sailors aud soldiers find themselves a
drug upon the labor market, unless they act as scabs and strikebreakers.
Skilled mechanics, fighting desperately to maintain their war wage and their
industrial status, are forced to strike. Women, who during the war have been
welcomed into industries hitherto closed to them, are struggling to keep their
jobs. And to cap the climax, the capitalists, through their Chambers of Commerce
and their Merchants and Manufacturers' Associations, have resolved to take
advantage of the situation to break down even the inadequate organizations
labor has built up through generations of painful struggle.
The temper of the workers and soldiers, after the sacrifices they have made in
the war, is such that they will not endure the reactionary labor conditions so
openly advocated by the master class. A series of labor struggles is bound to
follow — indeed, is beginning now. Shall the Socialist Party continue to feed
the workers with social-reform legislation at this critical period? Shall It
approach the whole question from the standpoint of votes and the election of
representatives to the legislatures? Shall it emphasize the consumers' point
of view, when Socialist principle:^ teach that the worker is robbed at the point
of production? Shall it talk about the cost of living and taxation when it should
be explaining how the worker is robbed at his Job?
Tliere are many signs of the awakening of labor. Strikes are developlDg
which verge on revolutionary action ; the trade unlona are oi'ganlzlng a Labor
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 7
Party In an effort to conserve what they have won and wrest new concessions
from the master class. The organization of the Labor Party is an immature
expression of a new spirit in the Labor movement ; but a Labor Party is not
the instrument for the emancipation of the worlsing class; its policy would
be in general what is now the official policy of the Socialist Party-J-*eftrrming
capitalism on the basis of the bourgeois state. Laborism is as much a danger
to the revolutionary proletariat as "moderate" socialism ; neither is an instru-
ment for the conquest of power.
Capitalist Imperialism
Imperialism is the final stage of capitalism, in which the : ccumulated capital
or surplus of a nation is too great to be reinvested in the home marliet. The
Increased productivity of the working class, due to improved machinery and
efficiency methods, and the mere subsistence wage which permits the worker to
buy back only a small portion of what he produces, causes an ever-iucreasing
accumulation of commodities, which in turn become capital and must be invested
in further production. When capitalism has reached the stage in which it
Imports raw materials from undeveloped countries and exports them again in
the shape of manufactured products, it has reached its highest development.
This process is universal. Foreign markets, spheres of influence and protecto-
rates, under the intensive development of capitalist industry and finance in turn
become highly developed. They, too, seek for markets. National capitalist
control, to save itself from ruin, breaks its national bonds and emerges full-
grown as a capitalist League of Nations, with international armies and navies
to maintain its supremacy.
The United States no longer holds itself aloof, isolated and provincial. It is
reaching out for new markets, new zones of influence, new protectorates.
The capitalist class of America is using organized labor for its imperialistic
purposes. We may soon expect the capitalist class, in true Bismarckian fashion,
to grant factory laws, old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, sick beneflts,
and the whole litter of bourgeois reforms, so that the workers may be kept fit
to produce the greatest profits at the greatest speed.
Dangers to American Socialism
There is danger that the Socialist Party of America might make use of these
purely bourgeois reforms to attract the workers' votes, by claiming that they
are victories for Socialism, and that they have been won by Socialist political
action ; when, as a matter of fact, the object of these master class measures is
to prevent the growing class-consciousness of the workers, and to divert them
from their revolutionary aim. By agitating for these reforms, therefore, the
Socialist Party would be playing into the hands of the American imperialists.
On the basis of the class struggle, then, the Socialist Party of America must
reorganize itself, must prepare to come to grips with the master class during the
difficult period of capitalist readjustment now going on. This it can do only by
teaching the working class the truth about present-day conditions ; it must preach
revolutionary industrial unionism, and urge all the workers to organize into
Industrial unions, the only form of labor organization which can cope with the
power of great modern aggregations of capital. It must carry on its political
campaigns, not merely as a means of electing officials to political office, as in the
past, but as a year-round educational campaign to arouse the workers to class-
conscious economic and political action, and to keep alive the burning ideal of
revolution in the hearts of the people.
Political Action
We assert with Marx that "the class struggle is essentially a political struggle,"
and we can only accept his own oft-repeated interpretation of that phrase. The
class struggle, whether it manifest itself on the industrial field or in the direct
struggle for governmental control, is essentially a struggle for the capture and
destruction of the capitalist state. This is a political act. In this broader view
of the term "political," Marx includes revolutionary industrial action. In other
words, the objective of Socialist industrial action is "political," in the sense
that it aims to undermine the bourgeois state, which "is nothing less than a
machine for the oppression of one class by another and that no less so in a demo-
cratic republic than under a monarchy."
8 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
Political action is also and more generally used to refer to participation ir
election campaigns for the immediate purpose of winning legislative seats. Ii
this sense, too, we urge the use of political action as a revolutionary weapon.
But both in the nature and the purpose of this form of political action, revolu
tionary socialism and "moderate socialism" are completely at odds.
Political action, revolutionary and emphasizing the implacable character o:
the class struggle, is a valuable means of propaganda. It must at all times
struggle to arouse the revolutionary mass action of the proletariat — its use ii
both agitational and obstructive. It must on all issues wage war upon capitalisn
and the state. Revolutionary socialism uses the forum of parliament for agita
tion ; but it does not intend to and cannot use the bourgeois state as a means oi
introducing socialism : this bourgeois state must be destroyed by the mass actioi
of the revolutionary proletariat. The proletarian dictatorship in the form of t
Soviet state is the immediate objective of the class struggle.
Marx declared that "the working class cannot simply lay hold of the ready
made state machinery and wield it for its own purposes." This machinery mus
be destroyed. But "moderate socialism" makes the state the center of its action
The attitude towards the state divides the Anarchist (Anarcho-Syndicalist)
the "moderate Socialist" and the revolutionary Socialist. Eager to abolish th(
state (which is the ultimate purpose of revolutionary socialism), the Anarchis
and Anarcho-syndicalist fall to realize that a state Is necessary in the transitioi
period from capitalism to socialism ; the "moderate Socialist" proposes to us(
the bourgeois state with its fraudulent democracy, its illusory theory of "uniti
of all the classes," its standing army, police and bureaucracy oppressing anc
baffling the masses ; the revolutionary Socialist maintains that the bourgeoii
state most be completely destroyed, and proposes the organization of a ne^^
state — the state of the organized producers — of the Federated Soviets — on th(
basis of which alone can socialism be introduced.
Industrial unionism, the organization of the proletariat in accordance witl
the integration of industry and for the overthrow of capitalism, is a necessary
phase of revolutionary Socialist agitation. Potentially, industrial unionism con
structs the basis and develops the ideology of the industrial state of socialism
but industrial unionism alone cannot perform the revolutionary act of seizure
of the power of the state, since under the conditions of capitalism it is impossible
to organize the whole working class, or an overwhelming majority, into Indus
trial unions.
It is the task of a revolutionary Socialist party to direct the struggles of th(
proletariat and provide a program for the culminating crisis. Its propaganda
must be so directed that when this crisis comes, the workers will be prepared t(
accept a program of the following character :
(a) The organization of Workmen's Councils; recognition of, and propaganda
for, these mass organizations of the working class as instruments in the imme
diate struggle, as the form of expression of the class struggle, and as the instru
ments for the seizure of the power of the state and the basis of the new prole
tarian state of the organized producers and the dictatorship of the proletariat
(b) Workmen's control of industry, to be exercised by the industrial organiza
tions (industrial unions or Soviets) of the workers and the industrial vote, as
against government ownership or state control of industry.
(c) Repudiation of all national debts — with provisions to safeguard smal
investors.
(d) Expropriation of the banks — a preliminary measure for the complete
expropriation of capital.
(e) Expropriation of the raihcays, and the large (trust) organizations o:
capital— no compensation to be paid, as "buying-out" the capitalists would in
sure a continuance of the exploitation of the workers ; provision, however, to b(
made during the transition period for the protection of small owners of stock
(f ) The socialization of foreign trade.
These are not the "immediate demands" comprised in the social reform planki
■fiow iff the platform of oiir'party ; they are not a coinpromise with the'fcapltallsi
state, but imply a revolutionary struggle against that state and against capital
ism, the conquest of power by the proletariat through revolutionary mass action
They imply the new Soviet state of the organized producers, the dictatorshli
of the proletariat ; they are preliminary revolutionary measures for the expro
priation of capital and the introduction of Communist socialism.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 9
Program
1. We stand for a uniform declaration of principles in all party platforms both
local and national and the abolition of all social reform planks now contained iu
them.
2. The party must teach, propagate, and agitate exclusively for the overthrow
of capitalism, and the establishment of socialism through a proletarian dictator-
ship.
3. The Socialist candidates elected to otfice shall adhere strictly to the above
provisions,
4. Eealizing that a i)olitical party cannot reorganize and reconstruct the
Industrial organizations of the working class, and that that is the task of the
economic organizations themselves, we demand that the party assist this process
of reorganization by a propaganda for revolutionary industrial unionism as
part of its general activities. We believe it is the mission of the Socialist move-
ment to encourage and assist the proletariat to adopt newer and more effective
forms of organization and to stir it into newer and more revolutionary modes of
action.
5. We demand that the official party press be party owned and controlled.
6. We demand that officially recognized educational institutions be party
owned and controlled.
7. We demand that the party discard its obsolete literature and publish new
literature in keeping with the policies and tactics above-mentioned.
8. We demand that the National Executive Committee call an immediate emer-
gency national convention for the purpose of formulating party policies and
tactics to meet the present crisis.
9. We demand that the Socialist Party repudiate the Berne Congress or any
other conference engineered by "moderate Socialists" and social patriots.
10. We demand that the Socialist Party shall elect delegates to the Interna-
tional Congress proposed by the Communist Party of Russia (Bolsheviki) ;
that our party shall participate only in a new International with which are
affiliated the Communist Party of Russia (Bolsheviki), the Communist Labor
Party of Germany (Spartacus), and all other Left Wing parties and groups.
COMMITTEES
Out of all the debate and wrangling, the following were elected as a
committee to carry out the work :
Nicholas I. Hourwich Joseph Brodsky
Fanny Horowitz Dr. Julius Hammer
Jay Lovestone Jeanette D. Pearl
James Larkin Carl Brodsky
Harry Hilzik Mrs. L. Ravitch
Edward I. Lindgren Bertram D. Wolfe
Milton Goodman Benjamin Gitlow
John Eeed
For the purpose of carrying out the daily activities of the new
organization, the following were elected as members of an executive
committee :
Nicholas I. Hourwich Benjamin Corsor
George Lehman Edward I. Lindgren
James Larkin Maximilian Cohen
L. Himmelfarb ' ' " - Benjamin'Gitlow — -. . .
George C. Vaughn
In April 1919 an official publication, the New York Communist,
was launched, with John Eeed as editor.
As heretofore stated, this left-wing element was expelled from the
Socialist Party. This expulsion was sponsored by Morris Hillquit,
47716*— 54 2
10 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM EST TI^E UNITED STATES
and the expulsion was effected by the New York State Executive
Committee of the Socialist Party at a meeting held in Albany, N. Y^
in May 1919. Subsequently, the entire Michigan State organization
was expelled from the Socialist Party.
National Conference of Left Wing
The left-wing element took immediate steps to consolidate its forces
on a national scale, and called for a national conference to be held in
New York City on June 21, 1919. About 100 delegates attended, in-
cluding Charles E. Ruthenberg, secretary of the Cleveland local of the
Socialist Party; Alfred Wagenknecht, Ohio State secretary of the
Socialist Party; Louis E. Katterfield, a Kansas Socialist; William
Bross Lloyd, a millionaire Socialist from Chicago, accompanied by
his private secretary, Isaac E. Ferguson ; James P. Caimon, an I. W.
W. from Kansas City; James Larkin, John Reed, Rose Pastor Stokes,
Jay Lovestone, and Benjamin Gitlow from New York; Nicholas I.
Hourwich and Alexander I. Stoklitzky from the language federa-
tions; and Dennis E. Batt from the Michigan State Socialist Party.
Gitlow's explanation as to the reasons for the split in the left-wing
element at the national conference of June 1919 differs somewhat from
the reasons previously given. He says that one faction, composed
of the foreign lan^iage federations and supported by Fraina, Love-
stone, Wolfe, Ruthenberg, and Ferguson, wanted the passage of a
motion calling upon the conference to immediately organize a Com-
munist Party of the United States. The other faction, composed of
Reed, Larkin, Katterfield, Wagenknecht, Gitlow, and others, insisted
that only after the national convention of the Socialist Party had
refused to recognise the left 'wing as the majority should the left wing
split the Socialist Party and organize a Communist Party. The mo-
tion sponsored by the foreign language groups was defeated. This
was followed by the election of a national council composed of Louis
C. Fraina, Charles E. Ruthenberg, Isaac E. Ferguson, John J. Ballam,
James Larkin, Benjamin Gitlow, Eadmonn MacAlpinc, Maxmilian
Cohen, and Bertram D. Wolfe.
The minority /immediately withdrew from the conference and
formed a national organizing committee to issue a call for a confer-
ence with the objective of organizing a Communist Party. This move
had the full support of the Russian Socialist Federation. This organ-
izing committee, which consisted of Dennis E. Batt, O. C. Johnson,
John Keracher (later to become the leader of the Proletarian Party),
S. Kopnagel, I. Stilson, and Alexander Stoklitzky opened offices at
1221 Blue Island Avenue, Chicago, 111.
THE CALL FOR CONFERENCE
The call by this committee was printed in the July 7, 1919, issue
of "Novy Mir," a translation of which is as follows : *
In this, the most momentous period of the world's history, capitalism is tot-
tering to its ruin. The proletariat is straining at the chains which bind it. A
revolutionary spirit Is spreading throughout the world. The workers are rising
to answer the clarion call of the Third International.
Only one Socialism is possible in this crisis. A Socialism based upon under-
itanding. A Socialism that will express in action the needs of the proletariat.
»Lusk Committee Reports, vol. I, p. 739.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 11
The time has passed for temporizing and hesitating. We mnst act. The Com-
munist call of the Third International, the echo of the Communist Manifesto of
1848, must be answered.
The National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America has evi-
denced by its expulsion of nearly half of the membership that they will not hesi-
tate at wrecliing the organization in order to maintain control. A deadlock has
been precipitated in the ranks of revolutionary Socialism by the wholesale ex-
pulsion or suspension of the membership comprising the Socialist Party of
Michigan, locals and branches throughout the country, together with seven lan-
guage federations. This has created a condition in our movement that makes
it manifestly impossible to longer delay the calling of a convention to organize
a new party. Those who realize that the capturing of the Socialist Party as
such is but an empty victory will not hesitate to respond to this call and leave
the "Right" and "Center" to sink together with their "revolutionary" leaders.
The majority of the delegates to the left-wing conference in New York meekly
neglected to sever their connections with the reactionary National Executive
Committee. Rendered impotent by the conflicting emotions and lack of under-
standing present they continued to mark time as Centrists in the wake of the
Right. Their policy is one of endeavor to capture the old party machinery and
the stagnant elements who have been struggling for a false unity and who are
only ready to abandon the ship when it sinks beneath the waves of reaction.
This condition confronting the minority delegates representing the following
organizations — Socialist Party of Michigan ; Left Wing State Convention of
Minnesota; Locals, Buffalo; Chicago; Union Local, N. J.; Cudahy, Wis.; Roches-
ter, N. Y. ; Rockford, 111.; Kenosha, Wis.; New York; Providence; Nanticoke,
Pa.; Milwaukee, Wis.; Boston, Mass.; Polish, Lettish, Russian, Jewish, Lithu-
anian, Esthonian Federations — at the Left Wing Conference has been met by this
call for the organization of a Communist Party in America.
No other course is possible, therefore, we, the minority delegates at the Left
Wing Conference, call a convention to meet in the city of Chicago on September 1,
1919, for the purpose of organizing a Communist Party in America.
This party will be founded upon the following principles :
1. The present is the period of the dissolution and collapse of the whole capi-
talist world system ; which will mean the complete collapse of world culture, if
capitalism with its unsolvable contradictions is not replaced by communism.
2. The problem of the proletariat consists in organizing and training itself
for the conquest of the powers of the state. This conquest of power means the
replacement of the state machinery of the bourgeoisie with a new proletarian
machinery of government.
3. This new proletarian state must embody the dictatorship of the proletariat,
both industrial and agricultural, this dictatorship constituting the instrument for
the taking over of property used for exploiting the workers, and for the reor-
ganization of society on a Communist basis.
Not the fraudulent bourgeois democracy — the hypocritical form of the rule of
the finance-oligarchy, with its purely formal equality — but proletarian democ-
racy based on the possibility of actual realization of freedom for the working
masses ; not capitalist bureaucracy, but organs of administrations which have
been created by the masses themselves, with the real participation of these masses
in the government of the country and in the activity of the communistic struc-
ture — this should be the type of the proletarian state. The workers' councils and
similar organizations represent its concrete form.
4. The dictatorship of the proletariat shall carry out the abolition of private
property in the means of production and distribution, by transfer to the prole-
tarian state under Socialist administration of the working class; nationalization
of the great business enterprises and financial trusts.
5. The present world situation demands the closest relation between the
revolutionary proletariat of all countries.
6. The fundamental means of the struggle for power is the mass action of the
proletariat, a gathering together and concentration of all its energies; whereas
methods such as the revolutionary use of bourgeois parliamentarism are only
of subsidiary significance.
In those countries in which the historical development has furnished the op-
portunity, the working class has utilized the regime of political democracy for its
organization against capitalism. In all countries where the conditions for a
workers' revolution are not yet ripe, the same process will go on.
12 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
But within the process the workers must never lose sight of the true character
of bourgeois democracy. If the finance-oligarchy considers it advantageous to
veil its deeds of violence behind parliaraeutary votes, then the capitalist power
has at its command in order to gain its ends, all the traditions and attainments
of former centuries of upper class rule, demagogism, persecution, slander, brib-
ery, calumny, and terror. To demand of the proletariat that it shall be content
to yield itself to the artificial rules devised by its mortal enemy, but not observed
by the enemy, is to make a mockery of tlie proletarian struggle for power — a
struggle which depends primarily on the development of separate organs of the
working-class power.
7. The old Socialist International has broken into three main gi-oups :
(a) Those frankly social patriots who since 1914 have supported thfir
bourgeoisie and transformed these elements of the working class which they
control into hangmen of the international revolution.
(b) The "Center," representing the elements which are constantly wavering
and incapable of following a definite plan of action, and which are at timts
positively traitorous; and
(e) The Communists.
As regards the social patriots, who everywhere in the critical moment oppose
the proletarian revolution with force of arms, a merciless fight is absolutely
necessary. As regards the "Center" our tactics must be to separate the revolu-
tionary elements by pitilessly criticizing the leaders. Absolute separation from
the organization of the "Center" is necessary.
It is necessary to rally the groups and proletarian organizations who, though
not as yet in the wake of revolutionary trend of the Communist movement, never-
theless have manifested and developed a tendency leading in that direction.
Socialist criticism has sufficiently stigmatized the bourgeois world order. The
task of the International Communist Party is now to overthrow this order and
to erect in its place the structure of the Socialist world order. Under the Com-
munist banner, the emblem under which the first great victories have already
been won ; In the war against imperialistic barbarity, against the privileged
classes, against the bourgeois state and bourgeois property, against all forms of
social and national oppression — we call upon the proletarians of all lands to
unite.
PBOGBAM OF THE CALL
1. We favor international alliance of the Socialist movement of the United
States only w4th the Communist groups of other countries, such as the Bolshe-
viki of Russia, Spartacans of Germany, etc., according to the program of Com-
munism as above outlined.
2. We are opposed to association with other groups not committed to the
revolutionary class struggle, such as labor parties, nonpartisan leagues, people's
council, municipal ownership leagues, and the like.
3. We maintain that the class struggle is essentially a political struggle that
Is, a struggle by the proletariat to conquer the capitalist state, whether Its form
be monarchistic or democratic-republican, and to destroy and replace it by a
governmental structure adapted to the Socialist transformation.
4. The party shall propagandize class-conscious industrial unionism against
the craft form of unionism, and shall carry on party activity in cooperation
with industrial disputes that take on a revolutionary character.
5. We do not disparage voting nor the value of success in electing our candi-
dates to public office — not if these are in direct line with the class struggle.
The trouble comes with the illusion that political or industrial immediate
achievements are of themselves steps in the revolution, the progressive merging
of capitalism into the cooperative commonwealth.
The basis of our political campaign should be —
(a) To propagandize the overthrow of capitalism by proletarian conquest
of the political power and the establishment of a dictatorship of the proletariat.
(b) To maintain a political organization as a clearinghouse for proletarian
thought, a center of political education for the development of revolutionary
working-class action.
(c) To keep in the foreground our consistent appeal for proletarian revo-
lution ; and to analyze the counterproposals and reformist palliatives in their
true light of evasion of the issue ; recognizing at all times the characteristic
development of the class conflict as applicable to all capitalistic nations.
(d) To propagandize the party organization as the organ of contact with
the revolutionary proletariat of other lands, the basis for international asso-
ciation being the same political understanding and the common plan of action,
ORGANIZED COJVIMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 13
tending toward Increasing unity in detail as the international crisis develops.
6. Socialist platforms, proceeding on the basis of the class struggle, recog-
nizing that the Socialist movement has come into the historic period of the
eocial revolution, can contain only the demand for the dictatorship of the
proletariat.
(a) The basis of this demand should be thoroughly explained in th« eco-
nomic, political, and social analysis of the class struggle, as evolving within the
system of capitalism,
(b) The implications of this demand should be illustrated by the first steps
and general modes of social reconstruction dependent upon and involved within
the proletarian domination of the political life of the nation.
(c) A municipal platform of Socialism cannot proceed on a separate basis,
but must conform to the general platform, simply relating the attainment of
local power to the immediate goal of gaining national power. There are no
city problems within the terms of the class struggle, only the one problem of
capitalist versus proletarian domination.
7. We realize that the coming of the social revolution depends on an over-
whelming assertion of mass power by the proletariat, taldng on political con-
sciousness and the definite direction of revolutionary Socialism. The mani-
festations of this power and consciousness are not subject to precise precalcula-
tion. But the history of the movement of the proletariat toward emancipation
since 1900 shows the close connection between the revolutionary proletarian
assertion and the political mass strilie.
The mass action conception looks to the general unity of the proletarian forces
under revolutionary provocation and stimulus. In the preliminary stages, which
alone come within our predetermination and party initiative, the tactics of
mass action include all mass demonstration and mass struggles which sharpen
the understanding of the proletariat as to the class conflict and which separate
the revolutionary proletariat into a group distinct from all others.
Mass action, in time of revolutionary crisis, or in the analogous case of large
scale industrial conflict, naturally accepts the council form of organization for
its expression over a continued period of time.
8. Applying our declarations of party principle to the organization of the party
Itself, we realize the need, in correspondence with the highly centralized capi-
talist power to be combated, of a centralized party organization.
Organizations indorsing the principles and program outlined as a tentative
basis for the organization of a Communist Party are invited to send delegates
to the convention in Chicago on September 1, 1919.
The basis of representation to be one delegate for every organization and one
additional for every additional 500 members or major fraction thereof.
Provided, also, that each Language Federation shall have one fraternal dele-
gate at the convention.
Provided further, that in states where the states are organized, they shall send
delegates as states. In states which are not organized, the locals shall send dele-
gates as such. In locals which are not organized a part of the local may send a
delegate.
Left- Wing National Council
manifesto
The National Council set up offices, with Isaac E. Ferguson as
secretary, and the Revolutionary Age became the official organ with
the first issue of July 15, 1919. 6n authority of the Conference of the
National Council of the Left Wing, the following "Left Wing Mani-
festo" was issued : '
The Avqrld is in crisis^. Cjapitalism, jthe prevailing system of _ society, ___ls in
process of disintegration and collapse." Out of its vitals is developing a new
social order, the system of Communist Socialism ; and the struggle between this
new social order and the old, is now the fundamental problem of international
politics.
The predatory "war for democracy" dominated the world. But now it is the
revolutionary proletariat in action that dominates, conquering power in some
nations, mobilizing to conquer power in others, and calling upon the proletariat
of all nations to prepare for the final struggle against capitalism.
* Lnsk Committee Bepsrts, vol. I, p. T16.
14 ORGANIZED COJMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
But Socialism itself is in crisis. Events are revolutionizing capitalism and
Socialism — an indication that this is the historic epoch of the proletarian revo-
lution. Imperialism is the final stage of Capitalism; and Imperialism means
sterner reaction and new wars of conquest — unless the revolutionary proletariat
acts for Socialism. Capitalism cannot reform itself; it cannot be reformed.
Humanity can be saved from its last excesses only by the Communist revolution.
There can now be only the Socialism which is one in temper and purpose with
the proletarian revolutionary struggle. There can be only the Socialism which
unites the proletariat of the whole world in the general struggle against the
desperately destructive Imperialisms — the Imperialisms which array them-
selves as a siusle force against the onsweeping proletarian revolution.
The War aJid Imperialism
The prevailing conditions, in the world of Capitalism and of Socialism, are a
direct product of the war ; and the war was Itself a direct product of Imperialism.
Industrial development under the profit system of Capitalism is based upon
the accumulation of capital, which depends upon the expropriation of values pro-
duced by the workers. This accumulation of capital promotes, and is itself pro-
moted by, the concentration of industry. The competitive struggle compels each
capitalist to secure the most efhcient means of production, or a group of capi-
talists to combine their capital in order to produce more efficiently. This process
of concentration of industry and the accumulation of capital, while a product
of competition, ultimately denies and ends competition. The concentration of
industry and of capital develops monopoly.
Monopoly expresses itself through dictatorial control exercised by finance-
capital over industry ; and finance-capital unifies Capitalism for world exploita-
tion. Under Imperialism, the banks, whose control is centralized in a clique of
financial magnates, dominate the whole of industry directly, purely upon the
basis of investment exploitation, and not for purposes of social production. The
concentration of industry implies that, to a large extent, industry within the
nation has reached its maturity, is unable to absorb all the surplus-capital that
comes from the profits of industry. Capitalism, accordingly, must find means
outside the nation for the .Tbsorption of this surplus. The older export trad©
was dominated by the export of consumable goods. American exports, particu-
larly, except for the war period, have been largely of cotton, foodstuffs, and raw
materials. Under the conditions of Imperialism, it is capital whicli is exported,
as by the use of concessions in backward territory to build railroads, or to
start native factories, as in India, or to develop oil fields, as in Mexico. This
means an export of locomotives, heavy machinery, in short, predominantly a trade
in iron goods. This export of capital, together with the struggle to monopolize
the world's sources of raw materials and to control undeveloped territory, pro-
duces Imperialism.
A fully developed capitalist nation is compelled to accept Imperialism. Each
nation seeks markets for the absorption of its surplus capital. Undeveloped
territory, possessing sources of raw material, the industrial development of
which will require the investment of capital and the purchase of machinery,
becomes the objective of capitalistic competition between the imperialistic
nations.
Capitalism, in the epoch of Imperialism, comes to rely for its "prosperity" and
supremacy upon the exploitation and enslavement of colonial peoples, either in
colonies, "spheres of influence," "protectorates," or "mandatories" — savagely
oppressing hundreds of millions of subject peoples in order to assure high profit
and interest rates for a few million people in the favored nations.
This struggle for undeveloped territory, raw materials, and investment markets,
is carried on "peacefully" between groups of international finance-capital by
means of "agreements," and between the nations by means of diplomacy ; but a
crisis comes, the competition becomes irreconcilable, antagonisms cannot be
solved peacefully, and the nations resort to war.
The antagonisms between the European nations were antagonisms as to who
should control undeveloped territory, sources of raw materials, and the invest-
ment markets of the world. The inevitable consequence was war. The issue
being world power, other nations, including the United States, were dragged in.
The United States, while having no direct territorial interests in the war, was
vitally concerned, since the issue was world power; and its capitalism, having
attained a position of financial world power, had a direct imperialistic interest
at stake.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 15
The Imperialistic character of the war is climaxed by an imperialistic peace—
a peace that strikes directly at the peace and liberty of the world, which organizes
the great imperialistic powers into a sort of "trust of nations," among whom the
world is divided financially and territorially. The League of Nations is simply
the screen for this division of the world, an instrument for joint domination of
the world by a particular group of Imperialism.
While this division of the world solves, for the moment, the problems of power
that produced the war, the solution is temporary, since the Imperialism of one
nation can prosper only by limiting the economic opportunity of another nation.
New problems of power must necessarily arise, producing new antagonisms, new
wars of aggression and conquest — unless the revolutionary proletariat conquers
in the struggle for Socialism.
The concentration of industry produces monopoly, and monopoly produces
Imperialism. In Imperialism there is implied the socialization of industry, the
material basis of Socialism. Production moreover, becomes international; and
the limits of the nation, of national production, become a fetter upon the forces
of production. The development of Capitalism produces world economic prob-
lems that break down the old order. The forces of production revolt against the
fetters Capitalism imposes upon production. The answer of Capitalism is war ;
th€ answer o( the proletariat is the Social Revolution and Socialism.
T?ie Collapse of the International
In 1912, at the time of the first Balkan War, Europe was on the verge of a
general imperialistic war. A Socialist International Congress was convened at
Basle to act on the impending crisis. The resolution adopted stigmatized the
coming war as imperialistic and as unjustitiable on any pretext of national
interest. The Basle resolution declared :
1. That the war would create an economic and political crisis; 2. That the
workers would look upon participation in the war as a crime, which would arouse
"indignation and revulsion" among the masses ; 3. TJiat the crisis and the psycho-
logical condition of the workers would create a situation that Socialists should
use "to rouse the masses and hasten the downfall of capitalism"; 4. That the
governments "fear a proletarian revolution" and should remember the Paris
Commune and the revolution in Russia in 1905, that is, a civil war.
The Basle resolution indicted the coming war as imperialistic, a war neces-
sarily to be opposed by Socialism, which should use the opportunity of war to
wage the revolutionary struggle against Capitalism. The policy of Socialism was
comprised in the struggle to transform the imperialistic war into a civil war of
the oppressed against the oppressors, and for Socialism.
Tlie war that came in 1914 was the same imperialistic war that might have
come in 1912, or at the time of the Agadir crisis. But, upon the declaration of
war, the dominant Socialism, contrary to the Basle resolution, accepted and
justified the war.
Great demonstrations were held. The governments and war were denounced.
But, immediately upon the declaration of war, there was a change of front. The
war credits were voted by Socialists in the parliaments. The dominant Socialism
favored the war ; a small minority adopted a policy of petty bourgeois pacifism,
and only the Left-Wing groups adhered to the policy of revolutionary Socialism.
It was not alone a problem of preventing the war. The fact that Socialism
could not prevent the war, was not a justification for accepting and idealizing the
war. Nor was it a problem of immediate revolution. The Basle manifesto simply
required opposition to the war and the fight to develop out of its circumstances
the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat against the war and Capitalism.
The dominant Socialism, in accepting and justifying the war, abandoned the
class struggle and betrayed Socialism. The class struggle is the heart of
Socialism. Without strict conformity to the class struggle, in its revolutionary
implications. Socialism becomes either sheer Utopiaism or a method of recreation.
But the dominant Socialism accepted "civil peace," the "unity of all the classes
and parties" in order to wage successfully the imperialistic war. The dominant
Socialism united with the governments against Socialism and the proletariat.
Tlie class struggle comes to a climax during war. National struggles are a
form of expression of the class struggle, whether they are revolutionary wars for
liberation or imperialistic wars for spoliation. It is precisely during a war that
material conditions provide the opportunity for waging the class struggle to a
conclusion for the conquest of power. The war was a war for world power — a war
of the capitalist class against the working class, since world power means power
over the proletariat
16 ORGANIZED eOMMUNISM EST THE UNITED STATES
But the ciomiBant Socialism acceptecl the war as a war for democracy — as If
democracy under the conditions of imperialism is not directly counterrevolu-
tionary. It justified the war as a war for national independence — as if Impe-
rialism is not necessarily determined upon annihilating the independence of
nations.
Nationalism, social patriotism, and social Imperialism determined the policy
of the dominant Socialism, and not the proletarian class struggle and Socialism.
The coming of Socialism was made dependent upon the predatory war and
Imperialism, upon the international proletariat cutting each other's throats in
the struggles of the ruling class.
The Second International on the whole merged in the opposed imperialistic
ranks. This collapse of the Intemationfil was not an accident, nor simply an
expression of the betrayal by individuals. It was the inevitable consequence of
the whole tendency and policy of the dominant Socialism as an organized
movement.
Moderate Socialism
The Socialism which developed as an organized movement after the collapse
of the revolutionary First International was moderate, petty bourgeois Socialism.
It was a Socialism adapting itself to the conditions of national development,
abandoning in practice the militant idea of revolutionizing the Old World.
This moderate Socialism initiated the era of "constructive" social refonns. It
accepted the bourgeois state as the basis of its activity and strengthened that
state. Its goal became "constructive reforms" and cabinet portfolios — the
"cooperation of classes," the policy of openly or tacitly declaring that the coming
of Socialism was the concern "of all the classes" instead of emphasizing the
Marxian policy that the construction of the Socialist system is the task of the
revolutionary proletariat alone. In accepting social reformism the "cooperation
of classes," and the bourgeois parliamentary state as the basis of its action,
moderate Socialism was prepared to share responsibility with the bourgeoisie
in the control of the capitalist state, even to the extent of defending the bour-
geoisie against the working class and its revolutionary mass movements. The
counterrevolutionai*y tendency of the dominant Socialism finally reveals itself
in open war against Socialism during the proletarian revolution, as in Russia,
Germany, and Austria-Hungary.
The dominant moderate Socialism was initiated by the formation of the Social
Democratic Party in Germany. This party united on the basis of the Gotha
program, in which fundamental revolutionary Socialism was abandoned. It
evaded completely the task of the conquest of power, which Marx, in his Criticism
of the Gotha Program, characterized as follows : "Between the capitalistic
society and the communistic lies the period of the revolutionary transformation
of the one into the other. This corresponds to a political transition period, in
which the state cannot be anything else than the revolutionary dictatorship of
the proletariat."
Evading the actual problems of the revolutionary struggle, the dominant
Socialism of the Second International developed into a peaceful movement of
organization, of trades-union struggles, of cooperation with the middle class, of
legislation and bourgeois State Capitalism as means of introducing Socialism.
There was a joint movement that affected the thought and practice of Social-
ism ; on the one hand, the organization of the skilled workers into trade unions,
which secured certain concessions and became a semiprivileged caste; and, on
the other, the decay of the class of small producers, crushed under the iron tread
of the concentration of industry and the accumulation of capital. As one moved
upward and the other downward, they met, formed a juncture, and united to use
the state to improve their conditions. The dominant Socialism expressed this
unity, developing a policy of legislative reforms and State Capitalism, making the
revolutionary class struggle a parliamentary process.
This development meant, obviously, the abandonment of fundamental Social-
Ism. It meant working on the basis of the bourgeois parliam^itary state, in-
stead of the struggle to destroy that state ; it meant the "cooperation of classes"
for State Capitalism, instead of the uncompromising proletarian struggle for
Socialism. Government ownership, the objective of the middle class, was the
policy of moderate Socialism. Instead of the revolutionary theory of the neces-
sity of conquering capitalism, the official theory and practice was now that of
modifying capitalism, of a gradual peaceful "growing into" Socialism by means
of legislative reforms. In the words of Jean Jaures : "We shall carry on our
reform work to a complete transformation of the existing order."
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 17
But Imperialism exposed the final futility of this policy. Imperialism unites
the nonproletarian classes, by means of state capitalism, for international con-
quest and spoilatiou. The small capitalists, middle class and the aristocracy
of labor, which previously acted against concentrated industry, now compromise
and unite with concentrated industry and finance-capital in imperialism. The
small capitalists accept the domination of finance-capital, being allowed to par-
ticipate in the adventures and the fabulous profits of Imperialism, upon which
now depends the whole of trade and industry ; the middle class invests in monopo-
listic enterprises, an income class whose income depends upon finance-capital,
its members securing "positions of superintendence," its technicians and in-
tellectuals being exported to undeveloped lands in process of development, while
the workers of the privileged unions are assured steady employment and com-
paratively high wages through the profits that come from the savage exploita-
tion of colonial peoples. All these nonproletarian social groups accept Im-
perialism, their "liberal and progressive" ideas becoming factors in the promotion
of Imperialism, manufacturing the democratic ideology of Imperialism with
which to seduce the masses. Imperialism requires the centralized state, capable
of uniting all the forces of capital, of unifying the industrial process through
state control and regulation, of maintaining "class peace," of mobilizing the
whole national power in the struggles of Imperialism. State capitalism is the
form of expression of Imperialism — precisely that State Capitalism promoted by
moderate, petty bourgeois Socialism. What the parliamentary policy of the
dominant moderate Socialism accomplished was to buttress the capitalist state,
to promote State Capitalism — to st'-engthen imperialism.
The dominant Socialism was part and parcel of the national liberal movement —
but this movement, under the compulsion of events, merged in Imperialism. The
dominant Socialism accepted capitalistic democracy as the basis for the reali-
zation of Socialism — but this democracy merges in Imperialism. The World
War was waged by means of this democracy. The dominant Socialism based
itself upon the middle class and the aristocracy of labor — but these have com-
promised with Imperialism, being bribed by a "share" in the spoils of Im-
perialism. Upon the declaration of war, accordingly, the dominant moderate
Socialism accepted the war and united with the imperialistic state.
Upon the advent of Imperialism, Capitalism emerged into a new epoch — an
epoch requiring new and more aggressive proletarian tactics. Tactical differ-
ences in the Socialist movement almost immediately came to a head. The con-
centration of industry, together with the subsei*viency of parliaments to the
imperialistic mandates and the transfer of their vital functions to the executive
organ of government, developed the concept of industrial unionism in the United
States, and the concept of mass action in Europe. The struggle against the
dominant moderate Socialism became a struggle against its perversion of
parliamentarism, against its conception of the state, against its alliance with
nonproletarian social groups, and against its acceptance of State Capitalism.
Imperialism made mandatory a reconstruction of the Socialist movement, the
formulation of a practice in accord with its revolutionary fundamentals. But
the representatives of moderate Socialism refused to broaden their tactics, to
adapt themselves to the new conditions. The consequence was a miserable
collapse under the test of the war and the proletarian revolution— the betrayal
of Socialism and the proletariat.
The Proletarian Revolution
The dominant Socialism justified its acceptance of the war on the plea that
a revolution did not materialize, that the masses abandoned Socialism.
This was conscious subterfuge. When the economic and political crisis did
develop potential revolutionary action in the proletariat, the dominant Socialism
immediately assumed an attitude against the revolution. The proletariat was
urged not to make a revolution. The dominant Socialism united with the
capita-lisfc governments to prevent a revolution.. ^. . . . . ... - ..
The Russian Revolution was the first act of the proletariat against the war
and Imperialism. But while the masses made the lievolution in Russia, the
bourgeoisie usurped power and organized the regulation bourgeois-parliamentary
republic. This was the first stage of the Revolution. Against this bourgeois
republic organized the forces of the proletarian Revolution. Moderate Socialism
in Russia, represented by the Mensheviki and the Social-Revolutionists, acted
against the proletarian revolution. It united with the Cadets, the party of
bottrgeols Imperialism, In a coalition government of bourgeois democracy. It
18 ORGANIZED COMIMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
placed its faith in the war "against German militarism," in national ideals,
in parliamentary democracy and the "cooperation of classes."
But the proletariat, urging en the poorer peasantry, conquered iwwer. It
accomplished a proletarian revolution by means of the Bolshevik policy of "all
power to the Soviets," organizing the new transitional state of proletarian dic-
tatorship. Moderate Socialism, even after its theory that a proletarian revolu-
tion was impossible, had been shattered by life itself, acted against the proletarian
revolution and mobilized the counterrevolutionary forces against the Soviet Re-
public, assisted by the moderate Socialism of Germany and the Allies.
Apologists maintained that the attitude of moderate Socialism in Russia was
determined not by a fundamental policy, but by its conception that, Russia not
being a fully developed capitalist country, it was premature to make a proletarian
revolution and historically impossible to realize Socialism.
This was a typical nationalistic attitude, since the proletarian revolution in
Russia could not persist as a national revolution, but was compelled by its very
conditions to a struggle for the international revolution of the proletariat, the
war having initiated the epoch of the proletarian revolution.
The revolution in Germany decided the controversy. The first revolution was
made by the masses against the protests of the dominant moderate Socialism,
represented by the Social-Democratic Party. As in Russia, the first stage of
the revolution realized a bourgeois parliamentary republic, with power in the
hands of the Social-Democratic Party. Against this bourgeois republic organized
a new revolution, the proletarian revolution directed by the Spartacan-Commu-
nists. And, precisely as in Russia, the dominant moderate Socialism opposed the
proletarian revolution, opposed all power to the Soviets, accepted parliamentary
democracy and repudiated proletarian dictatorship.
The issue in Germany could not be obscured. Germany was a fully developed
industrial nation, its economic conditions mature for the introduction of Social-
ism. In spite of dissimilar economic conditions in Germany and Russia, the
dominant moderate Socialism pursued a similar counterrevolutionary policy, and
revolutionary Socialism, a common policy, indicating the International character
of revolutionary proletarian tactics.
There is, accordingly, a common policy that characterizes moderate Socialism,
and that is its conception of the state. Moderate Socialism aflQrms that the
buorgeois, democratic parliamentary state is the necessary basis for the intro-
duction of Socialism ; accordingly, it conceived the task of the revolution, in Ger-
many and Russia, to be the construction of the democratic parliamentary state,
after which the process of introducing Socialism by legislative reform measures
could be initiated. Out of this conception of the state develoi)ed the counterrevo-
lutionary policy of moderate Socialism.
Revolutionary Socialism, on the contrary, insists that the democratic parlia-
mentary state can never be the basis for the introduction of Socialism ; that it la
necessary to destroy the parliamentary state, and construct a new state of the
organized producers, which will deprive the bourgeoisie of political power, and
function as a revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat.
The proletarian revolution in action has conclusively proven that moderate
Socialism is incapable of realizing the objectives of Socialism. Revolutionary
Socialism alone is capable of mobilizing the proletariat for Socialism, for the
conquest of the power of the state, by means of revolutionary mass action and
proletarian dictatorship.
Ameriean Socialism
The upsurge of revolutionary Socialism in the American Socialist Party,
expressed in the left-wing, is not a product simply of European conditions. It is,
in a fundamental sense, the product of the experience of the American move-
ment — the left-wing tendency in the party, having been invigorated by the experi-
ence of the proletarian revolutions in Europe.
The dominant moderate Socialism of the International was equally the Social-
ism of the American Socialist Party.
The policy of moderate Socialism in the Socialist Party comprised its policy
in an attack upon the larger capitalists, the trusts, maintaining that all other
divisions in society, including the lesser capitalists and the middle class, the
petite bourgeoisie, are material for the Socialist struggle against capitalism.
The moderate Socialism dominant in the Socialist Party asserted, in substance :
Socialism is a struggle of all the people against the trusts and big capital, making
the realization of Socialism depend upon the unity of "the people," of the workers,
the small capitalists, the small investors, the professions, in short the offi«iftl
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 19
Socialist Party actually depended upon the petite bourgeoisie for the realization
of Socialism.
The concentration of industry in the United States gradually eliminated the
small producers, which initiated the movement for government ownership of
industry — and for other reforms proposed to checlt the power of the plutocracy ;
and this bourgeois policy was the animating impulse of the practice of the Social-
ist Party.
This party, moreover, developed Into an expression of the unions of the aris-
tocracy of labor — of the A. F. of L. The party refused to engage in the struggle
against the reactionary unions, to organize a new labor movement of the militant
proletariat.
While the concentration of industry and social developments generally conser-
vatized the skilled workers, it developed the typical proletariat of unskilled labor,
massed in the basic industries. This proletariat, expropriated of all property,
denied access to the A. F. of L. unions, required a labor movement of its own.
This impulse produced the concept of industrial unionism, and the I. W. W. But
the dominant moderate Socialism rejected industrial unionism and openly or
covertly acted against the I. W. W.
Revolutionary industrial unionism, moreover, was a recognition of the fact
that extraparliamentary action was necessary to accomplish the revolution, that
the political state should be destroyed and a new proletarian state of the organ-
ized producers constructed in order to realize Socialism. But the Socialist Party
not only repudiated the form of industrial unionism, it still more emphatically
repudiated its revolutionary political implications, clinging to petty bourgeois
parliamentarism and reformism.
United with the aristocracy of labor and the middle class, the dominant Social-
ism in the Socialist Party necessarily developed all the evils of the dominant
Socialism of Europe, and, particularly, abandoning the immediate revolutionary
task of reconstructing unionism, on the basis of which alone a militant mass
Socialism could emerge.
It stultified working class political action, by limiting political action to elec-
tions and participation in legislative reform activity. In every single case where
the Socialist Party has elected public officials they have pursued a consistent
petty bourgeois policy, abandoning Socialism.
This was the official policy of the party. Its representatives were petty bour-
geois, moderate, hesitant, oblivious of the class struggle in its fundamental
political and industrial implications. But the compulsion of life itself drew
more and more proletarian masses in the party, who required simply the oppor-
tunity to initiate a revolutionary proletarian policy.
The war and the proletarian revolution in Russia provided the opportunity.
The Socialist Party, under the impulse of its membership, adopted a militant
declaration against the war. But the officials of the party sabotaged this decla-
ration. The official policy of the party on the war was a policy of petty bourgeois
pacifism. The bureaucracy of the party was united with the bourgeois People's
Council, which accepted a Wilson Peace and betrayed those who rallied to the
Council in opposition to the war.
This policy necessarily developed into a repudiation of the revolutionary Social-
ist position. When events developed the test of accepting or rejecting the revo-
lutionary implications of the declaration against the war, the party bureaucracy
immediately exposed its reactionary policy, by repudiating the policy of the
Russian and German Communists, and refusing affiliation with the Communist
International of revolutionary Socialism.
Problems of American Socialism
Imperialism is dominant in the United States, which is now a world power.
It is developing a centralized, autocratic federal government, acquiring the
financial and military reserves for aggression and wars of conquest. The war
has aggrandized American Capitalism, instead of weakening it as in Europe.
But world events will play upon and influence conditions in this country — dynam-
ically, the sweep of revolutionary proletarian ideas ; materially, the coming con-
struction of world markets upon the resumption of competition. Now all-mighty
and supreme, Capitalism in the United States must meet crises in the days to
come. These conditions modify our immediate task, but do not alter its general
character ; this is not the moment of revolution, but it is the moment of revo-
lutionary struggle. American Capitalism is developing a brutal campaign of
terrorism against the militant proletariat. American Capitalism Is utterly In-
20 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
competent on the problems of reconstruetion that press down upon society. Ita
"reconstruction" program is simply to develop its power for aggression, to
aggrandize itself in the markets of the world.
These conditions of Imperialism and of multiplied aggression will necessarily
produce proletarian action against Capitalism. Strikes are developing which
verge on revolutionary action, and in which the suggestion of proletarian dicta-
torship is apparent, the striker-workers trying to usurp functions of municipal
government, as in Seattle and Winnipeg. The mass struggle of the proletariat
is coming into being.
A minor phase of the awakening of labor is the trades unions organizing a
Labor Party, in an effort to conserve what they have secured as a privileged
caste. A Labor Party is not the instrument for the emancipation of the working
class ; its policy would in general be what is now the official policy af tlie Socialist
Party — reforming Capitalism on the basis of the bourgeois parliamentary state.
Laborism is as much a danger to the revolutionary proletariat as moderate, petty
bourgeois Socialism, the two being expressions of an identical tendency and
policy. There can be no compromise either with Laborism or the dominant mod-
erate Socialism.
But tJiere is a more vital tendency — the tendency of the workers to initiate
mass strikes — strikes which are equally a revolt against the bureaucracy in the
unions and against the employers. These strikes will constitute the determining
feature of proletarian action in the days to come. Revolutionary Socialism must
use these mass industrial revolts to broaden the strike, to make it general and
militant; use the strike for political objectives, and, finally, develop the mass
political strike against Capitalism and the state.
Revolutionary Socialism must base itself on the mass struggles of the pro-
letariat, engage directly in these struggles while emphasizing the revolutionary
purposes of Socialism and the proletarian movement. The mass strikes of the
American proletariat provide the material basis out of which to develop the
concepts and action of revolutionary Socialism.
Our task is to encourage the militant mass movements in the A. F. of L. to split
the old unions, to break the power of unions which are corrupted by Imperialism
and betray the militant proletariat. The A. F. of L., in its dominant expression,
is united with Imperialism. A bulwark of reaction — it must be exposed and
• its power for evil broken.
Our task, moreover, is to articulate and organize the mass of the unorganized
industrial proletariat, which constitutes the basis for a militant Socialism. The
struggle for the revolutionary industrial unionism of the proletariat becomes
an indispensable phase of revolutionary Socialism, on the basis of which to
broaden and deepen the action of the militant proletariat, developing reserves for
the ultimate conquest of power.
Imperialism is dominant in the United States. It controls all the factors of
social action. Imperialism is uniting all nonproletarian social groups in a
brutal State Capitalism, for reaction and spoliation. Against this, revolutionary
Socialism must mobilize the mass struggle of the industrial proletariat.
Moderate Socialism is compromising, vacillating, treacherous, because the
social elements it depends upon — the petite hourgeoisie and the aristocracy of
labor — are not a fundamental factor in society; they vacillate between the bour-
geois and the proletariat, their social instability produces political instability;
and, moreover, they have been seduced by Imperialism and are now united with
Imperialism.
Revolutionary Socialism is resolute, uncompromising, revolutionary, because
It builds upon a fundamental social factor, the industrial proletariat, which is
an actual producing class, expropriated of all property, in whose consciousness
the machine procei^s has developed the concepts of industrial unionism and mass
action. Revolutionary Socialism adheres to the class struggle because through
the class struggle alone — the mass struggle — can the industrial proletariat secure
immediate concessions and finally conquer power by organizing the industrial
government of the working class.
Politieal Action
The class struggle is a political struggle. It is a political struggle in the sense
that its objective is political — the overthrow of the political organization upon
which capitalistic exploitation depends, and the introduction of a new social
system. The direct objective is the conquest by the proletariat of the power of
the state.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 21
Revolutionary Socialism does not propose to "capture" the bourgeois parlia-
mentary state, but to conquer and destroy it. Revolutionary Socialism, accord-
ingly, repudiates the policy of introducing Socialism by means of legislative
measures on the basis of the bourgeois state. This state is a bourgeois state,
the organ for the coercion of the proletarian by the capitalist; how, then, can
it introduce Socialism? As long as the bourgeois parliamentary state prevails,
the capitalist class can baffle the vpill of the proletariat, since all the political
power, the army and the police, industry and the press, are in the hands of the
capitalists, whose economic power gives them complete domination. The revolu-
tionary proletariat must expropriate all these by the conquest of the power of the
state, by annihilating the political power of the bourgeoisie, before it can begin
the task of introducing Socialism.
Revolutionary Socialism, accordingly, proposes to conquer the power of the
state. It proposes to conquer by means of political action — political action in
the revolutionary Marxian sense, which does not simply mean parliamentarism,
but the class action of the proletariat in any form having as its objective the
conquest of the power of the state.
Parliamentary action is necessary. In the parliament, the revolutionary rep-
resentatives of the proletariat meet Capitalism on all general issues of the class
struggle. The proletariat must fight the capitalist class on all fronts, in the pro-
cess of developing the final action that will conquer the power of the state and
overthrow Capitalism. Parliamentary action which emphasizes the implacable
character of the class struggle is an indispensable means of agitation. Its task
is to expose through political campaigns and the forum of parliament, the class
character of the state and the reactionary purposes of Capitalism, to meet Capi-
talism on all issues, to rally the proletariat for the struggle against Capitalism.
But parliamentarism cannot conquer the power of the state for the proletariat.
The conquest of the power of the state is an extra-parliamentary act. It is
accomplished, not by the legislative representatives of the proletariat, but by
the mass poiver of the protetariat in action. The supreme power of the prole-
tariat inheres in the political mass strike, in using the industrial mass power of
the proletariat for political objectives.
Revolutionary Socialism, acocrdingly, recognizes that the supreme form of
proletarian political action is the political mass strike. Parliamentarism may
become a factor in developing the mass strike ; parliamentarism, if it is revolu-
tionary and adheres to the class struggle, performs a necessary service in mobiliz-
ing the proletariat against Capitalism.
Moderate Socialism refuses to recognize and accept this supreme form of pro-
letarian political action, limits and stultifies political action into legislative rou-
tine and non-Socialist parliameutarsm. This is a denial of the mass character
of the proletarian struggle, an evasion of the tasks of the Revolution.
The power of the proletariat lies fundamentally in its control of the industrial
process. The mobilization of this control in action against the bourgeois state
and Capitalism means the end of Capitalism, the initial form of the revolutionary
mass action that will conquer the power of the state.
Unionism and Mass Action
Revolutionary Socialism and the actual facts of the class struggle make the
realization of Socialism depend upon the industrial proletariat. The class
struggle of revolutionary Socialism mobilizes the industrial proletariat against
Capitalism — that proletariat which is united and disciplined by the machine
process, and which actually controls the basic industry of the nation.
The coming to consciousness of this proletariat produces a revolt against the
older unionism, developing the concepts of industrial unionism and mass action.
The older unionism was implicit in the skill of the individual craftsmen, who
united in craft unions. These unions organized primarily to protect the skill
of the skilled workers, which is in itself a form of property. The trades unions
developed into "job trusts;" -and noft-into militant^ organs of the proletflrian
struggle; until today the dominant unions are actual bulwarks of Capitalism,
merging in Imperialism and accepting state Capitalism. The trades unions,
being organized on craft divisions, did not and could not unite the workers as a
class, nor are they actual class organizations.
The concentration of industry, developing the machine process, expropriated
large elements of the skilled workers of their skill, but the unions still maintained
the older ideology of property contract and caste. Deprived of actual power, the
dominant unionism resorts to dickers with the bourgeois state and an acceptance
a
PO BL
22 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
of imperialistic State Capitalism to maintain its privileges, as against the indus-
trial proletariat.
The concentration of industry produced the industrial proletariat of unskilled
workers, of the machine proletariat. Thia proletariat, massed in the basic
industry, constitutes the militant basis of the class struggle against Capitalism ;
and, deprived of skill and craft divisions, it turns naturally to mass unionism,
to an industrial unionism in accord with the integrated industry of imperialistic
Capitalism.
Under the impact of industrial concentration, the proletariat developed its own
dynamic tactics — mass action.
Mass action is the proletarian response to the facts of modern industry, and the
forms it imposes upon the proletarian class struggle. Mass action starts as the
spontaneous activity of unorganized workers massed in the basic industries ; its
initial form is the mass strike of the unorganized proletariat. The mass move-
ments of the proletariat developing out of this mass response to the tyranny of
concentrated industry antagonized the dominant moderate Socialism, which tried
to compress and stultify these militant impulses within the limits of parliament-
arism.
In this instinctive mass action there was not simply a response to the facts of
Industry, but the implicit means for action against the dominant parliamentarism.
Mass action is industrial in its origin ; but its development imposes upon it a
political character, since the more general and conscious mass action becomes
the more it antagonizes the bourgeois state, becomes political mass action.
Another development of this tendency was Syndicalism. In its mass impulse
Syndicalism was a direct protest against the futility of the dominant Socialist
parliamentarism. But Syndicalism was either unconscious of the theoretical
basis of the new movement, or where there was an articulate theory, it was a
derivative of Anarchism, making the proletarian revolution an immediate and
direct seizure of industry, instead of the conquest of the power of the state.
Anarcho-syndicalism is a departure from Marxism. The theory of mass action
and of industrial unionism, however, are in absolute accord with Marxism —
Revolutionary Socialism in action.
Industrial unionism recognizes that the proletariat cannot conquer power
by means of the bourgeois parliamentary state; it recognizes, moreover, that
the proletariat cannot use this state to introduce Socialism, but that it must
organize a new "state" — the "state" of the organized producers. Industrial
unionism, accordingly, proposes to construct the forms of the government of
Communist Socialism — the government of the producers. The revolutionary
proletariat cannot adapt the bourgeois organs of government to its own use ;
it must develop its own organs. The larger, more definite and general the
conscious industrial unions, the easier becomes the transition to Socialism,
since the revolutionary state of the proletariat must reorganize society on the
basis of union control and management of industry. Industrial unionism, ac-
cordingly, is a necessary phase of revolutionary Socialist agitation and action.
But industrial unionism alone cannot conquer the power of the state. Po-
tentially, industrial unionism may construct the forms of the new society; but
only potentially. Actually the forms of the new society are constructed under
the protection of a revolutionary proletarian government; the industrial unions
become simply the starting point of the Socialist reconstruction of society.
Under the conditions of Capitalism, it is impossible to organize the whole work-
ing class into industrial unions; the concept of organizing the working class
Industrially before the conquest of power is as Utopian as the moderate Socialist
conception of the gradual conquest of the parliamentary state.
The proletarian revolution comes at the moment of crisis in Capitalism, of
a collapse of the old order. Under the impulse of the crisis, the proletariat acts
for the conquest of power, by means of mass action. Mass action concentrates
and mobilizes the forces of the proletariat, organized and unorganized ; it acts
equally against the bourgeois state and the conservative organizations of the
working class. The revolution starts with strikes of protest, developing into
mass political strikes and then into revolutionary mass action for the conquest
of the power of the state. Mass action becomes political in purpose while extra-
parliamentary in form ; it is equally a process of revolution and the revolution
Itself in operation.
The final objective of mass action is the conquest of the power of the state,
the annihilation of the bourgeois parliamentary state and the introduction or
the transition proletarian state, functioning as a revolutionary dictatorship of
the proletariat.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 23
Dictatorship of the Proletariat
The attitude toward the state divides the Anarchist (and Anarcho- Syndi-
calist), the moderate Socialist and the revolutionary Socialist. Eager to abolish
the state (which is the ultimate purpose of revolutionary Socialism), the An-
archist (and Anarcho-syndicalist) fails to realize that the state is necessary in
the transition period from Capitalism to Socialism. The moderate Socialist
proposes to use the bourgeois state, with Its fraudulent democracy, its illusory
theory of the "unity of all the classes," its standing army, police and bureaucracy
oppressing and baffling the masses. The revolutionary Socialist maintains that
the bourgeois parliamentary state must be completely destroyed, and proposes
the organization of a new state, the dictatorship of the proletariat.
The stat€ is an organ of coercion. The bourgeois parliamentary state Is the
organ of the bourgeoisie for the coercion of the proletariat. The revolutionary
proletariat must, accordingly, destroy this state. But the conquest of political
power by the proletariat does not immediately end Capitalism, or the power of
the capitalists, or immediately socialize industry. It is, therefore, necessary
that the proletariat organize its own state for the coercion and suppression of
the bourgeoisie.
Capitalism is bourgeois dictatorship. Parliamentary government is the ex-
pression of bourgeois supremacy, the form of authority of the capitalist over
the worker. The bourgeois state is organized to coerce the proletariat, to baffle
the will of the masses. In form a democracy, the bourgeois parliamentary state
is in fact an autocracy, the dictatorship of capital over the proletariat.
Bourgeois democracy promotes this dictatorship of capital, assisted by the
pulpit, the army and the police. Bourgeois democracy seeks to reconcile all
the classes; realiziag, however, simply the reconciliation of the proletariat to
the supremacy of Capitalism. Bourgeois democracy is political in character,
historically necessary, on the one hand, to break the power of feudalism, and
on the other, to maintain the proletariat in subjection. It is precisely this
democracy that is now the instrument of Imperialism, since the middle class,
the traditional carrier of democracy, accepts and promotes Imperialism.
The proletarian revolution disrupts bourgeois democracy. It disrupts this
democracy in order to end class divisions and class rule, to realize that industrial
self-government of the workers which alone can assure peace and liberty to the
peoples.
Proletarian dictatorship is a recognition of the necessity for a revolutionary
state to coerce and suppress the bourgeoisie; it is equally a recognition of the
fact that, in the Communist reconstruction of society, the proletariat as a class
alone counts. The new society organizes as a communistic federation of pro-
ducers. The proletariat alone counts in the revolution, and in the reconstruction
of society on a Communist basis.
The old machinery of the state cannot be used by the revolutionary proletariat
It must be destroyed. The proletariat creates a new state, based directly upon
the industrially organized producers, upon the industrial unions or Soviets, or
a combination of both. It is this state alone, functioning as a dictatorship of
the proletariat, that can realize Socialism.
The tasks of the dictatorship of the proletariat are :
(a) To completely expropriate the bourgeoisie politically, and crush its powers
of resistance.
(b) To expropriate the bourgeoisie economically, and introduce the forms of
Communist Socialism.
Breaking the politicical power of the capitalists is the most important task
of the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat, since upon this depends the
economic and social reconstruction of society.
But this political expropriation proceeds simultaneously with an immediate,
if partial, expropriation of the bourgeoisie economically, the scope of these
measures being determined by industrial development and the maturity of the
proletariat. These measures, at first, include :
(a) Workmen's control of industry, to be exercised by the industrial organiza-
tions of the workers, operating by means of the industrial vote.
(b) Expropriation and nationalization of the banks, as a necessary preliminary
measure for the complete expropriation of capital.
(c) Expropriation and nationalization of the large (trust) organizations of
capital. Expropriation proceeds without compensation, as "buying out" the
capitalists is a repudiation of the tasks of the revolution.
(d) Repudiation of all national debts and the financial obligations of the old
system.
24 ORGANIZED COIMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
(e) The nationalization of foreign trade.
(f) Measures for the socialization of agriculture.
These measures centralize the basic means of production in the proletarian
state, nationalizing industry ; and their partial character ceases as reconstruc-
tion proceeds. Socialization of industry becomes actual and complete only after
the dictatorship of the proletariat has accomplished Its task of suppressing the
bourgeoisie.
The state of proletarian dictatorship Is political In character, since it represents
a ruling class, the proletariat, which is now supreme ; and it uses coercion against
the old bourgeois class. But the task of this dictatorship is to render itself
unnecessary ; and it becomes unnecessary the moment the full conditions of
Communist Socialism materialize. While the dictatorship of the pi'oletariat
performs its negative task of crushing the old order, it performs the positive
task of constructing the new. Together with the government of the proletarian
dictatorship, there is developed a new "government," which is no longer govern-
ment in the old sense, since it concerns itself with the management of production
and not with the government of persons. Out of workers' control of industry,
introduced by the proletarian dictatorship, there develops the complete structure
of Communist Socialism — industrial self-government of the communistically
organized producers. When this structure is completed, which implies the
complete expropriation of the bourgeoisie economically and politically, the dicta-
torship of the proletariat ends, in its place coming the full and free social and
individual autonomy of the Communist order.
The Communist International
The Communist International, issuing directly out of the proletarian revolution
In action and in process of development, is the organ of the international revolu-
tionary proletariat ; just as the League of Nations is the organ of the joint ag-
gression and resistance of the dominant Imperialism.
The attempt to resurrect the Second International, at Berne, was a ghastly
failure. It rallied the counter-revolutionary forces of Elurope, which were
actually struggling against the proletarian revolution. In this "International"
are united all the elements treasonable to Socialism, and the wavering "center"
elements whose policy of miserable compromise is more dangerous than open
treason. It represents the old dominant moderate Socialism; it based affilia-
tion on acceptance of "labor" parliamentary action, admitting trades unions
accepting "political action." The old International abandoned the earlier con-
ception of Socialism as the politics of the Social Revolution — the politics of the
class struggle in its revolutionary implications — admitting directly reactionary
implications, admitting directly reactionary organizations of Laborism, such as
the British Labor Party.
The Communist International, on the contrary, represents a Socialism In
complete accord with the revolutionary cbaracter of the class struggle. It
unites all the consciously revolutionary forces. It wages war equally against
the dominant moderate Socialism and Imperialism, each of which has demon-
strated its complete incompetence on the problems that now press down upon
the world. The Communist International issues Its challenge to the conscious,
virile elements of the proletariat, calling them to the final struggle against Capi-
talism on the basis of the revolutionary epoch of Imperialism. The accept-
ance of the Communist International means accepting the fundamentals of
revolutionary Socialism as decisive in our activity.
The Communist International, moreover, issues Its call to the subject peoples
of the world, crushed under the murderous mastery of Imperialism. The revolt
of these colonial and subject peoples is a necessary phase of the world struggle
against capitalist Imperialism ; their revolt must unite Itself with the struggle
of the conscious proletariat In the imperialistic nations. The Communist Inter-
national, accordingly, offers an organization and a policy that may unify all the
revolutionary forces of the world for the conquest of power, and for Socialism.
It is not a problem of immediate revolution. It is a problem of the immediale
revolutionary struggle. The revolutionary epoch of the final struggle against
Capitalism may last for years and tens of years; but the Communist Inter-
national offers a policy and program immediate and ultimate in scope, that
provides for the immediate class struggle against Capitalism, In its revolutionary
Implications, and for the final act of the conquest of power.
The old order is in decay. Civilization is in collapse. The proletarian Fevolu-
tion and the Communist reconstruction of Bocietj^— the struggle for these — is now
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 25
indispensable. This is the message of the Communist International to the
workers of the Avorld.
The Communist International calls the proletariat of the world to the final
struggle I
Further dissension witliin tlie left-wing group led to the resigna-
tions of Keed, MacAlpine, and Gitlow from the staff of the Revolu-
tionary Age, and a new paper, The Voice of Labor, was launched on
August 15, 1919.
Communist Party Con\T!:ntion
During the month of July 1919, the majority of the national coun-
cil of the left wing effected a compromise with the national organizing
committee. The result was the issuance of a joint call for a Com-
munist Party Convention to take place on September 1, 1919, in Chi-
cago bv the National Council of the Workers Left-wing Section of the
Socialist Party and the National Organizing Committee, representing
the delegates who had bolted the national left-wing conference in
June. This joint call was almost identical in terms with the call
published in Novy Mir on July 7, 1919.
JOINT CALL FOR COMMUNIST PARTY CONVENTION
The joint call was published in the Revolutionary Age of August
23, 1919, and is a follows : *
JOINT CALL FOR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY TO ORGANIZE COMMUNIST PAETY OF
AMERICA (Issued by the National Organization Committee and the National
Council of the Workers Left-Wing Section of the Socialist Party).
In this the most momentous period of the world's history capitalism is tot-
tering to its ruin. The proletariat is straining at the chains which bind it. A
revolutionary spirit is spreading throughout the world. The workers are ris-
ing to answer the clarion call of the Third International.
Only one Socialism is possible in the crisis. A Socialism based upon under-
standing. A Socialism that will express in action the needs of the proletariat.
The time has passed for temporizing and hesitating. We must act. The Com-
munist call of the Third International, the echo of the Communist Manifesto
of 1S48, must be answered.
The National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America has
evidenced by its expulsion of nearly half of the membership that it will not
hesitate at wrecking the organization in order to maintain control. A crisis
has been precipitated in the ranks of revolutionary Socialism by the wholesale
expulsion or suspension of the membership comprising the Socialist Party of
Michigan and Massachusetts, locals and tranches throughout the country, to-
gether with seven Language Federations. This has created a condition in our
movement that makes it manifestly impossible to longer delay the calling of a
convention to organize a new party. Those who realize that the capturing of
the Socialist Party as such is but an empty victory will not hesitate to respond
to this call and leave the "Right" and "Center" to sink together with their
leaders.
Uo other course is possible; therefore, we, the National Left-Wing Council
and the National Organization Committee, call a convention to meet in the city
of Chicago on September 1, 1919, for the purpose of organizing a Communist
Party in America.
This party will be founded upon the following principles :
1. The present is the period of the dissolution and collapse of the whole cap-
italist world system, which will mean the complete collapse of world culture,
if capitalism with its unsolvable contradictions is not replaced by Communism.
2. The problem of the proletariat consists in organizing and training itself for
the conquest of the powers of the state. This conquest of power means the re-
placement of the state machinery of the bourgeoisie '<\ith a new proletarian
machinery of government.
• Lusk Committee Reports, vol. I, p. 770.
47710'— 54 S
26 ORGANIZED COLIMUNISM EST THE UNITED STATES
3. This new proletarian state must embody the dictatorship of the prole-
tariat, both industrial and agricultural, this dictatorship constituting the in-
strument for the taking over of property used for exploiting the workers, and
for the reorganization of society on a Communist basis.
Not the fraudulent bourgeois democracy — the hypocritical form of the rule
of the finance-oligarchy, with its purely formal equality — but proletarian democ-
racy based on the possibility of actual realization of freedom for the working
masses ; not capitalist bureaucracy, but organs of administration which have
been created by the masses themselves, with the real participation of these
masses in the government of the country and in the activity of the communistic
structure — this should be the type of the proletarian state. The Workers'
councils and similar organizations represent its concrete form.
4. The dictatorship of the proletariat shall carry out the abolition of private
property in the means of production and distribution, by transfer to the pro-
letarian state under Socialist administration of the working class ; nationaliza-
tion of the great business enterprises and financial trusts.
5. The present world situation demands the closest relation between the revo-
lutionary proletariat of all countries.
6. The fundamental means of the struggle for power is the mass action of
the proletariat, a gathering together and concentration of all its energies ;
whereas methods such as the revolutionary use of bourgeois parliamentarism
are only of subsidiary significance.
In those countries in which the historical development has furnished the op-
portunity, the working class has utilized the regime of political democracy for
its organization against capitalism. In all countries where the conditions for
a worker's revolution are not yet ripe, the same process will go on.
But within the process the workers must never lose sight of the true charac-
ter of bourgeois democracy. If the finance-oligarchy considers It advantageous
to veil its deeds of violence behind parliamentary votes, then the capitalist
power has at its command, in order to gain its ends, all the traditions and at-
tainments of former centuries of upper class rule, demagogism, persecution,
slander, bribery, calumny, and terror. To demand of the proletariat that it shall
be content to yield itself to the artificial rules devised by its mortal enemy,
but not observed by the enemy, is to make a mockery of the proletarian struggle
for power — a struggle which depends primarily on the development of separate
organs of the working-class power.
7. The old Socialist International has broken into three main groups:
(a) Those frankly social patriots who since 1914 have supported their bour-
geoisie and transformed those elements of the working class which they control
into hangmen of the international revolution.
(b) The "Center," representing elements which are constantly wavering and
Incapable of following a definite plan of action, and whir-h are at times posi-
tively traitorous ; and
(c) The Communists.
As regards the social patriots, who everyw here in the critical moment oppose
the proletarian revolution with force of arms, a merciless fight is absolutely
necessary. As regards the "Center" our tactics must be to separate the revolu-
tionary elements by pitilessly criticizing the leaders. Absolute separation from
the organization of the "Center" is necessary.
8. It is necessary to rally the groups and proletarian organizations who,
though not as yet in the wake of the revolutionary trend of the Commuuist
movement, nevertheless have manifested and developed a tendency leading in
that direction.
Socialist criticism has sufficiently stigmatized the bourgeois world order. The
task of the International Communist Party is to carry on propaganda for the
abolition of this order and to erect in its place the structure of the Communist
world order. Under the Communist banner, the emblem under which the first
great victories have already been won ; in the war against Imperialistic bar-
barity, against the privileged classes, against the bourgeois state and bourgeois
property, against all forms of social and national oppression — we call upon the
proletarian of all lands to unite.
Program of the Call
1. We favor international alliance of the Communist Party of the United
States only with the Communist groups of other countries, such as the Bolshevik!
of Russia, Spartacans of Germany, etc., according to the program of Communism
as above outlined.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 27
2. We are opposed to association with other groups not committed to the
revolutionary class struggle, such as Labor parties, Non-Partisan leagues. Peo-
ple's Councils, Municipal Ownership Leagues and the like.
3. We maintain that the class struggle is essentially a political struggle
by the proletariat to conquer the capitalist state, whether its form be monarchis-
tic or democratic-republican, and to destroy and replace it by a governmental
structure adapted to the Communist transformation.
4. The Party shall propagandize class-conscious industrial unionism as against
the craft form of unionism, and shall carry on party activity in cooperation with
industrial disputes that take on a revolutionary character.
5. We do not disparage voting nor the value of success in electing our candi-
dates to public office — not if these are in direct line with the class struggle.
The trouble comes with the illusion that political or industrial immediate
achievements are of themselves steps in the revolution, the progressive merg-
ing of capitalism into the cooperative commonwealth.
The basis of our political campaign should be :
(a) To propagandize the overthrow of capitalism by proletarian conquest of
the political power and the establishmcut of a dictatorship of tlie proletariat.
(b) To maintain a political organization as a clearinghouse for proletarian
thought, a cepter of political education for the development of revolutionary
working-class action.
(c) To keep in the foreground our consistent appeal for proletarian revolution ;
and to analyze the counterproposals and reformist palliatives in their true light
of evasions of the issue ; recognizing at all times the characteristic development
of the class conflict as applicable to all capitalistic nations.
(d) To propagandize the party organization as the organ of contact with the
revolutionary proletariat of other lands, the basis for international association
being the same political understanding and the common plan of action, tending
toward increasing unity in detail as the international crisis develops.
6. Communist platforms, proceeding on the baeie of the class struggle, recog-
nizing that the Socialist movement has come into the historic period of the
social revolution, can contain only the demand for the dictatorship of the
proletariat.
(a) The basis of this demand should be thoroughly explained in the economic,
political, and social analysis of the class struggle, as evolving within the system
of capitalism.
(b) The implication of this demand should be illustrated by the first steps
and general modes of social reconstruction dependent upon and involved within
the proletarian domination of the political life of the Nation.
(c) A municipal platform of Communism cannot proceed on a separate basis,
but must conform to the general platform, simply relating the attainment of
local power to the immediate goal of gaining national power. There are no
separate city problems within the terras of the class struggle, only the one prob-
lem of capitalist versus proletarian domination.
7. We realize that the coming of the social I'evolution depends on an over-
whelming assertion of mass power by the proletariat, taking on political con-
sciousness and the definite direction of revolutionary Socialism. The manifes-
tations of this power and consciousness are not subject to precise precalculation.
But the history of the movement of the proletariat toward emancipation since
1900 shows the close connection between the revolutionary proletarian assertion
and the political mass strike.
The mass action conception looks to the general unity of the proletarian forces
under revolutionary provocation and stimulus. In the preliminary stages, which
alone come within our predetermination and party initiative, the tactic of mass
action includes all mass demonstrations and mass struggles which sharpen the
understanding of the proletariat as to the class conflict and which separate the
revolutionary proletariat into a group distinct from all others.
Mass action, in time of revolutionary crisis, or in the analogous case of large-
scale industrial conflict, naturally accepts the council form of organization for
its expression over a continued period of time.
8. Applying our declarations of party principle to the organization of the
party itself, we realize the need, in correspondence with the highly centralized
capitalist power to be combated, of a centralized party organization.
Organizations endorsing the principles and program outlined above as a ten-
tative basis for the organization of a Communist Party are invited to send
delegates to the convention at Chicago on September 1, 1919.
28 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
; The basis of representation to be 1 delegate for every organization and 1
additional for every additional 500 members or major fraction thereof.
Provided, that States vphich are organized and endorsing this call shall send
delegates as States. In States which are not organized the organized locals
accepting this call shall send delegates as locals. In locals vrhich are not organ-
ized a part of the local may send delegates.
Provided further, that organizations composed of less than 251 members shall
be given fractional votes ; and provided that the total vote for each State rep-
resented at the convention shall not exceed 1, plus 1 per 500 members or major
fraction thereof.
Organizations sending delegates will be assessed $50 for each delegate. This
fund will be applied to equalize the railroad fare of all delegates to the con-
vention. Organizations having less than 251 members which are unable to pay
all of this amount ($50) are urged" will be created to defray their traveling
expenses. Expenses other than railroad fares will be paid by the organizations
sending delegates. In the event the delegates are not provided with funds for
rooms and meals, effort will be made to assist them.
Do not fail to be represented at this historic convention. All delegates, either
directly or through their local secretaries, are requested to communicate with
the national secretary immediately following their election. Uniform credential
blanks will be furnished.
* So In original.
THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF AMERICA— 1919
On July 19, 1919, the National Organizing Committee issued the
first number of The Communist as the official organ of the Communist
Party of America. Dennis E. Batt was the editor.
Pursuant to the above-mentioned Call, the Communist Party Con-
vention opened in Chicago on September 1, 1919. Louis C. Fraina
was elected Temporary Chairman, and the work of the convention
proceeded.
A committee composed of Louis C. Fraina, D. Elbaum, Alexander I.
Stoklitzky, Nicholas I. Hourwich, Alexantler Bittelman, Dennis E.
Batt, Maximilian Cohen, Jay Lovestone, and H. M. Wicks was ap-
pointed to formulate a program. The following Manifesto, program
and Constitution were adopted : •
The Communist Party Manifesto
The world is on the verge of a new era. Europe is in revolt. The masses of
Asia are stirring uneasily. Capitalism is in collapse. The workers of the
world are seeing a new life and securing new courage. Out of the night of war
is coming a new day.
The spectre of Communism haunts the world of capitalism. Communism,
the hope of the workers to end misery and oppression.
The workers of Russia smashed the front of international Capitalism and
Imperialism. They broke the chains of the terrible war ; and in the midst of
agony, starvation and the attacks of the capitalists of the world, they are
creating a new social order.
The class war i-ages fiercely in all nations. Everywhere the workers are in a
desperate struggle against their capitalist masters. The call to action has come.
The workers must answer the call.
The Communist Party of America is the party of the working class. The
Communist Party proposes to end capitalism and organize a workers' industrial
republic. The workers must control industry and dispose of the products of
industry. The Communist Party is a party realizing the limitations of all existing
workers' organizations and proposes to develop the revolutionary movement
necessary to free the workers from the oppression of Capitalism. The Com-
munist Party insists that the problems of the American worker are identical
with the problems of the workers of the world.
The War and Socialism
A giant struggle is convulsing the world. The war is at end, but peace is not
here. The struggle is between the capitalist nations of the world and the in-
ternational proletariat, inspired by Soviet Russia. The Imperialisms of the
world are desperately arraying themselves against the onsweeping proletarian
revolution.
The Leag-ue of Nations is dividing the world financially and territorially. It is
directing the fight against the workers. It is the last effort of Capitalism to
save itself.
The reactionary League of Nations is the logical result of this Imperialistic
war. And the war was the product of Capitalism.
Capitalism oppresses the workers. It deprives them of the fruit of their
labor — the difference between wages and product constituting the profits of the
capitalists. As the capitalists compete with each other, while exploiting the
Lusk Committee Keports, vol. I, p. 776.
29
30 ORGANIZED COMSIUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
workers, new and more efficient means of production develop. This compels the
concentration of industry which results in monopoly. Under monopoly there is
rapid accumulation of capital, producing a suiiplus which it is necessary to export
for investment. This export of capital, together with the struggle to monopolize
the world's sources of raw materials and to control undeveloped territory for
purposes of investment, is the basis of Imperialism.
Imperialism produced the war. The war now being at an end, the victorious
nations are concerned almost exclusively with these economic, territorial, and
finsucial problems. The United States was vitally concerned in the war, the
issue being world power ; and its capitalism, having secured a position of finan-
cial supremacy, had a direct imperialistic interest at stake.
The war made a shamble of civilization. It proved the utter incapacity of
capitalism to direct and promote the progress of humanity. Capitalism has
bruken down.
But the Socialist movement itself broke down under the test of war. The old
dominant moderate Socialism accepted and justified the war. It acted against
the proletarian revolution and united with the capitalists against the workers.
Out of this circumstance developed the forces of revolutionary Socialism now
expressed in the Communist International.
Socialism had repeatedly emphasized the menace of war. It had urged the
workers to act against the war. The Socialist Congress at Basle in 1912, when
Europe was on the verge of a general war, condemned the war as imperialistic
and as unjustifiable on any pretext of national interest. It urged using the crisis
of war to "rouse the masses and to Isasten the downfall of capitalism."
The war that came in 1914 was the same imperialistic war that might have
come in 1912. But upon the declaration of war, the dominant opportunistic
Socialist parties accepted and justified the war of plunder and mass murder !
This was a direct betrayal of Socialism. It was an abandonment of the class
struggle. The class struggle is tlie very heart of revolutionary Socialism. Un-
less the Socialist movement wages the class struggle under any and all conditions
in its revolutionary implications, it becomes either Utopian or reactionary. But
moderate Socialism accepted the war and the "unity of the classes," and united
with the capitalist governments against the working class.
The Socialist parties accepted the war as a war for democracy — as if democracy
under Imperialism is not directly counterrevolutionary. They justified the war
as a war for the independence of nations. Not the proletarian class struggle,
but nationalism, social-patriotism and social-imperialism determined the policy
of the dominant Socialism. The coming of Socialism was made dependent upon
the workers cutting each others' throats in the struggles of their own ruling
class !
Socialism and Communism
The collapse of the Socialist International during the war marks the transi-
tion from the older moderate Socialism to the new Socialism of revolutionary
practice and promise in the Communist International.
Moderate Socialism, which perverted the revolutionary Socialism of the
First International, placed its faith in "constructive" social reforms. It accepted
the bourgeois state as the basis of its activities and then strengthened that
state. It developed a policy of "class reconciliation," affirming that the coming of
Socialism was a concern of "all the classes" instead of emphasizing the Marxian
policy that it was the task of the revolutionary proletariat alone. There was
a Joint movement that affected the thought and practice of Socialism ; on the
one hand, the organization of the skilled workers into trade unions, which
secured certain concessions and became a semiprivlleged caste ; and, on the
other hand, the decay of the class of small producers, crushed under the iron
tread and of industrial concentration. As one moved upward and the other
downward, they met and formed a political juncture to use the state to improve
their conditions. The dominant Socialism expressed this compromise. It
developed a policy of legislative reforms and State Capitalism.
The whole process was simple. The workers were to unite with the middle
class and government ownership of industry was to emancipate the working
class. Parliamentarism was to revolutionize the old order of slavery and power,
of oppression and destruction.
It was simple, but disastrous. The state, as owner of industry, did not free
the workers, but imposed a sterner bondage. The capitalist state was made
stronger by its industrial functions. The parliamentary representatives of
the workers played at the parliamentary comedy, while Captialism developed
new powers of oppression and destruction.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 31
But Imperialism exposed the final futility of this policy. Imperialism united
the nonproletarian classes, by means of State Capitalism, for international
conquest and spoliation. The small capitalists, middle class, and the aristocracy
of labor, which previously acted against concentrated industry, now compromise
and unite with concentrated industry and finance-capital in Imperialism. The
small capitalists accept the domination of finance-capital, being allowed to par-
ticipate in the adventures and the fabulous profits of Imperialism, upon which
now depends the whole of trade and industry. The middle clas» invests in mono-
polistic enterprises; its income now depends upon finance-capital, its members
securing "positions of superintendence," its technicians and intellectuals being
exported to lands in process of development. The workers of the privileged
unions are assured steady employment and comparatively high wages through
the profits that come in from the savage exploitation of colonial peoples. All
these nonproletarian social groups accept imperialism, their "liberal and pro-
gressive" ideas becoming camouflage for Imperalism with which to seduce the
masses. Imperialism requires the centralized state, capable of uniting all the
forces of capital, of unifying the industrial process through state regulation, of
maintaining "class peace," of mobilizing the whole national power for the strug-
gles of imperialism. State Capitalism is the expression of Imperialism, precisely
that State Capitalism promoted by Moderate Socialism. What the parliamentary
policy of Socialism accomplished wag to buttress the capitalistic state, to promote
State Capitalism to strengthen imperialism.
Moderate Socialism developed while Capitalism was still competitive. Upon
the advent of monopoly and Imperialism, Socialism emerged into a new epoch —
an epoch requiring new and more aggressive proletarian tactics. Capitalism
acquired a terrific power in industry and the state. The concentration of in-
dustry, together with the subserviency of parliaments to the imperialistic man-
dates and the transfer of their vital functions to the executive organ of govern-
ment, made more clear the impossibility of the parliamentary conquest for power.
The older unionism and parliamentary Socialism proved their utter incompetence
for the new conditions of struggle. These conditions developed the concept
ef industrial unionism in the United States and the concept of mass action in
Europe. Imperialism made it necessary to reconstruct the Socialist movement.
But Moderate Socialism itself did not change under the necessity of events.
The consequence was a miserable collapse under the test of the war and the
proletarian revolution in Russia and Germany.
In the Russian Revolution, the proletariat, urging on the poorer peasantry,
conquered the power of the state after the first revolution had established the
democratic parliamentary republic. It established a dictatorship of the pro-
letariat. This proletarian revolution was accomplished in spite of the opposi-
tion of Moderate Socialism, represented by the Mensheviki and the Social Rev-
olutionists. These Moderates argued that since Russia was economically an
undeveloped country, it was premature to make a proletarian revolution in
Russia and historically impossible to realize Socialism.
Moderate Socialism in Germany also acted against the proletarian revolu-
tion. It offered a capitalist parliamentary republic as against proletarian dic-
tatorship.
The issue in Germany could not be obscured. Germany was a fully deveolped
Hation industrially, its economic conditions were mature for the introduction
of Socialism. But Moderate Socialists rejected the revolutionary task.
There is a common policy that characterizes Moderate Socialism ; that is.
Its conception of the state. Out of the conception that the bourgeois parliamen-
tary state is the basis for the introduction of Socialism developed a directly
counter revolutionary policy.
Communism rejects this conception of the state. It rejects the idea of class
reconciliation and the parliamentary conquest of Capitalism. The Communist
Party alone is capable of mobilizing the proletariat for the revolutionary mass
struggle to conquer the power of the state. The Communist Party realizes that
it is necessary to develop separate organs of working-class political power by
means of which to crush the resistance of Capitalism and establish the Com-
munist Commonwealth.
American Socialism
Socialism in the United States, prior to the appearance of the Socialist Labor
Party, was a movement of isolated and indefinite protest. It was the spur of
middle-class movements, while itself split by Socialist and Anarchist factions.
The Socialist Labor Party, after casting off the non-Socialist elements, de-
Teloped as a consistent party of revolutionary Socialism. Particularly, the S.
32 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
L. P. realized the importance of jmparting a Socialist character and conscious-
ness to the unions. The Socialist Labor Party, together with the experience
of the Western Federation of Miners and the American Labor Union, developed
the theory and practice of Industrial Unionism.
The struggle of the Socialist Labor Party against the old unionism developed
a secession from the party of elements who considered protecting the reactionary
American Federation of Labor more important than revolutionary Socialism.
These, together with bourgeois and agrarian radicals, organized the Socialist
Party.
The Socialist Party was a party of Moderate Socialism. Its policy was that
of government ownership of industry, not the proletarian conquest of power.
It maintained that the middle class and the lesser capitalists are necessary in
the Socialist struggle against capitalism. The Socialist Party asserted in sub-
stance : Socialism is a struggle of all the people against the trusts, making the
realization of Socialism depend upon the "unity of the common people," the
worlsers, the small capitalists and investors, the professions. In short the of-
ficial policy of the Socialist Party was to attain Socialism by means of capitalist
democracy.
The Socialist Party stultified proletarian political action by limiting it to elec-
tions and participation in legislative reform activity. The party favored re-
actionary trade unionism as against revolutionary industrial unionism.
The Socialist Labor Party developed a purely theoretical activity, of real
value, but was isolated from the masses. The Socialist Party attained a con-
siderable membership, but largely of a petty bourgeoisie character. The war
brought in new industrial proletai'ian elements but the party still isolated itself
from revolutionary theory and practice. The proletarian masses in the Socialist
Party required simply the opportunity to develop a revolutionary proletarian
policy.
The Socialist Party under the impulse of its proletarian membership adopted
a militant declaration against the war. But the ofl^cials of the party sabotaged
this declaration. The official policy of the party on the war was that of liberal
pacifism. The party bureaucracy united with the People's Council which propa-
gandized a Wilson peace. The 1918 party platform accepted the Wilson "four-
teen points" as adopted by the prowar Interallied Labor and Socialist Confereoce.
The war and the proletarian revolution in Russia sharpened the antagonism
between the party policy and the revolutionary proletarian temper in the party.
Revolt broke loose. The Socialist Party was crushed. The Communist Party
is the response to this revolt and to the call of the Communist International
Communist Party Proilems
The United States is now a world power. It is developing a centralized, auto-
cratic federal government, acquiring financial and military reserves for aggres-
sion and wars of conquest. Imperialism now consciously dominates the national
policy.
The war strengthened American Capitalism, instead of weakening it as In
Europe. But the collapse of Capitalism in other countries will play upon and
affect events in this country. Feverishly, American capitalism is developing a
brutal campaign of terrorism. It Is utterly incompetent on the problems of
reconstruction that press down upon society. Its "reconstruction" program
aims simply to develop power for aggression and plunder in the markets of the
world. While this is not the moment of actual revolution, it is a moment of
struggles pregnant with revolution.
■Strikes are developing verging on revolutionary action, and in which the sug-
gestion of proletarian dictatorship is apparent. The striker-workers try to usurp
functions of industry and government, as in the Seattle and Winnipeg general
strikes.
A minor phase of proletarian unrest Is the trade-unions organizing a Labor
Party, in an effort to conserve what they have secured as a priviliged caste. A
Labor Party is not the instrument of aggressive working-class struggle ; it cannot
break the power of the capitalists and the profit system of oppression and
misery, since it accepts private property and the "rights of capital." The prac-
tice of a Labor Party is in general the practice of the Socialist Party — coopera-
tion with bourgeois "progressives" and reforming Capitalism on the basis of the
capitalist parliamentary state. Laborism is as much a danger to the proletarian
as moderate petty bourgeois Socialism — the two being expressions of an identical
social tendency and policy. There can be no compromise either with Laborism
©r reactionary Socialism.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 33
But there is a more vital tendency, the tendency of the workers to start mass
strikes — strikes which are eqi.ally a revolt against the bureaucracy of the unions
and the capitalists. The Communist Party will endeavor to broaden and deepen
these strikes making them general and militant, developing the general political
strike.
The Communist Party accepts as the basis of its action the mass struggles of
the proletariat, engaging directly in these struggles and emphasizing their revo-
lutionary implications.
Political Action
The proletarian class struggle is essentially a political struggle. It is a political
struggle iu the sense that its objective is political — overthrow of the political
organizations upon which capitalist exploitation depends, and the introduction
of a proletarian state power. The objective is the conquest by the proletariat of
the power of the state.
Communism does not propose to "capture" the bourgeoisie parliamentary state,
but to conquer and destroy it. As long as the bourgeoisie state prevails, the
capitalist class can baffle the will of the proletariat.
In those countries in which historical development has furnished the oppor-
tunity, the working class has utilized the regime of political democracy for its
organization against Capitalism. In all connti'ies where the conditions for a
workers' revolution are not yet ripe, the same process will go on. The use of
parliamentarism, however, is only of secondary importance.
But within this process the workers must never lose sight of the true character
of bourgeois democracy. If the finance-oligarchy considers it advantageous to
veil its deeds of violence behind parliamentary votes, then the capitalist class
has at its command in order to gain its end, all the traditions and attainments of
former centuries of working class rtile, multiplied by the wonders of capitalist
technique — lies, demagogism, persecution, slander, bribery. To the demand of
the proletariat that it shall be content to yield itself to the artificial rules de-
vised by its mortal enemy but not observed by the enemy is to make a mockery
of the proletarian struggle for power, a struggle which depends primarily on the
development of separate organs of working class power.
The parliamentarism of the Communist Party performs a service in mobilizing
the proletariat against Capitalism, emphasizing the political character of the
class struggle.
The conquest of the power of the state is accomplished by the mass power of the
proletariat. Political mass strikes are a vital factor in developing this mass
power, preparing the working class for the conquest of Capitalism. The power
of the proletariat lies fundamentally in its control of the industrial process.
The mobilizing of this control against Capitalism means the initial form of the
revolutionary mass action that will conquer the power of the state.
Unionism and Mass Action
The older unioni.sm was based on tlie craft divisions of small industry. The
unions consisted primarily of skilled workers, whose skill is itself a form of
property. The unions were not organs of the militant class struggle. Today the
dominant unionism is actually a bulwark of Capitalism, merging in Imperialism
and accepting State Capitalism.
The concentration of industry and the development of the machine process
expropriated large numbers of the skilled workers of their skill ; but the unions
still maintained the ideology of property contract and caste. Deprived of actual
power by the ineffectiveness of its localized strikes as against large-scale industry,
trade-unionism resorts to dickers with the bourgeois state and accepts im-
perialistic State Capitalism to maintain its privileges as against the unskilled
industrial proletariat.
The concentration of industry produces the industrial proletariat — the machine
workers. This proletariat, massed in the basic industry, constitutes the militant
basis of the class struggle. Deprived of skill and craft divisions, the old petty
isolated strike is useless to these workers.
These facts of industrial concentration developed the concept of industrial
unionism among the organized workers, and mass action among the unorganized.
Mass action is the proletarian response to the facts of modern industry, and
the forms it imposes upon the proletarian class struggle. Mass action develops
as the spontaneous activity of unorganized workers in the basic industry ; its
initial form is the mass strike of the unskilled. In these strikes large masses of
workers are unified by the impluse of the struggle, developing a new tactic and a
Dew Ideology.
34 ORGANIZED CO]VIMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
Mass action is industrial in its origin, but it acquires political character as it
develops fuller forms. Mass action, in the form of general political strikes
and demonstrations, unites the energy and forces of the proletariat, brings prole-
tarian mass pressure upon the bourgeois state. The more general and conscious
mass action becomes, the more it becomes political mass action. Mass action is
responsible to life itself, the form of aggressive proletarian struggle under Im-
perialism. Out of this struggle develops revolutionary mass action, the means
for the proletarian conquest of power.
The conception of mass action has little in common with Syndicalism. In its
mass impulse Syndicalism was a protest against the futility of parliamentarism.
But Anarcho-syndicalism tactically and theoretically is a departure from Marx-
ism. It does not appreciate the necessity of a proletarian state during the
transition period from Capitalism to Communism (which implies the disappear-
ance of all forms of the state). Syndicalism makes the proletarian revolution a
direct seizure of industry, instead of the conquest of the power of the state.
Industrial Unionism, also, cannot conquer the power of the state. Under the
conditions of Capitalism it is impossible to organize the whole working class into
industrial unions. It will be necessary to rally the workers, organized and
unorganized, by means of revolutionary mass action. Moreover, industrial union-
ism does not actually construct the forms of the Communist administration of
industry, only potentially. After the conquest of power the industrial unions
may become the starting point of the Communist reconstruction of society. But
the conception that the majority of the workiag class can be organized into con-
scious industrial UDions and construct under Capitalism the form of the Com-
munist society, is as Utopian as the moderate Socialist conception of the gradual
"growing into Socialism."
Dictatorship of the Proletariat
The proletarian revolution comes at the moment of crisis in Capitalism, of a
collapse of the old order. Under the impulse of the crisis, the proletariat acts
for the conquest of power, by means of mass action. Mass action concentrates
and mobilizes the forces of the proletariat, organized and unorganized; it acts
equally against the bourgeois state and the conservative organizations of the
working class. Strikes of protest develop into general political strikes and then
into revolutionary mass action for the conquest of the power of the state. Mass
action becomes political in purpose while estraparliamentary in form; it is
equally a process of revolution and the revolution itself in operation.
The state is an organ of coercion. The bourgeois parliamentary state is the
organ of the bourgeoisie for the coercion of the proletariat. Parliamentary gov-
ernment is the expression of bourgeois supremacy, the form of authority of the
capitalist over the worker. Bourgeois democracy promotes the dictatorship of
capital, assisted by the press, the pulpit, the army and the police. Bourgeois
democracy is historically necessary, on the one hand, to break the power of
feudalism, and, on the other, to maintain the proletarian in subjection. It is
precisely this democracy that is now the instrument of Imperialism, since the
middle class, the traditional carrier of democracy, accepts Imperialism. The
proletarian revolution disrupts bourgeois democracy. It disrupts this democracy
in order to end class divisions and class rule, to realize industrial self-government
of the workers. Therefore it is necessary that the proletariat organize its own
state for the coercion and suppression of the bourgeoisie. Proletarian dictator-
ship is a recognition of the fact ; it is equally a recognition of the fact that in the
Communist reconstruction of society the proletariat alone counts as a class,
While the dictatorship of the proletariat performs the negative task of crush-
ing the old order, it performs the positive task of constructing the new. Together
with the government of the proletarian dictatorship, there is developed a new
"government," which is no longer government in the old sense, since it concerns
itself with the management of the production and not with the government of
persons. Out of workers' control of industry, introduced by the proletarian dic-
tatorship, there develops the complete structure of Communist Socialism — in-
dustrial self-government of the communistically organized producers. When
this structure is completed, which implies the complete expropriation of the
bourgeoisie, economically and politically, the dictatorship of the proletariat
ends, in its place coming the full, free social and individual autonomy of the
Communist order.
ORGANIZED COMJMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 35
The Commuvist International
The Communist International, issuing directly out of tlie proletarian revolu-
tion in action, is the organ of the international revolutionary proletariat; just as
the League of Nations is the organ of the joint aggression and resistance of the
dominant Imperialism.
The Communist International represents a Socialism in complete accord with
the revolutionary character of the class struirgle. It unites all the conscious
revolutionary forces. It wages war equally against Imperialism and moderate
Socialism— each of which has demonstrated its complete inability to solve the
problems that now press down upon the workers. Tiie Communist International
issues its call to the conscious proletariat for the final struggle against Capitalism.
It is not a protilem of immediate revolution. The revolutionary epoch may last
for years, and tens of years. The Communist International offers a program both
immediate and ultimate in scope.
The old order is in decay. Civilization is in collapse. The workers must pre-
pare for the proletarian revolution and the Communist reconstruction of society.
Tlie Communist International calls!
Workers of the world, unite !
The Program of the Pabtt
The Communist Party is the conscious expression of the class struggle of the
workers against capitalism. Its aim is to direct this struggle to the conquest of
political power, the overthrow of capitalism and the destruction of the bourgeois
state.
The Communist Party prepares itself for the revolution in the measure that it
develops a program of immediate action, expressing the mass struggles of the
proletariat. These struggles must be inspired with revolutionary spirit and
purposes.
The Communist Party is fundamentally a party of action. It brings to the
workers a consciousness of their oppression, of the impossibility of improving
their conditions under capitalism. The Communist Party directs the workers'
struggle against capitalism, developing fuller forms and purposes in this
struggle, culminating in the mass action of the revolution.
The Communist Party maintains that the class struggle is essentially a political
struggle ; that is, a struggle to conquer the power of the state.
(a) The Communist Party cball keep in the foreground its consistent appeal
for proletarian revolution, the overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of a
dictatorship of the proletariat. As the opposition of the bourgeoisie is broken, as
it is expropriated and gradually absorbed iu the working groups, the proletarian
dictatorship disappears, until finally the state dies and there are no more
class distinctions.
(b) Participation in parliamentary campaigns, which in the general struggle
of the proletariat is of secondary importance, is for the purpose of revolutionary
propaganda only.
(c) Parliamentary representatives of the Communist Party shall not introduce
or support reform measures. Parliaments and political democracy shall be uti-
lized to assist in organizing the working class against capitalism and tlie state.
Parliamentary representatives shall consistently expose the oppressive class
character of the capitalist state, using the legislative forum to interpret and em-
phasize the class struggle; they shall make clear how parliamentarism and
parliamentary democracy deceive the workers ; and they shall analyze capitalist
legislative proposals and reforms palliatives as evasions of the issue and as of
no fundamental significance to the working class.
(d) Nominations for public oflBce and participation in elections are limited to
legislative bodies only, such as municipal councils, state legislatures, and the
national congress.
(e) The uncompromising character of the class struggle must be maintained
under all circumstances. The Communist Party accordingly, in campaigns and
elections, and in all its other activities shall not cooperate with groups or parties
not committed to the revolutionary class struggle, such as the Socialist Party,
Labor Party, Non-Partiean League, People's Council, Municipal Ownership
Leagues, etc
36 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
II
The Communist Party shall make the great industrial struggles of the working
class its major campaigns, in order to develop an understanding of the strike in
relation to the overthrow of capitalism.
(a) The Communist Party shall participate in mass strikes, not only to achieve
the immediate purposes of the strike, but to develop the revolutionary implica-
tions of the mass strike.
(b) Mass strikes are vital factors in the process out of which develops the
workers' understanding and action for the conquest of power.
(c) In mass strikes under conditions of concentrated capitalism there is latent
the tendency toward the general mass strike, which takes on a political character
and manifests the impulse toward proletarian dictatorship.
In these general mass strikes the Communist Party shall emphasize the neces-
sity of maintaining industry and the taking over of social functions usually
discharged by the capitalists and the institutions of capitalism. The strike
must cease being isolated and passive; it must become positive, general and
aggressive, preparing the workers for the complete assumption of industrial and
social control.
(a) Every local and district organization of the Party shall establish contact
with the industrial units in its territory, the shops, mills and mines — and direct
its agitation accordingly.
(b) Shop Committees shall be organized wherever iwssible for the purpose
of Communist agitation in a particular shop or industry by the workers employed
there. These committees shall be united with each other and with the Commun-
nist Party, so that the party shall have actual contact with the workers and
mobilize them for action against capitalism.
Ill
The Communist Party must engage actively in the struggle to revolutionize the
trade unions. As against the unionism of the American Federation of Labor, the
Communist Party propagandizes industrial unionism and industrial union organ-
ization, emphasizing their revolutionary implications. Industrial unionism i3
not simply a means for the everyday struggle against capitalism ; its ultimate
purpose is revolutionary, implying the necessity of ending the capitalist parlia-
mentary state. Industrial unionism is a factor in the final mass action for the
conquest of power, as it will constitute the basis for the industrial administration
of the Communist Commonwealth.
(a) The Communist Party recognizes that the A. F. of L. Is reactionary aud
a bulwark of capitalism.
( b ) Councils of workers shall be organized in the shops as circumstances allow,
for the purpose of carrying on the industrial union struggle in the old unions,
uniting and mobilizing the militant elements; these councils to be unified in a
Central council wherever possible.
(c) It shall be a major task of the Communist Party to agitate for the con-
struction of a general industrial union organization, embracing the I. W. W.,
W. I. I. U., independent and secession unions, militant unions of the A. F. of L.,
and the unorganized workers, on the basis of the revolutionary class struggle.
IV
The Communist Party shall encourage movements of the workers in the shoi)s
seeking to realize workers' control of industry, while indicating their limitations
under capitalism; concretely, any movement analogous to the Shop Stewards
of England, These movements (equally directed against the union bureaucracy)
should be related to the Communist Party.
The unorganized unskilled workers (including the agricultural proletariat)
constitute the bulk of the working class. The Communist Party shall directly
and systematically agitate among these workers, awakening them to industrial
nnion organization and action.
VI
In close connection with the unskilled workers is the problem of the Negro
worker. The Negro problem is a political and economic problem. The racial
oppression of the Negro is simply the expression of his economic bondage and
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 37
oppression, each intensifying the other. This complicates the Negro prohlem, but
does not alter its proletarian character. The Communist Party will carry on
agitation among the Negro workers to unite them with all class-conscious
workers.
VII
The United States is developing an aggressive militarism. The Communist
Party will wage the struggle against militarism as a phase of the class struggle
to hasten the downfall of Capitalism.
VIII
The struggle against Imperialism, necessarily an international struggle, is the
basis of proletarian revolutionary action in this epoch.
(a) There must be close unity with the Communist International for common
action against Imperialism.
(b) The Communist Party emphasizes the common character of the struggle
of the workers of all nations, making necessary the solidarity of the workers of
the world.
The Paety Constitution
/. Name and Purpose
Section 1. The name of this organization shall be The Communist Party of
America. Its purpose shall be the education and organization of the working
class for the establishment of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, the abolition
of the capitalist system and the establishment of the Communist Society.
//. Emilem
Section 1. The emblem of the party shall be a button with the figure of the
eartli in the center in white with gold lines and a red flag across the face bearing
the inscription, "All Power to the Workers" ; around the figure of the earth a
red margin shall appear with the words "The Communist Party of America" and
"The Communist International" on this margin in white letters.
///. Member ship
Section 1. Every person who accepts the principles and tactics of the Com-
munist Party and the Communist International and agrees to engage actively
in the work of the party shall be eligible to membership. It is the aim of this
organization to have in its ranks only those who participate actively in its work.
Section 2. Applicants for membership shall sign an application card reading
as follows:
"The undersigned, after having read the constitution and program of the Com-
munist Party, declares his adherence to the principles and tactics of the party
and the Communist International ; agrees to submit to the discipline of the party
as stated in its constitution and pledges himself to engage actively In its work."
Section 3. Every member must join a duly constituted branch of the party.
There shall be no members at large.
Section 4. All application cards must be endorsed by two persons who have
been members for not less than three months.
Section 5. Applications for membership shall not be finally acted upon until
two mouths after presentation to the branch, and in the meantime applicant shall
pay initiation fee and dues and shall attend meetings and classes. He shall have
a voice and no vote. Provided that this rule shall not apply to the charter mem-
bers of new branches nor to the members who make application to newly or-
ganized branches during the first month.
Section 6. No person who is a member or supporter of any other political
organization shall be admitted to membership.
Section 7. No person who has an entire livelihood from rent, interest, or
profit shall be eligible to membership in the Communist Party.
Section 8. No person shall be accepted as a member who enters into the
service of the national, State, or local governmental bodies otherwise than
through the Civil Service or by legal compulsion.
Provided, that the civil employment by the government is of a nonpolitical
character.
Section 9. No members of the Communist Party shall contribute articles or
editorials of a political or economic character to publications other than those of
38 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
the Coiamunist Party or of parties affiliated with the Communist International.
(This clause shall not be considered as prohibiting the contribution of articles
written from an economic or scientific standpoint to scientific or professional
journals. Permission to answer an attack upon the Communist Party in the
bourgeoisie press may be granted by the Central Executive Committee).
IV. Units of Organizations
Section 1. The basic organization of the Communist Party shall be branches
of not less than seven members. (Applicants for a charter shall fill out the
form provided by the National Organization.)
Section 2. Two or more branches located in the same city shall form a City
Central Committee. City Central Committees may include branches in adjacent
territory, subject to supervision of the central management of the party.
Section 3. City Central Committees and all other branches in the same state
shall form State Organizations. Provided, that under the control of the Central
Executive Committee more than one state may be included in a single District
Organization ; and provided also that District Organizations may be formed by
the Central Executive Committee along the lines of industrial rather than state
divisions.
Section 4. Branches of the Communist Party made up of member-s who speak
a foreign language, when there are ten or more of such branches, consisting of
a total not less than 750 members, may form a Language Federation. Provided,
that this rule shall not apply as to members of those Federations affiliating w^ith
the party at the time of its organization or within four months thereafter. No
more than one Federation of the same language may exist in the party.
Section 5. All language branches shall join and become part of the Federations
of their language, if such a Federation exists.
Section 6. All subsidiary units shall be combined in the Communist Party.
Branches of the cities, states, districts and federations shall be units of the
Communist Party.
F. Administration
Section 1. The supreme administrative body of the Communist Party shall be
the convention of the party.
Section 2. Between the meetings of the conventions the supreme body shall
be the Central Executive Committee elected by the convention. The Central
Executive Commitee shall consist of 15 members. The convention shall also
elect five alternates who shall take their places as members of the Central
Executive Committee in case of vacancies in the order of their vote.
Section 3. The Central Executive Committee shall elect from its members
a subcommittee of five members, who together with the executive secretary and
the Editor of the central organ of the party shall be known as the Executive
Council. The members of the Executive Council shall live in the city in which
the National Headquarters are located or in adjacent cities. This Executive
Council shall carry on the work of the party under the supervision of the Central
Executive Committee.
Section 4. The Convention shall elect an Executive Secretary and the Editor
of the central organ of the party. All other officials shall be appointed by
the Central Executive Committee.
Section 5. The Executive Secretary and Editor shall conduct their work
under the direction of the Central Executive Committee.
Section 6. The supreme administrative power of the State, District, Federa-
tion or City units shall be vested in the conventions of these respective units.
Conventions of the State or District Organization shall be held in May or June
each year.
Section 7. Between conventions of the district, state and federations the
Central Executive Committee of these organizations shall be the supreme bodies.
Section 8. The Central Executive Committee of these organizations shall in
each case be elected by the conventions, which shall also determine the number
of members.
Section 9. The City Central Committee shall consist of delegates elected by
the branches upon the basis of proportional representation. They shall meet at
least once each month. The City Central Committees shall elect their executive
committees and Executive Officers.
Section 10. Each Fedoration shall elect a Translator-Secretary, who shall
have an office in the National Headquarters and whose salary shall be paid by
ORGANIZED COM]\'IUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 39
the National Organization. Translator-Secretaries are the representatives of
their organizations in tlie National Headquarters, and shall serve as mediums
of communication. They shall submit monthly to the Executive Secretary and
the State and District Organizations a statement sliowing all the dues stamps
sold during the previous month. Translator-Secretaries shall not be eligible to
membership in the Central Executive Committee but shall meet with the Com-
mittee and the Executive Council and have a voice but no vote.
VI. Dues
SECTION 1. Each applicant for monibership shall pay an initiation fee of fifty
cents, which shall be receipted for by an initiation stamp furnished by the Na-
tional Organization. The fifty cents shall be divided between the branch and
City Central Committee. Where there is no City Central Committee its share
shall be paid to the State or District Organization.
Seci'ion 2. P^ach member shall pay forty cents per month in dues. Stamps
shall be sold to the State or District Organization at fifteen cents; State or
District Organizations shall sell stamps to the City Central Committees and
branches in cases where there are no City Committees at twenty-five cents; City
Central Committees shall sell stamps to brandies at thirty cents.
Section 3. Branches of Language Federations shall purchase their dues stainns
tb.rough their Federations. Translator-Secretaries shall pay ten cents per
stamp to the National Organization and shall remit to each State or District
Organization ten cents for each stamp sold for each month. Where a City Cen-
tral Committee exists the State or District Organization shall remit five cents
of this amount to the City Central Committee. Members of Language Federa-
tion branches pay forty cents per stamp, ton cents going to the branch and ton
cents to the federation.
Section 4. Special assessment may be levied by the National Organization,
Federations or the Central Executive Committee. No member shall be con-
sidered in good standing unless he purchases such special assessment stamps.
Section 5. Husband and wife belonging to the same branch may purchase dual
stamps, which shall be sold at the same price as the regular stamps. Special
assessments must be paid by both husband and wife.
Section 6. IMembers unable to pay dues on account of unemployment, strikes,
sickness or for similar reasons shall, upon application to their financial secre-
tary, be furnished exempt stamps. Provided that no State or District Organi-
zation or Federation shall be allowed exempt stamps in a proportion greater than
5 percent of its monthly purchase of regular stamps.
Section 7. Members who are three months in arrears in payment of their dues
shall cease to be members of the party in good standing. Members who are six
months in arrears shall be stricken from the rolls. No member shall pay duos
Ih advance for a period of more than three months.
VII. Discipline '
Section 1. All decisions of the governing bodies of the party shall be bind-
ing upon the membership and subordinate units of the organizations.
Section 2. Any member or organization violating the decisions of the party
shall be subject to expulsion by the organization which has .lurisdiction. Charges
against members shall be made before branches, subject to appeal by either side
to the City Central Committee or State or District Organization where there is
no City Central Committee. Charges against the branches shall be made before
the City Central Committee, or where there is no City Central Committee, be-
fore the State or District Organization. Decisions of the City Central Com-
mittee in the case of branches shall be subject to revision by the State or District
Organization. Charges against State or District Organizations shall be made
before the Central Executive Committee. When a City Central Committee ex-
pels a Federation branch, the branch shall have the right to present its case to
the Central Executive Committee of the Federation. If the Central Executive
Committee of the Federation decides to that effect it may bring an appeal for
reinstatement before the Central Executive Committee of the party, which shall
make final disposition of the matter.
Section 3. Members and branches of the Federation shall be subject to the
discipline of the Federation. Branches expelled by the Federation shall have the
right to appeal to the City Central Committee, or, when there is no City Central
Committee, to the State or District Organization. If the City Central Com-
mittee or the State of District Organization does not uphold the expulsion the
47716'— 54 4
40 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
matter shall be referred to the Central Committee upon documentary evidence,
and if the decision of the City Central Committee or State or District Orj^anl-
zation is upheld, the branch shall be reinstated as a branch of the Federation.
Section 4. Each unit of the party organization shall restrict its activities to
the territory it represents.
Section 5. A member who desires to transfer his membership to another
branch shall secure a transfer card from the financial secretary of his branch.
No branch shall receive a member from another branch without such a transfcrral
card, and upon presentation of the transfer card the secretary of the l)rai)cli
receiving the same shall make inquiry about the standing of the member to
the secretaj-y issuing the card.
Section 6. All party units shall use uniform application cards, dues books and
accounting records, which shall be printed by the National Organization.
Section 7. All employees of the party must be party members.
VIII. Hcadquartera
Section 1. The National Headquarters of the party shall be located in Chicago.
In an emergency District or State Office may be used as the National Head-
quarters.
IX. Qualifications
Section 1. Members of the Central Executive Committee, the Executive Secre-
tary, Editor, International Delegates and International secretary and all candi-
dates for political office must have been members of the party for two years at
the time of their election or nomination. Those shall be eligible to election to
party offices or nomination to public office on June 1, 1920, who join the Commu-
nist Party before January 1, 1920. All who state their intention of joining the
Communist Party shall be eligible at this convention.
X. Conventions
Section L National Conventions shall be held annually during the month of
June, the specific date and place to be determined by the Central Executive Com-
mittee. The Central Executive Committee may call Emergency Conventions, and
such conventions may also be called by referendum vote.
Section 2. Representation at the National Convention shall be upon the basis
of one delegate for each 500 members or major fraction thereof ; provided, that
when the number of delegates would exceed a total of 200 the Central Executive
Committee shall increase the basis of representation so that the number of
delegates shall not exceed that figure.
Section 3. Delegates shall be apportioned to the State or District Organiza-
tions on the basis of one delegate for each such organization, and the apportion-
ment of the balance on the basis of the average membership for the six months
prior to the issue of the call for the convention. Delegates shall be elected at
the Convention of the State or District Organization.
Section 4. Delegates to the National Convention shall be paid their traveling
expenses and a per diem of .$5.00.
Section 5. The call for the convention aad the apportionment of delegates
shall be published not later than April 1.
XI. Referendum and Recall
Section 1. Referendums on the question of party platform policy or constitu-
tion shall be held upon the petition of twenty-five or more branches representing
5 percent of the membership; (2) or by initiative of the Central Executive
Committee; (3) or by initiative of the National Convention.
Section 2. All officers of the National Organization or those elected to public
oflBce shall be subject to recall upon initiative petition of twenty-five or more
branches, representing 5 percent of the membership. A recall vote of the mem-
bership may also be initiated by the Central Executive Committee.
Section 3. Each motion and resolution shaU be printed in the official bulletin
and remain open for ninety days from the date of first publication, and, if it has
not received the requisite number of seconds, it shall be abandoned. The vote oq
each referendum shall close sixty days after its submission.
Section 4. Referendums shall be submitted without preamble or comment, but
the party press shall be open for discussion of the question involved during the
time the referendum is pending.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 41
XII. International Delegate and Secretary
Section 1. Delegates to the International Congress and alternates and an
International Secretary and alternate shall be elected by the convention.
Schedtde
Any branch of the Socialist Party or Socialist Labor Party which endorses the
program and constitution of the Communist Party and applies for a charter
before January 1, 1920, shall be accepted as a branch.
The provisions of Article III, section 4, shall not be enforced until after
December 1, 1919, except as to the two signatures.
Recommendation
That this convention authorize the secretai-y immediately to issue a Special
Organization Stamp to sell at fifty cents to create a fund for the organization of
the party.
COMMUNIST LABOR PARTY— 1919
Wlien the Socialist Party Convention met on August 30, 1919, cer-
tain left-wing delegates presented themselves to that convention as
delegates. The credentials committee of the Socialist Party refused to
seat these delegates and they were excluded from the convention.
These delegates then appointed a committee of five to meet with the
organization committee of the Communist Party for the purpose of
seeking unity, but the negotiations came to nothing. Tlie delegates
then organized themselves into a Communist Labor Party Convention.
The convention elected Alfred D, Wagenknecht as executive secretary,
and the following as members of the national executive committee : ^
Max Bedacht
Alexander Bilan
Jack Carney
L. E. Katterfield
Edward I. Lindgren
The following platform and program were adopted : '
Platform and Pbogeam Communist Labor Pabtt
Platform
(1) The Couimunist Labor Party of the United States of America declares
itself in full harmony with the revolutionary working-class parties of all countries
and stands by the principles stated by the Third International formed at Moscow.
(2) With tiiem it thoroughly appreciates the complete development of capi-
talism into its present form of Capitalist Imperialism with its dictatorship of
the capitalist class and its absolute suppression of the working class.
(3) With them it also fully I'ealizes the crying need for an immediate change
in the social system ; it realizes that the time for parleying and compromise has
passed ; and that now it is only the question whether all power remains in the
hands of capitalist or is taken by the working class.
(4) The Communist Labor Party proposes the organisation of the workers as
a class, the overthrow of capitalist rule, and the conquest of political power liy
the workers. The workers, organized as the ruling class, shall, through their
government, make and enforce the laws ; they shall own and control land,
factories, mills, mines, transportation systems, and financial institutions. All
power to the workers.
(5) The Communist Labor Party has as its ultimate aim: The abolition of the
present system of production, in which the working class is mei'cilessly exploited,
and the creation of an industrial republic wherein the macliinery of production
shall be socialized so as to guarantee to the workers the full social value of the
product of their toil.
(G) To this end we ask the workers to unite with the Communist Labor Party
for the conquest of political power to establish a government adapted to the
Communist transformation.
Party and Lator Program
Part I
The Communist Labor Party of America declares itself in complete accord with
the principles of Communism, as laid down in the Manifesto of the Third Inter-
national formed at Moscow.
• Lusk Committee Reports, toI. I, p. 801.
•Ibid., p. 809.
42
ORGANIZED COIVDVIUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 43
In essence, these principles are as follows :
(1) The present is the i)eriod of the dissolution and collapse of the whole
system of world capitalism. Unless capitalism is replaced by the rule of the
working class, woi*ld civilization will collapse.
(2) The working class must organize and train itself for the capture of state
power. This capture means the establishment of the new working-class govern-
ment machinery, in place of the state machinery of the capitalists.
(3) This new working-class government — the Dictatorship of the Proletariat-
will reorganize society on the basis of Communism, and accomplish the transition
from Capitalism to the Communist Commonwealth.
Communist society is not like the present fraudulent capitalist democracy —
which, with all its pretensions to equality, is merely a disguise for the rule of the
financial oligarchy — but it is a proletarian democracy, based on the control of
industry and the state by the workers, who are thereby free to work out their
own destiny. It does not mean, capitalist institutions of government, which are
controlled by the great financial and industrial interests, but organs of admin-
istration created and controlled by tlie masses themselves ; such as, for example,
the Soviets of Russia.
(4) The Dictatorship of the Proletariat shall transfer private property in the
means of production and distribution to the working-class government, to be
administered by the workers themselves. It shall nationalize the great trusts
and financial institutions. It shall abolish capitalist agricultural production.
(5) The present world situation demands that the revolutionary working class
movements of all countries shall closely unite.
(6) The most important means of capturing state power for the workers is the
action of the masses, proceeding from the place where the workers are gatliered
together — ^in the shops and factories. The use of the political machinery of the
capitalist state for this purpose is only secondary,
(7) In those countries in which there is a possibility for the workers to use
this macliinery in the class struggle, they have, in the past, made effective use
of it as a means of propaganda, and of defense. In all countries where the con-
ditions for a working-class revolution are not ripe, the same process must go on.
(8) We must rally all groups and proletarian organizations which have mani-
fested and developed tendencies leading in the direction above indicated, and
support and encourage the working class in every phase of its struggle against
capitalism.
Part II
(1) The economic conditions in every country determine the form of organiza-
tion and method of propaganda to be adopted. In order efficiently to organize
our movement here, we must clearly understand the political and economic struc-
ture of the United States.
(2) Although the United States is called a political democracy there is no
opportunity whatever for the working class through the regular political
machinery to effectively oppose the will of the capitalist class.
(3) The years of Socialist activity on the political field have brought no increase
of power to the workers. Even the million votes piled up by the Socialist Party
in 1912 left the Party without any proportionate representation. The Supreme
Court, which is the only body in any Government in the world with the power to
review legislation passed by the popular representative assembly, would be able
to obstruct the will of the working class even if Congress registered it, which it
does not. The Constitution, framed by the capitalist class for the benefit of the
capitalist class, cannot be amended in the workers' interest, no matter how large
a majority may desire it.
(4) Although all the laws and institutions of government are framed and
administered by the capitalists in their own interests, the capitalists themselves
refuse to be bound by these laws or submit to these institutions whenever they
conflict with these interests. The invasion of Russia, the raids into Mexico, the
suppression of governments in Central America, and the Carribean, the innumer-
able wars against working class revolutions now being carried on — all those
actions have been undertaken by the Administration without asking the consent
even of Congress. The appointment by the President of a Council of National
Defense, the War Labor Board, and other extra constitutional governing bodies
without the consent of Congress, is a direct violation of the fundamental law of
republican government. The licensing by the Department of Justice of antilabor
strikebreaking groups of employers — such as the National Security League^
44 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM EST THE UNITED STATES
the American Defense Society, the Knights of Liberty, the American Protective
League — whose express purpose was the crushing of labor organization, and all
class activities of the workers, and who inaugurated in this country a reign of
terror similar to that of the Black Hundreds in Russia — was entirely opposed to
the principles of the American government.
(5) Moreover, the War and its aftermath have demonstrated that governing
power does not reside in the regularly elected, or even the appointed officials
and legislative bodies. In every State, county and city in the Union, the so-called
"police power" is shown to be superior to every law. In Minnesota, Wisconsin,
and many other states, so-called Public Safety Commissions and similar organi-
zations were constituted by authority of the Governors, made up of representa-
tives of Chambers of Commerce and Employers' Associations, which usurped the
powers of Legislatures and municipal administrations.
(6) Not one of the great teachers of scientific Socialism has ever said that
It is possible to achieve the Social Revolution by the ballot.
(7) However, we do not ignore the value of voting, or of electing candidates
to public office, so long as these are of assistance to the workers in their economic
struggle. Political campaigns, and the election of public officials, provide oppor-
tunities for showing up capitalist democracy, educating the workers to a reali-
zation of their class position, and of demonstrating the necessity for the ovei'-
throw of the capitalist system. But it must be clearly emphasized that the
chance of winning even advanced reforms of the present capitalist system at
the polls is extremely remote ; and even if it were possible, these reforms would
not weaken the capitalist system.
Part III
(1) In America the capitalist class has never had a feudal aristocracy to com-
bat, but has always been free to concentrate its power against the working class.
This has resulted in the development of the American capitalist class wholly
out of pi-oportion to the corresponding development in other countries. By
their absolute control of the agencies of publicity and education, the capitalists
have gained a control over the political machinery which is impossible to break
by resorting to this machinery.
(2) Moreover, in America there is a highly developed Labor movement. This
makes it impossible to accomplish the overthrow of capitalism except through
the agency of the organized workers.
Furthermore, there is in America a centralized economic organization of the
capitalist class which is a unit in its battle with the working class, and which
can be opposed only by a centralized economic organization of the workers.
(3) The economic conditions of society, as Marx foretold, are pushing the
workers toward forms of organization which are, by the very nature of things,
forced into activity on the industrial field with a political aim — the overthrow
of capitalism.
(4) It is our duty as Communists to help this process, to hasten it, by sup-
porting all efforts of the workers to create a centralized revolutionary industrial
organization. It is our duty as Communists, who understand the class struggle,
to point out to the workers that upon the workers alone depends their own
emancipation and that it is impossible to accomplish this through capitalist
political machinery, but only by the exercise of their united economic power.
Prograrn
(1) We favor international alliance of The Communist Labor Party only with
the Communist groups of other countries, those which have affiliated with the
Communist International.
(2) We are opposed to association with other groups not committed to the
revolutionary class struggle.
(3) We maintain that the class struggle is essentially a political struggle,
that is, a struggle by the proletariat to conquer the capitalist state, whether its
form be monarchial or democratic-republican, and to replace it by a govern-
mental structure adapted to the Communist transformation.
(4) Communist platforms, being based on the class struggle, and recognizing
that this is the historical period of the Social Revolution, can contain only one
demand : The establishment of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat.
(5) We favor organized party activity and cooi)eration with class conscious
Industrial unions, in order to unify Industrial and political class conecious
propaganda and action. Locals and branches shall organize shop branches, to
ORGANIZED COJMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 45
conduct the Communist propaganda and organization in the shops and to
encourage the worlcei^ to organize in One Big Union.
(G) The party shall propagandize industrial unionism and industrial union
organization, pointing out their revolutionary nature and possibilities.
(7) The party shall make the great industrial battles its major campaigns,
to show the value of the strike as a political weapon.
(8) The party shall maintain strict control over all members elected to
public office— not only the local organizations, but the National Executive Com-
mittee. All public officials who refuse to accept the decisions of the party shall
be immediately expelled.
(9) In order that the party shall be a centralized organization, capable of
united action, no autonomous groups or federations independent of the will
of the entire party shall be permitted.
(10) All party papers and publications endorsed by the party, and all educa-
tional and propaganda institutions endorsed by the party, shall be owned and
controlled by the regular party organization.
(11) Party platforms, propaganda, duos and methods of organization shall
be standardized.
Special Report on Laior Organization
The purpose of the party is to create a unified revolutionary working-class
movemen*^ in America.
The European war has speeded up social and industrial evolution to such a
degree that capitalism throughout the world can no longer contain within itself
the vast forces it has created. The end of the capitalist system is in sight.
In Europe it is already tottering and crashing down, and the proletarian revolu-
tions there show that the workers are at the same time becoming conscious
of their power. The capitalists themselves admit that the collapse of European
capitalism and the rise of the revolutionary working class abroad cannot help
but drag American capitalism into the all-embracing ruin.
In this crisis the American working class is facing an alternative. Either
the workers will be unprepared, in which case they will be reduced to abject
slavery, or they will be sufficiently conscious and sufficiently organized to save
society by reconstructing it in accordance with the principles of Communism.
II
(1) By the term "revolutionary Industrial unionism" is meant the organiza-
tion of the workers into unions by industries with a revolutionary aim and
purpose ; that is to say, a purpose not merely to defend or strengthen the status
of the workers as wage earners, but to gain control of industry.
(2) In any mention of revolutionary industrial unionism in this country, there
must be recognized the immense effect upon the American labor movement of
the propaganda and example of the Industrial Workers of the World, whose
long and valiant struggles and heroic sacrifices in the class war have earned
the respect and affection of all workers everywhere. We greet the revolutionary
industrial proletariat of America, and pledge them our wholehearted support
and cooperation in their struggles against the capitalist class. Elsewhere in
the organized Labor movement a new tendency has recently manifested itself
as illustrated by the Seattle and Winnipeg strikes, the One Big Union and Shop
Committee movements in Canada and the West, and the numerous strikes all
over the country of the rank and file, which are proceeding without the authority
of the old reactionary Trade Union officials, and even against their orders.
This tendency, an impulse of the workers toward unity for common action across
the lines of craft divisions, if carried to its logical conclusion would inevitably
lead to workers' control of industry.
(3) This revolt of the rank and file must not be allowed to end in the dis-
organization of the ranks of organized labor. We must help to keep the workers
together, and through rank and file control of the Unions, assist the process of
uniting all workers in One Big Union.
(4) With this purpose in view, the Communist Labor Party welcomes and
supports, in whatever labor organization found, any tendency toward revolu-
tionary industrial unionism. We urge all our members to join industrial unions.
Where tlie job control of the reactionary craft unions compels them to become
members of these craft unions, they shall also join an industrial organization,
if one exists. In districts where there are no industrial unions, our membera
shall take steps to organize one.
46 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
III
To Labor and Labor alone is industry responsible. Without the power of
Labor, industry could not function. The need of the hour is that Labor recog-
nize the necessity of organization and education. This cannot be achieved by
attempting to influence the leaders of the Labor movement, as has been clearly
shown by the actions of the recent Convention of the American Federation of
Labor. It can only be done by getting the workers on the job to come together
and discuss the vital problems of industry.
(3) Because of the industrial crisis created by the World War, together with
the breakdown of industry following the cessation of hostilities, and the interrup-
tion of the processes of exchange and distribution, there is great dissatisfaction
among the workers. But they can find no means of dealing with the situation.
Their unions have refused to take any steps to meet the grave problems of
today ; and, moreover, they obstruct all efforts of the rank and file to find some
way by which the workers can act.
(4) We suggest that some plan of labor organization be inaugurated along
the lines of the Shop Steward and Shop Committee movements. These Com-
mittees can serve as a spur or check upon the officials of the Unions ; they will
necessarily reflect the spirit and wishes of the rank and file, and will educate the
workers on the job in preparation for the taking over of industry.
Recommendations
We recommend the following measures :
(1) That all locals shall elect committees on labor organization, composed so
far as is possible of members of Labor Unions, whose functions shall be :
(a) To initiate, or support, the creation of shop committees in every industry
in their district, the uniting of these committees in industrial councils, district
councils, and the central council of all industries.
(b) To propagandize and assist in the combining of craft unions, by industrifif,
In one big union.
(c) To bring together in the centers of party activity — locals and branches —
delegates from factories and shops to discuss tactics and policies of conducting
the class struggle.
(d) To propagandize directly among the workers on the job the principles of
communism, and educate them to a realization of their class position.
(e) To find a common basis for the uniting of all existing economic and
political organizations based on the class struggle.
(f) To mobilize all members who can serve as organizers to fill the demand
for men and women who can organize bodies of worker* along the lines indicated
above.
(g) To direct the activities of local party organizations in assisting the
workers wholeheartedly in their industrial battles, and making use of the.se
battles as opportunities for educating the workers.
(2) That a national committee on lal)or organization be elected by this Con-
rention, which shall cooperate with the local committees above-mentioned. In
addition, the national committee shall be charged with the task of mobilizing
national support for strikes of national importance, and shall endeavor to giv<»
these a political character.
(a) It shall collect information concerning the revolutionary labor move-
ment from the different sections of the country, and from other countries, and
through a press service to labor and Socialist papers, shall spread this informa-
tion to all parts of the country.
(b) It shall mobilize on a national scale all members who can serve as propa-
grandists and organizers who can not only teach, but actually help to put into
practice, the principles of revolutionary industrial unionism and communism.
UNITED COMMUNIST PARTY— 1920
On January 12, 1920, the president of the executive committee of the
Communist International addressed a communication to the central
committee of the Communist Party of America and the Communist
Labor Party on the necessity of immediate unification.® In Febru-
ary 1920, negotiations began between the two parties. Months of ne-
gotiations resulted in a split within the ranks of the Communist Party
of America. A convention lasting 7 days was held in May 1920 and
resulted in the formation of the United Communist Party by merg-
ing the group splintered from the Communist Party of America with
the Communist Labor Party.
The following constitution was adopted : ^°
Constitution of the United Communist Party
Article 1. Name, Purpose and Emblem
Section 1. The name of this organization shall be the United Communist
Party of America. It is the American Section of the Communist International.
Section 2. The United Communist Party of America is the organization of the
vanguard of the class-conscious workers. Its purpose is the education and y
orgauization of the workers fo:- the overthrow of the capitalist state, establish-
ment of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, abolition of the capitalist system and
the development of a Communist society.
Section 3. The emblem of the party shall be a hammer, sickle and sheaves of
wheat above the words "All Power to the Workers," surrounded by a circular
margin with the words, "The United Communist Party of America" and "The
Communist International."
Article II. Membership
Section 1. Any person who accepts the principles and tactics of the party and
of the Communist International, agrees to submit to the party discipline and to
engage actively in its work, shall be eligible for membership, provided he has
severed connection with all other political organizations.
Section 2. Applicants must be accepted with due care and only on recommenda-
tion of two persons who have been members for at least three months, except in
newly organized groups in new territory. Every applicant shall be on probation
for two months with a voice but no vote. Before being admitted to full member-
ship the applicant must familiarize himself with the program and constitution of
the party. Applicants can be accepted only by unanimous vote of the group to
which application is made. Whenever practical, applicants shall be assigned
to recruiting groups during the period of probation.
Section 3. Applicants shall pay an initiation fee of one dollar and monthly
dues of 75 cents. Dues shall be paid during the probation period.
Section 4. Members may transfer from one party unit to another only upon
permission from the party unit to which they belong. The unit granting the
transfer shall notify the unit to which the member transfers through regular
party channels.
Section 5. No member of the party shall accept or hold any appointive public
oflace, honorary or remunerative, otherwise than through civil service, nor enter
the service of the government in any way except through legal compulsion. No
member shall be a candidate for any public office except by instructions of the
party.
» Fish Committee Reports, pt. II. vol. 3, pp. 189-101.
*• Lusk Committee Keports, vol. II, p. 1892.
47
48 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
Section 6. Members of the party who are writers, speakers, and artists shall,
so far as possible, place their services at the disposal of the party. Any member
vising his training in those lines detrimentally to the party shall be disciplined,
Article III. Units of Organizations
Section 1. The basic units of the party shall be groups of approximately ten
members, and wherever possible, not less than five members.
Section 2. Each party group shall elect a group organizer to serve as con-
necting link between the group and the unit of party above it.
Section 3. Not more than ten groups shall constitvite a branch and not over
ten branches a section ; not over ten sections a subdistrict and not over ten sub-
districts a district. Districts shall be organized around the industrial centers,
rather than along state lines.
Section 4. Party members working in the same industrial plants shall, so far
as is practical, be organized into shop units. Groups may also be organized in
unions and other working-class organizations.
Section 5. Groups may consist of members speaking the same language, when
this does not interfere with the organization of industrial groups.
Article IV. Administration
Section 1. The supreme administrative body of the party shall be the con-
vention of the party.
Section 2. Between conventions the supreme body of the party shall be the
Central Executive Committee, which shall consist of ten members elected by the
convention. They shall live in the city in which the national headquarters is
located or in adjacent cities. The convention shall also elect ten alternates for
the C. E. C. In case the list of alternates is exhausted the C. E. C. shall have
power to fill the vacancies.
Section 3. The Central Executive Committee shall appoint such party officials
as are necessary to conduct the work of the party. It shall carry on the propa-
ganda, organization, and educational work of the party; and publish the party
papers, supplying each member with a copy of the official party paper in
the respective languages free of charge.
The Committee shall have power to —
(a) Divide the country into districts.
(b) Appoint district organizers as the representatives of the national organi-
zation in these districts.
SEx:nnoN 4. It shall be the duty of the Central Executive Committee to make a
monthly report of its activities and of party finances.
Section. 5. The administrative power of the District tshall be vested in the
district conventions to be held at least once each year. Between the district
conventions the work of administration shall be vested in a district executive
committee elected by the district convention. The district executive committee
shall supervise the work of the district organizer ; it shall also appoint subdistrict
organizers, subject to approval of the subdistrict committees.
Section 6. The administrative power of the subdistrict shall be vested in the
subdistrict conventions, to be held once each six months. Between subdistrict
conventions, the work of administration shall be vested in a subdistrict executive
committee.
Section 7. Section committees shall consist of the branch organizers. The
branch committees shall consist of the group organizers. The group organizers of
a branch shall elect the branch organizer.
Article V. Language Federations
Section 1. In order that the party shall be a centralized organization capable
of united action, no autonomous federations of language groups shall exist in the
party.
Section 2. Branches made up of language groups may form subdistrict propa-
ganda committees and these may be combined in district propaganda committees.
These propaganda committees shall have power to devise plans for propaganda
and agitation in their respective languages, which shall be carried out through
the regular party channels.
Section 3. The C. E. C. of the party shall annually call a national conference
of the respective language groups by request of district committees representing
a majority of the language group. These conferences shall plan the work of
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 49
agitation and organization of the group on a national scale and elect the editors
and organizers to carry on the work of the groups. "Such editors and organizers
shall work under the direction of the C. B. 0. of the party.
Section 4. Should the organizers or editors elected by the language conference
prove incompetent the C. E. O. may upon protest of district propaganda commit-
tees representing a majority of the language group, remove such officials and fill
the positions by appointment.
Section 5. All language literature and official party papers shall be published
by the C. E. C. of the party.
Article VI. Discipline
Section 1. Every unit of the party is responsible for the maintenance of party
discipline over its members and subordinate groups. Members expelled from
groups may appeal to the branch committee and subordinate units to the next
higher unit. District organizers may appeal from the C. E. C. decision to the
convention.
Section 2. Party policies shall be formulated by the convention and by the
C. E. C. and all subordinate party units are bound by the decisions of convention
and C. E. C. The work of the district and subdistrict committees is strictly
limited t© administration.
Section 3. All party units shall confine their activities to their respective terri-
torial limits.
Section 4. The Central Executive Committee shall maintain discipline over its
members and may remove any of its membei's by a unanimous vote of the
remaining members of the committee.
Section 5. No unit of the party shall publish a party organ without the consent
of the C. B. C.
Section 6. All papers published by the party shall be under the editorial control
of the Central Executive Committee.
Article VII. Finance
Section 1. Applicants for membership shall pay initiation fee of one dollar,
which shall be forwarded to the national organization.
Section 2. Monthly dues shall be seventy-five cents, which shall be paid into
the treasury of tiie national organization. Dues shall be receipted for by dues
stamps issued by the C. E. C.
Section 3. An organization stamp shall be issued by the C. E. C. which shall
be used as receipts for special contributions from the membership.
Section 4. Special assessments may be levied by the convention and the
Central Executive Committee. No member shall be considered in good standing
unless he pays such assessments. The organisation stamps shall be used to
receipt for these assessments.
Section 5. Huband and wife belonging to the same group shall only be obli-
gated to pay seventy-five cents dues monthly.
SEoriON 6. Unemployed and imprisoned members shall be so reported by the
group organizer and shall not be considered in bad standing because of non-
payment of dues.
Section 7. Dues shall be paid monthly by every member. No advance pay-
ment shall be made and members who have not paid dues by the first of the
succeeding month for the previous month shall be considered in bad standing.
Members three months in arrears shall be excluded from their group.
Article VIII. Conventions
Section 1. A national convention shall be held annually at a time and place
determined upon by the Centra". Executive Committee. The C. E. C. may call
emergency conventions when requested by district committees representing a
majority of the membership. In case the C. E. C. does not act, district ey»cutive
committees may send delegates to a conference for the purpose of calling the
convention.
Seotion 2. The number of delegates shall be determined by the C. E. C. accord-
ing to the circumstances. Delegates shall be apportioned to districts in propor-
tion to the membership.
Section 3. Districts shall apportion the delegates to subdivisions In such a
manner that no subdivision shall elect more than one. Provided that such
apportionment must be proportionate to the membership.
50 ORGANIZED COMMIIN-ISM IN THE UNITED STATES
Section 4. Delegates to national conventions shall be paid railroad expenses
and the same per diem as party officials.
Section 5. The convention call and apportionment of delegates must be issued
not less than sixty days before the convention.
Secjtion 6. When requested by any district committee or by five subdistrict
committees, the C. E. C. shall submit propositions that are to come before the
convention to every party group for discussion at the same time that the call
for the convention is issued.
Article IX. International
Section 1. Delegates and alternates to the International Congress of the
Communist International and an international secretarj shall be elected by
^Jie convention.
I
COMMUNIST PARTY OF AMERICA— 1921
(Merger of Communist Party of America and United Communist
Party)
On June 12, 1920, The Communist ajipeared as the official organ of
the United Communist Party of America. A year later the remain-
der of the Communist Party of America merged with the United Com-
munist Party. As a result of this merger, a new Constitution and
Program of the Communist Party of America was adopted in May
1921, by the Joint Unity Convention of the Communist Party and the
United Communist Party of America.
The constitution is as follows : "
Constitution and Peogeam of the Communist Party of America
Adopted by the Joint Unity Convention of the Communist Party and the United
Communist Party of America
Capitalist society is distinguished from all previous forms of society by the
production of commodities on the basis of capital. Through the private owner-
ship of the means of production, the bourgeoisie, a small group in society, have
reduced the great majority of the people to the status of proletarians and semi-
proletarians. The working class is compelled to sell its labor power to the
owners of the machinery of production, and have become wage slaves who, by
their labor, create profits for the ruling classes of society.
During the last century the development of machinery means of communica-
tion and technique led to the extension of the capitalist system of production
throughout the world. As a result of the consequent formation of large industrial
enterprises, the small industrial enterprises and the small independent manu-
facturers were expropriated. This whole class, the petite bourgeoisie, is con-
tinually being reduced to impotency in social, political, and economic life.
The development of technique in production and distribution led to the division
and subdivision of labor, the use of woman and child labor, and the substitution
of unskilled and semiskilled workers for craftsmen and artisans. The relative
decrease in the demand for human labor created a condition wherein the supply
of labor exceeds the demand. The dependence of labor upon capital increased.
The degree of exploitation is intensified.
This economic development within the nation, together with the continual
sharpening of rivalry in the world market, makes the sale of commodities, the
production of which is ever increasing, more and more difficult. The inevitable
result of this development of productive power in capitalist society is over-
production. This overproduction brings about industrial crises which ruin the
small manufacturers still more, creates a further dependence of wage labor
upon capital, and accelerates the deterioration of the conditions of the working
class.
Manufacturers are compelled to perfect their machinery. This perfection of
machinery Is complemented by a constant displacement of laborers, constituting
the industrial reserve army. The inevitable extension of production brings with
it a tremendous development of the productive forces, causes excess of supply
over demand, overproduction, a glutting of the market, and recurring crises —
resulting in a vicious circle. On the one hand, there is an excess of the means
of production and products ; on the other, laborers without employment and
"Report of Special Committee on Un-American Activities, appendix I, p. 214.
51
52 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
without means of existence. The two levers of production — machinery and labor
power — are unable to function because capitalism prevents productive forces
from working and the products from circulating unless they are first turned into
capital. The oversupply of machinery and labor power hinders this process.
The mode of production rebels against the form of exchange and the bourgeoisie
stands convicted of incapacity to further manage their own social production
forces.
These contradictions, which are inherent in bourgeois society, increase the
discontent of the exploited masses. The number of the proletariat is continually
augmented. Their solidarity is strengthened, and the struggle with their ex-
ploiters becomes ever more acute. This and the improvement of technique, con-
centrating the means of production and socializing the process of labor, prepares
the ground for the social revolution — the replacement of the capitalist system
by a Communist society. This is the final aim of the Communist Party of
America.
Through the systematic organization of production, distribution, and exchange
capitalism tends to overcome anarchy in social production. Mighty corporations
(syndicates, trusts, cartels) rise in place of the numerous small competitors.
Finance capital is combined with industrial capital. The finance oligarchy,
because of superior organization, becomes the dominant power in the whole
economic system. Monopoly supplants free competition. The individual capi-
talist becomes the corporation capitalist. Organised capital tends to remove
the anarchy of competition within each nation.
With the development of imperialism in each nation the contradictions, the
international competitive conflicts, the anarchy of world production and ex-
change became more acute. Competition between the highly organized im-
perialist states and the groups of states led directly to the world war. Greed
for profits compels the capitalist-imperialist national groups to fiight among
themselves for new markets, new fields for the investment of capital, new
sources of raw materials, and for the cheap labor power of colonial peoples.
These imperialist states were dividing among themselves the territory of the
entire world. Millions of proletarians and peasants of Africa, Australia, Asia,
and the Americas were being reduced to a most degrading wage slavery. In
the struggle for these spoils the imperialist states met each other in a mortal
combat — the Imperial World War.
The World War marks an epoch — the epoch of the collapse of capitalism and
the beginning of the proletarian revolution. With the disintegration of im-
perialism come uprisings among the exploited masses in the colonies and in the
small independent nations. The imperialist armies disintegrate. The ruling
classes are unmasked and their incapacity to further direct the destiny of the
world's working mas.sos is exposed. Armed insurrection of the proletariat, re-
sulting in victorious revolution, as in Russia ; and a series of open armed con-
flicts with the state power of the bourgeoisie, as in Germanj'. This is typical
of the conditions throughout the world.
There is only one power that can save humanity — the power of the proletariat.
The old capitalist order is in decay. It can prevail no longer. The final out-
come of the capitalist system of production is chaos. Only the great producing
class, the working class, can bring order out of this chaos. The working class
must destroy the capitalist state, root and branch. The working class must
establish a dictatorship of the proletariat, based upon Soviet power, in order
to crush both the resistance of capitalist counterrevolution at home and im-
perialist onslaught from without.
Imperialism arms itself for the final conflict against the world revolution.
Under the guise of a league of nations, or other similar alliances, it is making a
last desperate effort to bolster up the capitalist system. Through such alliances
It aims to direct all its power against the ever-growing proletarian revolution.
These is but one answer to this huge conspiracy of collapsing capitalism. The
proletariat must conquer political power and direct it against its class enemies
and set in motion all the forces of social revolution.
In order to achieve victory in the world revolution, the working class must at-
tain unity and coordinate all its forces. This victory cannot be realized unless
the working class forever completely breaks with all forms of bourgeois per-
version of socialism which have dominated the Social-Democratic and Socialist
parties of the world.
One form of this perversion is opportunism — social chauvinism, socialist in
name but chauvinist in fact. These opportunists have betrayed the interests
of th3 working class under the false watchwords of the defense of the fatherland.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 53
Witness the imperialist world war. This opportunism takes root in the wanton
robbing of colonial and weals nations by imperialist states. The suiierprofits
acquired through this exploitation have enabled the bourgeoisie to bribe the
leaders of the working class. They have placed the upper strata of the workers
in a privileged position by guaranteeing them, in time of peace, a tolerable
existence and by taking their leaders into the service of the bourgeoisie.
The opportunists and social-chauvinists are servants of the bourgeoisie. They
are enemies of the proletariat, especially is this true when, together with the
capitalists they are suppressing the revolutionary movement of their own and
other countries.
As Socialist workers begin to awaken to the treacherous character of the so-
called Socialist parties, and to desert them, the leaders of those parties make
desperate efforts to hold their following. These efforts sometimes take the form
of indorsing the Communist International "with reservations." Another device
is to endorse Soviets in Russia "but not here." Another is to pose as "defending
the Russian Soviet Republic from invasion by foreign imperialists." All these
are evasions of revolutionary duty. The Communist International is an organi-
zation for waging class warfare for the liberatien of the working class; there
can be no reservations in endorsement and affiliation with it. Loyalty "with
reservations" is treachery. Indorsement and defense of Soviets in Russia with
failure to advocate the Soviet form of proletarian dictatorship in the United
States is hypocrisy.
Those who attempt by such means to hold revolutionary workers in a position
midway between the old bourgeois Socialist-reform position and the revolu-
tionary Communist position, are known as "centrists." Without the courage
and intelligence to lead the workers to revolution, yet unwilling to admit their
character as friends of the bourgeois state, these centrist leaders confuse and
obstruct the development of the proletarian revolution.
The Socialist Party of the United States is a mixture of elements varying from
extreme social-chauvinism to centrlsm. The revoluntary and semirevolutionary
membership brought into it or awakened within it by the world war and the
Russian revolution, compelled the Socialist Party nominally to oppose the entry
of the United States into the war. The membership which compelled the party to
adopt the mildly antiwar platform has been ruthlessly expelled. The leaders,
in defiance of the mandate of the membership, during the war took official part in
promoting war loans and patriotic measures. Since the close of the war the party
spokesmen have completed the bankruptcy and disgrace of the Socialist Party
by pledging it to support the capitalist state (even against proletarian revolution) .
After attempting to keep their party from disintegrating by a cowardly endorse-
ment of the Communist International "with reservations," and after being re-
pulsed by the Communist International and rebuked before the world for their
cowardice, the Socialist Party leaders are now engaged in slandering the Com-
munist International and trying by deliberate falsehood to keep their membership
from understanding it.
Driven by the opposition of the working class out of the Second International,
to which they, by the logic of their program, still belong, the Socialist Party
leaders now try to form a "Fourth International" of most of the opportunist
parties and the centrist parties of the world. The Communist Party will con-
tinuously expose this "Fourth International" as having the same basis poltically
as the Second International, which is now buried forever under the blood and
crime of the world war to which it gave its support. The Second International
is a reeking corpse, and the "Fourth International" is its still-born child.
The Communist International alone conducts the struggle of the proletariat for
its emancipation. The Communist Party of America is its American section.
Not alone in words but in deeds is the Communist International gaining more
and more the sympathy and support of the proletariat of all countries. Its
political content and ideology restore Marxism and realize the Marxian revolu-
tionary teachings.
The social revolution will replace the private ownership of the means of pro-
duction and distribution by collective ownership, systematize the organization
of production in order to secure the welfare of all members of society, abolish
class divisions, liberate oppressed humanity, and put an end to all exploitation
of one part of society by another.
The establishment of a proletarian dictatorship is indispensable to the attain-
ment of the social revolution. The proletariat must destroy the bourgeois state.
It must establish a proletarian state, and thereby crush the resistance of the
capitalists. In order to fulfill its great historic mission, the proletariat must
54 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
©rganize itself into an independent political party — a Communist Party — -which
opposes all the bourgeois and opportunist Socialistic parties. Such a party is
the Communist Party of America. It leads the workers in the class struggle and
reveals to the working masses the irreconcilable conflict of interest between
the exploiters and the exploited. The Communist Party of America points out
the historic significance and the essential conditions of the approaching social
revolution. The Communist Party of America, the revolutionary vanguard of
the proletarian movement, calls upon those of the toiling and exploited masses
who accept its principles and tactics to join the ranks.
The Communist Party of America, section of the Communist International,
defines the aims and processes of the proletarian revolution as follows :
PROLETARIAN DICTATORSHIP AND BOURGEOIS DEMOCRACT
•'Between capitalist and Communist society there lies a period of revolutionary
transformation from the former to the latter, A state of political transition
corresponds to this period, and the state during this period can be no other than
the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat" (Marx).
Through the private ownership of the means of production, the bourgeoisie
exploit and suppress the broad masses in all capitalist countries. Bourgeois
republics, even the most democratic, through skillful use of such watchwords
as "public opinion," "equality before the law," and "national interest," as opposed
to class interests, only veil this suppression and exploitation. Bourgeois democ-
racy is in reality bourgeois dictatorship. The proletarian or Soviet democracy
can be realized only through a transformation of all organizations of the broad
laboring masses — proletarian and semiproletarian (that is, the vast majority
of the population) — into a single and permanent basis of state apparatus, local
as well as national.
The proletarian revolution comes at a moment of economic crisis precipitating
a political crisis. The politico-economic crisis causes a collapse in the capitalist
order. The role of the "Social Democratic" parties is to attempt to solve the
political crisis by a coalition of an "all-Socialist" government within the bour-
geois State machinery, thus, by the deception of the workers enabling the capital-
ist State to live through the economic crisis.
The proletariat, once having learned the disastrous consequences of "Social-
Democratic" bolstering up of the bourgeois State, throws its support to the Com-
munists. Under pressure of the economic chaos, and led by the Communist
Party, the proletariat forms its organs of working-class power entirely separate
and distinct from the bourgeois State. These organs are the Workers' Soviets
(councils) which arise at the moment of tbc revolutionary outbreak and attain
a dominant position, during the course of the revolution.
By the use of force, the proletariat destroys the machinery of the bourgeois
State and establishes the proletarian dictatorship based on Soviet power.
The proletarian State, like every other state, is an organ of suppression and
coercion, but its machinery is directed against the enemies of the working class.
It aims to break the desperate resistance of the exploiters who use all the power
at their command to drown the revolution in blood. The proletarian state aims
to make this resistance impossible. Under a proletarian dictatorship, which is
a provisional institution, the working class establishes itself as the ruling class
in society. After tlie resistance of the bourgeoisie is broken, after it is expro-
priated and gradually absorbed into the labor strata, then only do all classes
Tanish, the proletarian dictatorship disapiiears and the State dies out.
The bourgeois parliamentary state is the organ of the bourgeoisie for the
suppression and coercion of the working masses. Parliamentary government
is nothing but an expression of bourgeois supremacy — the form of authority of the
capitalist class over the working class. Bourgeois democracy is nothing but a
concealed dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. Bourgeois democracy, through its
parliamentary system, fraudulently deprives the masses and their organizations
of any real participation in the administration of the State.
Under a Workers' Government — the proletarian dictatorship in the form of
Soviet power — the organizations of the masses dominate. Through these organ-
izations, the masses themselves administer. Bourgeois democracy, manifesting
itself through its parliamentary system, deprives the masses of participation
in the administration of the capitalist state by a division of legislative and
executive power, by unrecallable mandates, and by numerous agencies of social,
political, and economic suppression.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 55
Under a proletarian government, the Soviets, acting as real organs of state
power, merging the legislative and executive function, and by the right of recall,
bring the masses into close contact with the administrative machinery. This
unity is further promoted by the fact that uuder the Soviet government the
elections themselves are conducted, not in conformity with arbitrary, territorial
demarcations, but in accordance with industrial divisions. The proletarian
dictatorship, in the form of a Soviet government, thus realizes true, proletarian
democracy — a democracy of and for the working class and against the bourgeoisie.
The proletarian revolution is a long process. It begins with the destruction of
the capitalist state and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat,
and ends only with the complete transformation of the capitalist system into the
Communist society.
POLITICAL ACTION
Every class struggle is a political struggle. The object of the class struggle,
which inevitably develops into civil war, is the conquest of political power. A
political party that shall or^sanize and direct this struggle is indispensable for the
acquisition of this power. When the workers are under the leadership of a well-
organized and experienced political party that has strictly defined objectives and
a program of immediate action, in foreign as well as domestic policy, then only
will the acquisition of political power cease to be a casual episode, and become
the starting point for the gradual realization of the Communist society.
The class struggle demands that the general guidance of the various expres-
sions of the proletarian movement (such as labor unions, cooperative associa-
tions, cultural-educational societies, election campaigns, etc.) be centered in one
organization. Only a political party can be such a unifying and guiding center.
The class struggle of the proletariat demands a concentrated propaganda to throw
light upon various stages of the conflict. It makes imperative a unified point of
view to direct, at each given moment, the attention of the proletariat to deiinite
tasks that are to be accomplished by the working class as a whole.
The Communist Party of America, section of the Communist International, is
that part of the working class which is most advanced, intelligent, self-sacrificing
and class-conscious. It is therefore the most revolutionary part of the working
class. The Communist Party has no other interests than those of the working
class as a whole. It differs from the general mass of workers in that it takes a
comprehensive view of the entire historical development of the working class. At
every turn of the road it endeavors to defend the interests, not of separate
groups or trades but of the entire working class. The Communist Party is the
organized political power by means of which the more advanced part of the
working class leads the whole proletarian and semiproletarian mass.
During the proletarian dictatorship the Communist Party will continue to sys-
tematically direct the work of the Soviets and revolutionized industrial unions.
The Communist Party, as the vanguard of the proletarian movement, will direct
the struggle of the entire woi'king class on the political and economic fields. Jt
will guide the proletariat in the field of education and social life. The Commu-
nist Party must be the animating spirit in the Soviets, revolutionized industrial
unions, and in all proletarian organizations.
I. Mass Action
In countries where the historical development furnished the opportunity,
bourgeois democracy served the working class as a means of organizing itself
against capitalism. This process will go on in all countries where the condi-
tions for a proletarian revolution are not yet ripe The workers must never lose
sight of the true character of bourgeois democracy. The capitalist class screens
its deeds of violence behind the parliamentary system. Centuries of capitalist
rule have placed at its disposal the equipment and attainments of modern civil-
ization. To achieve its end the capitalist class resorts to lies, demagogy, bribery,
persecution, and murder.
The revolutionary epoch upon which the world has now entered forces the
proletariat to resort to militant methods — mass action, leading to direct collision
with the bourgeois state. Mass action culminates in armed insurrection and
civil war. The centralized power of the capitalist class manifests itself through
control of the state machinery — the army, the navy, police, courts, bureaucracy,
etc. It is through such means that the capitalist class imposes its will upon
the workers. Mass action is the proletarian revolt against the oppression of
the capitalist class. It develops from spontaneous activities of the workers
56 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
taassed in large industries. Among its initial manifestations are mass strikes
and mass demonstrations.
Tbe Communist Party will educate and organize the working masses for such
direct political action, i. e., mass strikes and mass demonstrations, and will
lead them in these struggles. These struggles form the major campaign of the
Communist Party. It is through such struggles that the working masses are
prepared for the final conflict for power. This can be nothing else but a direct
struggle between the armed forces of the capitalist state on the one hand, the
armed forces of the proletarian revolution on the other. In these mass strikes
and demonstrations large masses of workers are united. New tactics and a new
ideology are developed. As these strikes grow in number and intensity, they
acquire political character through unavoidable collision and open combat with
the capitalist state which openly employs all its machinery to break their strikes
and crush the workers' organizations. This finally results in armed insurrection
aimed directly at the destruction of the capitalist state and the establishment
of the proletarian dictatorship. This objective cannot be attained unless the
entire mass movement is under the control and guidance of the Communist
Party.
The Communist Party will keep in the foreground the idea of the necessity
of violent revolution for the destruction of the capitalist state and the establish-
ment of the dictatorship of the proletariat based on Soviet pov/er.
The Communist Party will systematically and persistently propagate the idea
of the inevitability of and necessity for violent revolution, and will prepare the
workers for armed insurrection as the only means of overthrowing the capitalist
state.
Parliamentary Actioti
The Communist Party of America recognizes that the revolutionary proletariat
must use all means of propaganda and agitation to win over the exploited masses.
One of these means is parliamentary activity. The work of Communist repre-
sentatives in parliament will consist chiefly in making revolutionary propaganda
from the parliamentary platform. They should unmask and denounce the ene-
mies of the masses. Our representatives in parliament shall further the ideo-
logical unification of the masses who, captivated by democratic illusions, still
put their trust in parliaments. The Communist Party will utilize parliament
as a means of winning especially such backward elements of the working masses
as tenant farmers, farm workers, and the semiproletariat. All work within the
parliaments must be completely subordinated to the task of the mass struggles
outside of parliament.
Communist representatives shall make all their parliamentary activity de-
pendent on the work of the Party outside of parliament. They should regularly
propose demonstrative measures, not for the purpose of having them passed by
the bourgeois majority, but for the purpose of propaganda, agitation and organiza-
tion. All this activity must be carried on under the direction of the Party and
its Central Executive Committee.
The bourgeois parliament, one of the most important instruments of the bour-
geois state machinery, can no more be won by the proletariat than the bourgeois
order in general. It is the task of the proletariat to destroy the entire machinery
of the bourgeois state, not excluding its parliamentary institutions.
The parliamentary system of the American bourgeois government is based on
a rigid constitution. Its authority is divided among forty-eight states. Each of
these States has its own legislature, governor, courts, etc. The American
capitalist state, screened by bourgeois democracy, Is the machinery in the hands
of the capitalists for crushing all working class aspirations. Large masses of
Negroes, migratory and foreign-born workers, are disfranchised. The working
class of America now faces a practically naked dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.
The American bourgeois state was quick to recognize the Communist parties
in America as its historic and deadly enemies. It employed all its power in a
vicious onslaught against them. Being outlawed, the Communist parties re-
organized as underground, illegal parties. Thus, for the present, the Communist
Party of America is prevented from participating in the elections under its own
name.
While the Communist Party of America wages its major campaigns and
activities through the mass struggles of the working class outside of parliament,
It will also organize the necessary legal machinery for participation in munici-
pal, state, and national election campaigns. It shall, wherever possible, enter its
candidates in opposition to all bourgeois and social-reform parties.
ORGANIZED COMIMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES £7
Labor Unions and Labor Organizations
The trade unions arose as organs of the working class to check the growing
exploitation. In their early form the trade unions were organizations of skilled
workers in separate crafts. Modern industry has developed the machine worker.
The machine workers are massed together in the basic industries and constitute
the militant factor in the class struggle. The concentration of industry and the
development of the machine process renders useless the isolated craft strike
and makes necessary the organization of the workers on a wider scale. Industrial
unions are a better form of organization for the workers in their struggle for
higher wages and improved conditions, under capitalism. Craft unions have not
kept pace with the development of capitalist organization and still retain to a
large degree the ideology of property, contract, and obsolete craft division.
Industrial unions alone are not sufficient for the successful carrying out of
the revolution. Syndicalism denies the necessity for establishing the proletarian
state during the transition period from capitalist society to Communist society.
Revolutionary syndicalism and industrialism are a step forward only in com-
parison with the old, counter-revolutionary ideology of Socialist parties. But
in comparison with the revolutionary Marxian doctrine, i. e., with communism,
syndicalism, and industrialism, are a step backward.
The Socialist movement in America originally followed the policy of maintain-
ing contact with labor organizations and of propagating their ideas within them.
Impatience with the slowness of the process of educating and leading the workers
by working within the reactionary trade unions gave rise to the attempt during
the period of 1895 to artificially stimulate the organization of brand new "class-
conscious" labor unions, such as the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance. The
opportunist policy of the "yellow" reformist Socialists of catering to and sup-
porting the reactionary leaders of the trade unions increased this discouragement
and led to the abandonment of the struggle within the old unions by the more
advanced worker and to the formation in 1905 of the IWW as an entirely new
labor union, outside of and in opposition to the existing trade unions.
The policy of the IWW and similar organizations of artificially creating new
industrial unions has been shown by experience to be mistaken. Such efforts
result in isolating the most advanced workers from the main body of organized
labor and strengthening the control of the trade unions by reactionary leaders.
The members of the trade unions as a rule have not deserted the old unions for
the new ones : The old unions become more reactionary when the revolutionary
workers leave them. This situation represents a great danger, for without the
support of the labor unions, the success of the proletarian revolution is im-
possible. The experience of the Hungarian and German revolutions fully estab-
lishes the fact that if the American labor unions remain under the control of
such leaders as those who grossly betrayed the workers during the World War,
and who serve the bourgeoisie against the workers in every struggle, they will be
manipulated as deadly implements for the defeat of the proletarian revolution.
The Communist Party condemns the policy of the revolutionary elements
leaving the existing unions. These elements must remain with the large mass of
organized workers. The Communists must take an active and leading part in
the everyday struggles of the unions. They must carry on a merciless and
uncompromising struggle against the social-patriotic and reactionary leaders,
criticize and expose them and drive them out of power. The Communist Party
will develop from its ranks the most determined fighters in the labor movement
who, through courage, sacrifice, and class-consciousness will inspire the masses
with a spirit of determined struggle and win them over for the proletarian
revolution. Only in this way can the distlntegration of the unions be prevented,
the reactionary leaders ousted from control, the bureaucratic machinery de-
stroyed and replaced by the apparatus of shop delegates, and the trade unions
broadened in scope and gradually developed into industrial unions.
Bearing in mind the necessity for the closest contact of the Communists with
those workers who have not yet reached a revolutionary understanding, and
the intensity of the struggle which requires the closest unity and solidarity of
the workers on the economic field, the Communists shall not foster artificial
division in the labor movement, nor deliberately bring it about. On the con-
trary, they must use all measures, short of giving up the revolutionary task in
the unions, not hesitating to employ strategy to avoid giving to the reactionary
leaders the pretext to expel them. The Communists must not fear a split when
47716'— 54 5
58 ORGANIZED COMMUTSTISM IN THE UNITED STATES
the circumstances leave them no alternative except to abandon the struggle to
transform the unions into instruments of revolutionary action. Such a split
may be carried out only when the Communists, by the incessant warfare against
the reactionary leaders and their tactics, and by their wholehearted participa-
tion in the everyday struggles of the unions, have gained the confidence and
the leadership of the workers, and are able to convince them that the split is
occurring, not because of some remote revolutionary aim which they do not under-
stand, but because it has been forced by the bureaucracy and because it is
demanded by the concrete, immediate interests of the working class in the
development of the economic struggle. Even in such cases, the Communists
must act with the greatest care and consider the possibility of such a split
resulting in separating them from the working masses.
The Communist Party will lead and participate in every effort on the part of
the unorganized workers to organize into unions — initiating the organization of
unions where these do not exist — and will lead them in the class struggle towards
the proletarian revolution.
The Communist Party will work within the industrial unions of the IWW
where these are established and function as mass organizations of the workers ;
and will support them especially during strihes and mass movements. The
Communist Party regards the workers in the ranks of the IWW as comrades iu
the class war. At the same time, the Communist Party rejects the absurd theory,
entertained by the IWW, that the revolution can be accomplished by the direct
seizure of industry without first overthrowing the capitalist state. Only
after the conquest of political power, after the establishment of the proletarian
dictatorship, can the revolutionized industrial unions become the starting point
for the Communist reconstruction of society. The Communist Party will put
forth every effort to overcome the syndicalist prejudices of the members of the
IWW, and to win them over to the position of the Communist International.
«
II
The effort to transform the antiquated craft unions into more effective offensive
and defensive instruments of the working class gives rise to the formation of
rank and file organizations of the more advanced workers within the unions.
The purpose of such organization is to more effectively wage the struggle for
control of the unions and to oust the traitorous leaders. These expressions
within the unions are a necessary feature of the struggle to revolutionize the
labor movement and must be crystallized by the Communist Party. The Com-
munist Party will take an active part in this movement and coordinate it, fully
utilizing for this purpose its press, nuclei and all other means, and lead it by
degrees to the platform of Communism and thus make of it an auxiliary instru-
ment of the Communist Party.
m
The experience of the European labor movement indicates that out of the
economic chaos developing in America the laboring masses will endeavor to create
factory committees, such as the factory councils (Betriebs Rat) in Germany,
which will undertake a struggle for workers' control over production. The aspir-
ation to create such organizations takes its origin from the most varied cause.?,
namely, struggle against the counter-revolutionary bureaucracy, discouragement
after a strike or defeat of the unions, or the desire to create an organization em-
bracing all the workers, etc., but in the end, it results in the struggle for control
over industry, which is their special historic task. These organizations should
consist of the widest possible masses of workers and should not be formed ex-
clusively of those who already understand and are fighting for the proletarian
dictatorship. The Communist Party will organize aU workers on a basis of the
economic crisis, and lead them toward the struggle for the dictatorship of the
proletariat by developing the concrete struggle for workers' control over industry.
The factory committees cannot be substituted for the trade unions. The trade
unions are central fighting organs although they do not embrace such large
masses of the workers as the factory committee, since these become accessible
to all the workers of a given industry. The trade and industrial unions organize
the workers on a national scale for the struggle to increase wages and shorten
hours of labor. Factory committees fight for workers' control over production,
in the struggle to resist the economic crisis, and embrace all the workers in a
given industry. This division of tasks is the result of the historic development
of the social revolution.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 59
Factory committees are extra-union organizations and must not be confused
with shop committees and the shop-delegate system, which are part of the
machinery of some labor unions. The shop committees and the shop-delegate
.system constitute a form of union management whereby the power in the union
rests in the hands of delegates elected by and from the workers in the shop.
The Communist Party will advocate and promote this form of union manage-
ment. At the same time it will expose the so-called shop committees which are
organized by employers as substitutes for labor unions.
The Communist Party will propagate the idea of factory committees to the
working class of America as an immediate and essential part of its general
propaganda. It will lead the workers in their attempts to form factory com-
mittees and will initiate their organization when the necessary conditions arise.
IV
Two Internationals of Trade Unions are struggling for supremacy. On the
one hand, The International Federation of Trade Unions, with headquarters
at Amsterdam, endeavors with a subtle program of Socialistic reform to lure
t!ie labor unions into collaboration with the capitalist governments and leagues of
governments. It seeks to paralyze and demoralize the working class of all
countries simultaneously, in time of revolutionary crisis, in the interests of the
capitalist class.
(In the other hand is the Red Labor Union International, with headquarters
at Moscow. This International of Trade and Industrial Unions xmites the labor
unions of the world for the carrying on of the labor struggle on the economic
field in the interests of the working class as a whole. It wars on the capitalist
class and all capitalist governments in close and indissoluble union with the
Commimist International.
The Communist Party will carry on an extensive propaganda for the affiliation
of all organized labor in America to the Red Labor Union International. Where
revolutionary minorities or separate organizations within the American labor
movement indorse the revolutionary program of the Red Labor Union Interna-
tional, the Communist Party will pursue the policy of keeping the revolutionary
minorities within their national organizations for the purpose of combating any
efforts at affiliation with the yellow Amsterdam International, and of bring-
ing the entire labor movement of America into the Red International. The Com-
munist Party will fully cooperate with the Red Labor Union International and
any committees or bureaus it may establish to carry on its work in the American
labor movement, in keeping with the decisions of the Communist International,
The Communist Party will strive to inspire all the organizations of labor with
the spirit of determined struggle, 1. e., with the spirit of Comriiunisra. The Com-
munist Party will practically subordinate these and thus create a mass organiza-
tion, a basis for a powerful centralized organ of the proletarian struggle. The
Communist Party will lead them all to one aim, the victory of the working class,
through the dictatorship of the proletariat, to Communism.
Communist Party 'Nuclei
The Communist Party of America will organize party nuclei wherever there are
proletarians or semiproletarians. These nuclei will be organized in trade and
industrial unions, in factory committees, in working class educational or social
organizations, in government institutions, in the army and navy, and in the
organizations of the agricultural laborers, tenant farmers, small farmers, etc.
These nuclei will enable the party to effectively carry on its propaganda. These
nuclei will aid the party in leading the working masses in the proletarian revolu-
tion. Communist Party nuclei shall be subordinated one to another in a central-
ized order and system. They shall be under the control, supervision, and
discipline of the Communist Party of America.
Agricultural Workers and Farmers
Capitalism dominates agricultural production as well as all other functions of
the economic life of society. The exploitation of the agricultural proletariat
links up the interests of this class inseparably with the interests of the city
proletariat. The forces which drive the city worker into conflict with the capi-
talist state are also at work in rural districts.
60 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
In the United States, the small farmers have time and again attempted to resist
oppression and exploitation by the finance and industrial oligarchy. The Green-
bacli movement in the '70's, the Populist movement in the '9U's, and the present
Non-Partisan movement are examples.
These small farmers are only nominally the owners of parcels of land. They
are mercilessly exploited by banks, commission merchants, transportation com-
panies, farming implement trusts, absentee landlords, etc. The reform move-
ments vphich have periodically swept over the country failed to ameliorate the
conditions of the exploited rural masses. The position of the latter, lilie that of
the city proletariat, is becoming steadily worse under the capitalist system.
The city proletariat must educate, win over, and lead in the class struggle
these laboring and exploited masses of the country. In America, the latter are
represented by the following groups:
1. The agricultural proletariat, that is, hired laborers, farm and harvest hands.
They are wage workers on the large ranches, plantations, and farms. They are
largely migratory workers.
2. The semiproletariat. These are the small farmers and tenant farmers.
Through the land owned or rented by them, they secure only part of the suste-
nance needed by them and their families. They are compelled to work partly for
wages in capitalist agricultural or industrial establishments.
3. The small proprietors — small farmers. The land owned by them is usually
heavily mortgaged. They satisfy the needs of their families and fanning with-
out working for wages. These three groups constitute the vast majority of the
agrarian population of the United States. Cooperation of the city proletariat
with the exploited agrarian masses is necessary to insure the success of the
proletarian revolution.
The large landed farmers are capitalists in agriculture. They manage their
own farms and employ foremen and laborers. This group constitutes a most
numerous element of the bourgeoisie and is an open enemy of the proletariat.
Only the city proletariat, under the leadership of the Communist Party, can
emancipate the laboring masses from exploitation and oppression by the capi-
talists and landowners. Privation and imperialist wars are inevitable as long
as the capitalist system endures. The salvation for the small farmer, tenant
farmer, and farm worker lies only in a union with the revolutionary proletariat.
They should wholeheartedly support the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat
in order to throw off the yoke of the landowners and bourgeoisie. The prole-
tariat will become a truly revolutionary class only when it acts as the van-
guard of all those who are exploited and suppressed and leads the struggle
against the oppressors of the toiling masses.
The Communist Party of America will establish nuclei in the organizations
of the exploited rural masses in order to win them away from the political
and moral influence of the bourgeoisie. The Communist Party will carry the
struggle into the agricultural districts and gather the toiling masses around
the standard of communism.
The Communist Party will initiate and support the organization of farm
laborers and tenant farmers and will lead them to cooperation with the city
proletariat in their struggle against their exploiters, toward the social revolu-
tion.
Imperialism and the Colonial Question
Since the Imperialist World War, the United States has become a creditor
nation. It is now seeking new fields for the investment of capital. It is looking
for new sources of raw material for its factories. Thus, America is brought
into conflict with such imperialism as the Japanese or English. This leads to
imperialist wars in preparation for which the American bourgeoisie maintains
huge military and naval establishments.
The recent imperialists' war has exposed the fraudulent character of bourgeois
democracy. The war was waged by both sides under such false slogans as "rights
of small nations" and "national self-determination." The Brest-Litovsk, the
Bucharest and "Versailles Peace have clearly slrtwn how the bourgeoisie estab-
lished their "national" boundaries in conformity with economic class interests.
The so-called "league of nations" is only an insurance company, in which the vic-
tors are guaranteed their prey. The revolutionary struggle and the overthrow
of the bourgeoisie alone can achieve national freedom and unity for the prole-
tariat Thus, the revolutionary struggle in the advanced countries becomes ever
more acute. The ferment of the working masses of the colonies and subject
countries is increasing, and the middle class nationalistic illusion of the possi-
bility of peaceful collaboration and the equality of nations under capitalism
is being dispelled.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 61
The present world political situation has placed the qnestion of the Dictator-
ship of the Proletariat in the foreground. All the events of world politics are
inevitably concentrating around one point — the struggle of the entire bourgeois
world against the Russian Soviet Republic, the heart of the world Soviet move-
ment. The Russian Soviet Republic is drawing to itself more and more closely
not only the Soviet movement, carried on by the vanguard of the proletariat of
all countries, but also the national liberation movements of the colonial and
subject countries. These have already been taught by bitter exi>erience that
salvation for them lies only in a union with the revolutionary proletariat and
in the triump of Soviet power over imperialism.
The United States was in its origin a colony of England, It retained the char-
acteristics of a colonial people and was a hinterland for Europe until after th-i
American Civil War, The American capitalists had their own world to conquer
and exploit within the present territorial confines of the United States, which
contains fabulous resources and natural wealth. Millions of workingmen and
their families, lured by the false light of bourgeois democracy and the hope of
economic security, came to this country. These immigrant workers were merci-
lessly exploited in the building up of capitalism in America, which forcibly
annexed huge territories from its weaker neighbors through fraud and conquest.
After the Spanish-American war, the United States definitely entered upon the
conquest of world markets. An aggressive policy of imperialism was developed,
Hawaii, Cuba, Porto [sic] Rico, and the Philippines were conquered and sub-
jected. The Caribbean and Central American republics are practically de-
pendencies of tlie United States, Together with Mexico, they have been brought
under the control of American finance imperialism by the constant threat of
military intervention.
The Communist Party of America will support with all its power every move-
ment for the liberation of the oppressed colonial peoples of the United States.
The Communist Party will fight against the economic and military aggression
of American capitalists upon the populations of the weaker American republics.
The Communist Party of America will carry on a systematic agitation in the
American army and navy against every kind of oppression of the colonial peoples
by American imperialism. It will strive to cultivate among the American prole-
tariat a fraternal feeling towards the colonial working populations in all the
nations that are under the iron heel of American capitalists. The Communist
Party will systematically agitate against the oppression of the colonial peoples by
American imperialism, and support every uprising on the part of these oppressed
peoples. It will aid them in every way possible to throw off the yoke of American
imperialism. The Communist Party will link up the struggle of the exploited
toiling masses in the subject countries with that of the proletariat in America
against their common enemy — the American capitalist and the subject countries'
native bourgeoisie, who are only tools of the American capitalist class.
THE COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL
The Communist International, brought forth by the proletarian revolution
in action, is the central organ of the revolutionary proletariat in its struggle
for the conquest of world power. The revolutionary movement is growing in
every country. But this movement of the proletarian revolution is menaced
with suppression by a coalition of capitalist states. The social-patriotic parties
are uniting with each other to betray the revolution through service to the
imperialist League of Nations. The coordination of proletarian action all over
the world is imperative. The Communist International is an absolute necessity.
The Communist International subordinates the so-called national interests
to the interest of the international proletarian revolution. The Communist In-
ternational merges and centralizes the reciprocal aid of the proletariat of all
countries. In order to accelerate the final collapse of the imperialistic system
of the world, the Communist International supports the exploited colonial peoples
in their struggles against imperialism.
The Communist International is the concentrated will of the world revolu-
tionary proletariat. Its mission is to organize the working class of the world
for the overthrow of the capitalist system and the establishment of Communism.
The Communist International is a fighting body and assumes the task of combin-
ing the revolutionary forces of every country.
In order to overthrow the international bourgeoisie and to create an Inter-
national Soviet Republic as a transition stage to the Communist Society, the
Communist International will use all means at its disposal, including force of
arms.
62 ORGANIZED COMMITNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
The Communiat International breaks with the traditions of the Second Inter-
national. The Communist International fraternally invites to its ranks the men
and women of all colors and races — the toilers of the entire world. The Com-
munist International declares that a firm and centralized organization is in-
dispensable to a speedy achievement of victory. The Communist International
represents the single universal Communist Party, of which the parties of the
various countries are sections.
The Communist International calls the world proletariat to the final struggle
against capitalism. The revolutionary epoch may last for years. The Com-
munist International offers a program both Immediate and ultimate in scope.
The old order is in decay. The workers must prepare for the proletarian revo-
lution and the Communist reconstruction of society.
CoNSTrnmoN of The C. P. of A.
Adopted at the Joint Unity Convention of the United Communist Party
and the Communist Party of America
Article I. Name, Purpose, and Emhlem
Section 1. The name of this organization shall be the Communist Party of
America, Section of the Communist International.
Section 2. The Communist Party of America is the vanguard of the working
class, namely, its most advanced, class conscious, and therefore its most revolu-
tionary part. Its purpose is to educate, direct, and load the working class of
America for the conquest of political power; to destroy the bourgeois stnte
machinery; to establish the Dictatorship of the Proletariat in the form of Soviet
power ; to abolish the capitalist system and to introduce the Communist Society.
Section 3. The emblem of the Party shall be the crossed hammer and sickle
between sheaves of wheat and within a double circle. Below the hammer and
sickle the words "All power to the workers." In the circular margin the words
"Communist Party of America — Section of the Communist International."
Article II. Membership
Section 1. Every person who accepts the principles and the tactics of the Com-
munist Party and of the Communist International, and agrees to submit to the
Party discipline and engage actively in its work, shall be eligible for member-
ship, provided he is not a member or supporter of any other political organization.
Section 2. No person whose livelihood is gained by exploiting labor shall be
eligible to membership in the Communist Party of America.
Section 3. Applicants shall be vouched for by two persons who have been
members of the Party for at least six consecutive mouths, except in newly organ-
ized groups in new territory. Every applicant shall be assigned to a recruiting
group on probation for three months, with voice but no vote. The applicants
shall be accepted only upon examination and recommendation by the recruiting
group captain, and by unanimous approval of the Branch Executive Committee,
Section 4. A special captain shall be placed in charge of each recruiting group
by the Branch Executive Committee.
Section 5. An applicant shall pay one dollar initiation fee, and all dues and
assessments beginning with the month in which he Is accepted in the recruiting
group.
Section 6. A member may transfer from one Party unit to another only upon
certification of the Party unit to which he belongs. The unit gi-anting the trans-
fer must ascertain that the member asking for it has discharged all his Party
obligations, and shall notify the unit to which the member transfers through the
regular Party channels. He shall go to the group to which he is assigned by the
Branch Executive Committee.
Article III. Form and Units of Organization
SEcnoN 1. The Communist Party of America is an underground, illegal organ-
ization. It is highly centralized with the Convention as its supreme body, and
the Central Executive Committee acting as such l»etween Conventions.
Section 2. The basic unit of the Party shall be a group of approximately ten
members, and wherever possible not less than five.
Section 3. Groups of the same language within a city or locality shall form
a Branch. Branches shaU consist of not more than ten groups each.
ORGANIZED COMIMUNISIM IN" THE UNITED STATES 63
Section 4. Branches within a locality shall form a Section. Sections shall
consist as nearly as possible of ten Branches, and shall be formed wherever there
are two or more Branches within a locality.
Section 5. Subdistricts sliall consist of not more than ten Sections and of
isolated Branches within a territory prescribed by the District Executive Com-
mittee.
Section 6. All subdistricts within a prescribed territory shall form a District.
The limits of Districts are determined by the Central Executive Committee.
Districts and subdistricts shall be organized withiu industrial sections regardless
of political boundaries.
Article IV. Conventions
Section 1. The Convention is the supreme body of the Party, and shall be called
by the Central Executive Committee at least once a year.
Section 2. Emergency Conventions, with all the powers of regular Conven-
tions, shall be called by the Central Executive Committee upon its own initiative
or upon the demand of District Conventions representing a majority of the mem-
bership.
Section 3. (a) Elections to the Convention shall begin in the groups. Each
group shall elect one elector to the Section Convention, and the Section Conven-
tion shall elect delegates to the District Convention. Branches that are directly
connected with the Subdistrict shall send their delegates to the nearest Section.
The representation in the Section and the District electors' meeting and in the
Convention of the Party shall be fixed by the Convention call, issued by the
Central Executive Committee.
(b) If there are more than fifteen groups in a Section, the Subdistrict Com-
mittee shall subdivide the Section for the elections so that no more than fifteen
attend a Section electors' meeting. Wherever necessary, units shall be com-
bined to comply with the accepted basis of representation.
Section 4. The number of delegates shall be determined by the Central Execu-
tive Committee according to the circumstances. Delegates shall be apportioned
to the Districts in proportion to the membership.
Section 5. Section, Subdistrict, and District Organizers of the Party shall
attend the electors' meetings of their respective and subordinate units, and shall
have voice but no vote, unless elected as delegates themselves.
Section 6. Section, Subdistrict, and District electors' meetings may elect as
their delegates members of the Party from any unit outside their territorial
divisions.
Section 7. At the same time that the call for the Convention is issued, the
Central Executive Committee shall submit to every group for discussion the
Agenda and other propositions that are to come before the Convention. At least
sixty days before the Convention, the Party Press shall be opened for discussion
of important Party matters.
Section 8. Delegates to the National Convention shall be paid railroad ex-
penses and the same wages as Party officials.
Article V. Central Executive Committee
Section 1. Between Conventions the Central Executive Committee shall be
the supreme body of the Party and shall direct all the Party's activities.
Section 2. The Central Executive Committee shall consist of ten members
elected by the Convention. The Convention shall also elect six alternates.
When the list of alternates shall have been exhausted the Central Executive
Committee shall have the right to co-optation.
Section 3. All Central Executive Committee INIembers shall devote all their
time to the work of Party and shall live in the city in which the National
Headquarters are located, or in adjacent cities.
Section 4. Candidates for the Central Executive Committee must have been
members of a Party afliliated with the Communist International at least eighteen
mouths.
Section 5. The identity of the Central Executive Committee members shall not
be made known either by themselves or by those present at the Convention.
Section 6. The Central Executive Committee shall elect delegates to the
International Congresses and the Communist Party of America members of the
Executive Committee of the Communist International.
Section. 7. The Central Executive Committee shall call in the District Organ-
izers for a conference at least every six months.
64 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
Section 8. The Central Executive Committee shall make a monthly report of
the Party activities and Party finances itemized by Districts.
Section 9. A complete audit and accounting of all Party funds shall be made
every six months. The auditing committee shall consist of three members elected
by the Convention. The convention shall also elect three alternates. No member
of the Central Executive Committee and no paid Party employee shall be a mem-
ber of the auditing committee. The report of the auditing committee shall be
made to the membership, within one month after the completion of its work.
Article VI. Districts and Subordinate Units
Section 1. The Central Executive Committee shall appoint District Organ-
izers for each District.
Section 2. Every District Organizer shall make complete reports to the
District Executive Committee as to the general Party work in his District. He
shall submit and carry out the instructions and decisions of th^ Central Executive
Committee. He shall make remittances, financial statements, and reports to the
Central Executive Committee at least once a month.
Section 3, District Conventions shaU be held at least every six months. Every
Section shall send delegates to the District Convention in proportion to the
membership. The District Convention shall elect five members to the District
Executive Committee. These five members, together with the District Organizer
and the Subdistrict Organizers, shall constitute the District Executive Committee.
The District Executive Committee shall supervise the activities of the District
Organizer and shall regularly submit the minutes of its meetings to the Central
Executive Committee. All actions of the District Convention are subject to
approval by the Central Executive Committee.
Section 4. District Organizers shall appoint Subdistrict Organizers subject
to the approval of the Central Executive Committee.
Section 5. Subdistrict Organizers shall make remittances, financial state-
ments and reports to the District Organizers once a week.
Section. 6. The Subdistrict Organizer shall call meetings of the Subdistrict
Executive Committee at least every two weeks. He shall make a complete report
to the Subdistrict Elxecutive Committee, and transmit and carry out the decisions
and the instructions of the Central Executive Committee, the District Organizer,
and the District Executive Committee.
Section 7. The Subdistrict Executive Committee shall consist of the Subdistrict
Organizer, the Section Organizers and the Organizers of the Isolated Branches
having direct connections with the Subdistrict.
Section 8. The Section Executive Committee shall consist of Branch Organizers
and shall elect Section Organizers.
Section 9. Branch Organizers shall be elected by the group captains. They
shall work under the direction of the Section Organizers and shall meet at least
once a week.
Section 10. The Branch Executive Committee shall consist of the Branch
Organizer and the group captains of the Branch. The Branch Executive Com-
mittee shall meet at least once a week.
Section 11. District Organizers, Subdistrict Organizers, Section and Branch
Organizers shall have been members of the Party not less than one year. Group
captains six months.
Section 12. Executive Committees of the various Party units have authority to
act within their jurisdiction, subject to the decisions of the higher Party units.
Section 13. Each group shall meet at least once every week under the direc-
tion of the group captain, who sliall make a complete report to his group on
all Party work, on the activities of the Branch and of all other Party units.
Article VII. Language Federations
Section 1. Language groups shall consist of members speaking the same
language. Language groups in the same locality shall be formed into Lan-
guage Branches ; all Branches of the same language shall be united into Lan-
guage Federations, provided they have at least 250 members.
Section 2. All language gi'oups and branches shall be integral parts of the
Party structure in their localities, and shall perform and carry out all Party
functions and obligations.
Section 3. (a) Shortly after Party Conventions, National Language Con-
ferences shall be held. The expenses of these conferences shall be paid out
of the regular Party treasury.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES C5
(b) These National Conferences shall formulate plans for education and prop-
aganda in their respective languages, both legal and illegal, and shall elect
National Language Bureaus consisting of not less than five and not more than
seven members each, subject to the approval of the Central Executive Com-
mittee. All actions of these conferences shall be in strict conformity with the
decisions of the Party Convention and the Central Executive Committee.
Section 4. National Language Bureaus shall elect editors for their legal
and illegal publications, and shall supervise all legal and illegal activities of
their respective Federations, subject to the approval of the Central Executive
Committee.
Section 5. The minutes of the National Language Bureaus shall be regu-
larly submitted to the Central Executive Committee and all their actions shall
be subject to the direction, control and approval of the Central Executive
Committee.
Section 6. (a) For illegal work, the National Language Bureaus shall con-
nect with their respective Branches through their Language Federation Chan-
nels, or, if necessary, through regular Party channels of communications.
(b) They shall have the right to appoint Organizers, Including District and
Subdistrict Language Organizers, subject to approval of the Central Executive
Committee.
(c) All Language Organizers shall work under the supervision of the Party
District Organizers in the various districts.
Section 7. National Language Bureaus shall translate and transmit all state-
ments, circulars, and communications addressed to the membership by the Cen-
tral Executive Committee within one week after their receipt. They shall issue
at least once a month an underground official organ in their respective languages,
subject to the approval of the Central Executive Committee.
Section 8. (a) Language Groups and Branches shall pay all their dues and
assessments through the regular Party channels to the Central Executive
Committee.
(b) By the 10th of each month the Central Executive Committee shall remit
20 cents of the dues received from each member of the Language Branches to
the respective National Language Bureaus.
(c) Additional expenses of Language Bureaus, authorized by the Central
Executive Committee, shall be paid from the regular Party treasury.
(d) The National Language Bureau shall account to the Central Executive
Committee regularly for all funds entrusted to them and shall make regular
financial reports to the Central Executive Committee regarding all the legal
institutions in their respective languages, subject to the audit of the Central
Executive Committee.
Section 9. (a) Special assessment for language work may be recommended
by the Language Bureaus and may be levied by the Central Executive Committee
upon the entire Party membership.
(b) Special assessments may also be levied by the National Language Bureaus
on the membership of their Federations, with the approval of the Central Execu-
tive Committee.
Section 10. (a) Language Bureaus and Federations shall have no power
to suspend, expel or reorganize affiliations. All disciplinary powers are vested
exclusively in the regular Party organization machinery.
(b) Language Bureaus and Federations may recommend such suspension, ex-
pulsion or reorganization to the party units having jurisdiction.
Section 11. District Language Conferences shall be called by the District
Executive Committee to discuss educational and propaganda needs of their
languages in the district and to elect five memliers to the District Language
Bureaus. These, together with the Federation District Organizer and the Fed-
eration Subdistrict Organizer, sliall constitute the District Language Bureau.
The District Language Bureau shall carry on the work in their respective lan-
guages under the direction of the District Executive Committee.
Article VHI. Discipline
Section 1. All members and Party units shall maintain and enforce strict
Party discipline. All decisions of the governing bodies of the Party shall be
binding upon the membership and subordinate units.
Section 2. The following offenses are breaches of Party discipline:
(1) Violation of the fundamental principles of the program and the Consti-
tution of the Party. —
(2) Refusal to accept and carry out the decisions of the Party.
C6 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
(3) Wilfully to block and disrupt Party work and the cooperation of the
Tarious Party units.
(4) Knowingly and unnecessarily to endanger the underground work of the
Party.
(5) In any way to betray the Party trust.
Section 3. Formal charges must be presented against any member or unit
accused of breach of discipline, and these must be investigated by the next higher
unit before discipline is enforced.
Section 4. Members deliberately accusing any member or unit of the Party,
after accusation has been found groundless by the investigating committee, are
subject to discipline.
Section 5. Members may be suspended or expelled by the Branch Executive
Committee subject to approval of the Section Executive Committee.
Section 6. Groups may be suspended, expelled, or reorganized by the Section
Executive Committee subject to the approval of the Subdistrict Executive Com-
mittee.
Section 7. Branches may be suspended, expelled, or reorganized by the Sub-
district Executive Committee subject to the approval of the District Executive
Committee.
Section 8. A Section or Subdistrict may be suspended, expelled, or reorgan-
ized by the District Executive Committee subject to the approval of the Central
Executive Committee.
Section 9. Districts may be suspended, expelled, or reorganized by the Central
Executive Committee subject to the approval of the Convention.
Section 10. Members or groups suspended or expelled may appeal to the Dis-
trict Executive Committee befoi'e final action is taken.
Section 11. Any higher unit in the Party may present charges against any
subordinate unit or member within Its jurisdiction.
Section 12. Every member of the Communist Party elected or appointed to an
official position in a labor union or any other organization shall be under strict
Party control and the immediate instructions of the Party nucleus of his labor
union or other organization.
Section 13. No delegates to the National Convention shall be bound by deci-
sions of the units by which tliey are elected. Delegates are obliged to present
instructions as recommendations to the Convention.
Section 14. The Central Executive Committee shall maintain discipline over
Its members. It may suspend or expel one of its members by a vote of eight to
one, accused member not voting.
Section 15. Any suspended or expelled member of the Central Executive Com-
mittee shall have the right to appeal in writing to the next National Party Con-
vention.
Article IX. Finance
Section 1. Applicants for membership shall pay an initiation fee of One Dol-
lar, which shall be forwarded to the National Organization.
Section 2. Monthly dues shall be sixty cents and shall be receipted for by dues
stamps issued by the Central Executive Committee and paid into the National
Party treasury through the regular Party channels.
Section 3. Special assessments may be levied by the Convention and the Cen-
tral Executive Committee. No member shall be considered in good standing
unless he pays such assessments.
Section 4. Members unable to pay dues and assessments on account of sick-
ness, unemployment, imprisonment, strikes or for similar reasons, shall be
granted exemption upon application to the Branch Executive Committee. Group
Organizers shall include such requests in their reports, and Branch Organizers
shall report all exemptions granted every time they make their remittances for
dues.
Section 5. Dues shall be paid monthly. No advance payments shall be made,
and members who have not paid dues by the first of the month for the previous
month shall be considered in bad standing. A member who is two months in
arrears shall be dropped from the membership, unless within one month after
notification by the Group Organizer he places himself in good standing.
Article X. Party Press
Section 1. The Central Executive Committee shall publish the official under-
ground organ of the Party, which shall be issued at least once a month.
Section 2. The Central Executive Committee shall issue a biweekly Party
bulletin which shall be distributed to the membership free of charge.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 67
Section 3. Literature issued by tlie Tarty sliall be under tbe supervision of the
editorial committee and under the control of the Central Executive Committee.
Section 4. No subdivision of the Party may publish papers or boolis without
the permission of the Central Executive Committee. Over their own signature,
Sections may issue leaflets, dealing with matters in their l(X>ality, subject to
the approval of the Central Executive Committee or such District Conuuittees
as may be so empowered by the Central Executive Committee.
Section 5. All legal and illegal Party press and publishing machinery, includ-
ing Federation press and estal)lishments, shall be unconditionally and fully sub-
ject to the Party through its Central Executive Committee or such other Party
units as may be expressly authorized by the Central Executive Committee.
Section 6. No member of the Party shall contribute articles or editorials of a
political or economic nature to the bourgeois press except by permission of the
Central Executive Committee.
Article XI, Party Nuclei
Section 1. The Central Executive Committee shall provide for the organization
of Communist Party nuclei, composed of Communist Party members only, in the
shops, in the unions, and in other workers' organizations ; within the army and
navy, and ex-soldiers' organizations.
provisions for the organization of communist party nuclei in the shops and
unions
Article I
Section 1. In order to carry out the Communist task in the labor unions and
shops, the Section Executive Committees of the Party, or the Subdistrict Execu-
tive Committees (where there are two or more Sections in a city) shall organize
Party Nuclei in the shops and unions.
Section 2. Every Party member shall belong to a labor union, if eligible.
Section 3. All Party members belonging to a labor union shall be affiliated
with the Party Nuclei in their respective unions. Members who do not belong
to any union shall, wherever possible, form and belong to Party Nuclei in their
shops, trade, or industry.
Section 4. Each Nucleus shall consist of about 10 members. The Nuclei shall
elect their captains, and these captains shall form the Nuclei Committee of their
respective union locals, trades, or shops.
Section 5. Where two or more locals of the same union exist in a city, Party
Nuclei in these locals of the union shall be connected with each other through
organizers elected by the Nuclei for each local of the union.
Section 6. The Nuclei Organizers for the various unions shall be appointed
by the Section or Subdistrict Executive Committees. These Organizers shall
constitute the Industrial Department of the respective Party subdivisions.
Section 7. In order to coordinate and centralize the work of the Nuclei on a
national scale, the CEC of the Party shall organize a National Industrial De-
partment, and through it appoint District Nuclei Organizers, who shall be mem-
bers ex officio (with voice but not vote) of the District Executive Committee.
Section 8. The District Nuclei Organizer shall appoint, subject to the ap-
proval of the District Executive Committee, the Section or Subdistrict Nuclei
Organizers, who shall be in charge of the Section or Subdistrict Industrial De-
partment.
Section 9. All Party Nuclei shall be subject to the discipline and decisions
of the Party, and shall, in their various localities, be under the control of the
Section or Subdistrict Executive Committees.
Article II
Section 1. All local Industrial Departments shall submit for the approval
of the Section or Subdistrict E. C. any general plan of action which they intend
to carry out in the unions or industry.
Section 2. Section or Subdistrict Industrial Departments may be authorized
by the District Executive Committee to issue leaflets in connection with the
various problems arising from the daily struggle of the workers in the shops
and unions. Such leaflets shall not attempt the exposition of general communist
principles and tactics, and shall not be signed in the name of the Communist
Party. Copies of all leaflets issued by the Industrial Departments shall be sent
through regular Party channels to the Central Executive Committee of the Party.
68 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
Section 3. Communist Nuclei shall not participate in a split within a local
labor union without the approval of the District Executive Committee. In case
of a split in their national unions, C. P. Nuclei shall not participate without the
approval of the Central Executive Committee of the Party.
Section 4. Party members may accept paid positions in the unions, provided
that they can further Communist propaganda.
THE WORKERS PARTY OF AMERICA—1921
During the latter part of 1919, the Department of Justice sub-
mitted to the Department of Labor a Large amount of evidence on the
Communist Party of America. This resulted in the issuance of a
large number of warrants for deportation hearings. The deportation
cases were based upon the theory that the Communist Party of Amer-
ica advocated the overthrow by force and violence of the Government
of the United States, and, therefore, its officials and members who
were aliens were subject to deportation as being members of an organi-
zation proscribed by the immigration laws.
As a result of the wholesale arrests and deportations, the Com-
munist Party was forced underground. It began to stagnate.
The Third Congress of the Communist International (June, July
1921) issued instructions to the Communist Party of America to form
an open political party that could operate legally. These instruc-
tions were passed on to the comrades by the following article that
appeared in the August 1921 issue of The Communist :
The Communist International draws the attention of the Communist Party
of America to the fact that the illegalized organization must not only form the
groand for the collection and crystallization of active Communist forces, but it is
their duty to try all ways and means to get out of their illegalized condition and
into the open among the wide masses; that it is their duty to find the means
and form to unite these masses politically thi'ough public activity into the
struggle against American capitalism.
A movement began to create a legal Communist Party and a group
consisting of Lovestone, Ruthenberg, Cannon, and others labored for
the formation of some kind of legal party in order to approach the
American workers. To carry out the mandates of the Communist
International to form a so-called legal political party in the United
States, the Communist Party of America organized what was known
as the American Labor Alliance. The entire party membership was
called upon to organize branches of the American Labor Alliance, a
purely propaganda organization, as a first step in creating an open
le^al political party.
In December 1921, the Workers Party of America was formed as an
open and legal organization while the Communist Party of America
remained underground. This did not end the factional fights over
whether the Communist movement should remain underground. Fin-
ally the matter 77as submitted to Moscow for decision and with the
support of Lenin and Trotsky it was decided that the Communist
movement in the United States should be placed in the hands of a
legalized party.
The Communist International transmitted a program for the guid-
ance of the comrades in the United States. This program was entitled
^'Concerning the Next Task of the Communist Party of America (a
Thesis by the Executive Committee of the Communist International)."
69
70 ORGANIZED COIVIMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
Party Organization
Under the heading of "Party Organization" the instructions, in
part, were :
1. The Communist Party of America is yet far from having satisfactory con-
nections with the masses. The means of contact must be constructed with the
greatest possible speed.
2. Connection with the masses essentially implies a public operation. Secret
operations, even with the widest possible ramifications cannot be satisfactory mass
operations. The means of public contact with the masses must be principally :
a. A legal press, including at least one daily English newspaper.
b. Organized groupings of sympathizers within the trade unions.
3. * * * The Government of the United States will not permit a "Com-
munist Party" to exist, but it is compelled to permit "Parties" to exist in an
otherwise almost unrestricted variety for the purpose of its own preservation
* * the state attempts, wherever it can, to exclude a truly revolutionary
party from the public field. It attempts, first, to exterminate the revolutionary
party if possible ; or, second, to terrorize and corrupt the revolutionary party into
subservience to capitalist law which makes revolution impossible; or, third, at
least to confine the Revolutionary Party's operations to the narrow sphere that
can be reached secretly. A Communist Party must defeat all these attempts. It
must not be exterminated. It must unequivocally refuse to obey capitalist law,
and must urge the working class to the violent destruction of the entire legal
machinery. It is equally the duty of a Communist Party to defeat by any means
that may be necessary the Capitalist Government's attempt to confine the revo-
lutionary party to the underground channels in which it Is even more concealed
from the masses than it is from the Government. The program of the legal
party will have to be somewhat restricted. Special measures and slogans which,
while not stating the illegal Communist purpose, will objectively have the revo-
lutionai-y effect upon the masses, must be adopted. The legal party must, at all
times, go as far toward the Communist program as is possible while continuing
a legal existence.
Gitlow, -who at that time was one of the top functionaries of the
Communist Party, gives, in his book, "I Confess," written after he had
left the party, more detailed information on these instructions from
the Communist International. He says that whatever the decision of
the supreme clique of the Communist International, it was couched in
such equivocal terms that, far from terminating the factional contro-
versy, it merely added fuel to the fire. Further, Gitlow says that the
Communist International sent three representatives to the United
States to enforce its decision. The first was a Pole named Walecki,
the second a Hungarian named Joseph Pogany who came to the United
States under the name of John Pepper, and who, as John Pepper,
played a major role in the American Communist movement. The
third representative of the Communist International was Boris Rein-
stein, a druggist from Buffalo, who had been active in the Socialist
Labor Party for many years, but who returned to his native Russia
shortly after the overthrow of the Czar.
Before proceeding further, it is necessary to retrace some steps show-
ing how and why the Workers Party of America was created. It is
to be remembered that the Communist Party of America was an illegal
underground organization and that the Communist International de-
cided that in order to reach the masses there should be an open legal
party in the United States. Nothing was said about abolishing the
illegal organization.
Convention Call
The December 3, 1921, issue of the Toiler contained the following
call to action : "
" Copy in committee files.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 71
A CALL TO ACTION
CONVENTION CALL TO ORGANIZE THE WORKERS' PARTY OF AMERICA
A fierce class war is racing tlironghout the world. All capitalist governments
are openly fighting the battles of the exploiters.
The struggle of the workers, even for the most elementary needs, is today met
with merciless suppression, and develops into a fight for political power.
Inspired by the proletarian revolution in Russia, and impelled by the cowardly
and traitorous conduct of their leaders, the workers of the world have organized
the Communist International as an answer to the unholy alliance of their
capitalist oppressors. Despite the bitter opposition of the capitalists and their
labor lieutenants, the Communist International is growing rapidly. It has
become a world power.
The American capitalists are using the present economic crises to increase
their power of exploitation and oppression. The whole working class is being
crushed under the iron heel of a brutal capitalist dictatorship.
At this critical moment we must have an organization that will not only val-
iantly defend the workers, but will also wage an aggressive struggle for the
abolition of capitalism. Only a revolutionary workers' political party can fulfill
this task.
Such a party will and must grow out of all political groups which stand on the
platform of tlie militant class struggle. It is not necessary to create this desire
for unity. It is already a living reality, grown out of the very struggle of the
masses during the years since the ending of the world war and the inauguration
of Soviet Rule in Russia.
With a full realization of these facts, the undersigned join In issuing this call
for tJie organization of the Workers' Party of America, pledged to the following
principles :
1. The Worlcers' Repuhlic: To lead the working masses in the struggle for the
abolition of capitalism, through the establishment of a government by the work-
ing class and for the working class — A Wopkers' Republic in America.
2. PoUtical Action: To participate in all political activities, including electoral
campaigns, in order to utilize them for the purpose of carrying our messages to
the masses. The elected representatives of the Workers' Party will unmask the
fraudulent capitalist democracy and help mobilize the workers for the final
struggle against their common enemy.
3. The Labor Unions: To develop the labor organizations into organs of mili-
tant struggle against capitalism, expose the reactionary labor bureaucrats, and
educate the workers to militant unionism.
4. A Fif/hthiff Party: It shall be a party of militant, class-conscious workers,
bound by discipline and organized on the basis of democratic centralization, with
full power in the hands of the Central Executive Committee between conventions.
The Central Executive Committee of the party shall also coordinate and direct
the work of the party members in trade unions.
5. Party Press: The party's press shall be owned by the party, and all of its
activities shall be under the control of the Central Executive Committee.
All working-class bodies that accept the above program are invited to join in
the first national convention of the Workers' Party, to be held in New York City,
December 23-26, 1021.
Working men and women! Help build the political party that will load the
oppressed masses to achieve their own complete emancipation ! Let us raise the
banner of the militant workers of the world with the immortal rallying cry of
"Workers of the World, Unite! You PTave Nothing To Lose but Your
Chains ! You Have a World To Gain !"
(Signed by)
American Labor Alliance
Afflliated Organisations:
Finnish Socialist Federation,
Hungarian Workers' Federation,
Italian Workers' Federation,
Jewish Workers' Federation.
The Workers Council of the U. S. A.
The Jewish Socialist Federation
Workers' Educational Assn.
(Arbeiter Bildungs Verein).
Convention and Constitution
A convention was held in New York City December 24-26, 1921 ; the
Workers Party of America was created and the following constitution
adopted : "
Constitution of the Workebs Party of America
Article I — Name and Purpose
Section 1 — The name of this organization shall be The Workers Party of
America. Its purpose shall be to educate and organize the working class for
the abolition of capitalism through the establishment of the Workers' Republic.
Article II — Emblem
Section 1 — The emblem of the party shall be the crossed hammer and sickle
with a circular margin having at the top, "Workers Party of America," and under
neath, "Workers of the World, Unite."
Article III — MemtersJiip
Section 1 — Every person who accepts the principles and tactics of the Workers
Party of America and agrees to submit to its discipline and engage actively in its
work shall be eligible to membership.
Section 2 — Applicants for membership shall sign an application card reading
as follows:
"The undersigned declares his adherence to the principles and tactics of the
Workers Party of America as expressed in its program and constitution, and
agrees to submit to the discipline of the party and to engage actively in its work."
Section 3 — Every member shall join a duly constituted branch of the party if
such exists in the territory where he lives. Applicants living in territories where
the Workers Party of America has no organized branch may become members
at large.
Section 4 — All applicants for membership must be endorsed and recommended
by two persons who have been members for not less than three months. An
applicant must be present in person when his application is acted upon.
Section 5 — Applications for membership shall not be acted upon finally until
one month after presentation. In the meantime, the applicant shall pay initi-
ation fees and dues and shall attend all meetings. This rule shall not apply
to charter members of new branches nor to those who make application to the
newly organized branches during the first month.
Article IV — Units of Organization
Section 1 — The basic units of organization of the Workers Party of America
shall be:
(a) The Branch, to consist of not less than five members.
(b) Members-at-large, who shall be connected with the nearest district
organization.
(c) Such special forms of local organization as may be authorized by the
Central Executive Committee.
Section 2 — Two or more branches in the same city shall form a City Central
Committee. The City Central Committee may also include branches in adjacent
territory.
*« Keport of Special Committee on Un-American Activities, appendix I, p. 239.
72
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 73
Section 3 — The Central Executive Committee is empowered to designate the
boundaries of the district organizations (which may include more than one state
or parts of states), such boundaries to be fixed with regard to economic rather
than state divisions. For the purpose of carrying on parliamentary activity,
the City Central Committees and branches in any state shall constitute the state
organization. The entire supervision of this activity shall be assigned by the
Central Executive Committee to the district organization best equipped for this
purpose.
Article V — Administration
Section 1 — The supreme body of the Workers Party of America shall be the
Convention of the Party.
Section 2 — Between conventions the Central Executive Committee elected by
the convention shall be the supreme body of the Party and shall direct all ac-
tivities of the Party.
Section 3 — The administrative power of the district shall be vested in the
Annual District Convention.
Section 4 — Between District Conventions the administrative powers of the
district shall be vested in the District Committee elected by the District Con-
vention. District organizers appointed by the Central Executive Committee shall
be members of the District Committee and carry on their work under its
supervision.
Section 5 — The City Central Committee shall consist of delegates elected by
the branches. Every branch shall have at least one delegate. The City Central
Committee shall meet at least twice a month. The City Central Committee shall
elect a secretary, executive committee, and such other ofiicers as may be found
necessary. The District Executive Committee reserves the right of approval
of secretary.
Article VI — Conventions
Section 1 — ^The Convention is the supreme body of the Party, and shall be
called by the Central Executive Committee at least once a year.
Section 2 — Emergency conventions, with all the powers of regular conven-
tions, may be called by the Central Executive Committee or upon demand of
District Organizations representing 40 percent of the membership.
Section 3 — The number of delegates to the National Convention shall be de-
termined by the Central Executive Committee. Delegates shall be apportioned
to the districts according to membership based upon average dues paid for the
period of four months prior to call for the convention. The districts shall appor-
tion the number to be elected by city conventions on the same basis.
Section 4 — Delegates to the national convention shall be elected by district
conventions. Branches in organized cities shall elect delegates to a city conven-
tion which in turn shall elect the delegates to the district conventions. The
number of delegates to which each branch is entitled shall be decided by the
City Central Committee according to membership as above. When there is no
city central organization the branch shall elect delegates directly to the district
convention.
Section 5 — City and district secretaries and organizers shall attend the con-
ventions of their respective units and shall have a voice but no vote unless
elected as delegates themselves.
Section 6 — City and district conventions may elect as their delegates mem-
bers of the Party from units outside their territorial divisions.
Section 7 — At the same time that the call for the convention is issued the
Central Executive Committee shall submit to every branch for discussion the
Agenda and other propositions that are to come before the convention. At least
sixty days before the Convention the Party Press shall be opened for discussion
of important Party matters. District Committees may submit propositions to
be included in the Agenda.
Section 8 — Delegates to the National Convention shall be paid railroad ex-
penses and a certain amount per diem to be determined by the Central Executive
Committee.
Article VII — Central Executive Committee
Section 1 — Between Conventions the Central Executive Committee shall be
the supreme body of the Party and shall direct all its activities.
Section 2 — The Central Executive Committee shall consist of seventeen mem-
bers elected by the Convention, The Convention shall also elect seven alternates,
47710°— 54 6
74 ORGANIZED COIVIMTJNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
to fill vacancies in order of vote. When the list of alternates are exhausted the
Central Executive Committee shall have the right of cooptation.
Section 3 — The Central Executive Committee shall elect the Executive Secre-
tary and Chairman of the Party, and all other officers.
Section 4 — Tlie Central Executive Committee shall appoint District Organ-
izers and all national officials. It shall create subcommittees for the proper
direction of its activities.
Section 5 — The Central Executive Committee shall make a monthly report of
the Party activities and of Party finances, itemized by dis-tricts.
Section 6 — The Central Executive Committee shall divide the country into
districts in accordance with Article IV, Section 3, provided that the boundary
lines of the district shall not be changed within a period of four mouths prior
to the national convention.
Section 7 — A complete audit and accounting of all Party funds shall be made
every six months.
Section 8 — All press and propaganda activitites shall be under the full control
of the Central Executive Counnittee.
Article VIII — District and Subordinate Units
Section 1 — The Central Executive Committee shall appoint District Organ-
izers for each district.
Section 2 — Every district organizer shall make complete reports to the District
Executive Committee as to the general Party work in his district. He shall
submit and carry out the instructions and decisions of the Central Executive
Committee. He shall make remittance and financial statements regularly to the
Central Executive Committee and shall also submit financial statements to the
membership in his district at least once a month.
Section 3 — District conventions shall be held within thirty days of the national
convention. The district convention shall elect six members to the District
Executive Committee.
Section 4 — These six members, together with the District Organizer, who shall
be a member of the District Executive Committee with voice and vote, shall
supervise the activities of the district and shall regularly submit the minutes of
their meetings to the Central Executive Committee. All actions of the District
Committee are subject to review by the Central Executive Committee.
Section 5 — The District Executive Committee shall determine the boundaries
of the city locals.
Section 6 — The City Central Committee shall consist of delegates i-epresenting
branches in accordance with their relative memberships. Each branch shall be
represented by at least one delegate. The City Central Committee shall have
supervision of all activities in the local and shall make regular reports of its
work to the District Executive Committee.
Section 7 — The City Central Counnittee shall elect a city executive committee,
consisting of from 5 to 7 members, which shall act for the city central com-
mittee between meetings.
Section 8 — The Branch shall consist of members, as provided in Article III,
Section 1. It shall elect an executive committee, branch organizer, delegates to
the City Central Committee, and such officers as may be considered necessary.
Article IX — Language Sections
Section 1— Members speaking a common language other than English may
organize into a "Language Branch."
Section 2 — Language branches of the same language, with an aggregate mem-
bership of at least 400, shall be formed into a Language Section. There ivhall be
only one section in each language, and all language branches must affiliate with
their respective language sections.
Section 8 — All language branches shall be integral parts of the party struc-
ture i-i their localities, and shall perform and carry out all Party functions and <
obligations.
Section 4 — Shortly after Party Conventions, national language conferences
shall be held. Those conferences shall formulate plans for education and prop-
aganda in their respective languages, subject to the approval of the Central
Executive Committee. All actions of these conferences shall be in strict con-
formity with the decisions of the Party Convention and the Central Executive
Committee. Expenses of these conferences shall be borne by the language
sections.
ORGANIZED COJVIMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 75
Section 5 — The lancaiage sectton conference shall elect a bureau to administer
Its affairs and a suitable number of alternates. The bureau shaU elect the editors
and officers and shall supervise all activities of their respective language sections,
subject to the approval of the Central Executive Committee.
Section 6 — The Central Executive Committee shall have the right to disapprove
the members elected by the conference to the language bureaus and fill such
vacancies from among the alternates.
Section 7 — The Central Executive Committee may appoint a fraternal member
to every language section executive committee with voic< but no vote.
Section 8 — The bureau shall have the right to appoint district language section
organizers subject to the approval of the Central Executive Committee. All
organizers shall work under the supervision of the Party District Organizers in
the various districts.
Section 9 (a) — National Language Bureaus shall translate and transmit all
statements, circulars and communications addressed to the membership by the
Central Executive Committee within one weeli after their receipt.
Section 9 (b) — Language branches shall purchase their due stamps directly
from their national bureau, which shall purchase due stamps from the Central
Executive Committee at 30 cents each, and seU same to its branches at a price
determined by the Language Section conference. The branches to sell due stamps
to members at 50 cents. The national office shall remit to the district organiza-
tion ten cents, and to the city local five cents for each stamp sold to language
sections.
Section 9 (c) — The National Language Bureau shall account to the Central
Executive Committee regularly for all funds entrusted to it and shall make
regular financial reports to the Central Executive Committee regarding ail the
institutions under its control. Its accounts shall be subject to the audit of the
Central Executive Committee. Special assessments may also be levied by the
National Language Bureaus on the membership with the approval of the Central
Executive Committee.
Section 10 (a) — Language Bureaus and Language Sections shall have no
power to suspend, expel or reorganize affiliations. All disciplinary powers are
vested exclusively in the regular Party organization machinery.
Section 10 (b) — Language Bureaus and Sections may recommend such sus-
pension, expulsion or reorganization to the party units having jurisdiction.
Article X — Discipline
Section 1 — All decisions of the governing bodies of the Party shall be binding
upon the membership and subordinate units of the organization.
Section 2 — Any member or organization violating the decisions of the Party
shall be subject to suspension or expulsion by the organization which has juris-
diction. Cliarges against members shall be made before branches, subject to ap-
peal by either side to the City Central Committee or to the District Executive
Committee, where there is no city organization. Charges against a branch shall
be made before the City Central Committee or before the District Executive
Committee where there is no city organization. Decisions of the City Central
Committee In the case of branches shall be subject to revision by the district
organization. Charges against state or district organization shall be made be-
fore the Central Executive Committee.
Section 3 — Each unit of the Party shall restrict its activities to the territory
It represents.
Section 4 — A member who desires to transfer his membership to another
branch shaU have a transfer card from the financial secretary or organizer of
his branch. No branch shall receive a member from another branch without
such transfer card and upon presentation of the card the secretary of the branch
receiving same shall make inquiries about the standing of the member to the
secretary issuing the card.
Section 5 — All party units shall use uniform application cards, dues books
and accounting records, which shall be printed by the National Organization.
Section 6 — Any suspended or removed member of the Central Executive Com-
mittee shall have the right to appeal in writing or in person to the next National
Party Convention.
Article XI — Dues
Section 1 — Each applicant for membership shall pay initiation fees of fifty
cents, which shall be receipted for by an initiation stamp furnished by the Cen-
76 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
tral Executive Committee. Ttie entire sum shall go to the National Organiza-
tion.
Section 2 — Each member shall pay fifty cents per month in due stamps, which
shall be sold to the state or district organizations at 25 cents. State or Dis-
trict Organizations shall sell stamps to the City Central Committee and to
the branches where there is no city central committee at 35 cents. The City
Central Committee shall sell stamps to branches at 40 cents.
Section 3 — Special assessments may be levied by the National Convention or
Central Executive Committee. No member shall be considered in good stand-
ing unless he purchases such special assessment stamps.
Section 4 — Husband and wife belonging to the same branch may purchase dual
stamps, which shall be sold at the same price as the regular stamps. Special
assessments must be paid by both husband and wife.
Section 5 — Members unable to pay dues on account of unemployment, stril^es,
sickness or for similar reasons shall upon application to their financial secre-
tary be furnished with exempt stamps. Provided that no state or district
organization shall be allowed exempt stamps in a proportion greater than ten
percent of its monthly purchases of regular stamps.
Section 6 — Members who are three months in arrears in payment of their dues
shall cease to be members of the Party in good standing. Members who are
six months in arrears shall be stricken from the rolls. No member shall pay
dues in advance for a period of more than three months.
Article XII — Headquarters
Section 1— The National Headquarters of the Party shall be located in the
city designated by the Convention.
Article XIII — Qualifications
Section 1 — Members of the Central Executive Committee, Executive Secre-
tary, Editor, and all candidates for political office, must have been (a) members
of tlie party for two years at the time of their nomination, or (b) members of
a charter organization, or members of any oi'ganization affiliating as a body
within sixty days after the first convention.
Section 2 — One year's membership in the Party sliall be necessary to qualify
for membership on the District Executive Committee; six months for city cen-
tral delegates and officers, three months (in the branch) for branch officers.
This section shall not apply to branch officers or city central delegates of new
branches.
AN OPEN PARTY AND AN UNDERGROUND PARTY
{Workers Party of America — Communist Party of America)
Shortly after the convention of the Workers Party of America, or
on January 12, 1922, the Communist Party of America sent secret
instructions which were binding on all their members, instructing
them as to the part they were to play in the Workers Party so as to
insure absolute control. These instructions established the fact that
the Workers Party was controlled by the Communist International
through its American Section, the Communist Party of America.
That the American Comrades were directed to affiliate with the
open, legal organization, the Workers Party of America, is made clear
by an official bulletin of the Communist Party of America released
March 9, 1922. The following is quoted from that bulletin ;
Number 2 (Workers Party of America) must be firmly controlled and directed
by Number 1 (Communist Party of America). All policies as to principles and
tactics of Number 2, as well as activities of the everyday struggle, must be dis-
cussed and decided upon by Number 1 before carried into action. This is as
important for the lower units as it is for the higher committees. In order to
establish a practical combination, the following rules are to be observed and
carried out witliout delay : All members of Number 1 must join Number 2 and
activities of the latter are to be broadened as extensively as possible. Every
member of Number 1 must submit to iron discipline in both Number 1 and
Number 2.
Domination by Communist International
The dissension among the American Communists mentioned by Git-
low is apparent from a bulletin entitled "The issue between the minor-
ity and the party" issued by the central executive committee of the
Communist Party of America in May 1922, wherein it was said that
the minority faction of the Communist Party of America voted not
to obey the instructions of the executive committee of the Communist
International and that the executive committee of the Communist
International made a final decision to the eifect that every member
must obey within a set time limit or stand expelled from the Com-
munist Party of America and the Third International.
Convention of Underground Party
As related by Gitlow, the Communist International sent three rep-
resentatives to enforce their mandate^ These representatives arrived
shortly before the National Convention of the Communist Party of
America. Being an illegal underground party, the convention, of
necessity, would also be illegal. Arrangements were made to hold the
convention in the woods near Bridgeman, Mich., and the time set as
the latter part of August. In addition to the three Comintern repre-
sentatives, others who attended this convention were Benjamin Gitlow,
77
78 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
Louis E. Katterfield, Harry Winetsky, Charles E, Eutlienberg, Jay
Lovestone, Bertram D. Wolfe, Edward Lindgren, Anthony Bimba,
William F. Dunne, Rose Pastor Stokes, John J. Ballam, Shachno
Epstein, and others. William Z. Foster, not openly a member of the
Communist Party at that time, addressed the convention on the Trade
Union Educational League. The convention came to a sudden end
when State and Federal authorities raided the convention and arrested
the Communist leaders.
WORKERS PARTY OF AMERICA— 1923
{Merger of Communist Party of America and ^Yorkers Party of
Amenca)
Faced with the prosecution and possible imprisonment of the top
officials of its American section, the Fourth Congress of the Com-
munist International, on December 3, 1922, decided that the Commu-
nists in America should function as an open, legal party. When the
legal Workers' Party met in convention in New York later that month,
all elements were united and agreed to follow out the Comintern's
decision. Three months later, on April 7, 1923, the Communist Party
of America voted to dissolve and merge with the Workers' Party of
America, and authorized the Workers' Party, when desirable, to adopt
the name of the Communist Party of America.
However, the merger of the two Communist Parties and the elimi-
nation of the underground organization did not put an end to the
everlasting disagreements among the top leadership — the constant
bickering, open fighting, and behind-the-scenes maneuvering for con-
trol within the party. Although they accepted, without reservation,
the right of the Russian Communists to boss them, the leading Ameri-
can Communists continued to fight among themselves as to who was
to be their American boss.
Trade Uniokt Educational League
In 1920, William Z. Foster, who had led the disastrous strike in
the steel industry in 1919, organized the Trade Union Educational
League. Without funds and with but little following in the trade
unions, his organization was destined to be a failure. However,
Foster, with Earl Browder and Ella Reeve Bloor, made a trip to
Moscow in 1921. (Foster had been employed by Sidney Hillman
as organizer of his unsuccessful Amalgamated Textile Worliers Union.
Hillman sent Foster to represent this union at the Congress of the
Red International Labor Union then being held in Moscow.) Foster,
with Russian leaders, worked out a plan to capture the American
Federation of Labor. Foster's Trade Union Educational League
was accepted by the Russian Communists as the organization through
which the Communists were to operate. Foster left Russia in the
autumn of 1921, supplied with Soviet fimds and with the full support
of Moscow. On his return to the United States he joined the Com-
munist Party, became secretary-treasurer of the Trade Union Educa-
tional League, and editor of its journal, the Labor Herald. He placed
Earl Browder in the position of managing editor of the publication.
Wlien Foster's effort to capture the American Federation of Labor
failed he developed another ambition — to capture the Communist
Party and become America's No. 1 Communist leader. By skillful
manipulation, he finally obtained a majority of delegates to the na-
tional convention, elected a new central executive committee, and had
himself designated as chairman of the party.
WORKERS (COMMUNIST) PARTY OF AMERICA— 1925
The Daily Worker of August 18 and 19, 1925, carried a letter from
the Communist International to the central executive committee of
the Workers Party of America, directing that the Workers Party be
reorganized. A convention was held in Chicago, August 21, 1925, and
a resolution was passed on the Bolshevization of the party. One para-
graph of the resolution reads :
The Central Executive Committee accepts in its entirety the special letter to
the Party from the organization department of the Communist International
and declares its opinion that this letter, which was drawn up with the coopera-
tion of the American delegation, lays down the correct line in regard to the
reorganization of the Party structure."
Constitution or Workers (Communist) Party
The Daily Worker of September 19, 1925, contains the following
proposed constitution of the Workers (Communist) Party:
Article 1. Name of the Party
Section 1. The name of this organization shall be the Workebs (Communist)
Party of Amebica, the American section of the Communist International.
Article 2. Emblem
Section 1. The emblem of the Party shall be the crossed hammer and sickle
with a circular margin having at the top: "Workers (Communist) Pabtx of
America" and underneath "Workers of the World Unite."
Article 3. Membership
Section 1, Every person who accepts the program and statutes of the Com-
munist International and of the Workers (Communist) Party, who becomes
a member of a basic suborganization of the Party, who is active in this organ-
ization, who subordinates himself to all the decisions of the Comintern and
of the Party, and regularly pays his membership dues may be a member of the
Party.
Section 2. Applicants for membership shall sign an application card reading
as follows:
"The undersigned declares his adherence to the program and statutes of the
Communist International and of the Workers (Communist) Party and agrees
to submit to the discipline of the Party and to engage actively in its work."
At the time of being accepted as a member of the Party this pledge shaU be
read to the applicant who shall indicate his endorsement of same.
Section 3. New members must join a shop nucleus or a street nucleus (inter-
national branch) of the Party and the application must be accepted by a vote of
the membership of the unit to which application is made and the acceptance rat-
ified by the leading committee of the territorial division of the Party in which
membership is held.
Section 4. Members who change their place of work, or in case they are mem-
bers of an international branch, their place of residence, must secure a trans-
fer card from the Party unit in which they have held membership and present
this card to the unit to which they transfer. A duplicate of the transfer card
*♦ Fish Committee Reports, pt, II, vol. 3, p. 176.
80
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 81
given the member shall be sent to the leading committee of the territorial section
from which the member transfers and transmitted by this committee to the
territorial section to which the member transfers.
If the member transfers from one section of a city organization to another,
the transfer card shall be transmitted thru the city executive committee ; if the
member transfers from one city in a district to another the transfer card shall
be transmitted thru the district executive committee; if the member transfers
from one district to another the transfer card shall be sent thru the Central
Executive Committee.
Section. 5. Members of the Party who desire to leave the country and go to
another country must obtain the permission of the Central Executive Committee
of tlie Party.
Section 6. Every member of the Party who is eligible to be a member of a
trade-union must become a member of the union to which he is eligible.
Article 3. The Structure of the Party
Section 1. The Workers (Communist) Party, like all sections of the Comintern
Is built on the principle of democratic centralization. These principles are :
(a) Election of the subordinate as well as the upper party organs at general
meetings of the Party members, conference and conventions of the Party.
(b) Regular reporting of the Party committees to their constituents.
(c) Acceptance and carrying out of the decisions of the higher Party com-
mittees by the lower, strict Party discipline, and immediate and exact applica-
tion of the decisions of the Executive Committee of the Communist International
and of the Executive Committee of the Party.
(d) Any Party committee whose activities extend over a certain area is con-
sidered superior to those Party organizations whose activity is limited only
to certain parts of this area.
(e) The discussion on Party questions can be carried on by the members only
until the proper Party committee has decided them. After a decision has been
adopted at the Congress of the Comintern, the Party convention, or by the lead-
ing Party committee, it must be carried out unconditionally even if some of the
members or some of the local organizations are not in agreement with the
decision.
Section 2. The highest authority of each unit of the Party is the general
meeting of Party members, conference, or Party convention.
Section 3. The membership meeting, conference, or Party convention elects
the leading committee which acts as the leading Party organ in the interim be-
tween the membership meeting, conferences or conventions and conducts the
work of the Party organization.
Section 4. The units of the Party organization shall be as follows :
(a) The shop nucleus, of which the leading committee is the nucleus bureau.
(b) The street nucleus (the international branch) of which the leading com-
mittee is the street nucleus bureau.
(c) In small cities having not more than two hundred members the shop
nuclei and the street nuclei (international branches) shall send delegates to a
city conference, or if the membership is not large a general membership meeting
shall be held at which a city executive committee shall be elected.
(d) Larger cities shall be divided into sections and subsections. The shop
nuclei and the street nuclei (international branches) in each of these sections
and subsections shall hold conference of delegates which shall elect the section
and subsection executive committee. The sections of the city organization shall
hold conferences of delegates which shall elect the city executive committee,
except in the headquarters city of a district organization in which case the
District Executive Committee acts as the City Executive Committee.
(e) The city organization in each district shall send delegates to a conference
which shall elect the district executive committee.
(f) The delegates from the district organization shall send delegates to the
national convention which elects the Central Executive Committee.
Section 5. For the conduct of special work each leading committee organizes
departments, such as the Agitprop Department, Organization Department, Trade
Union Department, Women's Work Department, and such other departments,
the need for which arises. These departments are subordinate to the leading
committee and work in accordance with its instructions and carry out its
decisions.
82 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
Article 4- The Shop Nucleus and the Sti-eet Nucleus
(International Branch)
Section 1. The basis of the Party organization is the shop nucleus (in fac-
tories, mines, workshop, offices, stores, agricultural enterprises, etc.) which all
Party members working in these places must join. The nucleus must consist of
at least three members. Newly organized shop nuclei must be endorsed by the
leading committee of the territorial section in which the shop nuclei are
organized.
Section 2. In factories where only one or two members are employed, these
members are affiliated to the nearest working nucleus or form a factory nucleus
jointly with the members working in neighboring factories.
Section 3. Party members who cannot be immediately affiliated with a shop
nucleus, shall join the street nucleus (international branch) in the section of
the city in which they reside.
Section 4. The nucleus is the organization which links up the Party with
the workers and poor farmers. The tasks of the nucleus are to conduct Party
work among the nonparty masses of workers and peasants by means of system-
atic communist agitation and propaganda, to recruit new members to distribute
and sell Party literature, to issue a factory newspaper, to conduct cultural work,
to discuss Party problems, to carry on the work of enlightenment and education
of the Party members in the fundamental principles of Communism. The mem-
bers of the nucleus should strive for all official positions in the workers' organi-
zations in the factory, participate in all economic conflicts and demands of the
employees, interpret these from the standpoint of the revolutionary class struggle
and seek to win the leadership of all the struggles of the workers by tireless
nucleus work.
Section 5. The street nucleus (international branch) conducts similar work
among the workers living in that section of the city in which it is organized.
Section 6. The shop nucleus and street nucleus (international branch) elects
a bureau to conduct its work. This bureau should consist of from three to five
members and conducts all nucleus work, assigns it to the individual members of
the nucleus or international branch, as, for instance, propaganda, distribution of
papers, fraction work in the trade unions, shop committee work, work among
women, defense work, connection with the youth nucleus, etc. The nucleus
bureau is responsible for this work and makes periodical reports to the next
higher committee.
Section 7. The shop nucleus or street nucleus (international branch) bureau
elects an organizer-secretary, whose duly it is to maintain the connections
between the shop nucleus or street nucleus (international branch) and the next
higher committee, conduct the correspondence of the shop nucleus or street
nucleus and to carry out the decisions of the bureau.
Article 5. Subsection, Sections and City Organisations
Section 1. In the small cities (of not more than two hundred members),
the shop nuclei and street nuclei (international branches) shall each hold
general membership meetings periodically, not less often than each three mouths.
These membership meetings ia January and July shall elect the city executive
committee which shall direct the Party work in such cities.
Section 2. Larger cities shall be divided into sections by the city executive
committee of such cities. The party members aflJliated with the shop nuclei or
street nuclei (international branches) in each section of such cities shall meet
in a general membership meeting once each three months to discuss general
Party problems. At the membership meetings held in January and July or at
a special conference of elected delegates from the shop and street nuclei a sec-
tion executive committee which shall direct the work of the Party in this section,
shall be elected.
Section 3. In the very large cities such as New York and Chicago, the city
shall be divided into sections and subsections. The shop nuclei and street nu-
clei (international branches) in each subsection shall hold periodic membership
meetings in January and July, shall elect a subsection executive committee which
shall direct the work of the Party in the subsection.
(b) There shall also be held periodic conferences of delegates from the shop
nuclei and the street nuclei (international branches) in each section, and the
conferences in January and July shall elect a section executive committee which
shall direct the work of the Party in the section.
ORGANIZED COM^IUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 83
(c) In January and July of each year, there shall be held a conference of
delegates elected by ttie section or subsection conferences (of representatives of
the shop and street nuclei) in the city, which shall elect the city executive com-
mittee, except in those cities which are the headquarters of the district execu-
tive committee. In the latter cities, the district executive committee functions
as the leading committee.
Section 4. The size of the subsection, section, and city executive committees,
shall be determined by the respective conferences which elect these committees.
Section 5. As soon as the Party reorganization progresses so that at least
25 percent of the Party members are organized in shop nuclei, at least 50
percent of the members of the subsection, section and city executive committee
shall be elected from the shop nuclei.
Section 6. The subsection, section, and city executive committees elect a
secretary-organizer, who is responsible for the maintenance of connections with
the next higher unit and for the execution of the decisions of the committees.
Article 6. SubdistHct Organization
Section 1. "Wherever the district executive committee considers that the
functioning of the Party organization will be improved, it may with the consent
of the Central Executive Committee, create a subdistrict organization, throUgh
the combination of several cities. Such subdistrict organizations shall hold a
conference of delegates from the city organizations or from shop nuclei and
street nuclei (international branches) in the subdistrict in January and July of
each year and elect a subdistrict executive committee.
Section 2. The number of members of which the subdistrict executive com-
mittee shall consist shall be determined by the subdistrict conference. Where
the basic organizations of a subdistrict are made up of shop nuclei to an extent
of at least twenty-five percent, fifty percent of the members of the subdistrict
executive committee shall be elected from the shop nuclei.
Section 3. The subdistrict executive committee shall elect a secretary-organ-
izer who shall maintain connections with the next higher unit of the Party, and
execute the decisions of the subdistrict executive committee.
Section 4. In the city in which the subdistrict committee has its headquarters,
the subdistrict committee acts as the executive committee of that city.
Article 7. District Organization
Section 1. The Central Executive Committee of the Party shall divide the
country into districts. Once each year there shall be held a district conference
made up of delegates from the city organizations in the district and such un-
attached nuclei and international branches as there may be in the district. This
district conference shall elect a district executive committee. Special confer-
ences may be called by the district executive committee or by the Central Execu-
tive Committee.
Section 2. The district conference also elects the District Control Committee
which shall be charged with the control of the financial accounts of all the Party
units in the district and which also deals with the appeals from the decisions of
lower Party units against disciplinary action.
Section 3. The District Executive Committee is the highest Party authority
In the district between district conferences. The District Executive Committee
must be composed partially of factory workers and should include representatives
of the chief towns of the district. The district committee determines how often
full meetings of the district committee are to be held. But these must be held
at least once a month. The district committee where composed in part of mem-
bers not residing in the city of the district headquarters shall elect an executive
council for the conduct of its current business.
Section 4. The District Executive Committee elects the district organizer in
agreement with the Central Executive Committee. The district organizer must
have been a member of the Party for two years. If a district paper is published
the District Executive Committee elects the editor of the paper with the agree-
ment of the Central Executive Committee.
Section 5. The district executive committee shall organize such departments
for the conduct of the Party work as Agitprop, organization, trade-union work,
woman's work, etc. As a rule members of the district committee should be
placed at the head of these departments. These departments carry on their work
under the direction of the District Executive Committee and submit periodic re-
ports to the District Executive Committee.
84 ORGANIZED COAIMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
Section 6. The District Executive Committee is responsible for Its work to
the district conference and the Central Executive Committee. It must submit a
monthly report of its activities to the Central Executive Committee.
Section 7. In the city in which the District Executive Committee has its head-
quarters the city organization does not elect a city executive committee and the
Party work in this city is directed by the District Executive Committee.
Article 8. The Party Conference
Section 1. The Central Executive Committee may, when it deems it necessary,
call party conferences. The delegates to these party conferences from the dis-
tricts shall be elected by the district committee. The Central Executive Com-
mittee may coopt individiual party workers to attend the party conferences in an
advisory capacity without voting rights.
Section 2. Tlie decisions of the Party conference are not valid and binding
on the party unless endorsed by the Central Executive Committee,
Article 9. The Party Convention
Section 1. The party convention is the hiiihest authority of the Party and
shall be called by the Central Executive Committee at least once a year in agree-
ment with the executive committee of the Communist International.
SECmoN 2. Special conventions which shall have all the powers of regular con-
ventions may be called by the Central Executive Committee either at its own
initiative and in agreement with the Executive Committee of the Communist
International or at the initiative of the Communist International, or upon the
demand of party organizations representing half the members of the Party. Spe-
cial conventions, however, can only be called with the agreement of the Execu-
tive Committee of the Communist International.
Section 3. The call for the national convention and the proposed agenda of
the convention shall be submitted to the membership at least one month before
the date of the convention.
Section 4. The number of delegates to the convention shall be determined by
the Central Executive Committee. Delegates shall be apportioned to the dis-
tricts in proportion to the membership to be decided in accordance with the pro-
vision of article 10 of this constitution.
Section 5. The party convention shall hear the reports of the Central Execu-
tive Committee and the Central Control Committee, decide the questions of
Party program, formulate resolutions on all political, tactical, and organizational
questions, elect the Central Executive Committee and the Central Control
Committee.
Article 10. Elections of Delegates
Section 1. Election of delegates to all party conferences and conventions shall
be based upon the number of members in good standing on the tirst of the month
prior to the date of the election. No party member can vote in the election if
more than two months in arrears in dues payments. The secretary of the Party
unit shall submit with the results of the election a certified list stating the names
of the good-standing members in the Party unit. No election of delegates to
any conference or convention shall be valid unless 5 percent of the good-standing
members in the Party unit participated in the elections.
Section 2. The highest committee of the unit of the Party in which a confer-
ence or convention is to be held shall decide the basis of representation, that is,
the number of good-standing members necessary to elect delegates.
Section 3. The shop nucleus and the sti-eet nucleus (international branch) or
in case of large cities the subsection, shall elect delegates to the city convention
in accordance with the number of delegates they are entitled to based upon the
certified list of good-standing '»iembers which the secretary shall send to the
city convention in certifying the resuiis :>f the elections.
Section 4. The city convention shall elect tne number of delegates it is entitled
to according to the ratio fixed for the election of delegates from the city conven-
tion to the district convention based upon the number of members in good stand-
ing in the city as certified by the shop nuclei and the street nuclei (international
branches).
Section 5. The district convention shall elect the number of delegates it is en-
titled to according to the ratio fixed for the election of delegates from the district
convention to the national convention based upon the number of good-standing
members in the distri'^t as certified by the city convention.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 85
Section 6. The same rule shall apply in the election of delegates to section
and city conferences, provided for in Article 5.
Article 11. Central Executive Committee
Section 1. The Central Executive Committee of the Party shall be elected by
the Party convention and shall consist of 19 members elected by the convention,
a representative of the Young Workers League, and a neutral chairman with
decisive vote. The convention shall also elect six candidates who shall have a
right to participate in the full sessions of the C. E. C. with a voice but no vote.
In case of vacancies the candidates shall become members of the C. E. C.
Section 2. The Central Executive Committee is the highest authority of the
Party between the party conventions. It represents the Party as a whole over
and against other Party institutions and other institutions, organizes various
organs of the Party, conducts all its political and organizational work, appoints
the editors of its central organs who work under its leadership and control,
organizes and guides all undertakings in importance for the entire Party, dis-
tributes all the Party forces and controls the Central Treasury. The Central
Executive Committee conducts the work of the Party fractions within bodies of
a central nature.
Section 3. The Central Executive Committee elects from among its numbers
a Political Committee for conducting the work of the C. E. 0. between its full
sessions. The Central Committee shall elect a general secretary, and a secre-
tariat for conduct of the permanent current work, and establish an agitprop
department, organization department, and such other departments as the Party
requires. The members of the Central Executive Committee should be the heads
of these departments wherever possible.
Section 4. The Central Executive Committee shall divide the country into
districts and create district organizations. The Central Executive Committee has
the right to combine or divide existing organizations, either according to territory
or otherwise in conformity with their political and economic characterstics.
Article 12. The Central Control Committee
Section 1. The Party convention shall elect a Central Control Committee of
four members which shall audit the books and accounts of the national organiza-
tion and supervise similar control of the financial accounts of the Party as a
whole.
Section 2. The Central Control Committee shall also pass upon appeals from
decision of lower party units in reference to breaches of discipline. The decisions
of the Central Control Committee in such matters are subject to the approval of
the Central Executive Committee.
Article IS. Qualifications
Section 1. Members of the Central Executive Committee, general secretary,
editor, and all candidates for political office must have been members of the Party
for two years at time of their nomination.
Section 2. Members of the District Executive Committee, must have been
members of the Party for two years at the time of their nomination.
Section 3. Members of City Executive Committees must have been members
of the Party for one year at the time of their nomination, and of section and
subsection committees must have been members of the Party for six months at
the time of their nomination.
Article I4. Party- Discipline
Section 1. The strictest party discipline is the most solemn duty of all Party
members and all Party organizations. The decisions of the Communist Inter-
national and the Party convention, of the Central Executive Committee and all
the leading committees of the Party must be promptly carried out. Discussion
of questions over which there have been differences must not continue after the
decision has been made.
Section 2. Breaches of party discipline by individual members may be punished
by censure, public censure, dismissal from office, suspension from the Party, and
expulsion from the Party. Breaches of discipline by Party committees may be
punished by removal of the committee by the next higher Party committee.
86 ORGANIZED COJMJVIUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
Section 3. Charges against individual members shall be made in the shop
nucleus or international branch and the decision of the Party unit shall be
confirmed by the Party committee in the territory in which the unit is located.
Charges against individual members may also be made in any leading committee
of the Party and such committees have full power to act. The member expelled
may appeal to the next higher committee. Appeals can be made only by the
punished members themselves or by a party organization in his behalf.
Sfxtion 4. No leading committee of the Party has power to suspend any of its
members from the committee. Charges against members of committees must be
filed with the next higher committee.
Article 15. Dues
Sectiox 1. Each applicant for membership shall pay an initiation fee of 50^
which shall be receipted for by an initiation stamp furnished by the Central
Executive Committee. The entire sum shall go to tlie national organization.
Section 2. Each member shall pay 500 per month dues, which shall be receipted
for by dues stamps issued by the Central Executive Committee. Members whose
earnings are more than $100.00 per month shall pay additional dues to the amount
of one percent of their earnings above $100. The payment of the additional dues
shall be receipted for by special stamps issued by the Central Executive
Committee.
Section 3. The district organization shall purchase regular dues stamps from
the Central Executive Committee at 250 per stamp, the city organization shall
purchase dues stamps from the city organization at 40(5 ; the subsection organiza-
tion shall purchase dues stamps from the section organization at 42yo0; and the
shop nuclei and the street nuclei (international branches) shall purchase stamps
from the subsection organization at 45(i Where no subsections exist, the shop
nuclei and international branch purchase their stamps from the section organiza-
tion at 45^ Where no sections exist, the shop nuclei and street nuclei (inter-
national branches) purchase stamps from the city organization at 45^
Section 4. Special assessments may be levied by the national convention or the
Central Executive Committee. No member shall be considered in good standing
unless he purchases such special assessment stamp.
Section 5. Members unable to pay dues or assessments on account of unem-
ployment, strilies, siclvness, or similar reason shall by vote of the nucleus or inter-
national branch be furnished with exempt stamps. No district organization
shall be allowed exempt stamps in a proportion greater than ten percent of its
monthly purchase of regular stamps, except by decision of the C. E. C.
Section 6. Members who are three months in arrears in i)ayment of dues shall
cease to be members of the Party in good standing. Members who are six months
in arrears shall be stricken from the rolls. No member of the Party shall pay
dues in advance for a i)eriod of more than three months.
Article 16, Language Fractions
Section 1. All members of the Party now members of language branches must
become members in either shop nuclei or international branches in the re-
organization of the Party on the basis of this constitution, in order to retain
their membership in the Party.
Section 2. The former members of the language sections of the Party, in addi-
tion to their membership in the Party, through affiliation with the shop nuclei
or international branch shall form language fractions.
Section 3. The language fraction shall consist of all the members of the Party
who speak a certain language, who are members of a subsection, section, or city
organization of the Party. The units of the language fraction should be formed
on the basis of the most efficient method of working among their particular
language group. The D. E. C. or City Executive Committee shall decide as to the
units to be formed.
Section 4. Where there is more than one subsection in a section organization,
in which language fractions of a particular language group are organized, tliese
language fractions shall hold general membership meetings of all the members
of the language fraction in the section in January and July of each year, and
elect an executive committee of the language fraction for the section. Where
there are several sections of a city in which fractions are organized, the members
of the language fraction shall hold a city membership meeting in January and
July of each year, and elect a city executive committee of the language fraction,
subject to the approval of the respective Party committee.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 87
Section 5. Once each year, there shall be held a district conference of dele-
gates from the language fractions in the party districts which shall elect a
district executive committee for tlie language fraction. The D. E. C. for the
language fraction must be approved by the Party D. B. C
Section 6. The Central Executive Committee of the Party may, if it deems it
advisable, permit the holding of a national conference of a language fraction of
a particular language group. When such national conferences are held they shall
elect, subject to the approval of tlie Central Executive Committee, a national
language bureau. In cases vphere the Central Executive Committee does not
deem it advisable to hold national conferences of a language fraction, it shall
appoint a national bureau for the language fraction.
Section 7. The language fraction is an auxiliary organization of the Party, for
work among a particular language group. Only Party members who are affiliated
to the shop nuclei or the street nuclei (international branches) and pay dues
to the basic units of the Party, can be members of the language fraction of the
Party. The language fraction of the Party does not collect dues, but may, with
the consent of the Central Executive Committee carry on special campaigns
among their language groups for funds to carry on the work of the language
fraction. The Central Executive Committee shall also provide a definite monthly
appropriation from the dues receipts for the work of the language fraction na-
tional bureaus.
Section 8. It is the work of the language fraction to carry on agitation,
propaganda, and organization work among the working masses of its language
group. The language fraction must also organize fractions of party members
In the fraternal and benevolent organizations of its language group, as provided
for in the section of this constitution dealing with the organizational question,
and carry on a systematic campaign to establish Communist influence and bring
these organizations under the influence of the party, ideologically and organi-
zationally.
Section 9. The language fractions of each language group shall also organize
a workers' club of their particular language group in each city or the sections
of the city. These workers' clubs shall consist of both party and nonparty
members. The language fraction shall function as a fraction in tliese clubs to
carry on agitation and propaganda and bring the non-Party members under Com-
munist influence and recruit them for membership in regular Party units.
Article 11. Fractions
Section 1. In all non-Party workers' and farmers' organizations (trade unions,
cooperatives, cultural societies, educational societies, fraternal and benevolent
societies, sports and other clubs, war veterans' organizations, factory councils,
unemployed councils, at conferences and conventions, in local administrative
bodies, state legislatures and the national congress) where there are at least
two Communists, a Communist fraction must be organized for the purpose of
increasing the influence of the Party in applying its policy in the non-Party
sphere.
Section 2. The fractions are organs of the Party within non-Party organiza-
tions. They are not independent fully authorized organizations, but are sub-
ordinate to the competent local Party committee.
Section 3. In case of differences arising between the Party committee and the
fraction, the Party committee must investigate the questions anew, together with
the representatives of the fraction and come to a decision which must be carried
out unconditionally by the fraction. In case an appeal is made against the de-
cision by the fraction, the question shall be finally settled by the next higher
Party committee.
Section 4. If questions are discussed by a Party committee which concerns a
fraction, the committee shall accept a representative of the fraction concerned,
who shall attend the meeting of the committee in an advisory capacity.
Section 5. The fractions elect their own officers who, however, must be en-
dorsed by the Party committee in the section in which the fraction operates. The
officers of the fraction are responsible for their activities to the fraction and to
the Party committee.
Section 6. The Party committee, which directs the Party work in the ter-
ritory in which a fraction is organized, has the right to send its representatives
into the executive committee of any fraction or to recall any member of that
body, after the reason for such action has been explained to the fraction.
88 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
Section 7, Candidates for all important positions in the organization in which
the fractions are working are selected by the fraction, in agreement with the
Party committee for the section.
Section 8. Questions which come up for decision in the organization in which
a fraction is working must be discussed in advance in the meeting of the fraction,
or by its leading committee. On every question on which a decision is reached in
the fraction, or a decision made by the leading committee, the fraction members
must act unanimously in the meeting of the organization and vote together solidly.
Members who break this rule are subject to disciplinary measures by the Party.
Article 18. Relations to the Y, W. L.
Section 1. A corresponding committee of the Young Workers League shall be
entitled to send one representative with voice and vote into all subsections, sec-
tions, city and district and central executive committees of the Party, provided
there is a corresponding Y. W. L. organization to the organization of the party
to which the representative is sent.
Section 2. The Party executive committee, In the subsection, section, city,
district, and the Central Executive Committee shall send a representative with
voice and vote into the corresponding Y. W. L. committee.
Section 3. The corresponding Y. W. L. organization shall be entitled to send
representatives to all conferences and conventions of the Party organization.
The number of representatives which shall be given to the Y. W. L. in such con-
ferences and conventions shall be decided by the Party committee which calls
the conference or convention.
Section 4. All members of the Party under 21 years of age must Join the
Young Workers League. All members of the Young Workers League over 21
years of age, should join the Party and must join the Party if 23 years of age or
over, or be excluded from the League.
Section 5. Members of the Y. W. I. who are under 11 [sic] years of age and
who are also members of the Party, shall be exempt from paying Party dues uiion
presentation of their Y. W. L. dues card, with dues stamp affixed. An exempt
stamp, marked "Y, W. L." shall be affixed to the Party card of such member.
Schedule
1. The provisions of this constitution in relation to purchase of dues stamps
from the district committee and city organizations by the basic units of the
Party go into effect on October first. Language branches which have not been
reorganized by that date must purchase their dues stamps from the district and
city organizations.
Section 2. The provisions of this constitution in regard to the elections of
the subsection, section, city and district committees go into effect as fast as the
reorganization of the Party on the basis of this constitution takes place in a
locality. This provision also applies to the organization of language fractions
which must be organized as fast as the Party reorganization takes place. The
provisions of the previous constitution of the Party apply in a locality until such
time as the reorganization takes place, except that the City Central Committee
shall hold one session to constitute a City Executive Committee and then be
abolished.
Section 3. The reorganization of the entire Party on the basis of the pro-
visions of this constitution shall be completed within six months from the time
of its adoption. The Central Executive Committee is instructed to take all the
necessary steps to carry out the reorganization in the period allotted.
COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERI-
CA, SECTION OF THE COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL—
1929
The constant bickering and manipulation for control of the party
brought numerous rebukes from Moscow. On July 1, 1927, the pre-
sidium of the executive committee of the Communist International
endorsed a resolution of the Comintern calling the Workers (Commu-
nist) Party of America to task for "deviations" and other "mis-
takes." ''
The Daily Worker of August 3, 1927, published a declaration of the
political committee of the Workers (^Communist) Party declaring its
complete acceptance of the Communist International resolution, clos-
ing the declaration with a plea for a unified Communist Party in
America.
Open Letter From Executi\t: Committee of the Communist
International
Some time prior to the 1929 convention the Workers (Communist)
Party received an open letter from the executive committee of the
Communist International. The following paragraphs from this open
letter not only illustrate the existence of constant factional fights
within the ranks of the American Communists, but they also illustrate
the strict and unyielding control of the Comintern over the comrades
in America : ^^
The struggle against the right and "left" dangers has to contend with faction-
alism in the Workers (Comiuunist) Party of America and cannot be developed
in a truly Bolshevik manner until this main hindrance is eliminated.
The Communist International has several times requested the Party in the
most decisive manner to put an end to the factional struggle. The sixth Plenum
of the Executive Committee of the Communist International demanded from the
Party a "complete and unconditional cessation of the factional struggle." The
American Commission during the eighth Plenum confirmed that decision. The
Folit-St'cretariat of the Executive Committee of the Communist International
declared in April, 1928, that: "It is the opinion of the Executive Committee of
the Communist International that the main problem of the Party in the field of
organization is to kill all I'emnants of factionalism". Finally the Sixth Congress
decided that "The most important task confronting the Party is to put an end to
the factional strife, which is not based on any serious differences, and at the
same time, to increase the recruiting of workers into the Party and to give a
definite stimulus to the promotion of workers to leading Party posts."
The existing factions must be resolutely and definitely li(iuidated. Tlie fac-
tional struggle must be unconditionally stopped. Without this no mass Commu-
nist Party of the American Proletariat can be organized.
This is the most urgent task of the Party. The sixth convention of the Workers
Party must categorically prohibit any further factional struggle under threat
of expulsion from the Party, and lay the foundation of a normal party life, espe-
cially internal democracy, self-criticism and iron party discipline, based on the
unconditional subordination of the minority to the majority and an unconditional
recognition of the decisions of the Comintern.
" Fish Committee Reports, pt. II, vol. 8, p. 226.
M Ibid., p. 234.
80
47716°— 54 7
90 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN TlIE UNITED STATES
Accordinj^ to the Daily Worker of March 11, 1929, the convention "
accepted, without reservation, the open letter of the Comintern and
agreed to all the conditions and mandates set forth in the letter.^^
Out of this convention, which was held in New York City, March
1-10, 1929, emerged the Communist Party of the United States of
America, section of the Communist International.
Constitution
The Daily Worker of February 21, 1929, published the following as
the constitution of the new party :
I. NAME OF THE PARTY
1. — The n?me of this organization shall be the Communist Pakty of U. S. of
America, section of the Connnuuist International.
n. EMBLEM
1. — The emblem of the Party shall be the crossed lin miner and sickle with a
circular margin having at the top: "Communist Paihy of America" and under-
neath "V^OKKEBS OF THE WORLD, UNITE."
III. MEMBEBSHIP
1. — A member of the Party can be every person from the age of eighteen up
who accepts the program and statutes of the Communist International (Com-
intern) and the Communist Party of America, who becomes a member of a basic
suborganization of the Party, who is active in tliis organization, who subordi-
nates himself to all the decisions of the Comintern and of the Party, and regu-
larly pays his membership dues.
2. — Applicants for membership shall sign an application card reading as
follows :
"The undersigned declares his adherence to the program and statutes of the
Communist International and of the Communist Party and agrees to submit to
the discipline of the Party and to engage actively in its work."
At the time of being accepted as a member of the Party this pledge shall be
read to the applicant who shall indicate his endorsement of the same.
3. — The question of acceptance must first be discussed by the shop nucleus
or street nucleus of the Party and the application must be accepted l)y a vote
of the membership of the unit to which application is made and the acceptance
ratified by the leading committee of the territorial division of the Party in
which membership is held.
4. — Members who change their place of work, or in case they are members of
a street nucleus, their place of residence, must secure a transfer card from
the Party unit in which they have held membership and present this card
to the unit to which they transfer. A duplicate of the transfer card given the
member shall be sent to the leading committee of the territorial section from
which the member transfers and transmitted by this committee to the territorial
section to which the member transfers.
If the member transfers from one section organization to another, the trans-
fer card shall be transmitted thru the district executive commiltee; if the
member transfers from one district to another the transfer card shall be sent
thru the Central Executive Committee.
5. — Members of the Party who desire to leave the country and go to another
country must obtain the permission of the Central Executive Committee of the
Party.
6. — Every member of the Party who is eligil)le to be a member of a trade
union must become a member of the union to which he is eligible.
« Fish Comniittee Reports, pt. II, vol. 3. p. 255.
» Ibid., p. 256.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 91
IV. THE STRUCTURE OF THE PARTT
1. — The Communist Party, like all sections of the Comintern, is built upon the
principle of democratic centralization. These principles are :
(a) Election of the subordinate as well as the upper Party organs at general
meetings of the Party members, conferences and conventions of the Party.
(b) Regular reporting of the Party committees to their constituents.
(c) Acceptance and carrying out of the decisions of the higher Party com-
mittees by the lower, strict Party discipline, and immediate and exact applica-
tion of the decisions of the Executive Committee of the Communist International
and of the Executive Committee of the Party.
(d) Any Party committee whose activities extend over a certain area is con-
sidered superior to those Party organizations whose activity is limited only to
certain parts of this area.
(e) The discussion on basic Party questions or general Party lines can be
carried on by the members only until the Central Executive Committee has
decided them. After a decision has been adopted at the congress of the Comin-
tern, the Party convention, or by the leading Party committee, it must be carried
out unconditionally, even if some of the members or some of the local organiza-
tions are n»t in agreement with the decision.
(2e) The highest authority of each unit of the Party is the general meeting of
Party members, conference, or Party convention.
(3e) The membership meeting, conference, or Party convention elects the lead-
ing committee which acts as the leading Party organ in the interim between the
membership meetings, conferences, or conventions and conducts the work of the
Party organization.
V. THE PARTY NUCLEUS
1. — The basis of the Party organization is the nucleus (in factories, mines,
workshops, offices, stores, agricultural enterprises, and so forth) which all Party
members working in these places must join. The nucleus consist of at least
three meml)ers. Newly organized nuclei must be endorsed by the leading com-
mittee of the territorial section in which the shop nuclei are organized.
2. — In factories where only one or two members are emiiloyed, these members
are affiliated to the nearest working nucleus or form a factory nucleus jointly
with the members working in neighboring factories.
3. — Party memliers who cannot be immediately affiliated with a shop nucleus,
shall join temporarily the street nucleus in the section of the city in which they
reside ; until it shall be possible to create a shop nucleus in the factory.
4. — The nucleus is the organization which links up the Party with the workers,
poor farmers, and laborers. The tasks of the nucleus are: to spread Party
influence among the non-Party masses of workers and peasants, to carry out
Party slogans and decisions among them, by means of systematic Communist
agitation and propaganda to recruit new members to distribute and sell Party
literature, to issue a factory newspaper, to conduct cultural work, to discuss
Party problems, to carry on the work of enlightenment and education of the
Party memliers in the fundamental principles of Communism.
The members of the nucleus should strive for all official positions in the
workers' organizations In the factory, or in their territory, participate in all
economic conflicts and demands of the employees, interpret these from the
standpoint of the revolutionary class struggle, and seek to win the leadership
of all the struggles of the workers by tireless nucleus work.
5. — The street nucleus conducts similar work among the workers living in that
section of the city in which it is organized.
6. — The leading organ of the nucleus, the nucleus bureau, is to be elected at
the membership meeting of the nucleus and is to consist of 3 to 7 members depend-
ing upon the size of the nucleus. As a rule, the nucleus bureau should be elected
for a period of 6 months and during this period is to make a complete report to
the full meeting of the nucleus at least twice, giving the results of its activity.
7. — The nucleus bureau elects an organizer-secretary and divides the Party
work of the nucleus among the other members of the bureau. The organizer-
secretary of the nucleus must be an active Party member for not less than six
months and must be approved by the higher Party committee.
92 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
VI. THE SECTION OKGANIZEB
1. — The next body following the nucleus shall be the section organization.
The subdistrict, city, and subsection shall be abolished. Under this system, a
section will be either the division of a larger city, a single city, or a number of
cities with the larger city as the center of the section. This new division of
the disti'icts into sections maljes it necessary that, after the DEC shall divide
its territory, it submit its proposals for approval to the CEC. Exception to tbis
structure may be made only with the permission of the CEC.
2. — The leading organ of the section is Section Executive Committee which la
to be elected either at a section conference consisting of representatives of the
nuclei, or at the general membership meeting of the section. The committee
should consist of 5 to 9 members and 2 to 3 candidates. The Plenum (full
Section Executive) elects a bureau of 3 to 5 members. No other organs (such
as secretariat) should exist in the Section Executive.
3. — The Section Executive Committee at its first plenum elects a secretary-
organizer, who must be not less than one year an active member of the Party,
and elects other members of the bureau. The secretary-organizer must be ap-
proved by the District Executive Committee.
4. — The section conference or section general membership meeting shall be
called once a year by the Section Executive, with the approval of the D. E. C,
for the purpose of discussing the report and plans of the Section Committee,
electing a new Section Executive Committee and also delegates to the District
Conference.
5. — The section Party organization and the Section Committees shall have all
rijihts as leading bodies in their territory. They are the political leaders of
the given territory, working under the leadership of the District Executive
Committee and the Central Executive Committee.
6. — The regular meetings of the Plenum of the Section Committee shall be for
a part of a city or a single city — not less than once in six weeks; for section
organizations, which consist of a number of cities — not less than once in three
months.
7. — The meetings of Section Bureaus shall be called as often as it is necessary,
but not less than once in two weeks.
VII. DISTRICT ORGANIZATION
1. — The district organization, which should be either a single state, or a num-
ber of states, is the next Party body following the section.
2.— Regular district conferences, which shall elect members of the District
Executive Committee, discuss reports of the work of the District Committee
and other important Party matters, and also elect delegates to the Party Con-
vention, shall be called by the District Committee, with the approval of the
Central Executive Committee.
3. — The district conference also elects the District Control Committee, which
shall be charged with the control of the Qnancial accounts of all the Party
units in the district, and which also deals with the appeals from the decisions
of lower Party units against disciplinary action.
4. — Special District Conferences may be called by the District Committee
by the demand of not less than one-half of the membership, or by the Central
Executive Committee.
5. — The District Conferences consist of delegates, elected at Section Con-
ferences, general section membership meetings, or in some instances directly
from the Party nuclei.
6. — The Di.'!trict Executive Committee Is the highest Party authority In the
district between District Conferences. The District Executive Committee must
be composed primarily of factory workers, disciplined and active Party members,
and should include representatives of the chief towns, of some mass organiza-
tions, and important shop nuclei of the district.
7. — The District Executive Committee is elected at the District Convention
and should consist of 9 to 15 members and 3 to 5 candidates. Exceptions in
some cases may be made, with the approval of the CEO. The frequency of the
meetings of the Plenum will, of course, depend largely on the local conditions,
but the full DEC must meet no less than 3 times during the year.
8. — The leading organs of the District shall be the following: 1, DEC (Ple-
num) ; 2, District Bureau; 3, Secretariat. Names "Polbureau," and "Polcom"
shall not be used by any of the Districts. There is only one Polbureau, the
Polbureau of the CEC.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 93
9. — The DEC Plenum is to elect a District Bureau of 5 to 7 members and a Sec-
retariat of 3 members, which should be composed of the chief functionaries of the
District : Organizer, bead of the Trade Union Department, head of the Organi-
zation Department. In some districts, as, for example, the agricultural district,
other arrangements may be made.
10. — The District Executive Committee elects the District Organizer in agree-
ment with the Central Executive Committee. The district organizer must
preferably be a worker and must have been an active member of the Party not
less than three years. The District Organizer and the other members of the
Secretariat must be approved by the Central Executive Committee.
11. — The District Bureau must meet at least once a month. The Secretariat
should be called together as often as necessary, but at least once a week.
12. — If a district paper in any language is published, the District Executive
Committee appoints the editor of the paper with the approval of the Central
Executive Committee.
13. — The Secretariat of the District Committee shall organize an apparatus
which must consist of a maximum of five departments (organization, agitprop,
trade union, etc.). As a rule, members of the District Committee should be
placed at the head of these departments. These departments carry on their
work under the direction of the Secretariat and Bureau of the District Executive
Committee and submit periodic reports to them.
Vin. THE CENTRAL INSTITUTIONS OF THE PARTY
1. — The Party Convention Is the highest authority of the Party and shall be
called by the Central Executive Committee at least once a year, in agreement
with the Executive Committee of the Communist International.
2. — Special conventions which shall have all the powers of regular conven-
tions, may be called by the Central Executive Committee, either at its own
initiative and in agreement with the Executive Committee of the Communist
International, or upon the demand of Party organizations representing not less
than half the members of the Party. Special conventions, however, can only
be called with the agreement of the Executive Committee of the Communist
International.
3. — The call for the national convention and the proposed agenda of the
convention shall be submitted to the membership at least one month before
the date of the convention.
4. — The number of delegates to the convention shall be determined by the
Central Executive Committee.
5. — The Party Convention shall hear reports of the Central Executive Com-
mittee and the Central Control Committee, decide the questions of Party pro-
gram, formulate resolutions on all political, tactical and organizational ques-
tions, and elect the Central Executive Committee and the Central Control
Committee.
6. — The Central Executive Committee of the Party shall be elected by the
Party Convention and shall consist of 37 members elected by the convention, in-
cluding a representative of the Young Workers League. The convention shall
also elect nine candidates who shall have a right to participate in the full sessions
of tlie C. E. C. with a voice but not vote. In case of vacancies the candidates
shall become members of the C. E. C.
7. — The Central Executive Committee must have as members and candidates
not less than fifty-one percent workers, especially from basic industries. All the
members of the Central Executive Committee must have been active members
of the Party at least three years at the time of their nomination.
8. — The Central Executive Committee is the highest authority of the Party
between the Party Conventions. It represents the Party as a wliole over and
against other Party institutions, and other institutions, organizes various organs
of the Party, conducts all its political and organizational work, appoints the
editors of its central organs, who work under its leadership and control, organizes
and guides all undertakings of importance for the entire Party, distributes all
the Party forces and controls the Central Treasury. The Central Executive
Committee conducts the work of the Party fractions within bodies of a central
nature. The ("entral Executive Committee has the right to combine or divide
existing organizations, either according to territory or otherwise in conformity
with their political and economic characteristics.
9. — The Central Executive Committee elects from among its members a Polit-
ical Committee of 7 members and 3 candidates for conducting the work of the
^'4 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
C. B. 0. between Its full sessions. The Central Committee shall elect also a
general secretary and members of a secretariat for conduct of ttie permanent
current work.
10. — The general secretary of the C. B. C. must have been an active member
of the Party not less than seven years and members of the Political Committee,
the Secretariat, and editors of central organs, not less than Ave years.
11. There shall be arranged approximately once in four months plenary
sessions of the Central Executive Committee for the discussion of urgent and
basic Party questions.
12. The Polbureau of the C. E. C. must meet at least once in a month and the
Secretariat should be called as often as necessary, but at least once a week.
13. — The Central Executive Committee may, when it deems It necessary, call
Party Conferences. The delegates to these Party Conferences from the Districts
shall be elected by the District Committees. The Central Executive Committee
may co-opt individual Party workers to attend the Party conferences in ac
advisory capacity, without voting rights.
14. — The decisions of the Party Conference are not valid and binding on the
Party unless endorsed by the Central Executive Committee.
IX. CONTROL COMMITTEES
1. — In order to help the Party to unify Its ranks, and for a ruthless eradication
of factionalism and oppositioui.'^ra — a struggle against Uie breaking of constitu-
tional rules and program of the Party, for the cleansing of the Party of non-Com-
munist elements, for a careful review of the Parly's financial standing — National
and District Control Committees must be organized, which are to be elected at the
National Convention and District Conferences.
2. — All the matters in connection with systematic refusal to carry out Party
decisions, creation of opposition groups and factions, and systematic carrying
on of destructive activities within the Party, which weakens Party unity — come
before the Control Committees, while the decisions of the Control Committees in
connection with all tliese matters mast be in agreement with the respective
Party committees.
3. — In Section Party organizations and in nuclei no Control Committees are to
be organized, but all the actions on the questions mentioned in point one, are to
be taken up in corresponding committees, the decisions of which are to be ap-
proved by the District or National Control Committees.
NOTICE : All decisions of Party organs and District Control Committees about
expulsions of Party members are to be enforced only after the approval by the
National Control Committee and the Secretariat of the C. E. C.
4. — In some cases. In the most important Section Committees, special repre-
sentatives can be assigned by the District Control Committees, who are to work
on the basis of .^special instructions and in full accordance with the decisions of
the Party Committee.
5.— The Party Convention shall elect a Central Control Committee of 7 mem-
bers and 2 candidates, five of whom at least shall be workers, active and disci-
plined Communists, and have been in the Party not less than five years.
6. — Members of the Central Control Committee cannot be at the same time
members of the C. E. C, or District Organizers, etc.
7. — Members of the Central Control Committee shall have the right to partici-
pate in the sessions of the C. E. C. with a voice but no vote.
8. — Ihe C. C. C. elects from among its members a Presidium of three comrades,
the chairman of which shall be an active Party member not less than seven years.
9. — Meetings of the C. C C. must take place approximately once every 4
months, and its Presidium as often as necessary, but not less than once each
month.
10. — The District Conferences shall elect District Control Committees of from
8 to 5 members and 2 candidates In each District, mostly workers, di.scipllned
and active Communists, and having been in the Party not less than 3 years.
X. ELECTIONS OF DELEGATES
1. — Election of delegates to all Party conferences and conventions shall be
based upon the number of members in good standing on the first of the month
prior to the date of the election. No Party member can vote in the election if
more than two months in arrears in dues payments. The secretary of the Party
unit shall submit with the results of the election a certified list stating the names
of the good standing members in the Party unit. No election of delegates to any
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 95
conference or convention shall be valid unless 55 per cent of the good-standing
members in the Party unit participated in the elections.
2. — The highest committee of the unit of the Party in which a conference or
convention is to be held shall decide the basis of representation, that is, the
number of good-standing members necessary to elect delegates.
3. — The shop nuclei and the street nuclei shall elect delegates to the section con-
ference in accordance with the number of delegates they are entitled to, based
upon the certified list of good-standing members which the secretary shall send
to the Section Conference in certifying the results of the elections.
4. — The Section Conference shall elect the number of delegates it is entitled
to according to the ratio fixed for the election of delegates from the Section Con-
ference to the District Conference based upon the number of members in good
standing in the city as certified by the shop nuclei and the street nuclei.
5. — The District Conference shall elect the numiier of delegates it is entitled to
according to the ratio fixed for the election of delegates from the District Con-
ference to the National Convention, based upon the number of good-standing
members in the district.
XI. THE PARTY APPARATUS
1. — Tt is necessary to build the Party apparatus which must be so constructed
tliat it will correspond to the conditions of work of the Party. It must be flexi-
ble and carry out the Party work in a systematic manner.
2. — The apparatus of the Party Committees must consist of a maximum of five
departments : Organization, Agitprop, Trade Union, Women's and Negro. Such
districts as North Dakota, Minnesota, etc., should also establish an Agrarian
Department.
The work of each department must be clearly defined. There should be no
parallels, but rather coordination.
3. — The heads of the departments are to work under the direct supervision of
the Party Committee (Secretariat-Bureau-Plenum).
4. — Every Party department should work in conjunction with a committee of
five to seven members whose duty should be not administrative, but exclusively
consultative. The head of the department is also to be the chairman of this
committee. Special attention must be paid to the selection of a competent head
for each department, a comrade who must be energetic and work systematically.
XII. PARTY DISCIPLINE
1. — The strictest Party discipline is the most solemn duty of all Party members
and all Party organizations. The decisions ot the Communist International
and the Party Convention, of the Central Executive Committee and of all the
leading committees of the Party must be promptly carried out. Discussion of
questions over which there have been differences must not continue after the
decision has been made.
2. — Breaches of Party discipline by individual members may be punished by
censure, public censure, dismissal from office, suspension from the Party, and
expulsion from the Party. Breaches of discipline by Party committees may be
Xmnislied by removal of the committee by the next higher Party committee.
3. — Charges against individual members shall be made in tlie shop nucleus or
street nucleus and the decision of the Party unit shall be confirmed by the Party
committee in the territory in which the unit is located. Charges against indi-
vidual members may also be made in any leading committee of the Party or by
the Central Committee and such committees have full power to act. The member
expelled may appeal to the next higher Party or Control Committees. Appeals
can be made only by the punished members themselves or by a Party organiza-
tion in his behalf.
4. — No leading committee of the Party has power to suspend any of its mem-
bers from the committee. Charges against members of committees must be filed
with the next higher committee.
XIII. DUES
1. — Each applicant for membership shall pay an Initiation fee of $1, which
shall be receipted for by an initiation stamp furnished by the Central Executive
Committee. The entire sum shall go to the national organization.
2. — Each member shall pay 50 cents per month dues, which shall be receipted
for by dues stamps issued by the Central Executive Committee. Members whose
earnings are more tlian $100 per month shall pay additional dues to the amount
of one per cent of their earnings above $100. The payment of the additional
96 ORGANIZED COIVIMUNISM EST THE UNITED STATES
dues shall be receipted for by special stamps issued by the Central Executive
Committee.
3. — The district organization shall purchase regular dues stamps from the
Central Executive Committee at 25^ per stamp, the section organization shall
purchase dues stamps from the district organization at 400 ; and the nuclei shall
purchase dues stamps from the section organization at 450. Dues stamps of a
higher denomination shall be sold to the various organizations in the same rates.
4. — Special assessments may be levied by the national convention or by the
Central Executive Committee. No member shall be considered in good standing
unless he purchases such special assessment stamps.
5. — Members unable to pay dues or assessments on account of unemployment,
strikes, sickness, or similar reason shall by vote of the nucleus be furnished with
exempt stamps. No district organization shall be allowed exempt stamps in a
proportion greater than ten per cent of its monthly purchase of regular stamps,
except by decision of the CEO.
6. — Members who are three months in arrears in payment of dues shall cease
to be members of the Party in good standing. Members who are six months in
arrears shall be stricken from the rolls. No member of the Party shall pay dues
in advance for a period of more than three months.
XIV. FRACTIONS
1. — In all non-Party workers' and farmers' organizations (trade unions, coop-
eratives, cultural societies, educational societies, fraternal and benevolent socie-
ties, sports and other clubs, war veterans' organizations, factory councils, unem«
ployed councils, at conferences and conventions, in local administrative bodies,
state legislature and the national congress) where there are at least two Com-
munists, a Communist fraction must be organized for the purpose of increasing
the influence of the Party in applying its policy in the non-Party sphere.
2. — The fractions are organs of the Party within non-Party organizations.
They are not independent, fully authorized organizations, but are subordinate to
the competent local Party committee.
3. — In case of differences arising between the Party committee and the fraction,
the Party committee must investigate the question anew, together with the repre-
sentatives of the fraction and come to a decision which must be carried out uncon-
ditionally by the fraction. In case an appeal is made against the decision by the
fraction, the question shall be finally settled by the next higher Party committee.
4. — If questions are discussed by a Party committee which concern a fraction,
the committee shall accept a representative of the fraction concerned, who shall
attend the meeting of the committee in an advisory capacity.
5. — The fractions elect their own oflScers who, however, must be endorsed by
the Party committee in the section in which the fraction operates. The officers of
the fraction are responsible for their activities to the fraction and to the Party
committee.
6. — The Party committee, which directs the Party work in the territory in which
a fraction is organized, has the right to send its representatives into the executive
committee of any fraction or to recall any member of that body.
7. — Candidates for all important positions in the organization in which the
fractions are working are selected by the fraction, which must be approved by
the Party committee for the territory.
8. — Questions which come up for decision in the organization in which a frac-
tion is working must be discussed in advance in the meeting of the fraction, or by
its leading committee. On every question in which a decision is reached in the
fraction, or a decision made by the leading committee, the fraction members must
act unanimously in the meeting of the organization and vote together solidly.
Members who break this rule are subject to disciplinary measures by the Party.
XV. EELATI0N8 TO THE Y. W. L.
1. — A corresponding committee of the Young Workers League shall be entitled
to send one representative who is a member of the Communist Party with voice
and vote into all Nucleus, Section, District and Central Executive Committees of
the Party, provided there is a corresponding Y. W. L. organization to the organi-
zation of the Party to which the representative is sent.
2. — The Party Executive Committee, in the Nucleus, Section, District and the
Central Executive Committee shall send a representative with voice and vote into
the corresponding Y, W. L. committee.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 97
3. — The corresponding Y. W. L. organization shall be entitled to send repre-
sentatives to all conferences and conventions of the Party organization. The
number of representatives which shall be given to the Y. W. L. in such conferences
and conventions shall be decided by the Party committee which calls the con-
ference or convention.
4. — All members of the Party under 21 years of age must join the Young Worlj-
ers League. All members of the Young Workers League over 18 years of age may
join the Party and must join the Party if 23 years of age or over, or be excluded
from the League.
5.— Members of the Y. W. L. who are under 21 years of age and who are also
members of the Party shall be exempt from paying Party dues upon presentation
of their Y. W. L. dues cards, with dues stamps afljxed. An exempt stamp, marked
"Y. W. L." shall be affixed to the Party card of such member.
THE COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL CHANGES ITS
TACTICS
From 1919 to approximately 1935 the Communist Parties in Amer-
ica received their instructions from the Communist International in
the form of directives, letters, and so forth. This practice ceased
about 1935 when the Soviet Union began to seek the support of the
democracies against the rising threat of Nazi aggression. A new
method of transmitting instructions was adopted. Pronouncements
by leading spokesmen of the International Communist movement and
such internationally circulated Communist publications as Interna-
tional Press Correspondence, World News and Views, Communist
International, War and the Working Class, New Times, and For a
Lasting Peace — For a Peoples Democracy now serve as a means of
conveying instructions to the disciplined Communist Parties through-
out the world.
The American comrades receive their directives not only by word
of mouth from the higher echelons within the party, but also through
such party publications as the Daily AVorker, Daily People's W^orld,
Political Anairs, Masses and Mainstream, Soviet Kussia Today, and
others, well known and recognized as party propaganda sheets. Some
of these newspapers and publications, too numerous to mention,
are printed in foreign languages.
Because of these and other changes in the position of the Soviet
Union on world affairs, some changes were necessary in the constitu-
tion of the Communist Party in the United States. Among others,
the party dropped from its name the designation, "Section of the
Communist International."
These changes in the Communist Party constitution also illustrate
that the Communist International had begun to disguise its role as
the center of world revolution and to lull other governments into
believing that the Soviet leaders were no longer interested in organiz-
ing the Communist conspiracy in other countries.
98
THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA— 1938
The 1938 Constitution-
At the tenth national convention held in New York City, May 27-31,
1938, a new constitution was adopted. The constitution which was
subsequently ratified by the party membership is as follows : ^^
PKE AMBLE
The Communist Party of the United States of America is a working-class politi-
cal party carrying forward today the traditions of Jefferson, Paine, Jackson,
and Lincoln, and of the Declaration of Independence; it upholds the achieve-
ments of democracy, the right of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,"
and defends the United States Constitution against its reactionary enemies who
would destroy democracy and all popular liberties; it is devoted to defense of
the immediate interest of workers, farmers, and all toilers against capitalist
exploitation, and to preparation of the working class for its historic mission
to unite and lead the American people to extend these democratic principles to
their necessary and logical conclusions :
By establishing common ownersliip of the national economy, through a govern-
ment of the people, by the people, and for the people; the abolition of all ex-
ploitation of man by man, nation by nation, and race by race, and thereby the
abolition of class divisions in society ; that is, by the establishment of socialism,
according to the scientific principles enunciated by the greatest teachers of
mankind, Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin, embodied in the Communist Inter-
national ; and the free cooperation of the American people with those of other
lands, striving toward a world without oppression and war, a world brother-
hood of man.
To this end, the Communist Party of the United States of America establishes
the basic laws of its organization in the following Constitution.
ARTICLE I
Name
The name of this organization shall be the communist party of the united
STATES OF AMERICA.
ARTICLE II
Eniblem
The emblem of the Party shall be the crossed hammer and sickle, representing
the unity of worker and farmer, with a circular Inscription having at the top
"Communist Party of the U. S. A." and in the lower part "Affiliated to the Com-
munist International."
ARTICLE III
Membership
Section 1. Any person, eighteen years of age or more, regardless of race, sex,
color, religious belief, or nationality, who is a citizen or who declares his inten-
tion of becoming a citizen of the United States, and whose loyalty to the working
class is unquestioned, shall be eligible for membership.
Section 2. A Party member is one who accepts the Party program, attends
the regular meetings of the membership Branch of his place of work or of his
territory or trade, who pays dues regularly, and is active in Party work.
Section 3. An applicant for membership shall sign an application card which
shall be endorsed by at least two members of the Communist Party. Applications
are subject to discussion and decision by the basic organization of the Party
(shop, industrial, neighborhood Branch) to which the application is presented.
P Copy in files of committee.
100 ORGANIZED COIMMTJNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
After the applicant is accepted by a majority vote of the membership of the
Eranch present at a regular meeting he shall publicly ple«lge as follows :
"I pledge firm loyalty to the best interests of the working class and full
devotion to all progressive movements of the people. I pledge to work actively
for the preservation and extension of democracy and peace, for the defeat of
fascism and all forms of national oppression, for equal rights to the Negro
people and for the establishment of socialism. For this purpose, I solemnly
pledge to remain true to the principles of the Communist Party, to maintain its
unity of purpose and action, and to work to the best of my ability to fulfill its
program."
Section 4. There shall be no members-at-Iarge without special permission of
the National or State Committee.
Section 5. Party members two months in arrears in payment of dues cease to
be members of the Party in good standing, and must be informed thereof.
Section 0. Members who are four months in arrears shall be stricken from
the Party rolls. Every member three months in arrears shall be oflicially in-
formed of this provision, and a personal effort shall be made to bring such
member into good standing. However, if a member who for these reasons has
been stricken from the rolls applies for readmission within six months, he may,
on the approval of the next higher Party committee, be permitted to pay up
his back dues and keep his standing as an old member.
ARTICLE IV
Initiation and Dues
Section 1. The Initiation fee for an employed person shall be 50 cents and
for an unemployed person 10 cents.
Section 2. Dues shall be paid every month according to rates fixed by the
National Party Convention.
Section .3. The income from dues shall be distributed to the various Party
organizations as follows:
a. 25 percent to the Branch.
b. 35 percent to the National Office.
c. The remaining 40 percent shall be distributed among the respective State,
County, City, and Section Organizations in accordance with decisions of the
State Conventions.
Section 4. Fifty percent of the initiation fee shall be sent to the National
Committee and 50 percent shall remain with the State Organization.
article V
International Solidarity and Assessment
Section 1. Every four months, all members of the Party shall pay an
assessment equal to the average dues payment per month for the previous four
months, for an International Solidarity Fund. This money shall be used by the
National Committee exclusively to aid our brother Communist Parties in other
countries suffering from fascist and military reaction.
Section 2. All local or district assessments are prohibited, except by special
permission of the National Committee. Special assessments may be levied by
the National Convention or the National Committee. No member shall be con-
sidered in good standing unless he purchases stamps for such special assessments.
article VI
Rights and Duties of Memhers
Section 1. The Communist Party of the U. S. A. upholds the democratic
achievements of the American people. It opposes with all its power any clique,
group, circle, faction, or party which conspires or acts to subvert, undermine,
weaken, or overthrow any or all institutions of American democracy whereby
the majority of the American people have obtained power to determine their
own destiny in any degree. The Communist Party of the U. S. A., standing
unqualifiedly for the right of the majority to direct the destinies of our country,
will fight with all its strength against any and every effort, whether it comes
from abroad or from within, to impose upon our people the arbitrary will of any
selfish minority group or party or clique or conspiracy.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 101
Section 2. Every member of the Party who is In good standing has not only
the right, but the duty, to participate in the maliiug of the policies of the Party
and in the election of its leading committees, in a manner provided for in the
Constitution.
Section 3. In matters of state or local nature, the Party organizations have
the right to exercise full Initiative and to make decisions within the limits of
the general policies and decisions of the Party.
Section 4. After thorough discussion, the majority vote decides the policy
of the Party, and the minority is dutybound to carry out the decision.
Section 5. Party members disagreeing with any decision of a Party organiza-
tion or committee have the right to appeal that decision to the next higher body,
and may carry the appeal to the highest bodies of the Communist Party of the
U. S. A., its National Committee and the National Convention. Decisions of
the National Convention are final. While the appeal is pending, the decision
must nevertheless be carried out by every member of the Party.
Section 6. In pre-Convention periods, individual Party members and delegates
to the Convention shall have unrestricted I'ight of discussion on any question of
Party policy and tactics and the work and future composition of the leading
committees.
Section 7. The decisions of the Convention shall be final and every Party
member and Party organization shall be dutybound to recognize the authority
of the Convention decisions and the leadership elected by it.
Sections. All Party members in mass organizations (trade unions, farm,
and fraternal organizations, etc.), shall cooperate to promote and strengthen
the given organization and shall abide by the democratic decisions of these
organizations.
Section 9. It shall be the duty of Party members to explain the mass policies
of the Party and the principles of socialism.
Section 10. All Party members who are eligible shall be required to belong
to their respective trade unions.
Section 11. All officers and leading committees of the Party from the Bran-^h
Executive Committee up to the highest committees are elected either directly by
the membership or through their elected delegates. Every committee must
report regularly on its activities to its Party organization.
Section 12. Any Party officer may be removed at any time from his position
by a majority vote of the body which elected him, or by the body to which he
is responsible, with the approval of the National Committee.
Section 13. Requests of release of a Party member from responsible posts
may be granted only by the Party organization which elected him, or to which he
is responsible, in consultation with the next higher committee.
Section 14. No Party member shall have personal or political relationship
with confirmed Trotskyites, Lovestoneites, or other known enemies of the Party
and of the working class.
Section 15. All Party members eligible shall register and vote in the elections
for all public offices.
article VII
Structure of the Party
Section 1. The basic organizations of the Communist Party of the U. S. A.
are the shop, industrial, and territorial Branches.
The Executive Committee of the Branch shall be elected once a year by the
membership.
Section 2. The Section Organization shall comprise all Branches in a given
territory of the city or state. The Section territory shall be defined by the
higher Party committee and shall cover one or more complete political divisions
of the city or state.
The highest body of the Section Organization is the Section Convention, or
special annual Council meeting, called for the election of officers, v.'hich shall
convene every year. The Section Convention or special Council meeting discusses
and decides on policy and elects delegates to the higher Convention.
Between Section Conventions, the highest Party body in the Section Organi-
zation is the Section Council, composed of delegates elected proportionately from
each Branch for a period of one year. Where no Section Council exists, the
highest Party body is the Section Committee, elected by a majority vote of the
Section Convention, which also elects the Section Organizer.
The Section Council or Section Committee may elect a Section Executive Com-
mittee which is responsible to the body that elected it. Nonmembers of the Sec-
1U2 ORGANIZED COMIMUNISM DT THE UNITED STATES
tion Council may be elected to the Executive Committee only with the approval
of the next higher committee.
Section 3. In localities where there is more than one Section Organization, a
City or County Council or Committee may be formed in accordance with the By-
Laws.
Section 4. The State Organization shall comprise all Party organizations in
one state.
The highest body of the State Organization is the State Convention, which
shall convene every two years, and shall be composed of delegates elected by the
Conventions of the subdivisions of the Party or Branches in the state. The
delegates are elected on the basis of numerical strength.
A State Committee of regular and alternate members shall be elected at the
State Convention with full power to carry out the decisions of the Convention
and conduct the activities of the State Organization until the next State Con-
venion.
The State Committee may elect from among its members an Executive Commit-
tee, which shall be responsible to the State Committee.
Special State Conventions may be called either by a majority vote of the State
Committee, or upon written request of the Branches representing one-third of
the membership of the state, with the approval of the National Committee.
Section 5. District Organizations may be established by the National Commit-
tee, covering two or more states. In such cases the State Committees shall be
under the jurisdiction of the District Committees, elected by and representing
the Party organizations of the states composing these Districts. The rules of
convening District Conventions and the election of leading committees shall be
the same as those provided for the State Organization.
AETiCLE vm
National Organisation
Section 1. The supreme authority in the Communist Partj of the U. S. A. is
the National Convention. Regular National Conventions shall be held every two
years. Only such a National Convention is authorized to uialie political and or-
ganizational decisions binding upon the entire Party and its membership, except
as provided in Article VIII, Section 6.
Section 2. The National Convention shall be composed of delegates elected by
the State and District Conventions. The delegates are elected on the basis of
numerical strength of the State Organizations. The basis for representation
shall be determined by the National Committee.
Section 3. For two months prior to the Convention, discussions shall take
place in all Party organizations on the main resolutions and problems coming
before the Convention. During this discussion all Party organizations have the
right and duty to adopt resolutions and amendments to the Draft Resolutions of
the National Committee for consideration at the Convention.
Section 4. The National Convention elects the National Committee, a Na-
tional Chairman and General Secretary by majority vote. The National Com-
mittee shall be composed of regular and alternate members. Tlie alternate mem-
bers shall have voice but no vote.
Section 5. The size of the National Committee shall be decided upon by each
National Convention of the Party. Members of the National Committee must
have been active members of the Party for at least three years.
Section 6. The National Committee is the highest authority of the Party be-
tween National Conventions, and is responsible for enforcing the Constitution
and securing the execution of the general policies adopted by the democratically
elected delegates in the National Convention assembled. The National Commit-
tee represents the Party as a whole, and has the right to make decisions with
full authority on any problem facing the Party between Conventions. The Na-
tional Committee organizes and supervises its various departments and commit-
tees ; conducts all the political and organizational work of the Party ; appoints
or removes the editors of its press, who work under its leadership and control ;
organizes and guides all undertakings of importance for the entire Party; dis-
tributes the Party forces and controls the central treasury. The National Com-
mittee, by majority vote of its members, may call special State or National Con-
ventions. The National Committee shall submit a certified, audited financial
report to each National Convention.
Section 7. The National Committee elects from among its members a Political
Committee and such additional secretaries and such departments and committees
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 103
ns may he considered necessary for most efficient work. The Political Com-
mittee is charged with the responsibility of carrying out the decisions and the
work of the National Committee between its full sessions. It is responsible for
all its decisions to the National Committee. The size of the Political Committee
shall be decided upon by majority vote of the National Committee.
INIembers of the Political Committee and editors of the central Party organs
must have been active members of the Party for not less than five years.
The National Committee shall meet at least once in four months.
The I'olitical Committee of the National Committee shall meet weekly.
The National Committee may, when it deems it necessary, call Party Confer-
ences. The National Committee shall decide the basis of attendance at such
Conferences. Such Conferences shall be consultative bodies auxiliary to the
National Committee.
ARTICE IX
National Control Commission
Section 1. For the purpose of maintaining and strengthening Party unity and
discipline, and of supervising the audits of the financial books and records of
the National Committee of the Party and its enterprises, the National Committee
elects a National Control Commission, consisting of the most exemplary Party
members, each of whom shall have been an active Party member for at least
five years. The size of the National Control Commission shall be determined
by the National Committee.
Section 2. On various disciplinary cases, such as those concerning violations
of Party utiity, discipline, or ethics, or concerning lack of class vigilance and
Communist firmness in facing the class enemy, or concerning spies, swindlevs,
double-dealers and other agents of the class enemy — the National Control Com-
mission shall be charged with making investigations and decisions, either on
appeals against the decisions of lower Party bodies, or on cases which are
referred to it by the National Committee, or on cases which the National Control
Commission itself deems necessary to take up directly.
Section 3. The decisions of the National Control Commission shall go into
effect as soon as their acceptance by the National Committee or its Political
Committee is assured.
Section 4. IMembers of the National Control Commission shall have the right
to participate in the sessions of the National Committee with voice but no vote.
Section 5. Meetings of the National Control Commission shall take place at
least once every month.
ABTICLE X
Disciplinary Procedure
Section 1. Breaches of Party discipline by individual members, financial irreg-
ularities, as well as any conduct or action detrimental to the Party's prestige and
influence among the working masses and harmful to the best Interests of the
Party, may be punished by censure, public censure, removal from responsible
posts, and by expulsion from the Party. Breaches of discipline by Party Com-
mittees may be punished by removal of the Committee by the next higher Party
Committee, which shall then conduct new elections.
Section 2. Charges against individual members may be made by any person —
Party or non-Party — in writing, to the Branches of the Party or to any leading
committee. The Party Branch shall have the right to decide on any disciplinary
measure, including expulsion. Such action is subject to final approval by the
State Committee.
Section 3. The Section, State, and National Committees and the National
Control Commission have the right to hear and take disciplinary action against
any individual member or organization under their jurisdiction.
Section 4. All parties concerned shall have the fullest right to appear, to bring
witnesses and to testify before the Party organization. The member punished
shall have the right to appeal any disciplinary decision to the higher committees
up to the National Convention of the Party.
Section 5. Party members found to be strikebreakers, degenerates, habitual
drunkards, betrayers of Party confidence, provocateurs, advocates of terrorism
and violence as a method of Party procedure, or members whose actions are
detrimental to the Party and the working class, shall be summarily dismissed
from positions of responsibility, expelled from the Party and exposed before the
general public.
104 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
ABTTCLE XI
Affiliation
The Communist Party of the U. S. A. is affiliated with Its fraternal Communist
Parties of other lands through the Communist International and participates in
International Congresses, through its National Committee. Resolutions and
decisions of International Congresses shall be considered and acted upon by the
supreme authority of the Communist Party of the U. S. A., the National Conven-
tion, or between Conventions, by the National Committee.
ABTICLE XII
Amending the Constitution
Section 1. This Constitution and By-Laws may be amended as follows: (a) by
decision of a majority of the voting delegates present at the National Convention,
provided the proposed amendment has been published in the Party press or Dis-
cussion Bulletins of the National Committee at least thirty days prior to the
Convention; (b) by the National Committee for the purpose of complying with
any law of any state or of the United States or whenever any provisions of this
Constitution and By-Laws conflict with any such law. Such amendments made
by the National Committee shall be published in the Party press or Discussion
Bulletins of the National Committee and shall remain in full force and effect
until acted upon by the National Convention.
Section 2. Any Amendment submitted by a State Committee or State Conven-
tion within the time provided for shall be printed in the Party press.
ARTICLE XIII
By-Laws
Section 1. By-Laws shall be adopted, based on this Constitution, for the purpose
of establishing uniform rules and procedure for the proper functioning of the
Party organizations. By-Laws may be adopted or changed by majority vote of
the National Convention, or between Conventions by majority vote of the National
Committee.
Section 2. State By-Laws not in conflict with the National Constitution and
By-Laws may be adopted or changed by majority vote of the State Convention or,
between Conventions, by majority vote of the State Committee.
ARTICLE XIV
Charters
The National Committee shall issue Charters to State or District Organizations
and at the request of the respective State Organizations, to County and City Or-
ganizations, defining the territory over which they have jurisdiction and au-
thority.
Rules and By-Laws
The following are the Rules and By-Laws adopted by the Communist Party
of the United States of America, in accordance with its Constitution, for the
purpose of carrying out the principles, rights, and duties as established in the
Constitution in a uniform manner in all Party organizations.
Basic Organizations
The basic organizations of the Communist Party of the U. S. A. are the shop,
territorial, and industrial Branches. A shop Branch consists of those Party
members who are employed in the same place of employment. Shop Branches
shall be organized in every factory, shop, mine, ship, dock, office, etc., where
there is a sufficient number of Party members, but no less than seven,
A territorial Branch consists of members of the Party living in the same neigh-
borhood or territory. Territorial Branches shall be organized on the basis of the
political division of the city or town (assembly district, ward, precinct, election
district, town, or township, etc.).
Industrial Branches may be organized and shall consist of Party members
employed in the same trade or industry and shall be composed of those Party
members who are employed in places where shop Branches have not yet been
formed. Shop Branches shall be organized wherever possible.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 105
Every Branch of the Party shall elect an Executive Committee, which shall
consist of at least the following officers : chairman, treasurer, educational direc-
tor, memhership director. There may be a recording secretary whose functions
may be filled by one of the other officers. The size of the Executive Committee
shall be determined by the size of the Branch, but shall not be less than four.
The Executive Committee has the duty of preparing the agenda and proposals
for the membership meeting, administering and executing the decisions of the
membership and the higher Party committee, and, between Branch meetings, of
making decisions concerning matters which require immediate action. The Exec-
utive Conmiittee of the Branch shall report regularly on its work, which shall be
subject to review and action by the membership.
Regular election of Branch oflScers shall take place yearly, but not more than
twice a year. All officers shall be elected by majority vote of the membership
at a specially designated meeting of which the whole membership shall be notified.
Ofiicers may be replaced by majority vote of the Branch membership at any
time, with the approval of the higher Party committee.
Financial statements shall be submitted to the Branch by the Executive Com-
mittee at least quarterly.
The order of business at the Branch meeting shall include the following:
1. Reading of minutes of previous meeting;
2. Dues payments and initiation of new members ;
3. Report of Executive Committee :
a. Checkup on decision (old business) ;
b. Assignments and tasks, reports on comnnuiicntions, literature and press
(new business) ;
4. Good and welfare;
5. Regular educational discussion (educational discussion may be moved to
any point on the order of business).
Collections within Party organizations in a given territory may be made only
with the approval of the next higher body.
One-third of the Branch membership shall constitute a quorum.
Branches shall meet at least once every two weeks.
Section Organizations
Delegates to the Section Convention or Council shall be elected by all Branches
In proportion to their membership. The basis of representation shall be decided
upon by the Section Committee in consultation with the higher Party Committee.
Any delegate to the Section Council may be recalled by a majority vote of his
Branch. The Section Council meets regularly once a month.
The Section Council shall make a report at least once in three months to the
general membership meeting of the Section. All Party members residing in
the territory may be Invited to these meetings.
The Section Council shall submit financial reports to the Branches and to the
higher Party Committee at least once in three months.
City or County Organizations
In cities where there is more than one Section Organization, a City Council
may be formed by the election of delegates either from the Section Councils or
directly from the Branches. The role of this form of organization is to coordi-
nate and guide the work on a citywide scale, and actively participate in or super-
vise Party activity in all public elections and civic affairs within its territory.
The City Council elects from among its members a City Executive Committee
with the same rights and duties on a citywide scale as the section Executive
Committee has on a Sectionwide scale.
The State Committee may form County Councils with the same rights and
duties on a county scale as the City Council has on a city scale.
The structure of the County Council shall be the same as of the City Council.
State or District Organizations
For two months prior to the State Convention, discussion shall take place in
all Party organizations on the main resolutions and problems coming before the
Convention. During this discussion, all Party organizations have the right and
duty to adopt resolutions and amendments to the Draft Resolutions of the State
Committee, for consideration at the Convention.
Only members who are at least two years in the Party shall be eligible for
elections to the State Committee. Exceptions may be made only by State or
47716°— 54 8
106 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
National Conventions. The size of the State Committee shall be decitlod upon
by the Convention, in consultation with the National Committee.
The State Committee shall meet at least once every two months. It shall elect
from among its members an Executive Committee to function with full power,
which shall be responsible to the State Committee.
The State Committee, by a majority vote of its members, may replace any
regular member who is unable to serve because of sickness or other assignment,
or who is removed from office. New regular members shall be chosen from
among the alternate members of the State Committee.
An auditing committee, elected by the State Committee shall examine the
books of the State Financial Secretary once every month. A certitied Public
Accountant shall audit these books at least once a year, and his report shall be
presented to the State Committee and Conventions.
Special State Conventions may be called by a majority vote of the State Com-
mittee, or by the National Committee,
Upon written request of Branches representing one-third of the membership
of the State Organization, the State Committee sliall call a special State
Convention.
The call for a special Convention shall be subject to the approval of the
National Committee.
The State Committee shall have the power to establish an official organ with
tl e approval of the National Committee.
The State Committee shall conduct or supervise Party activity in all public
elections and statewide public affairs within the State.
In states having more than one thousand members, the State Committee shall
r.l)point a Disciplinary Committee with the task of hearing disciplinary cases,
and reporting its findings and recommendations to the State Committee. In
States with less than one thousand members, a committee may be appointed
if it is considered necessary.
Tl'o rules governing the organization and functioning of District Organizations
shall be the same as those provided for the State Organizations.
Qualifications for Delegates to Conventions
Delegates to the State Conventions must be in good standing and have been
members of the I'arty for at least one year.
Delegates to the National Convention must be in good standing and have been
members of the Party for at least two years.
In special cases, the latter qualification (length of time in Party) may be
waived, but only with the approval of the leading committee involved (National
Committee for the National Convention, State Committee for the State
Convention ) .
MeynTjersliip
It is within tlie provision of Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution that
the following are eligible to membersliip in the Communist Party:
a. Persons who, by some present unjnst and undemocratic laws, are excluded
from citizenship and disbarred from legally declaring their intentions of becom-
ing citizens ;
b. Students and others temporarily residing in the country ;
c. All persons coming from coimtries contiguous to the United States, engaged
in migratory work, and temporarily in the country.
Rate of Dues
Dues shall be paid every month according to the following rates :
a. Housewives, unemployed, and all members earning up to $47.00 a month,
shall pay 10 cents a month.
b. All members earning from $47.01 to $80.00 a month inclusive shall pay 25
cents a month. .^ . , . ,1, rn
c. All members earning from $80.01 to $112.00 a month inclusive shall pay 50
cents a month ., . , . ,, „
d. All members earning from $112.01 to $160.00 a month inclusive shall pay
$1.00 a month. , .-, ^t. i„
e Members earning more than $1GO.OO per month shall pay, besides t^ie regular
$1.00 dues, additional dues at the rate of 50 cents for each additional $10.00 or
fraction thereof. , . ., • v,- 1, v k^ a-.-.oc
All dues payments must be acknowledged m the membership book by dues
stamps, issued by the National Committee.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM EST THE UNITED STATES 107
Transfers and Leaves of Absence
Members who move from one neighborhood, shop or industry to another and
have to go from one Branch to another, shall obtain transfers from their
Branches. No member shall be accepted by the new Branch without a properly
filled out transfer card. Before receiving transfers, members shall be in good
standing and have paid up all other financial obligations to their Branches.
If a member transfers from one Section or City Organization to another, a
duplicate transfer card shall be transmitted through the State or District Com-
mittee. If a member transfers from one State or District to another, this
shall be recorded in the membership book, and a duplicate transfer card shall
be sent through the National Committee.
No member has the right to take a leave of absence without the permission
of his Branch. Leaves of absence not exceeding one month may be granted by
the Branch. An extended leave of absence, upon the recommendation of tlie
Branch, shall be acted upon by the next higher committee of the Party. Before
a leave of absence is given the member shall pay up dues, and settle his financial
obligations up to and including the end of the leave of absence period.
Read7nittance
Expelled members applying for readmittance must submit a written statement
and their applications may not be finally acted upon except with the approval
of the National Control Commission.
Former members whose membership has lapsed must submit a written state-
ment on application for readmission, to be finally acted upon by the respective
State Committees.
THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA— 1940
On October 17, 1940, the Voorhis Act became effective. This act
provided for the registration of every organization subject to foreign
control which engages in political activity. Inasmuch as the consti-
tution of the Communist Party, U. S. A., provides that the party be
"affiliated to the Communist International" the question arose as to
"whether the party came within the purview of the Voorhis Act. This
situation was remedied by the calling of a special convention of the
Communist Party, U. S. A., on November 16-17, 1940, at which time
the following constitution was adopted : "
The 1940 CoNsnxunoN
PREAMBLE
The Communist Party of the United States of America is a working class
political party carrying forward today the traditions of Jefferson, Paine, Jack-
son, and Lincoln, and of the Declaration of Independence ; it upholds the achieve-
ments of democracy, the right of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,"
and defends the United States Constitution against its reactionary enemies who
would destroy democracy and all popular liberties ; it is devoted to defense of
the immediate interests of workers, farmers, and all toilers against capitalist
exploitation, and to preparation of the working class for its historic mission to
unite and lead the American people to extend these democratic principles to
their necessary and logical conclusions :
By establishing common ownership of the national economy, through a
government of the people, by the people, and for the people; the abolition of
all exploitation of man by man, nation by nation, and race by race, and thereby
the abolition of class divisions in society ; that is, by the establishment of social-
ism, according to the scientific principles enunciated by the greatest teachers of
mankind, Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin, embodied in the Communist Inter-
national ; and the free cooperation of the American people with those of other
lands, striving toward a world without oppression and war, a world brotherhood
of man.
To this end, the Communist Party of the United States of America establishes
the basic laws of its organization in this Constitution.
ARTICLE I
Natne
The name of this organization shall be COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
ARTICtE n
Party Emblems
The highest Party authority in each State shall have power to select the
emblem of the Communist Party of that State, taking into consideration the
Statutes of said State applying thereto. Its design shall be in such form as
shall represent the idea of the unity of worker and farmer.
■" Copy In flies of the committee.
108
ORGAlSriZED COMIVrUNISM EST THE UlSIITED STATES 109
AETICLE HI
Membership
Section 1. Any person twenty-one years of age or more, regardless of race,
color, national origin, sex, or religious belief, who is a citizen of the United
States, and whose loyalty to the working class is unquestioned, shall be eligible
for membership.
Section 2. A Party member is one who accepts the Party'prograra, as deter-
mined by the Constitution and the conventions of the Party, attends the regular
meetings of the membership Branch, pays dues regularly, and is active in Party
worli.
Section 3. An applicant for membership shall be endorsed by at least two
members of the Communist Party. Applications are subject to discussion and
decision by the basic organization of the Party to which the application is
presented.
Section 4. There shall be no members at large without special permission
of the National Committee or of a State Committee.
Section 5. Party members two months in arrears in payment of dues cease
to be members of the Party in good standing, and shall be informed thereof.
Section 6. Members who are four months in arrears shall be dropped from
Party membership. Every member three months in arrears shall be otficially
informed of this provision, and a personal effort shall be made to bring such
member into good standing. However, if a member whose membership is ter-
minated for these reasons applies for readmission within six months, he may,
on the approval of the next higher Party committee, be permitted to pay up
his back dues and keep his standing as an old member.
abticle IV
Initiation and Dues
Section 1. The initiation fee for an employed person shall be 50 cents and
for an unemployed person 10 cents.
Section 2. Dues shall be paid every month according to rates fixed by the
National Committee.
Section 3. The income from dues shall be distributed to the various Party
organizations as determined by the National Committee.
Section 4. Fifty percent of the initiation fee shall be sent to the National
Committee and 50 percent shall remain with the State Organization.
ARTICLE V
International Solidarity and Assessment
Section 1. Every four months all members of the Party shall pay an assess-
ment equal to the average dues payment per mouth for the previous four months,
for an International Solidarity Fund. This money shall be used by the National
Committee exclusively to aid the workers and toilers of other lands, and their
organizations, who may be victimized in their struggles against fascism and
military reaction, for national and social emancipation, for peace and freedom.
Section 2. All local or district assessments are prohibited, except by special
permission of the National Committee. Special assessments may be levied by
the National Convention or the National Committee. No member shall be
considered in good standing unless he purchases stamps for such special assess-
ments.
AETICLE VI
The Party: Rights and Duties of Members
Section 1. The Communist Party of the U. S. A. upholds the democratic
achievements of the American people. It opposes with all its power any clique,
group, circle, faction, or party which conspires or acts to subvert, undermine,
weaken, or overthrow any or all institutions of American democracy whereby
110 ORGANIZED COMIMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
the majority of the American people have obtained power to determine their
own destiny in any degree. It condemns and opposes all policies and acts of
sabotage, espionage, and all other forms of "Fifth Column" activity. The Com-
munist Party of the U. S. A., standing unqualifiedly for the right of the majority
to direct the destinies of our country, will fight with all its strength against
any and every effort, whether it comes from abroad or from within, to impose
upon our people the arbitrary will of any selfish minority group or party or
clique or conspiracy.
Section 2. Every member of the Party who is in good standing has not only
the right, but the duty, to participate in the making of the policies of the Party
and in the election of its leading committees, in a manner provided for in the
Constitution.
Section 3. In matters of state or local nature, the Party organizations have
the right to exercise full initiative and to make decisions within the limits of
the general policies and decisions of the Party.
Section 4. After thorough discussion, the majority vote decides the policy of
the Party, and the minority is dutybound to carry out the decision.
Section 5. Party members disagreeing with any decision of a Party organiza-
tion or committee have the right to appeal that decision to the next higher body,
and may carry the appeal to the highest liodies of the Communist Party of the
U. S. A., its National Committee and the National Convention. Decisions of the
National Convention are final. While the appeal is pending, the decision
must nevertheless be carried out by every member of the Party.
Section 6. In pre-Convention periods, individual Party members and delegates
to the Convention shall have unrestricted right of discussion on any question of
Party policy and tactics and the work and future composition of the leading
committees.
Section 7. The decisions of the Convention shall be final and every Party
member and Party organization shall be dutybound to recognize the authority of
the Convention decisions and the leadership elected by it.
Section 8. All Party members in mass organizations (trade unions, farm and
fraternal organizations, etc.), shall cooperate to promote and strengthen the
given organization and shall abide by the democratic decisions of these organiza-
tions.
Section 9. It shall be the duty of Party members to explain the mass policies
of tlie Party and the principles of socialism.
Section 10. It shall be the duty of Party members to struggle against the
national oppression of the Negro people; to fight for complete equality for
Negroes in all phases of American life and to promote the unity of Negro and
white toilers for the advancement of their common interests.
Section 11. All Party members who are eligible shall be required to belong
to their respective trade unions.
Section 12. All officers and leading committees of the Party from the Branch
Executive Committee up to the highest committees are elected either directly
by the membership or through their elected delegates. Every committee must
report regularly on its activities to its Party organization.
Section 13. Any Party officer may be removed at any time from his position
by a majority vote of the body which elected him, or by the body to which he
is responsible, with the approval of the National Committee.
Section 14. Requests for release of a Party member from responsible posts
may be granted only by the Party organization which elected him, or to which he
is responsible, in consultation with tlie next higher committee.
Section 15. No Party member shall have personal or political relationship with
confirmed Trotskyites,'Lovestoneites, or other known enemies of the Party and of
the working class.
Section 16. All party members eligible shall register and vote in the elections
for all public oflices.
article vn
Structure of the Party
Section 1. The basic organization of the Communist Party of the U. S. A. is
the Branch.
The Executive Committee of the Branch shall be elected once a year by the
membership.
Section 2. The State Organization shall comprise all Party organizations in
one state.
ORGANIZED COAtMUNISM IN THE UMITED STATES HI
The highest body of the State Organization is the State Convention, which
shall convene every two years, and shall be composed of delegates elected by
the Conventions of the subdivisions of the Party or Branches in the State. The
delegates are elected on the basis of numerical strength.
A State Committee of regular and alternate members shall be elected at the
State Convention with full power to carry out the decisions of the Convention
and conduct the activities of the State Organization until the next State Con-
vention,
The State Committee may elect from among its members an Executive Com-
mittee, which shall be responsible to the State Committee.
Special State Conventions may be called either by a majority vote of the State
Committee, or upon written request of the Branches representing one-third of
the membership of the state, with the approval of the National Committee.
Section 3. District Organizations may be established by the National Com-
mittee, covering two or more states. In such cases the State Committees shall
be under the jurisdiction of the District Committees, elected by and representing
the Party Organizations of the states composing these Districts. The rules of
convening District Conventions and the election of leading committees shall be
the same as those provided for the State Organization.
Section 4. State and District Organizations shall have the power to establish
all necessary subdivisions such as County, City, and Section Organizations and
committees.
Section 5. The State Organization shall have full autonomy and power within
the framework of the program, policies, and Constitution of the National Organ-
ization.
ARTICLE VIII
National Organization
Section 1. The supreme authority in the Communist Party of the U. S. A.
is the National Convention. Regular National Conventions shall be held every
two years. Only National Conventions are authorized to make political and
organizational decisions binding upon the entire Party and its membership,
except as provided in Article VIII, Section 6.
Section 2. The National Convention shall be composed of delegates elected
by the State and District Conventions. The delegates are elected on the basis
of numerical strength of the State Organizations. The basis for representation
shall be determined by the National Committee.
Section 3. For two months prior to the (Convention, discussion shall take place
in all Party organizations on the main resolutions and problems coming before
the Convention. During this discussion all Party organizations have the right
and duty to adopt resolutions and amendments to the Draft Besolutions of the
National Committee for consideration at the Convention.
Section 4. The National Convention elects the National Committee, a National
Chairman and General Secretary by majority vote. The National Committee
shall be composed of regular and alternate members. The alternate members
shall have voice but no vote.
Section 5. The size of the National Committee shall be decided upon by each
National Convention of the Party. Members of the National Committee must
have been active members of the Party for at least three years.
Section 6. The National Committee is the highest authority of the Party be-
tween National Conventions, and is responsible for enforcing the Constitution
and securing the execution of the general policies adopted by the democratically
elected delegates in the National Convention assembled. The National Com-
mittee represents the Party as a whole, and has the right to make decisions with
full authority on any problem facing the Party between Conventions. The
National Committee organizes and supervises its various departments and com-
mittees ; conducts all the political and organizational work of the Party ; appoints
or removes the editors of its press, who work under its leadership and control;
organizes and guides all undertakings of importance for the entire Party ; dis-
tributes the Party forces and controls the central treasury. The National Com-
mittee, by majority vote of its members, may call special State or National
Conventions. The National Committee shall submit a certified, audited financial
report to each National Convention.
Section 7. ITie National Committee elects from among its members a Political
Committee and such additional secretaries and such departments and committees
as may be considered necessary for most efficient work. The Political Committee
112 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
Is charged with the responsibility of carrying out the decisions and the work
of the National Committee between its full sessions. It is responsible for all
its decisions to the National Committee. The size of the Political Committee
shall be decided upon by majority vote of the National Committee.
Members of the Political Committee and editors of the central Party organs
must have been active members of the Party for not less than five years.
The National Committee shall meet at least once in four months.
The National Committee may, when it deems it necessary, call Party Confer-
ences. The National Committee shall decide the basis of attendance at such
Conferences. Such Conferences shall be consultative bodies auxiliary to the
National Committee.
ARTICLE IX
Disciplinary Procedure
Section 1. Breaches of Party discipline by individual members, financial
irregularities, as well as any conduct or action detrimental to the Party's prestige
and influence among the working masses and harmful to the best interests of
the Party, may be punished by censure, public censure, removal from responsible
posts, and by expulsion from the Party. Breaches of discipline by Party com-
mittees may be punished by removal of the committee by the next higher Party
committee, which shall then conduct new elections.
Section 2. Charges against individual members may be made by any person —
Party or non-1'arty — in writing, to the Branches of the Party or to any leading
committee. The Party Branch shall have the right to decide on any disciplinary
measure, including expulsion. Such action is subject to final approval by the
State Committee.
Section 3. The State and National Committees have the right to hear and take
disciplinary action against any individual member or organization under their
jurisdiction.
Section 4. All parties concerned shall have the fullest right to appear, to bring
witnesses and to testify before the Party organization. The member punished
shall have the right to appeal any disciplinary decision to the higher committees
up to the National Convention of the Party.
Section 5. Party members found to be strikebreakers, degenerates, habitual
drunkards, betrayers of Party confidence, provocateurs, persons who practice or
advocate terrorism, sabotage, espionage, and force and violence, or members
whose actions are otherwise detrimental to the Party and the working class, shall
be summarily dismissed from positions of responsibility, expelled from the Party,
and exposed before the general public
ABTICLE X
Amending the Constitution
This Constitution may be amended as follows: (a) by decision of a majority
of the voting delegates present at the National Convention ; or (b) by the National
Committee for the purpose of complying with any law of any state or of the
United States or whenever any provisions of this Constitution and By-Laws
conflict with any such law. Such amendments made by the National Committee
shall be published in the Party press or Discussion Bulletins of the National
Committee and shall remain in full force and effect until acted upon by the
National Convention.
article XI
By-Lawa
Section 1. By-Laws may be adopted, based on this Constitution, for the purpose
of establishing uniform rules and procedure for the proper functioning of the
Party organizations. By-Laws may be adopted or changed by majority vote of
the National Convention, or between Conventions by majority vote of the National
Committee.
Section 2. State By-Laws not In conflict with the National Constitution and
By-Laws may be adopted or changed by majority vote of the State Convention or,
between Conventions, by majority vote of the State Committee.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 113
ARTICLE Xn
Charters
The National Committee shall issue Charters to State or District Organizations
and, at the request of the respective State Organizations, to County and City
Organizations, defining the territory over which they have jurisdiction and
authority.
THE COMMUNIST POLITICAL ASSOCIATION— 1944
The attack on Russia by Germany in June 1941 followed by tlie
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor placed the American Communists
in the unusual position of supportino; a capitalist government. The
national committee of the Communist Party, U. S. A., met in a plenary
session in January 1914. Earl Browder, general secretary of the
party, in his report to the national committee said : ^^
The Oommiinist Party commits itself in full good faith to work with the over-
whelming majority of our nation for the most successful realization of our enor-
mous national task of war and postwar construction on this basis.
It is equally evident that the political issues of this time will be decided within
the form of the two party system traditional in our country. In this framework
can be fought out and won the necessary struggle of the American people to safe-
guard our country's victory and the preservation of its institutions through such
measures as the restoration of universal suffrage to the southern people, the
elimination of the anti Negro and of all undemocratic restrictions in the primary
elections and total removal of all antilabor laws and racial discrimination.
The Communist Party's contribution in the election will be to aid the struggle
for the unity of the people in support of the nation's war policy, without partisan
or class advantages.
The win the war policy of the nation are under challenge in this election.
A rejection by the people of all defeatist attacks on the President and the nation's
war policy is an inseparable part of the successful and speedy victorious conclu-
sion of the war. The national election of 1944 is as much a test of the peoples'
support of the war as was the election of 1S64.
The war is not yet won. The really decisive fighting lies ahead. The Com-
munist Party places ahead of all other considerations the consolidation of our
national unity to guarantee the speedy victorious conclusion of the war in Europe
and Asia, uninterrupted and full war production and the consolidation of the
peace and collaboration between nations which the agreements have made pos-
sible.
The National Committee calls the National Convention of the Communist Party
to meet in May, the day and place to be fixed by the Political Committee by Febru-
ary 1. Before this convention the National Committee will place a number of
proposals, among which will be that the Communist organization cease to carry
the word "Party" in its name, and, instead, adopt a name more exactly
representing its role as a part of a larger unity in the nation, not seeking any
pai-tisan advancement — a name, for example, like American Communist Political
Association.
The National Committee of the Communist Party, U. S. A., unani-
mously adopted Browder 's report. A committee consisting of Roy
Hudson, John Williamson, Gilbert Green, Eugene Dennis, Ann Bur-
lak, Pat Toohey, Sam Darcy, Benjamin J. Davis, Jr., Ben Gold, and
Peter Cacchione w^as appointed to submit recommendations to the
national convention on possible changes in the preamble, name, ar-
ticles, and sections of the constitution.
The Communist Party, U. S. A., met in convention in New York
City, May 20-22, 1944, formed the Communist Political Association
and adopted the following constitution : ^^
=1 The Communist, February 1944, pp. 98-101.
^ Copy in files of committee.
114
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM EN TUB UNITED STATES 115
The followin^Constitution was adopted by the Communist Political
Association in National Convention held in New York City, May 20-
22, 1944 :
Constitution
preamble
The Communist Political Association Is a nonparty organization of Americang
which, basing itself upon the working class, carries forward the traditions of
Washington, Jefferson, Paine, Jackson, and Lincoln, under the changed condi-
tions of modern industrial society.
It sef^ks effective application of democratic principles to the solution of the
problems of today, as an advanced sector of the democratic majority of the
American people.
It upholds the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution and
its Bill of Rights, and the achievements of American democracy against all the
enemies of popular liberties.
It is shaped by the needs of the nation at war, being formed in the midst of
the greatest struggle of all history ; It recognizes that victory for the free peoples
over fascism will open up new and more favorable conditions for progress ; it
looks to the family of free nations, led by the great coalition of democratic cap-
italist and socialist states, to inaugurate an era of world peace, expanding pro-
duction and economic well-being, and the liberation and equality of all peoples
regardless of race, creed, or color.
It adheres to the principles of scientific socialism, Marxism, the heritage of the
best thought of humanity and of a hundred years' experience of the labor move-
ment, principles which have proved to be indispensable to the national existence
and independence of every nation ; it looks forward to a future in which, by
democratic choice of the American people, our own country will solve the prob-
lems arising out of the contradiction between the social character of production
and its private ownership, incorporating the lessons of the mcst fruitful achieve-
ments of all mankind in a form and manner consistent with American traditions
and character.
For the advancement of those aims, the Communist Political Association estab-
lishes the basic laws of its organization in the following Constitution.
ABTICLE I
Name
Section 1. The name of this organization shall be Communist Political
Association.
ARTICLE n
Purposes
Section 1. The purposes of the Association are to assure to its membership
adequate information, education, and organized participation in the political life
of our country in cooperation with other Americans for the advancement and
protection of the interests of the nation and its people.
ARTICLE ni
MemhersMp
Section 1. Any resident of the United States, eighteen years of age or more,
regardless of political affiliation, race, color, national origin, sex, or religious
belief, who subscribes to the purposes of the Association shall be eligible for
membership.
Section 2. Any person eligible for membership according to Section 1, who
accepts the program policies of the Association as determined by its Constitu-
tion and Conventions, who is active on their behalf, reads the press and litera-
ture; pays dues regularly and holds membership in an Association club shall be
considered a member.
116 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
ABTICLE IV
Initiation Fees, Dues and Assessments
Section 1. Initiation fees and dues shall be paid according to rates fixed toy
the National CJonvention.
Section 2. The income from dues and initiation fees shall be distributed to
the various subdivisions of the Association as determined by the National
Convention.
Section 3. Special assessments may be levied by the National Convention or
by a two-thirds vote of the National Committee. All local or district assessments
are prohibited except by special permission of the National Committee.
ARTICLE V
Rights and Duties of Members
Section 1. Every member of the Association who is in good standing has the
right to participate in the making of its policies and in the election of its leading
committees, in a manner provided for in this Constitution.
Section 2. After thorough discussion in any club, committee, or convention,
decisions are made by a majority vote, and all members are dutybound to carry
out such decisions.
Section 3. Association members disagreeing with any decision of a club, state
or county committee have the right to appeal such decision to the next higher
body, until they reach the National Committee and the National Convention.
Decisions of the National Convention are final.
Section 4. No member shall be eligible to be elected to an office or committee,
or to vote in the adoption of policies or in the election of officers, committees, or
delegates who is three months or more in arrears in the payment of dues.
Section 5. Every member is obligated to fight with aU his strength against
any and every effort, whether it comes from abroad or from within, to im-
pose upon the American people the arbitrary will of any selfish minority
group or party or clique or conspiracy, or to interfere with the unqualified
right of the majority to direct the destinies of our country.
article VI
Structrire
Section 1. The basic organization of the Association is the club, which shall
be organized on a community basis in cities, townships, or rural areas.
The officers and executive committees of the clubs shall be elected by the
membership by secret ballot once a year. Except for newly organized clubs,
these elections shall take place in January of each year.
The clubs shall meet at least monthly, but shall establish standing commit-
tees, to be provided by the By-Laws, whose task shall be to function contin-
uously and develop activity under the direction of the club executive conimittre.
Section 2. The state organization shall comprise all clubs in one state or-
ganized in such subdivisions as may be established, as provided for in this
Constitution.
The highest body of the state organization is the State Convention, which
shall convene every two years, and be composed of delegates elected by the
conventions of the subdivisions of the Association or by the clubs in the state.
The delegates shall be elected on the basis of numerical strength.
The State Convention shall elect, by majority vote, a State Committee, a
President, Secretary, Treasurer, and such other state officers as it may de-
termine. The State Committee may be composed of regular and alternate
members. It has the responsibility to carry out the Convention decisions and
direct the activities of the state organization between state conventions.
The State Committee shall elect from among its members a State Board,
which shall be responsible to the State Committee.
Special state conventions may be called by either a majority vote of tbe
State Committee, or upon written request of clubs representing one-third of
the membership of the state.
Section 3. District organizations may be established by the National Com-
mittee. Where these cover two or more states, the State Committees shall
be under the juri.sdietion of the District Committees, elected by and repre-
Benting the Association membership of tbe states composing these districts.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 117
The rules for convening the District Conventions and the election of leading
committees shall be the same as those provided for the state organizations.
Section 4. State and District Committees shall have the power to establish
all necessary subdivisions, such as county and city organizations and com-
mittees, and the rules for election of such committees shall be the same as those
provided for the State Committees.
Section 5. In matters of a state or local nature, the clubs, state and coun-
ty committees have full autonomy and the right to make decisions vi'ithin the
limits of the general policies and Constitution of the Association and its
Convention.
Section 6. All officers and leading committees of the Association, from the
club executive committees to the highest committees, shall be elected either
directly by the membership or through their elected delegates, Every com-
mittee must report regularly on its activities to the body that elected it.
Section 7. Any Associaion officer may be removed at any time from his
position by a majority vote of the body which elected him, or by the com-
mittee to which he is responsible.
ARTICLE VII
National Organization
Section 1. The highest authority of the Association is the National Con-
vention. Regular National Conventions shall be held every two years. Only
National Conventions are authorized to make political and organizational de-
cisions binding upon the entire Asssociation and its membership, except as pro-
vided in Article VII, Section 7.
Section 2. The National Convention shall be composed of delegates elected
by the State and District Conventions. The delegates shall be elected on the
basis of the numerical strength of the state or district organizations. The basis
for representation shall be determined by the National Committee.
Section 3. Prior to conventions, adequate time shall be allowed for dis-
cussion in all Association clubs of the main resolutions and problems coming
before the convention. During this discussion all Association organizations
have the right to adopt resolutions and propose amendments to the draft reso-
lutions of the National Committee for consideration at the convention.
Section 4. The National Convention shall elect a National Committee by a
majority vote. The National Committee shall be composed of the national officers
and other regular and alternate members. Alternate members shall have voice
but no vote, except where they replace regular members absent from meetings
of the National Committee.
Section 5. The officers of the Association shall be : President, Vice Presidents,
Secretary, and Treasurer, and shall be elected by a majority vote of the con-
vention.
Section 6. The number of members of the National Committee and the number
of Vice Presidents shall be determined by a majority vote of each National
Convention.
Section 7. The National Committee is the highest authority of the Association
between National Conventions and is resiionsible for the enforcement of the
Constitution and the execution of the general policies adopted by the National
Convention. The National Committee represents the Association as a whole and
has the right to make decisions with full authority on any problem facing the
Association between conventions. The National Committee organizes and super-
vises its various departments and committees; conducts all the political-edu-
cational and organizational work of the Association ; elects or removes editors
of its press, who work under its leadership and guidance ; organizes and directs
all undertakings of importance to the entire Association ; administers the
national treasury. Special conventions may be called by the National Committee
by a majority vote or by a vote of two-thirds of the State Committees. The
National Committee shall submit a certified, audited financial report to each
National Convention.
Section 8. The National Committee shall elect a National Board. The National
Board shall be charged with the responsibility of carrying out the decisions and
work of the National Committee between its sessions. The number of members
of the Board shall be determined by the National Comnjittee by majority vote.
It shall be responsible for all its decisions to the National Committee. The
duties and responsibilities of the Vice Presidents shall be determined by the
National Committee or National Board.
118 ORGANIZED COIMIMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
AKTICLE VIII
Dtsclplinary Procedures
Section 1. Conduct or action detrimental to the working class and the Nation,
as well as to the interests of the Association, violation of decisions of its leading
committees or of this Constitution, financial irregularities, or other conduct un-
becoming a member of the Association, may be punished by censure, removal
from posts of leadership, or by expulsion from membership. Such conduct or
action by any committee may be punished by removal of the committee by tlie
State or National Committee, which shall then order new elections for said
committee.
Section 2. Adherence to or participation in the activities of any clique, group,
circle, faction, or party which conspires or acts to subvert, undermine, weaken,
or overthrow any or all institutions of American democracy, whereby the major-
ity of the American people have maintained power to determine their destinies in
any degree, shall be punished by immediate expulsion.
Section 3. The practice or advocacy of any form of racial or religious dis-
crimination shall be grounds for expulsion from membership.
Section 4. No member shall have personal or political relations with enemies
of the working class and Nation.
Section 5. Charges against individual members or committees may be made by
any member in writing to the club of which he is a member, or to the leading
committee having jurisdiction. Clubs sliall act upon charges directed against
anyone holding membership in that club.
Section 6. All parties concerned in disciplinary cases shall have the fullest
rlglit to appear to bring witnesses, and testify.
Section 7. The club or leading committee having Jurisdiction shall have the
right to decide by majority vote upon any disciplinary measure including ex-
pulsion. Disciplinary measures taken by leading committees are subject to aj)-
proval by the body to which they are responsible.
article IX
Appeals
Section 1. Any member who has been subject to disciplinary action has the
right to appeal to the next higher body up to the National Convention, whose
decision shall be final.
ARTICLE X
Amending the Constitution
Section 1. This Constitution may be amended by a majority vote at any regular
or special National Convention.
article XI
Relations and Affiliations With Other Organizations
Section 1. The Association shall cooperate locally and nationally with all
organizations whose activities contribute to the welfare and furtherance of the
interests of the working people and the Nation.
Section 2. Organizations — local, State, or national — which subscribe to the
purposes of the Association as set forth in this Constitution and desire to become
affiliated with it may be accepted, upon such conditions as the National Commit-
tee may adopt, by Association Committees in whose jurisdiction the application
is made.
article xn
By-Laws
Section 1. By-Laws may be adopted, based on this Constitution, for the pur-
pose of establishing uniform rules and procedure for the proper functioning of
the Association organizations. By-Laws may be adopted or changed by majority
vote of the National Convention, or, between conventions, by majority vote of
the National Committee.
Section 2. State By-Laws not in conflict with the National Constitution and
By-Laws may be adopted or changed by majority vote of the State Convention,
or, between conventions, by majority vote of the State Committee.
RETURN TO STATUS QUO ANTE BELLUM
The end of the war in Europe brought about another change in the
ranks of the American Communists.
DucLOS Letter
In the April 1945 issue of "Cahiers du Communisme," theoretical
organ of the Communist Party of France, appeared an article by
Jacques Duclos entitled "On the Dissolution of the Communist Party
of the United States." This article was reprinted in the Daily Worker
of May 24, 1945. After reviewing the reasons advanced by Browder
for the dissolution of the Communist Party and the formation of the
Communist Political Association, Duclos said, in part:^
We, too, in France, are resolute partisans of national unity, and we show that
in our daily activity, but our anxiety for unity does not make us lose sight for a
single moment of the necessity of arraying ourselves against the men of the
trusts. Furthermore, one can observe a cei'tain confusion in Browder's declara-
tion regarding the problems of nationalization of monopolies and what he calls
the transition from capitalism to socialism.
Nationalization of monopolies actually in no sense constitutes a socialist
advancement contrary to what certain people would be inclined to believe. No ;
in nationalization it is simply a matter of reforms of a democratic character,
achievement of socialism being impossible to imagine with the preliminary
conquest of power.
Everyone understands that the Communists of the United States want to work
to achieve unity in their country, but it is less understandable that they envisage
the solution of the problem of national unity with the good will of the men of
the trusts and under quasi-idyllic conditions as if the capitalist regime had been
able to change its nature by some unanimous miracle.
In truth, nothing justifies the dissolution of the American Communist Party, in
our opinion. Browder's analysis of capitalism in the United States is not dis-
tinguished by a judicious application of Marxism-Leninism. The predictions of
regarding a sort of disappearance of class contractions in the United States
corresponds in nowise to a Marxist-Leninist understanding of the situation.
As to the argument consisting of a justification of the party's dissolution by
the necessity of not taking part in the presidential elections, this does not with-
stand a serious examination.
Nothing prevents a Communist Party from adopting its electoral delegates to
the requirements of a given political situation. It is clear that American Com-
munists were right in supporting the candidacy of President Roosevelt in the
last election but it was not at all necessary for this to dissolve the Communist
Party.
It is beyond doubt that if instead of dissolving the Communist Party of the
United States all had been done to intensify its activity in the sense of developing
an ardent national and antifascist policy it would very clearly have consolidated
its position and considerably extended its political influence. On the contrary
formation of the Communist Political Association could not but trouble the minds
and obscure the perspectives in the eyes of the working masses. * • •
And it is clear that if Comrade Earl Browder had seen, as a Marxist-Leninist,
this important aspect of the problems facing the liberty-loving peoples in this
moment of their history, he would have arrived at a conclusion quite other than
the dissolution of the Communist Party of the United States.
» Daily Worker, May 24, 1945, p. 7.
119
120 ORGANIZEH COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
Browder's Reply
The question has often been asked as to why a member of the French
Communist Party should criticize the methods of the American Com-
munists unless he had the authority from Moscow. The following
article by Earl Browder, appeared in the same issue of the Daily
Worker as the Duclos letter and is more or less an admission by
Browder that the Duclos article was the voice of the Kremlin.
Browder wrote, in part:
Unquestionably, while this is a personal article of Jacques Duclos it reflects
the general trend of opinion of European Marxists in relation to America, and
thus demands our most respectful attention. * * *
It has been clear at all times that the end of the war in Europe would require
a fundamental review of all problems by American Marxists. We must estimate
our past work, and face the tasks of the future. We must make the most careful
inventory, balance our political books, and know clearly how we stand as we
enter a new period of sharpening struggles, crises and profound changes. The
article of Duclos may conveniently provide a starting point for this fundamental
review, which the C. P. A. leadership had independently begun some time ago ou
the basis of accumulating threats against the unity of the great coalition. * * *
The National Committee will meet to draw conclusiims after a period of dis-
cussion sufl[icient to crystallize the basic Marxist understanding of the C. P. A.
membership, and at that time undertake to focus this understanding into a clear
perspective for the coming period of new storms. * * *
Browder in saying that the Duclos letter reflected the opinion of
European Marxists said, in efl'ect, that the Duclos letter reported the
opinion of Stalin, the leading European Marxist. If, as claimed by
the Communists, that the Comintern had been dissolved, that the
American Communist Party had no connection with Russian Com-
munists, why would the opinions of European Marxists demand the
most respectful attention of the American Communists ? The answer
is obvious.
End of Communist Cooperation with Capitalist Countries
The war in Europe was over. The Soviet Union was in no danger
of a "Fascist Aggressor" and therefore the period of cooperation with
capitalist countries was over. Those who had a short while before
hailed Earl Browder as a great American Marxist now renounced him
as a "revisionist." The doctrine of Marxism-Leninism must be revised.
Communist Political Association 1945 Convention
The Communist Political Association met in convention in New
York City July 27-29, 1945. The results of this convention were re-
flected in the Daily Worker of July 30, 1945, at page 2. The Daily
Worker said :
With William Z. Foster, veteran leader of the American labor movement, at
the helm, an invigorated and strengthened National Committee yesterday took
over direction of the Commui 'st Party of the United Stales.
Election of a new nation,"' leadership climaxed an historic three-day national
convention which recoust"* d the Communist Party and adopted a new consti-
tution. An over-all pol esolution committed the organization to struggle
against reaction and fas«. . and pledged extensive education for the ultimate
realization of Socialism.
The policies of Earl Brt ler, former leader of the Communist movement, were
condemned as a "revision „•; Marxism" and a negation of the independent role of
the labor movement and t "^ Communist Party, They were rejected unanimously
by the 93 delegates.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM m THE UNITED STATES
121
A new national committee of 55 members to map out the policies
between conventions was selected. A national board of 11 members
and a secretariat of 4 members was selected to direct the activities of
the organization.
Those selected to the secretariat were : William Z. Foster, Eugene
Dennis, John Williamson, and Kobert Thompson.
Those selected to the national board were, in addition to the four
members of the secretariat: Benjamin J. Davis, Jr., Elizabeth Gurley
Flynn, Jack Stachel, Louis Weinstock, Irving Potash, Steve Nelson,
and Josh Lawrence.
Those selected to the national committee, in addition to the members
of the national board, were :
Gil Green
William Sohnoiderman
Ella Reeve Bloor
Ann Burlak
David Davis
Beu Gold
Arnold Johnson
Doxey Wilkerson
Rose Gaiilden
Martin Mackie
Carl Ross
Robert Hall
Alexander Bittelinan
Claudia Jones
Nat Cohen
H. Smith
Joe Dougher
Frederick N. Myers
Mickie Lina
Sam Donchin
1. Amter
Hal Simon
Roy Hudson
Morris Childs
Alice Burke
Peter V. Cacchione
Nat Ganby
Henry Hull
Max Weiss
Carl Winter
Gus Hall
William Patterson
John Gates
Henry Winston
Fred Blair
A. W. Berry
George Kane
Ted Russell
Clarence Sharp
Ralph Shaw
N. Kovac
Albert Lannon
Bella Dodd
The national committee was approved by the convention and the
national committee then selected Foster as chairman of the party and
its national board.
The following were selected as a review commission in charge of
training personnel and checking on finances:
Helen Allison
Phil Bart
James Ford
Charles Krumbein
J. Miudel
George Morris
Dan Slinger
Alexander Trachtenberg
Saul Wellman
Rose Wortis
David Carpenter
William McKie
Roy Honsborough
Dora Lifshitz
William Norman
R Roberts
N. Sparks
A. Wagenknecht
Anita Whitney
47716°— 54-
COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA— 1945
The new constitution follows : '^
Constitution
preamble
The Comjui.nist Party of the United States is the political party of the Ameri-
can worliing class, basing itself upon the principles of scientific socialism,
Marxism-Leninism. It champions the immediate and fundamental interests of
the workers, farmers, and all who labor by hand and brain against capitalist
exploitation and oppression. As the advanced party of the worliing class, it
stands in the forefront of this struggle.
The Communist Party upholds the achievements of American democracy and
defends the United States Constitution and its Bill of Ritihts against its reaction-
ary enemies wlio would destroy democracy and popular liberties. It uncom-
promisingly fii^'hts against imperialism and colonial oppression, against racial,
national, and religious discrimination, against Jim Crowism, anti-Semitism, and
all forms of chauvinism.
The Communist Party struggles for the complete destruction of fascism and
for a durable peace. It seeks to safeguard the welfare of the people and the
nation, recognizing that the working class, through its trade unions and by its
independent political action, is the most consistent fighter for democracy, national
freedom, and social progress.
The Communist Parly holds as a basic principle that there is an identity of
Interest which serves as a common bond uniting the workers of all lands. It
recognizes further that the true national interests of our country and the cause
of peace and progress require the solidarity of all freedom-loving peoples and
the continued and ever closer cooperation of the United Nations.
The Communist Party recognizes that the final abolition of exploitation and
oppression, of economic crises and unemployment, of reaction and war, will be
achieved only by the socialist reorganization of society — by the common owner-
ship and operation of the national economy under a government of the people
led by the working class.
The Communist Party, therefore, educates the working class, in the course
of its day-to-day struggles, for its historic mission, the establishment of Social-
ism. Socialism, the highest form of democracy, will giiarantee the full realiza-
tion of the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," and will turn
the achievements of labor, science, and culture to the use and enjoyment of all
men and women.
In the struggle for democracy, peace, and social progress, the Communist Party
carries forward the democratic traditions of Jefi'orson, Paine, Lincoln, and
Frederick Douglass, and the great working-class traditions of Sylvis, Debs, and
Ruthenberg. It fights side by side with all who join in this cause.
For the advancement of these principles, the Communist Party of the United
States establishes the basic laws of its organization in the following Constitution :
ABTICLK I
Name
Section 1. The name of the organization shall be Communist Party of the
United States of America.
*^ Copy In files of the committee.
122
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 123
ARTICLE II
Purposes
Section 1. The purposes of this organization are to promote the best Interests
and welfare of the worliing class and the people of the United States, to defend
and extend the democracy of our country, to prevent the rise of fascism, and
to advance the cause of progress and peace with the ultimate aim of ridding our
country of the scourge of economic crises, unemployment, insecurity, poverty,
and war, through the realization of the historic aim of the working class — the
estahlishment of Socialism by the free choice of the majority of the American
people.
ARTICLE III
Membership
Section 1. Any resident of the United States, 18 years of age or over, regardless
of race, color, national origin, sex, or religious belief, who subscribes to the
principles and purposes of the Communist Party, shall be eligible for membership.
Skction 2. Any person eligible for membership according to Section 1, who
accepts the aims, principles and program of the Party as determined by its con-
stitution and conventions, who holds membership in and attends club meetings,
who is active on behalf of the Party, who reads the Party press and literature
and pays dues regularly, shall be considered a member.
Section 3. An applicant for membership shall be indorsed by at least one
member of the Communist Party. Such application is subject to discussion and
decision by the Club to which it is presented.
Section 4. Party members three months in arrears in payment of dues cease
to be members in good standing and shall be so informed. Members who are six
months in arrears shall be dropped from Party membership after a personal
effort has been made to bring such members into good standing. If members who
terminated their membership for these reasons apply for readmission within
six months, they may, upon approval of the Club Executive Committee, be per-
mitted to pay up back dues and maintain standing as old members.
article IV
Rights and Duties of Members
Section 1. Every member of the Party who is in good standing has not only
the right but the responsibility to participate in the making of its policies and in
the election of its leading committees in the manner provided for in this
Constitution.
Section 2. After thorough discussion in any Club, committee, or convention,
decisions are made by a majority vote of those in attendance, and all members
are duty-bound to carry out such decisions.
Section 3. Party members disagreeing with any decision of a Club, County, or
State committee have the right to appeal such decision to the next higher body
until they reach the National Committee and the National Convention. Decisions
of the National Convention are final. While the appeal is pending, members shall
adhere to the decision already rendered. All appeals must be heard by the
respective committee within 30 days.
Section 4. In preconvention discussions, members have the unrestricted right
and duty to discuss any and all Party policies and tactics, the right to criticize
the work and composition of all leading committees, the right of full expression
in the Party press or other organs provided for such discussion.
Section 5. In accord with the principles of democratic centralism, and in
accord with Article VII, Section 6, Communist Party members shall be involved
in the formulation of major policies and shall have the right and duty to examine
the execution of policies.
Section 6. Communist Party members in good standing have the right to vote
on the adoption of policies and in the election of officers, committees, and
delegates.
124 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
Section 7. Comrnnnist Party memhors. In a^rord with the provisions set forth
In this Constitution, have the right to be nominated and elected to all offices
or committees.
Section 8. The members of a Club, by majority vote, have the right to recall
any of the Club officers or committees.
Section 9. A Party member shall have the right to prefer charges against any
other member of the organization. Any member who has been subject to disci-
plinary action has the right to appeal to the next higher body up to the National
Convention, including the right to testify and bring witnesses.
Section 10. Every member is obligated to figiit with all his strength against any
and every effort, whether it comes from abroad or from within our country, to
destroy the ri.i;hts of labor and the people, or any section thereof, or to impose
upon the United States the arbitrary will of any group or party or clique or
conspiracy, th(rei)y violating the unqualified right of the majority of the people
tc direct the destinies of our country.
Skction 11. Every Party member in a mass organization shall work to promote
and strengtlien the given organization and protect the interests of its members.
SiccTiON 12. All members shall strive to acquire an understanding of the fua-
dnmenlals of Marxism and at all times aim to apply Communist consciousuess,
understanding, responsibility, and initiative in their work and activity.
Section 13. It shall be the obligation of all Party nif-mhers to struggle against
all forms of national oppression, discrimination, and segregation, against all
ideological influences and practices of "racial ' thenries. such as white chauvinism
and anti-Semitism. It shall be the duty of all Party members to flght for the
full social, political, and economic equality of the Negro people; and promote
the unity of the Negro and white people as essential for the advancement of their
common interests.
Section 14. All members shall be required to t)eIonfi to the respective trade
unions to which they are eligible.
Section 15. All members eligible shall register and vote in the elections for all
public offices.
Section 10. The Party shall give full aid in the acquisition of U. S. citizenship
to those of its members who, because of unjust and undenuM-ratic laws and prac-
tices, are deprived of this right.
article V
Initiation Fees, Dues, and Assessments
Section 1. Initiation fees and dues sliall be paid according to rates fixed by the
National Convention.
Section 2. The income from dues and initiation fees shall be distributed to the
various subdivisions of the Party as determined by the National Convention.
Section 3. Special assessments may be levied by the National Convention or
by a two-thirds vote of the National Conunittee. All local or district assessments
are prohibited except by special permission of the National Committee.
article vt
Structure
Section 1. The basic organization of the Party is the Club, which shall be
organized on a community basis in cities, townships, rural areas, or on a shop
basis.
The officers and executive committees of the Clubs shall be elected by the mem-
bership by a secret ballot once a year. Except for newly organized Clubs, these
elections shall take place in January of each year.
The Clubs shall meet at least twice a montli. Standing committees shall be
established as provided by the By-Laws, and shall function under the direction
of the Club Executive Committee.
Section 2. The state organization shall comprise all Clubs in one state and
shall be organized in such subdivisions as may be found necessary in accord with
the Constitution.
The highest body of the state organization is the State Convention, which shall
convene at least once every two years and be composed of delegates elected by the
conventions of the subdivisions of the Party or by the Clubs in the state. The
delegates shall be elected on the basis of numerical strength. Delegates to the
state conventions shall have been members of the Party in continuous good stand-
ing for at least one year.
ORGANIZED COIkOIUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 125
The State Convention shall elect, by secret ballot and majority vote, a State
Committee. The State Committee may be composed of regular and alternate
members. To be eligible to the State Committee, one shall have been a member
of the Party in continuous good standing for at least two years. The State Com-
mittee has tlie responsibility to carry out the Convention decisions and direct the
activities of the state organization between state conventions.
The State Committee shall elect from among its members a State Board, Chair-
man, and such other officers as it decides upon. These shall be responsible
to the State Committee.
Special State Conventions may be called by either a majority vote of the State
Committee, or upon written request of Clubs representing one-third of the mem-
bership of tlie state.
Section 3. District organizations may be established by the National Com-
mittee. Where these cover two or more states, the State Committee shall be under
the Jurisdiction of the District Committees, elected by and representing the Party
membership of the states composing these districts. The rules for convening the
District Conventions and the election of leading committees shall be the same as
those provided for the state organization.
Section 4. State and District Committees shall have the power to establish all
necessary subdivisions, such as county and city organizations and committees,
and tlie rules for election of such committees shall be provided in the By-Laws.
Section 5. In matters of a state or local nature, the Clubs, County and State
Committees, have the right to make decisions within the limits of the general
policies and Constitution of the E'arty and its Convention.
Section 6. All officers and leading committees of the Party, from the Club
Executive Committees to the highest committees, shall be elected either directly
by the membership or through their elected delegates. Committees and officers
must report regularly on their activities to the body which elected them.
Section 7. Any Party officer may be removed at any time from his position by
a majority vote of the body which elected him, or by the committee to which he
is responsible.
article VII
National Organisation
Section 1. The highest authority of the Party is the National Convention.
Regular National Conventions shall be held every two years. The National
Conventions are authorized to make political and organizational decisions bind-
ing upon the entire Party and its membership, except as provided in Article VII,
Section 6.
Special conventions may be called either by a two-thirds vote of the National
Committee or by a two-thirds vote of all State Committees.
Section 2. The National Convention shall be composed of delegates elected
by the State and District Conventions. The delegates shall be elected on the
basis of the numerical strength of the state or district organizations. The basis
for representation shall be determined by the National Committee. Delegates
to the National Convention shall have been members of the Party in continuous
good standing for at least two years.
Section 3. Prior to conventions, at least 60 days shall be allowed for dis-
cussion in all Party Clubs of the main resolutions and problems coming before
the convention. During this discussion all Party organizations have the right
to adopt resolutions and propose amendments to the draft resolutions and the
Constitution for consideration by the convention.
Section 4. The National Convention shall elect a National Committee by a
majority vote. To be eligible for election to the National Committee, one must
have been a member of the Party in continuous good standing for at least four
years.
Section 5. The number of members of the National Committee shall be de-
termined by a majority vote of each National Convention.
Section 6. The National Committee is the highest authority of the Party be-
tween National Conventions and is responsible for the enforcement of the Con-
stitution and the execution of the general policies adopted by the National Con-
vention. The National Committee represents the Party as a whole and has the
right to make decisions with full authority on any problem or development facing
the Party between conventions. The National Committee organizes and super-
vises its various departments and committee ; guides and directs all the political
and organizational work of the Party ; elects or removes editors of its press, who
126 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
work under its leadership and guidance; organizes and directs all undertakings
of importance to the entire Party; administers the national treasury. The
National Committee shall submit a certified, audited financial report to each
National Convention.
Section 7. Tlie National Committee shall elect a Chairman and such other
oflacers as it decides upon. The National Committee shall elect a National Board.
To be eligible for election to the National Board, one nmst have been a member
of the Party in continuous good standing for at least five years.
The National Board shall be charged with the responsibility of carrying oat
the decisions and work of the National Committee between its sessions. The
number of members of the National Board shall be determined by the National
Committee by majority vote. The ofiicers and the National Board are responsi-
ble for all their decisiims and actions to the National Committee. The officers
and members of the National Board may be removed by a majority vote of the
National Committee.
Section 8. The National Committee shall meet at least three times each year.
ARTICLE VIII
National Revieio Commission
Section 1. In order to strengthen, as well as review the integrity and resolute-
ness of our cadres, to guard against violations of Party principles, to maintain
and strengthen discipline, to supervise the audits of the financial boolvs and
records of the National Committee of the Party, the National Convention shall
elect a National Iteview Commission. This Commission shall consist of tested
members with exemplary records. The size of this Commission shall be de-
termined by the National Convention.
Section 2. The National Ueview Commission may meet jointly with the Na-
tional Committee, but between conventions shall be subordinate to the National
Committee and its decisions shall be subject to review by the National Committee
or its National Board.
Section 3. To be eligible for election to this Commission one shall have been
an active member of the Party for at least five years.
Section 4. Full meetings of the National Iteview Commission shall be held at
least once every four months, with a resident committee meeting at least semi-
monthly.
article IX
Disciplinary Procedures
Section 1. Conduct or action detrimental to the working class and the nation,
as well as to the interests of the Party, violation of decisions of its leading com-
mittees or of this Constitution, financial irregularities, or other conduct unbe-
coming a member of the Party, may be punished by censure, removal from posts
of leadership, or by expulsion from membership. Such conduct or action by any
committee may be punished by removal of the committee by the State or Na-
tional Committee, which shall then order new elections for said committee.
Section 2. Adherence to or participation in the activities of any clique, group,
circle, faction or party which conspires or acts to subvert, undermine, weaken or
overthrow any or all institutions of American democracy, whereby the majority
of the American people can maintain their right to determine their destinies in
any degree, shall be punished by immediate expulsion.
Section 3. The practice or advocacy of any form of racial, national or religious
discrimination shall be grounds for expulsion from membership.
Section 4. Personal or political relations with enemies of the working class
and nation are incompatible with membership in the Communist Party.
Section 5. Charges against individual members or committees may be made by
any member in writing to the Club of which he is a member, or to the leading
committee having jurisdiction. Clubs shall act upon charges directed against
anyone holding membership in that club. All such charges shall be handled
expeditiously.
Section 6. All persons concerned In disciplinary cases shall have the fullest
right to appear, to bring witness and testify.
Section 7. The Club or leading committee having jurisdiction shall have the
right to decide by majority vote upon any disciplinary measure, including expul-
sion. Disciplinary measures taken by leading committees are subject to approval
by the body to which they are responsible.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 127
AETICLE X
Appeals
Section 1. Any member who has been subject to disciplinary action has the
right to appeal to the next higher body up to the National Convention, whose
decision shall be final.
ARTICLE XI
Amending the Constitution
Section 1. This Ck)nstitutlon may be amended by a majority vote at any regu-
lar or special National Convention.
ARTICLE XII
By-Laws
Section 1. By-Laws may be adopted, based on this Constitution, for the pur-
pose of establishing uniform rules and procedure for the proper functioning of
the Party organizations. By-Laws may be adopted or changed by majority vote
of the National Convention or, between conventions, by majority vote of the
National Committee.
Section 2. State By-Laws not in conflict with the National Constitution and
By-Laws may be adopted or changed by majority vote of the State Convention or,
between conventions, by majority vote of the State Committee.
ARTICLE XIII
Section 1. The National Committee shall issue charters to State or district
organizations defining the territory over which they have jurisdiction and au-
thority. State or District Committees shall issue charters to the Clubs.
article XIV
Section 1. The Communist Party is not responsible for any political document,
policy, book, article, or any other expression of political opinion except such as
are issued by authority of this and subsequent national conventions and its regu-
larly constituted leadership.
128 ORGANIZED COMlVrUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
VOICE OF THE KREMLIN IN AMERICAN COMMUNIST
ACTIVITIES
The reasons for the formation of the Communist Political Associa-
tion followed the reasons advanced by Stalin for the dissolution of
the Communist International — the promotion of Soviet-American
friendship, cooperation against Nazi aggression and the new concept
that it was possible for communism and capitalism to coexist peace-
fully.
William Z. Foster opposed the formation of the Communist Polit-
ical Association and submitted a lengthy letter to the national com-
mittee in support of his position. His letter was suppressed and a
year later, when the Communist Party was reconstituted, Foster stated
that one of the reasons he agreed to the suppression of his letter was
that the formation of the Communist Political Association had been
approved by Moscow and he therefore bowed to the decision.
The revival of the Communist Party, U. S. A., which was instigated
by the Duclos letter was just another instance of how the American
Communists bowed to the voice of the Kremlin and once again adopted
the Soviet progi*am of revolutionary communism.
Back in 1929, the selection of Earl Browder as general secretary of
the new and revitalized Communist Party of the United States of
America was made by Stalin, who was said to have been of the opinion
that Browder could be trusted to carry out orders implicitly because
he lacked independence of both thought and spirit. Following
Browder's elevation to the top-ranking position in the American
Communist movement, Jay Lovestone and a number of his cohorts
were expelled from the party. (Now, Browder has been thrown
into the discard, also.)
Driving all the followers of Trotsky from the ranks of the Ameri-
can Communist Party in 1928, threats of expulsion of all those who did
not follow the dictates of the Comintern in 1929, the selection of Earl
Browder to be the general secretary of ttie American section of the
Communist International, and the expulsion of Lovestone and his
followers gave Moscow complete domination of the Communists in
America, a stranglehold that has been maintained ever since.
Never, since Stalin acted personally and tlirough the Comintern in
1929, has factionalism reared its ugly head in the ranks of the Amer-
ican comrades to the extent of becoming an issue and effecting the
work and devotion of American Communists to the Soviet cause.
Time and time again, the Communist organization in the United
States has changed its title, constitution, methods, and propaganda at
the suggestion of Moscow or to fit the particular program of the Soviet
Union at a particular period.
THE RELATIONSHIP OF AMERICAN COMMUNISM
TO THE SOVIET UNION
The historical facis on organized communism in America leave no
room for doubt that the Communist Party in the United States from
the time of its inception has been a part and parcel of the world Com-
munist movement directed from Moscow.
Third (Communist) International
The Third or Communist International was established in March
1919. The Second Congress, held July 17 to August 7, 1920, set up 21
conditions for joinirg the Communist International. The conditions
were : "
1. Tlie general propaganda and agitation should bear a really Communist
character, and should correspond to the programme and decisions of the Third
International. The entire Darty press should be edited by reliable Communists
who have proved their loyalty to the cause of the Proletarian revolution. The
dictatorship of the proletariat should not be spoken of simply as a current hack-
neyed formula, it should be advocated in such a vray that its necessity should be
apparent to every rauk-aud-flle working man and woman, to each soldier and
peasant, and sliould emanate from everyday facts systematically recorded by our
press day by day.
All periodicals and other publications, as well as party publications and edi-
tions, are subject to the control of the presidium of the party, independently of
whether the party is legal or illegal. The editors should in no way be given an
opportunity to abuse their autonomy and carry on a policy not fully correspond-
ing to the policy of the party.
Wherever the followers of the Third International have access, and whatever
means of propaganda are at their disposal, whether the columns of newspapers,
popular meetings, labor unions, or cooperatives — it is indispensable for them not
only to denounce the bourgeoisie, but also its assistants and agents — reformists
of every color and shade.
2. Every organization desiring to join the Communist International shall be
bound systematically and regularly to remove from all the responsible posts in
the labor movement (Party organizations, editors, labor unions, parliamentary
factions, cooperatives, municipalities, etc.), all reformists and followers of the
"centre," and to have them replaced by Communists, even at the cost of replacing
at the beginning "experienced" men by rank-and-file workingmen.
3. The class struggle in almost every country of Europe and America is enter-
ing the phase of civil war. Under such conditions the Communists can have
no confidence in bourgeois laws. They should create everywhere a parallel
illegal apparatus, which at the decisive moment should do its duty by the party,
and in every way possible assist the revolution. In every country where in
consequence of martial law or of other exceptional laws, the Communists are
unable to carry on their work lawfully, a combination of lawful and unlawful
work is absolutely necessary.
4. A persistent and systematic propaganda and agitation is necessary in
the army, where Communist groups should be formed in every military organi-
zation. Wherever, owing to repressive legislation, agitation becomes impossible,
it is necessary to carry on such agitation illegally. But refusal to carry on
or participate in such work should be considered equal to treason to the revo-
lutionary cause, and incompatible with affiiliation with the Third International.
5. A systematic and regular propaganda is necessary in the rural districts.
The working class can gain no victory unless it possesses the sympathy and
*' Report of the Special Committee on DnAmerican Activities, Appendix I, p. 121.
129
130 ORGANIZED COJVIMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
support of at least part of the rural workers and of the poor peasants, and unless
other sections of the population are equally utilized. Communist work in the
rural districts is acquiring a predominant importance during the present period.
It should be carried on through Communist workingraen of both city and coun-
try who have connections with the rural districts. To refuse to do this work,
or to transfer such work to untrustworthy half reformists, is equal to renouncing
the proletarian revolution.
6. Every party desirous of affiliating with the Third International should
renounce not only avowed social patriotism, but also the falsehood and the
hypocrisy of social pacifism ; it should systematically demonstrate to the workers
that without a revolutionary overthrow of capitalism no international arbi-
tration, no talk of disarmament, no democratic reorganization of the League of
Nations will be capable of saving mankind from new Imperialist wars.
7. Parties desirous of joining the Communist International must recognize
the necessity of a complete and absolute rupture with reformism and the
policy of the "centi'ists," and must advocate this rupture amongst the widest
circles of the party membership, without which condition a consistent Com-
munist policy is impossible. The Communist International demands uncon-
ditionally and peremptorily that such rupture be brought about with the least
possible delay. The Communist International cannot reconcile itself to the
fact that such avowed reformists as for instance Turati, Modigliani, Kautsky,
Hillquit, Longuet, Macdonald, and others should be entitled to consider them-
selves members of the Third International. This would make the Third Inter-
national resemble the Second International.
8. In the Colonial question and that of the oppressed nationalities there is
necessary an especially distinct and clear line of conduct of the parties of coun-
tries where the bourgeoisie possesses such colonies or oppresses other nationali-
ties. Every party desirous of belonging to the Third International should be
bound to denounce without any reserve all the methods of "its own" imperialists
in the colonies, supporting not only in words but practically a movement of
liberation in the colonies. It should demand the expulsion of its own Imperial-
ists from such colonies, and cultivate among the workingmen of its own countiy
a truly fraternal attitude towards the working population of the colonies and
oppressed nationalities, and carry on a systematic agitation in its own army
against every kind of oppression of the colonial population.
9. Every party desirous of belonging to the Communist International should
be bound to carry on systematic and persistent Communist work in the labor
unions, cooperatives and other labor organizations of the masses. It is necessary
to form Communist groups within the organizations, which by persistent and
lasting work should win over labor unions to Communism. These groups should
constantly denounce the treachery of the social patriots and of the fluctuations
of the "centre." These Communist groups should be completely subordinated
to the party in general.
10. Any party belonging to the Communist International is bound to carry
on a stubborn strugs:le against the Amsterdam "International" of the yellow
labor unions. It should propagate insistently amongst the organized workers
the necessity of a rupture with the yellow Amsterdam International. It should
support by all means in its power the International Unification of Red Labor
Unions, adhering to the Communist International, which is now beginning.
11. Parties desirous of joiaing the Third International shall be bound to
Inspect the personnel of their parliamentary factions, to remove all unreliable
elements therefrom, to control such factions, not only verbally but in reality,
to subordinate them to the Central Committee of the party, and to demand from
each proletarian Communist that he devote his entire activity to the interests
of real revolutionary propaganda.
12. All parties belonging to the Communist International should be formed
on the basis of the principle of democratic centralization. At the present time of
acute civil war the Communist Party will be able fully to do its duty only when
it is organized in a sufficiently thorough way when it possesses an iron discipline,
and when its party centre enjoys the confidence of the members of the party,
who are to endow this centre with complete power, authority and ample rights.
13. The Communist parties of those countries where the Communist activity
Is legal, should make a clearance of their members from time to time, as well
as those of the party organizations, in order systematically to free the party
from the petty bourgeois elements which penetrate into it.
14. Each party desirous of affiliating with the Communist International should
be obliged to render every possible assistance to the Soviet Eepublics in their;
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 131
struggle against all counter-revolutionary forces. The Communist parties should
carry on a precise and definite propaganda to induce the workers to refuse to
transport any kind of military equipment Intended for fighting against the
Soviet Republics, and should also by legal or illegal means carry on a propa-
ganda amongst the troops sent against the workers' republics, etc.
15. All those parties which up to the present moment have stood upon the
old social and democratic programmes should, within the shortest time possible,
draw up a new Communist programme in conformity with the special conditions
of their country, and in accordance with the resolutions of the Communist In-
ternational. As a rule, the programme of each party belonging to the Com-
munist International should be confirmed by the next congress of the Communist
International or its Executive Committee. In the event of the failure of the
programme of any party being confirmed by the Executive Committee of the
Commuiust International, the said party shall be entitled to appeal to the
Congress of the Communist International.
16. All the resolutions of the congresses of the Communist International, as
well as the resolutions of the Executive Committee are binding for aU parties
joining the Communist International. The Communist International, operating
under the conditions of most acute civil warfare, should be centralized in a
better manner than the Second International. At the same time, the Communist
International and the Executive Committee are naturally bound in every form
of their activity to consider the variety of conditions under which the different
parties have to work and struggle, and generally binding resolutions should be
passed only on such questions upon which such resolutions are possible.
17. In connection with the above, all parties desiring to join the Communist
International should alter their name. Each party desirous of joining the
Communist International should bear the following name: Communist Party
of such and such a country, section of the Third Communist International.
The question of renaming of a party is not only a formal one, but is a political
question of great importance. The Communist International has declared a
decisive war against the entire bourgeois world, and all the yellow Social Demo-
cratic parties. It is indispensable that every rank-and-file worker should be
able clearly to distinguish between the Communist parties and the old oflScial
"Social Democratic" or "Socialist" parties, which have betrayed the cause of
the working class.
18. All the leading organs of the press of every party are bound to publish
all the most important documents of the Executive Committee of the Com-
munist International.
19. All those parties which have joined the Communist International, as well
as those which have expressed a desire to do so, are obliged in as short a space
of time as possible, and in no case later than four months after the Second
Congress of the Communist International, to convene an Extraordinary Con-
gress in order to discuss these conditions. In addition to this, the Central
Committees of these parties should take care to acquaint all the local organiza-
tions with the regulations of the Second Congress.
20. All those parties which at the present time are willing to join the Third
International, but have so far not changed their tactics in any radical manner,
should prior to their joining the Third International, take care that not less
than two-thirds of their connnittee members and of all their central institutions
should be composed of comrades who have made an open and definite declara-
tion prior to the convening of the Second Congress, as to their desire that the
party should affiliate with the Third International. Exclusions are permitted
only with the confirmation of the Executive Committee of the Third Interna-
tional. The Executive Committee of the Communist International has the right
to make an exception also for the representatives of the "centre" as mentioned
in paragraph 7.
21. Those members of the party who reject the conditions and the theses of
the Third International, are liable to be excluded from the party. This applies
principally to the delegates at the Special Congresses of the party.
Subsequently, Louis C. Fraina, later to be known as Louis Corey,
as international secretary of the Communist Party of America, made
application for admission to the Communist International. In this
application, Fraina reviewed the history of the Socialist Party of
132 ORGANIZED COMMUKISM IN THE UNITED STATES
America, the formation of tJie Communist Party of America, and
closed his petition with the following :
The Communist Party realizes the immensity of its taslr ; it realizes that the
final struggle of the Communist Proletariat will be waged in the United States,
our conquest of power alone assuring the world Soviet Republic. Realizing all
of this the Communist Party prepares for the struggle. Long live the Com-
munist International. Long live the world Revolution.
Eelationship of American Communist Parties to Communist
Inteknational
While the constitution of the first Communist Party of America
provided that the members must declare their adherence to the prin-
ciples and tactics of the party and the Communist International, the
constitution of the United Communist Party specifically provided that
the United Communist Party of America was the American section
of the Communist International.
The constitution of the Communist Party of America, adopted in
May 1D21; the constitution of the Workers (Communist) Party,
adopted in 1925 ; and the constitution of the Communist Party U. S. A.,
adopted in 1929, all provided that these parties were the American sec-
tion of the Communist International. A new constitution of the Com-
munist Party U. S. A., adopted in 1938, provided that the party was an
affiliate of the Communist International.
With the passage of the Voorhees Act in 1940, the Communist Party
merely called a special convention and adopted a resolution withdraw-
ing from the Communist International. Earl Browder, general secre-
tary of the Communist Party at that time, explained that this legalis-
tic disaffiliation was in no way intended to alter the real relationship
of the Communist Party USA with the Communist International
and the world Communist movement in any particular.
ALLEGED DISSOLUTION OF THE COMMUNIST
INTERNATIONAL
The Second World War, in which the Soviet Union engaged in a
life-and-death struggle with Nazi Germany, brought to a temporary
halt the Communist plan to Sovietize the world. Sorely in need of
financial and military assistance from non-Communist countries, the
Soviet Union found the Communist International a hindrance under
the circumstances. In order that the Soviet Union might live, the
Communist International had to die, or at least pass through all the
phases of a respectable demise.
The New York Times of May 23, 1943, carried the text of a resolu-
tion of the presidium of the executive committee of the Communist
International, released the previous day, regarding the dissolution of
the Communist International. The resolution follows:
The historic role of the Communist International, which was founded in 1919
as a result of a political union of the great majority of the old pi'ewar working
class parties, consisted in upholding the principles of the working class move-
ment, in helping to promote consolidation In a numher of countries of the van-
guard of the foremost workers in the real working class parties, and In helping
them mobilize workers for the defense of their economic and political interests,
and for the struggle against Fascism and the war which the latter was prepar-
ing, and for the support of the Soviet Union as the chief bulwark against Fascism.
The Communist International from the first exposed the real meaning of the
Anti-Comintern Pact as a weapon for the preparation of war by the Hitlerites.
Long before the war it ceaselessly and tirelessly exposed the vicious subversive
work of the Hitlerites, who masked it by their screams about so-called interfer-
ence of the Communist International in the internal affairs of these states.
INTERNATIONAL WORK HANDICAPPED
But long before the war it became more and more clear that, with increasing
complications in internal and international relations of various countries, any
sort of international center would encounter insuperable obstacles in solving
the problems facing the movement in each separate country.
Deep differences of the historic paths of development of various countries,
differences in their character and even contradictions in their social orders,
differences in the level and the tempo of their economic and political develop-
ment, differences finally in the degree of consciousness and organization of
workers, conditioned different problems affecting the working class of the various
countries.
The whole development of events in the last quarter of a century and the
experience accumulated by the Communist International convincingly showed
that the organizational form of uniting workers, chosen by the First Congress
of the Communist International, answered conditions of the first stages of the
working-class movement, but it has been outgrown by the growth of this move-
ment and by the complications of its problems in separate countries and has
even become a drag on the further strengthening of the national working class
parties.
NATIONS IN TWO GROUPS
The World War that the Hitlerites have let loose has still further sharpened
the differences in the situation of the separate countries and has placed a deep
dividing line between those countries that fell under the Hitlerite tyranny and
those freedom-loving peoples who have united in a powerful anti-Hitlerite
coalition.
133
134 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
In countries of the Hitlerite bloc the fnndnmental task of the working class,
toilers and all honest people consists in giving all help for the defeat of this
bloc by sabotage of the Hitlerite military machine from within and by helping
to overthrow the governments guilty of war.
In countries of the anti-Hitlerite coalition the sacred duty of the widest masses
of the people, and in the first place of foremost workers, consists in aiding by
every means the military efforts of the governments of these countries aimed at
the speediest defeat of the Hitlerite bloc and the assurance of the friendship of
nations based on their equality.
At the same time the fact must not be lost sight of that the separate countries
that are members of the anti-Hitlerite coalition have their own particular prob-
lems. For example, in countries occupied by the Hitlerites that have lost their
state of independence the basic task of the foremost workers and of the wide
masses of people consists in promoting the armed struggle developing into a
national war of liberation against Hitlerite Germany.
NATIONAI. ORGANIZATIONS FAVORED
At the same time the war of liberation of freedora-loving peoples against
the Hitlerite tyranny, which has brought into movement the mapst-s of people,
uniting them without difference of party or religion in the ranks of the powerful
anti-Hitlerite coalition, has demonstrated with still greater clearness that the
general national uprising and mobilization of people for the speediest victory
over the enemy can he best of all and most fruitfully carried out by the vanguard
of the working-class movement of each separate country, working within the
framework of its own country.
Already the Seventh Congress of the Communist International mooting in
1935, taking into account the change that had taken place iioth in the international
situation and in working-class movements that demande<l great tlexibility and
Independence of its sections in deciding the problems confronting them, empha-
sized the necessity for the Executive Committee of the Communist International
in deciding all questions of the working-class movement arising from concrete
conditions and peculiarities of each country, to make a rule of avoiding inter-
ference in the internal organizational affairs of the Communist parties.
These same considerations guided the Communist International in considering
the resolution of the Communist party of tlie United States of America of
November 1940, on its withdrawal from the ranks of the Communist International.
ORGANIZATION HEHD FLEXIBIJ:
Guided by the judgment of the founders of Marxism and Leninism, Com-
munists have never been supporters of the conservation of organizational forms
that have outlived themselves. They have always subordinated forms of organ-
ization of the working-class movement, and methods of working of such organ-
ization, to the fundamental political interest of the working-class movement as
a whole, to peculiarities of the concrete historical situation and to problems
Immediately resulting from this situation.
They remember the example of the great Marx, who united foremost workers
in the ranks of the Working Men's International Association, and when the
First International had fulfilled its historical task of laying the foundations for
the development of working-class parties in the countries of Europe and America,
and, as a result of the matured situation creating mass national working-class
parties, dissolved first the International, inasmuch as this form of organization
already no longer corresponded to the demands confronting it.
In consideration of the above and taking into account the growth and the
political maturity of CommunLst parties and their leading cadres in separate
countries, and also having in view the fact that during the present war some
sections have raised the question of the dissolution of the Communist Inter-
national as the directing centre of the international working-class movement, the
Presidium of the Executive Committee of the Communist International in the
circumstances of the World War, not being able to convene a Congress of the
Communist International, puts forward the following proposal for ratification
by the sections of the Communist International :
The Communist International, as the directing center of the international
working-class movement, is to be dissolved, thus freeing the sections of the Com-
munist International from their obligations arising from the statutes and resolu-
tions of the Congresses of the Communist International.
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 135
The Presidium of the Executive Committee of the Communist International
calls on all suiiporters of the Communist International to concentrate their
energies on the wholehearted support of and active participation in the war
of liberation of the peoples and the states of the anti-Hitlerite coalition for the
speediest defeat of the deadly enemy of the working class and toilers — German
Fascism and its associates and vassals.
Among those signing the resolution of dissolution were : ^'
Clement Gottwald, former deputy in the Czechoslovakian Parlia-
ment and a chairman of the Communist Party Control Committee in
that country ;
George Dimitrov, Bulgarian Secretary General of the Comintern;
Andrei A. Zhdanov, member of the Russian Politburo and head
of the Leningrad Communist Party City Committee ;
Otto Kuusinen, Finnish Premier of the Karelio-Finnish Soviet
Socialist Republic;
Dimitri Z. Manuilsky, a former Secretary of the Comintern;
Andre Marty, French exile and former Communist member of the
Chamber of Deputies;
Wilhelm Pieck, an exiled former member of the German Reichstag;
Dolorez Ibarruri, former Communist Deputy on the Spanish Cortez,
where she gained the title of "La Passionaria" for her impassioned
speeches ;
Mathias Rakosi, a people's commissar during the brief Bolshevist
regime in Hungary in 1919, and exiled from that country after being
convicted in 192G of an attempt to restore the Soviet regime there.
The action of the Comintern resulted in the presentation of the fol-
lowing resolution to the Plenary Session of the National Committee
of the Communist Party, U. S. A., by the political committee on
June 13, 1943 :
1. The Communist Party of the United States through its National Committee
declares its full approval and agreement with the proposal of May 15, 1943, by
the Presiding Committee of the Communist International for tlie dissolution of
the International. The CPUSA discontinued its international aflSIiation in
November 1940, and is therefore not called upon to participate in the decision.
The proposal is, however, of the greatest political importance, since it pro-
foundly influences all political relationships, promotes the unification of the
anti-Hitler coalition, disarms the Axis of its most potent weapon of disruption —
the anti-Communist bogey — and opens the way within each nation toward more
complete national unity in the prosecution of the war to victory. It also clears
the way for the continuance of democratic unity in the postwar period, and thus
adds to the momentum of the war effort. It facilitates the emergency of more
effective forms of international unity of labor, which begins with the immediate
task of completing the Anglo-Soviet-Ameriran trade union unity corresponding
to the coalition of peoples and nations.
2. Within the United States this new stage of world relationships places new
and urgent emphasis on many tasks of the day. High among these is the com-
mon duty of Communists and all other responsible groups and leaders within
the democratic camp to abolish the remnants of the "bogey of communism" which
continue to be a weapon against national unity and the war effort. To this end
it is necessary to secure the full acceptance of the Marxist workers' party within
the national framework of American democratic institutions, thus safeguarding
in harmony with the war effort the general right of free political association.
The CPUSA pledges its full effort to this task and welcomes all cooperative
efforts to this end from any and all sections of the democratic, patriotic, anti-
Axis camp of the American people.
3. The Communist Party of the United States will continue to fight with all its
strength, as it has in the past period, for the complete unity of the United
» New York Herald Tribune, May 23, 1943.
136 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
Nations, for international labor unity, and for national unity within our country,
to win the unconditional surrender of the Hitler reKiuie and its allies, Japan
and Italy, and an ordered and peaceful world when victory is achieved.
Earl Browder, general secretary of the Communist Party, U. S. A.,
issued a statement on May 26, 1943, regarding the dissolution of the
Communist International. This statement, published in the Worker
of June 6, 1943, was in the form of a reply to an editorial appearing
in the New York Times on May 24. Browder said :
The record shows that few Americans are di-sturbed by the existence and
activity of the Communist Party, which is unconditionally aiding the war effort,
but that they are disturbed by the fable of a "const)! racy to overthrow our gov-
ernment by force and violence." That fable is tlie "specter of Communism"
Vi'hich ha.s been the powerful secret weapon of the A.tis * * *. May I express
the hope that there are responsible grouj)8 and ieadf-rs in American public life
witli courage and intelligence enough to accept the offer of the Communist Party
of cooperative effort to lay the "specter of Commutiism." This is the task not
only of the Communists. It is a common task of this people's war of national
liberation.
On June 10, 1943, Moscow announced that the Communist Inter-
national was formally dissolved as of that day, after a meeting of the
presiding committee noted that the leading Communist Parties
throughout the world had approved the proi)og.al for dissolution made
on May 15. It was noted tnat not one of the existing sections of the
Communist International roised any objection to the proposal of the
presidium of the executive committee. Communist Parties from the
following countries approved the dissolution :
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Canada
Ciitalonia
Chile
China
Colombia
Enrique Castro Delgrado, a leader of the Spanish Communist
Party, fled to Russia in the spring of 1939 after the defeat of the
Spanish Republic. In Moscow he represented the Spanish Commu-
nist Party in the Comintern. He left Moscow in 1945 for Mexico.
Delgrado, known in Spain as Louis Garcia,. in his book "I Have Lost
Faith in Moscow," (1950) says, that the nominal disbanding of the
nerve center of the world Communist movement was abruptly an-
nounced in the newspapers after a closed session of the organization's
small secretariat, and that instead of being dissolved, the Communist
International only altered some of its operating procedures :
That the Comintern boss, George Dimitrov, moved his office to the
third floor of the central committee of the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union ;
That the other secretaries set up their offices in different places;
That those who edited the secret broadcasts served under Friederich
instead of Togliatti ;
That Friederich transmitted the scripts to Togliatti who in turn
transmitted them to Dimitrov ;
That the chiefs of the foreign delegations continued to confer
daily with Dimitrov ;
Cuba
Poland
Czechoslovakia
linmania
Finland
Soviet Union
France
Spain
Germany
Swetlen
Great Britain
Switzerland
Hungary
Syria
Ireland
Union of South Africa
Italy
Uruguay
Mexico
Yugoslavia
ORGANIZED COMMUNIbM IN THE UNITED STATES 137
That the leading figures in the various Communist Parties continued
their activities;
That the foreign reporters of the Communist press continued to
file regular reports with the information and propaganda section of
the "dissolved" Comintern ;
That the secret section of the "dissolved" Comintern remained on
the main floor of the old Comintern and continued to receive reports
from the foreign Communist Parties, sending one copy to Dimitrov
and another copy to Zhdanov j
That the secret section continued to send Dimitrov's instructions to
the various Communist Parties abroad and to organize trips to and
from Moscow;
That the Comintern's agents abroad, such as Cadovila in Latin
America and Browder in North America continued to go on with
their work — precisely as before the Comintern was "dissolved."
Igor Gouzenko, a cipher clerk attached to the office of the Soviet
military attache in the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa, in a statement made
on October 10, 1945, to the Canadian Royal Commission investigating
the Communist spy system in Canada, said :
The announcement of the dissohition of the Comintern was probahly the
greatest farce of the Coniniunists in recent years. Only the name was liqui-
dated, with the object of reassuring public opinion in the democratic countries.
Actually the Comintern exists and continues its work.
47716'— 54 10
RESURRECTION OF THE COMINTERN
(COMINFORM)
In October 1947, Moscow revived the Comintern with 9 member
nations, only 2 of which — Italy and France — were outside of the so-
called Iron Curtain. The revival constituted, in effect, a declaration
of economic and political war against the United States.
Moscow's major problem of foreign policy began in March 1947,
when the United States announced a doctrine of "containment" of
the Soviet Union by military and economic aid to Greece and Turkey.
The following June, the Marshall plan for European reconstruction
was announced. On July 3, in Paris, 16 nations proceeded on Europe's
part in the Marshall plan without their eastern neighbors. Thus, the
East- West split was formally acknowledged.
Shortly after the Marshall plan was announced, Jacques Duclos,
French Communist, made a visit to Warsaw and conferred with gov-
ernment officials and leaders of other countries who "happened" to be
in Warsaw. In October, the reason for the appearance of Communist
Party leaders in Warsaw was made known. The Soviet newspaper,
Pravda, announced on October 5 that an informational conference of
the Communist Parties of Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria,
Rumania, Hungary, Poland, the Soviet Union, France, and Italy, had
been held the latter part of September in Poland, and then and there
established an Information Bureau consisting of representatives of
the Central Committees of the above-mentioned Communist Parties.
The following resolution was adopted : "
Essential changes have taken place in the international situation as a result
of the Second World War and the postwar period.
These chani^es are characterized by the new disposition of the main political
forces operating on the world stage, by changing relations between victor states
in the Second World War and by their regrouping.
While the war was going on, allied states in the war against Germany and
Japan joined together and formed one camp. However, in the Allied camp,
even during wartime, there existed different war aims and also of tasks of the
postwar organization of peace.
The Soviet Union and democratic countries considered as the main aims of the
war the setting up and strengthening of democratic structures in Europe, the
liquidation of fascism and the prevention of the possibility of a new aggression
on the part of Germany, the creation of prolonged cooperation (among) the
peoples of Europe on all sides.
The United States, and in agreement with them England, set for themselves
another aim — to get rid of competitors at markets (Germany r.nd Japan) and
establish their dominating position. This difference in war aims and tasks of
the postwar organization became deeper in the postwar period.
TWO OPPOSITE POLITICAL LINES FOkMED
On the one side is the policy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and
democratic countries directed toward undermining imperialism and strengthen-
ing democracy, on the other side is the policy of the United States and England
directed toward strengthening imperialism and strangling democracy.
*' Dally Worker, Oct. 7. 1947, pp. 7 and 9.
138
ORGANIZED CO]\'IMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES 139
Since tlie U. S. S. R. and connfries of the new demoorapy became a hindrance in
carrying out imperialistic plans for the strnggle for world d<iminatiou and tlie
smashing of democratic movements, there was proclaimed a campaign against the
U. S. S. R. and countries of the new democracy, reinforced also by threats of a
new war on the part of most zealous imperialistic politicians in the United States
and England.
In such way, two camps formed, the imperialistic and antidemocratic camp
which has as a main aim the establishment of world domination of American
Imperialism and democratic camp which has as a main aim the undermining of
imperialism and the strengthening of democracy and the liquidation of the rem-
nants of fascism.
The struggle of the two opposite camps — of imperialist and anti-imperialist —
is going on in a situation of further sharpening of the general crisis of capitalism,
of the weakening of the forces of capitalism and the strengthening of the forces
of socialism and democracy. This way, the imperialistic camp and its leading
force, the United States, is displaying especially aggressive activity.
This activity is developing simultaneously along all lines — in the direction of
military and strategic measures, or economic expansion and the ideological
struggle.
The Truman-Marshall plan is only a constituent part, the European section, of
the general plan of world expansionist policy carried on by the United States
in all parts of the world. The plan of economical and political enslavement of
Europe by American capitalism is supplemented by plans for the economical and
political enslavement of China, Indonesia, and South America.
The aggressors of yesterday — the capitalistic magnates of Germany and
Japan — are being prepared by the United States for a new role — to become the
instrument of the imperialistic policy of the United States in Europe and Asia.
The arsenal of tactical measures utilized by the imperialistic camp has very
many forms. Here are coml)ined the direct threat by force, blackmail and ex-
tortion, all measures of political and economic pressure, or bribery, of utilization
of internal contradictions and controversy for the reinforcement of their posi-
tions — and all this which is covered by the liberal-pacifist mask designed for
deceit and fooling of people who are not experienced in politics.
A special place in the tactical arsenal of imperialists is occupied by the
utilization of the treacherous policy of right-wing Socialists of the type of (Leon)
Blum (former French Premier and Socialist Party leader) in France, (Prime
Minister Clement) Attlee and (Foreign Secretary Ernest) Bevin in England,
(Dr. Kurt) Schumacher (head of the Social Democratic Party) in Germany,
(President Dr. Karl) Renner (Socialist), and Scherf (Vice Chancellor Adolf
•Schaerf, Socialist) in Austria, (Right-Wing Socialist Giuseppe) Saragat in Italy,
etc., who try to hide the real bandit essence of imperialistic policy under the
mask of democracy and Socialist phraseology and who, in reality, in all respects
are loyal assistants of imperialists introducing disintegration into the ranks of
the working class and poisoning its conscience.
It is not accidental that the foreign policy of English imperialism has found
In the person of Bevin its most consistent and zealous executor. In these con-
ditions, the anti-imperialistic, democratic camp must rally together and work
out a coordinated platform of actions to work out its tactics against the main
forces of the imperialistic camp, against American imperialism, against its
English and French allies, against right-wing Socialists— first of all those in
England and France.
In order to turn into failure the plan of imperi-alistic aggression, the efforts
of all democratic, anti-imperialistic forces in Europe is necessary. Right-wing
Socialists are traitors in this cause.
With the exception of those countries of the new democracy where the bloc
of Communists and Socialists with other democratic progressive parties forms
the foundation of resistance of these countries to imperialistic plans, Socialists
in the majority of other countries, and first of all French Socialists and English
Laborites — (French Premier Paul) Ramadier, Blum, Attlee and Bevin— by
their slavishness and ofliciousness are facilitating the task of American capital,
are provoking it to extortions and are pushing their countries along the road of
vassal dependency on the United States.
Hence, it follows that a special task falls upon Communist Parties. They
must take into their hands the banner of defense of national independence and
sovereignty of their countries.
140 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
If the Communist Parties strongly stand on their positions, if they do not
permit tliemselves to be frightened or blackmailed, if they stand bravely on
guard for the democracy, national sovereignty, freedom and independence of
their countries, if they succeed in their struggle against the attempts of eco-
nomic and political enslavement of their countries and head all forces which
are ready to defend the cause of honor and national independence, then no
plans for the enslavement of the countries of Europe and Asia can be realized.
At present this is one of the main tasks of Communist Parties.
It is necessary to remember that between the desire of imperialists to develop
a new war and the possibility of organizing such a war there is a great gap.
The peoples of the world do not want war. The forces which stand for
peace are so considerable and great that if they are firm and solid in the cause
and defense of peace, if they will display firmness and solidarity, then the plans
of the aggressors will suffer complete collapse.
It must not be forgotten that the noise of imperialistic agents over the war
danger is designed to frighten weak-nerved and unstable ones and obtain by
means of blackmail concessi(ms to the aggressor.
The main danger to the working class at the present consists in underestima-
tion of its forces and in overestimation of the forces of the imperialistic
camp.
As the Munich policy in the past unbound the hands of Hitlerite aggression,
so concessions to the new course of the United States and the imperialistic
camp may make its inspirers still more insolent and aggressive.
This is why the Communist Parties must head the resistance to plans of
Imperialistic expansion and aggression along all lines — state, political, economic,
and ideologic — they must rally together, uniting their efforts on the basis
of a common, anti-imperialistic and democratic platform and must gather around
themselves all democratic and patriotic forces of the people.
The "21 conditions for admission to the Communist International,"
the purging of the followers of Trotsky in 1928 and Lovestone in
1929, the consolidation of the several Communist Parties in the United
States on orders from Moscow, the dissolution of the Communist Inter-
national in 1943, the formation of the Communist Political Associa-
tion in 1944, the revival of the Communist Party of the United States
in 1945, the resurrection of the Communist International as the Comin-
form in 1947, and the continued subservience of American Communist
leadership to the whims and views of the revi'^ ed Comintern, now
called the Cominform, all serve as proof that the Communist Party
in America is dominated by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union,
the real leader of the world Communist conspiracy.
SPLINTER GROUPS
As heretofore stated, the history of the Communist movement in the
United States is replete with constant bickerings, recriminations, de-
nunciations, charges, and countercharges.
From the very beginning, the leaders within the left-wing group of
the Socialist Party disagreed, with the result that two Oommunist
Parties were created the same day, the Communist Party of America
and the Communist Labor Party. The Communist Party of America
had its group of dissenters who withdrew and with the Communist
Labor Party formed the United Communist Party. However, dis-
senting groups did not always stay within the organization or merge
with other groups. Some broke ojS completely and formed other
organizations.
Pboletarian Party of America
One of the first groups thus created was the Proletarian Party of
America, formed in 1920. John Keracher had been a member of the
national organizing committee that issued the call for a convention
to create a Communist Party in the United States. Later, Keracher
became one of the outstanding leaders of the Proletarian Party.
Like most splinter groups, the Proletarian Party claims to be the
real Marxist party and that all other so-called Communists are im-
posters. The organization is still active, but its field is limited to but
lew States, including Illinois and Michigan.
Communist League or America (Opposition)
The expulsion of Trotsky by the Russian Communists in the fall of
1927 had its effect on the Communist movement in the United States.
Campaigns against Trotskyism were ordered from Moscow in all the
Communist Parties of the world, with the implied threat of reprisals
against any individual or group failing to take a position against
expulsion.
The Communist Party of the United States was not immune from
the purge virus. The first to fall were James P. Cannon and some of
his followers, including Martin Abern and Max Shachtman, who
were expelled on October 28, 1928, on charges of having organized a
Trotskyite opposition.
On May Iv, 1929, a call was issued for the first national conference
of the left-wing opposition in the United States. The conference met
jn Chicago and formed the Communist League of America, left-wing
opposition of the Communist Party.
The history of this group of Trotskyites has been a stormy one. In
December 1934, the Communist League of America merged with the
American Workers' Party. In March 19B6j the American Workers'
Party merged with the Socialist Party, and m June 1938 the Socialist
Party began a series of wholesale expulsions of the Trotskyites. On
141
142 ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES
New Year's Day, 1959, Cannon and his followers formed the Socialist
Workers' Party, and in December 1941, with 17 of his followers,
Cannon was convicted in Minneapolis on charges of conspiracy to
create insubordination in the Armed Forces of the Government — the
first convictions under the Smith Act.
Socialist Wokkers' Parit
The Socialist Workers' Party is still active today, but is not a large
organzation and very limited in its activities.
The program of the Socialist Workers' Party rests on the principles
of Marxism as expounded by Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Trotsky, and
on the basic documents of the Third Communist International from
its founding through its first four world congresses. At this point
the Socialist Workers' Party breaks with the Communist Interna-
tional for the alleged reason that the latter, under the leadership of
Stalin, has become "reactionary" and "bureaucratic" and has lost is
"revolutionary" character.
While Cannon was probably the most dominant figure within the
Socialist group within the United States, he was unable to maintain
unity. B. J. Field left to form his own group, as did Hugo Oehler,
Stamm, and Marlen.
Communist League of Struggle
Albert Weisbord was expelled from the Communist Party. Al-
though he was an ardent admirer of Trotsky, he had visions of being
a great leader in the radical movement. He could not stand to be
bossed by Cannon; so he formed his own organization, the Communist
League of Struggle. In December 1934 this league adopted a "thesis."
This 54-page document contained still another version of the many
factional fights within the American Communist movement. The
Communist League of Struggle referred to the Communist Party
of the United States as "a bureaucratic centrist organization," to the
Lovestone group as "right centrist," and to the Cannon group as "fake
left centrist."
The American Workers Party
In December 1933, the conference for progressive labor action held
a meeting in Pittsburgh and announced the formation of a new po-
litical party. A provisional committee was elected and charged
with the task of organizing the American Workers Party. An out-
standing leader in this new party was A. J. Muste, onetime preacher,
while another very able personality was J. B. Slutsky, later to be
known as J. B. S. Hardman.
A unity convention was held in December 1934 when the members
of the Communist League of America were taken into the American
Workers Party. In March 1936, the American Workers Party merged
with the Socialist Party and thus disappeared from the scene.
United Toilers
During the period of existence of the Workers Party, a group within
that party felt that the program was no more than a remote approach
to the Communist program. They left the Workers Party and formed
ORGANIZED COMMUNISM IN THE "UNITED STATES 143
the United Toilers. The official oro;an was the Workers Challenge,
edited by Harry Wicks. Like most splinter groups, the United Toilers
withered away.
Communist Party, U. S. A. (Opposition)
Factional fights in the Communist Party of Russia and in the Com-
munist International carried over into the Communist Party in
America. The expulsion of Trotsky by the Russian Communist Party
was followed by the wholesale expulsion of the followers of Trotsky
from the American Party. The factional fight between Stalin and
Bukharin also affected the Communist Party in the United States.
Jay Lovestone, who was suspected of sympathy with Bukharin, was
ordered to Moscow for work in the Comintern.
On May 12, 1929, the Comintern reported an "Address" it had de-
cided to send to the American Communist Party. Lovestone and
others were asked to give their endorsement to this "Address," which
was nothing more nor less than a condemnation of the Lovestone
group. When Lovestone refused, he was removed from all positions in
the American Communist Party and the Communist International
and was ordered to remain in Moscow. Several weeks later, Lovestone,
without the knowledge or permission of the Comintern, left Moscow
and returned to the United States. For this breach of discipline, he
was expelled by the Communist Party of the United States.
Lovestone, with some of his followers, formed the Communist Party
U. S. A. (majority group) ; later changed to the Communist Party
U. S. A. (opposition) ; still later changed to the Independent Com-
munist Labor League of America, and finally to the Independent
Labor League of America. In January 1941, the Independent Labor
League of America, through its general secretary, Jay Love-
stone, issued a declaration of dissolution and expressed the belief that
radicalism in the United States was "in a hopeless blind alley from
which there is no escape along the old lines."
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?
Will the death of Stalin bring about any change in the leadership
of organized communism in the United States ? Can Stalin's successor
retain that inflexible control over the American comrades ? Only time
can tell. If there is a change from the Stalin-type of leadership in
the Soviet Union, a similar change in the leadership of the American
Communist Party will be further proof of the connecting link between
communism in America and communism in the Soviet Union.
Judging the future by the past, one thing becomes very apparent.
If the new leadership in the Soviet Union adopts a policy contrary
to the oft-expressed policy of Stalin, the Communist leadership in
America will follow suit or be cast aside as were Cannon, Lovestone,
and Browder.
INDEX
Individuals
Page
Abern, Martin 141
Allison, Helen 121
Arater, I 121
Attlee, Clement 139
Ballam, John J 10, 78
Bart, Phil 121
Batt, Dennis E 10, 29
Bedacht, Max 42
Berry, A. W 121
Eevin, Ernest 139
Bilan, Alexander 42
Biniba, Anthony 78
Bittelman, Alexander 29, 121
Blair, Fred 121
Bloor, Ella Reeve 79, 121
Blum, Leon 139
Brodsky, Carl 9
Brodsky, Joseph 9
Browder. Earl 2, 79, 114, 119, 120, 128, 132, 136, 137, 143
Bukharin 143
Burke, Alice 121
Burlak, Ann 114, 121
Cacchione, Peter 114, 121
Cadovila 137
Cannon, James 3, 10, 69, 141-142, 143
Carney, Jack 42
Carpenter, David 121
Childs, Morris 121
Cohen, Maximilian 9, 10, 29
Cohen, Nat 121
Corey, Louis {see also Louis C. Fraina) 131
Corsor, Benjamin 9
Darcy, Sam 114
Davis, Benjamin J,, Jr 114,121
Davis, David 121
Debs 122
Delgrado, Enrique Castro (alias Louis Garcia) 1H6
Dennis, Eugene 114, 121
Dimitrov, George 135-137
Dodd. Bella 121
Donchiu, Sam 1-1
Dougher, Joe 121
Douglass, Frederick 122
Duclos, Jacques 119, 120, 138
Dunne, William F 78
Elbaum, D 29
Engels 5, 99, 108, 142
Epstein, Shachno 78
Ferguson, Isaac E 10, 13
Field, B. J 142
Ford, James 121
Foster, William Z 78,70,120,121.128
Fraina, Louis C. (see also Louis Corey) 4, 10,29, 131
145
146 INDEX
Page
Fiederi ch 136
Ganby, Nat 121
Garcia, Louis (alias for Enrique Castro Delgrado) 136
Gates. John 121
Gaulden, Rose 121
Gitlow, Benjamin 3, 4, 9, 10, 25, 70, 77
Gold, Ben 114, 121
Goodman, Milton 9
Gottwald, Clement 135
Gouzenko, Isjor 137
Green, Gilbert (Gil) 114,121
Flynn, Elizabeth Gurley 121
Hall, Gus 121
Hall, Robert 121
Hammer, Dr. Julius 9
Hardman, J. B. S 142
Hillman, Sidney 79
Hlllquit, Morris 9, 130
Hilzik, Harry 9
Himmelfarb, L 9
Hitler 135,136
Honsborough, Roy 121
Hoover, J. Edgar 1
Horowitz, Fanny 9
Hourwich, Nicholas I 9, 10, 29
Hudson. Roy 114, 121
Huff. Henry 121
Jbarruri, Dolorez (alias La Passionaria) 135
Jackson 99, 108, 115
Jaures, Jean 16
Jefferson 99, 108, 115, 122
Johnson, Arnold 121
Johnson, O. C 10
Jones, Claudia 121
Kane, George 121
Katterfield, Louis E 10, 42. 78
Kautsky 130
Keracher, John 10, 141
Kopnagel, S 10
Kovac, N 121
Krumbein, Charles 121
Kuusinen. Otto 135
Lannon, Albert 121
"La Passionaria" (alias for Dolorez Jbarruri) 135
Larkin, James 9, 10
Lawrence, Josh 121
Lehman, George 9
Lenin 69, 99, 108, 142
Liebknecht, Karl 5
Lifshitz. Dora 121
Lina, Mickie 121
Lincoln 99, 108, 115, 122
Lindgren. Edward I 9, 42, 78
Lloyd, William Bross 10
Longuet 130
Lovestone, Jay 9, 10, 29, 69, 78, 128, 140, 142, 143
Luxemburg, Rosa 5
MacAlpine, Eadmonn 10, 25
Macdonald 130
Mackie, Martin 121
Manuilsky, Dimitri Z 135
Marlen 142
Marty, Andre 135
Marx 5, 7, 8, 16, 44, 54, 99, 108, 134, 142
McKie, \yilliam - 121
INDEX 147
Page
Mehring, Franz 5
Mindel, J 121
Modigliani 130
Morris, George 121
Muste, A. J 142
Myers, Frederick N 121
Nelson, Steve 121
Norman, William 121
Oehler, Hugo 142
Paine 99, 108, 115, 122
Patterson, William 121
Pearl, Jeanette D 9
Pepper, John (alias for Joseph Pogany) 70
Pieck, Wilhelm 1P,5
Pogany, Joseph (alias John Pepper) 70
Potash, Irving 121
Rakosi, Mathais 135
Eamadier, Paul 139
Eavitch, Mrs. L 9
Reed, John 4,9,10,25
Reinstein, Boris 70
Renner, Karl 139
Roberts, R 121
Roosevelt, President 119
Ross, Carl 121
Ruhle, Otto „ 5
Russell, Ted 121
Ruthenberg. Charles E 10, 69, 78, 122
Saragat, Giuseppe 139
Schneiderman, William 121
Schiimacher, Kurt 139
Shachtman, Max 141
Schaerf, Adolf (Scherf) 139
Sharp, Clarence 121
Shaw, Ralph 121
Simon, Hal 121
Slinger, Dan 121
Slutsky, J. B 142
Smith, H 121
Sparks, N 121
Stachel, Jack 121
Stalin 99, 108, 120, 128, 143
Stamm 142
Stilson, I 10
Stokes, Rose Pastor 10, 78
Stoklitzky, Alexander I 10,29
Sylvis 122
Thompson, Robert 121
Togliatti 13G
Toohey, Pat 114
Trachtenberg, Alexander 121
Trotsky 69, 128, 140-143
Turati 130
Vaughn, George C 9
Wagenknecht, Alfred D 10,42,121
Walecki 70
Washingion 115
Weinstock, Louis 121
Weisbord, Albert 142
Weiss, Max 121
W-ellman, Saul 121
Whitney, Anita „ 121
Wicks, H. M 29
Wicks, Harry 143
Wilkerson, Dosey 121
148 INDEX
Pag«
Williamson, John 114, 121
Wilson, President Woodrow 32
Winetsky, Harry 78
Winston, Henry 121
Winter, Carl 121
Wolfe, Bertram D 9, 10, 78
Wortis, Rose 121
Zhdanov, Andrei A 135, 137
Organizations
Amalgamated Textile Workers Union 79
American Defense Society 44
American Federation of Labor 19, 20, 32, 36, 46, 79
American Labor Alliance 69, 71
American Labor Union 32
American Protective League 44
American Workers Party 141,142
Amsterdam "International" 180
Arebiter Bildungs Verein 71
Perne Congress 9
Retriebs Rat 58
British Labor Party 24
Cadets 5, 17
Canadian Royal Commission 137
Cominform 138,140
Comintern 77, 79-81, 89-91, 128, 135-138, 140, 143
Communist International 11,
24, 25, 30, 32, 35, 37, 38, 42, 47, 50, 53, 55, 58, 59, 61, 62, 69-71, 77,
80, 89, 90, 93, 98, 99. 104, 108, 128-136, 140, 142, 143.
Communist International Manifesto 42
Communist International, Third Congress 69
Communist International, Fourth Congress 79
Communist International, Sixth Congress 89
Communist Interrational, Seventh Congress 134
Communist International, International Congress of the 50
Communist International, Sixth Plenum of the Executive Committee 89
Communist International, Eighth Plenum 89
Communist Labor Party, 1919 42,44,45,47,141
Communist Labor Party of Germany (Spartacus) 9
Communist League of America 142
Communist League of America (Opposition) 141
Communist Party (General) 2,3,129,131,142
Communist Party of America, 1919 10,
11, 13, 26, 27, 29, 32, 33, 35-88, 40-42, 47, 51, 69, 141
Communist Party of America, 1919, constitution 37
Communist Party of America, 1919, convention 25, 29
Communist Party of America, 1919, manifesto 29
Communist Party of America, 1919, program 35
Communist Party of America, section of the Communist International,
1921 51-62, 67, 79, 131, 132, 141
Communist Party of America, section of the Communist International,
constitution and program, 1921 51, 62
Communist Party of America (underground organization) 62, 69, 70, 77, 79
Communist Party of the United States of America, section of the Commu-
nist International, 1929 89-91, 98, 132, 143
Communist Party of the United States of America, section of the Commu-
nist International, 1929, constitution 90
Communist Party of the United States of America, 1938 99-102, 104, 106, 132
Communist Party of the United States of America, 1938, constitution 99
Communist Party, U. S. A., 1940 108-111, 114, 119, 134-136
Communist Party, U. S. A., 1940, constitution 108
Communist Party of the United States of America, 1945 120,
122, 123, 126-128, 140, 141
Communist Party of the United States of America, 1945, constitution 122
Communist Party, U. S. A. (majority group) 143
INDEX 149
Pagi
Communist Party, U. S. A. (opposition) 141,143
Communist Party of Bulgaria 188
Communist Party of Cavclioslovakia 135, 138
Communist Party of France 119, 120, 138
Communist Party of Hungary 138
Communist Party of Italy 138
Communist Party of Poland 138
Communist Party of Rumania 138
Communist Party of Russia 9,143
Communist Party of the Soviet Union 136,138,140
Communist Party of Yugoslavia 138
Communist Political Association, 1044 114,115,119,120,128,140
Communist Political Associiition, 1944, constitution 115
Communist I'ropnganda I^eague 3
Council of National Defense 43
Department of Justice 43,69
Departmejit of Labor 69
Federal Bureau of Investigation 2
Finnish Socialist Federation 71
First International 16, 30, 134
Fourth International 53
French Socialist Party 4
German Social-Democracy 4
Hungarian Workers' Federation 71
Independent rommunist Labcir League of America 143
Independent Labor League of America 143
Industrial Workers of the World 19, 36, 45, 57. 58
International Communist Party 12,26
International Federation of Trade Unions 59
International Solidarity Fund 100,109
International Unification of Red Labor Unions 130
Italian Workers Federation 71
Jewish Socialist Federation 71
Jewish Workers Federation 71
Knights of Liberty 44
Labor Party 6. 7, 20, 32, 35
League of Nations 7,15,29,35,61,130
Leningrad Communist Party City Committee 135
Michigan State Socialist Party 10
Minnesota, Left-Wing State Convention of . 11
Municipal Ownership Leagvies 35
National Press Club 2
National Security League 43
Non-Partisan League 35
People's Council 35
Proletarian Party 10
Proletarian Party of America 141
Red Labor Union International 59, 79
Russian Socialist Federation 10
Second International 16, 24, 53, 62, 130, 131
Social-Democratic Party 18
Social Democratic Party in Germany 16
Socialist Congress at Basle, 1912 30
Socialist International 12, 26, 30
Socialist International Congress 15
Socialist Labor Party 31, 32, 41, 70
Socialist Party of America 2-4, 6,
7, 9-11, 18, 19, 25, 32, 35, 41-43, 131, 132, 141, 142
Socialist Party of America, September 1919, convention 3
Socialist Party Left-Wing Section, conference 10
Socialist Party Left-Wing Section, National Council 10, 13, 25
Socialist Party Left-Wing Section, convention, manifesto, 1919 4
Socialist Party Left-Wing Section, convention, program, 1919 9
Socialist Party of Massachusetts 25
Socialist Party of Michigan 11, 25
150 . INDEX
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Socialist Party of the United States 53
Socialist Party, New York State Executive Committee 10
Socialist Propaganda League 3
Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance 57
Socialist Workers Party 142
Spanish Communist Party i:J6
Spartacus Group 5
Supreme Court 43
Third (Communist) International. (See Communist International.)
Trade Union Educational League 78, 79
United Communist Party of America, 1920 47, 51, 132, 141
United Communist Party of America, constitution, 1920 47
United Nations 122, 135, 136
United States Constitution 99, 108, 115, 122
United Toilers 142
Voorhis Act, 1940 108, 132
W. I. I. U 36
War Labor Board 43
Western Federation of Miners 32
Workers Council of the U. S. A 71
Workers (Communist) Party of America, 1925 80, 81, 89, 132
Workers (Communist) Party of America, 1925, constitution 80
Workers Educational Association 71
Workers I'arty of America, 1921 69-73, 77, 79
Workers Party of America, convention and constitution, 1921 72
Workers Party of America, 1923 79, 80
Working Men's International Association 134
Young Workers League 85, 88, 93, 96, 97
Publications
Cahiers du Communisme 119
The Class Struggle 3
Communist, The 29, 51, 69, 114
Communist International 98
Daily Peoples World 98
Daily Worker 80, 89, 90, 98, 119, 120, 138
For a Lasting Peace — For a Peoples Democracy ! 98
International Press Correspondence 98
Labor Herald 79
Masses and Mainstream 98
The New International 3
New Times 98
New York Communist 9
New York Herald Tribune 135
New York Times 133, 136
Novy Mir 10, 25
Political Affairs 98
Pravda 138
The Revolutionary Age 3, 13
Soviet Russia Today 98
Toiler 70
The Voice of Labor 25
War and the Working Class 98
Worker 136
Workers Challenge 143
World News and Views 98
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