Dear comrades and friends, This comment of Waistline's is both short enough (though I expect another series of posts from him shortly, which I will not have time to answer) and wrong enough that I need to comment on it.
Waistline says that It was impossible to Bolshevize the CPUSA when there were not insurrectionary conditions. This is incorrect. Lenin was one who pointed out that the Bolshevik party had to know both how to advance under revolutionary conditions and to retreat when the enemy was stronger. Bolshevism was a method that allowed for insurrection under revolutionary conditions, and to prepare the advanced working class to take its place to be ready when conditions were right. The Comintern tried to help the CPUSA become Bolshevized, but it could not, and did not, "force positions" on the CPUSA. I do not know what happened to the langauge presses (if someone has specific information in that it would be good if they could send it to the list). But I do know something about the CPUSA's position on the Black National Question, mostly from reading Black Bolshevik. The position calling for the right of self-determination in the Black Belt South was raised by elements in the Comintern, and accepted by elements in the CPUSA (Haywood himself in particular). Together the pro-self determination elements in the Comintern (particularly in the SU) and in the CPUSA got the line accepted in both the Comintern and the CPUSA. There is no doubt that the fact that the CPUSA had a large portion of European immigrants led to many problems. This was true of the socialist movement in the USA for over 150 years: the first genuine Marxist leader in the US, Karl Wedemeyer, was himself a German immigrant. But Wedemeyer showed himself able to learn from US history, becoming a military and political leader in the North during the Civil War in the fight against slavery. The CPUSA was also able to go beyond its largely European roots by accepting the revolutionary position on the Black National Question, with international help. The CPUSA made tremendous strides forward during the 1930s, building a mass base among the industrial workers, playing a leading role in formation of the CIO; that it made mistakes in the application of the policy of the united front against fascism (and these have to be looked at carefully, not just by making blanket statements about its tailing Roosevelt) were certainly encouraged by the objective situation, that in the 1930s there was not a revolutionary situation in the US. But none of this means that there was nothing the CPUSA could do but "work within this flow." Even in a non-revolutionary situation one can win advanced workers to ML. Fraternally, George ----- Original Message ----- From: waistli...@aol.com To: marxist-leninist-list@lists.econ.utah.edu Sent: Monday, January 24, 2011 10:58 AM Subject: Re: [MLL] some thoughts on the CPUSA: a whole assessment of ourrevolutionary... In a message dated 1/24/2011 9:18:50 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, _intangibles@aphenomenal.com_ (mailto:intangib...@aphenomenal.com) writes: If the party had bolshevised itself back in the 1920s in the manner recommended by the Comintern throughout the 1920s and 1930s, this distinction would have been strictly maintained. The toxic impact of Browder's line and leadership style was that liberalism on this front was not seriously dealt with, let alone dealt with in time. Comment If? Such was impossible. One cannot build a party of insurrection outside revolutionary conditions and the revolutionary crisis. The revolutionary crisis is an aspect of the leap - transition, from one economic-political-social formation to another. The struggle for industrial unions was not revolutionary but a reform movement under condition of reform of the system. No one can turn one quality (a reform movement) into another (revolutionary movement/revolutionary crisis) based on thinking and ideology. No one can build a "party of a new type" and it operates as a party of insurrection because it is a good idea. The period of the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's prove this beyond a doubt. The Comintern had to force positions on the CPUSA; dismantle the language presses which needs to be understood. These were European language press in a country of English and Spanish speaking people. The largest group of American communists were foreign born barely speaking English going in the 1920's and beyond. This was under conditions where no less than 70% of the workers in Detroit - the party strong hold, spoke English. Then of course there was the Oct. 1928 Comintern written document - Negro Question, forced on the party. The CPUSA fundamental misunderstanding of the Negro Question and its urgency was not the result of just ideological chauvinism but the fact of formation based on European immigrants with no understanding of actual American history. There was a massive effort to Americanize the party, within a context of groups cobbled together, shifting to fight at the forefront of the industrial trade union movement. . Much has been written on this history but the bottom line is the CPUSA was more than less a large and significant federation, with anarcho syndicalist groupings, Populist ideology condemning monopoly, but aligned with the Comintern, which was a good thing. It was not wrong application of Comintern policy of the united front, but the populist ideology and syndicalism that was the lead factor in tailing Roosevelt after the Wagner Act. The objective factor is that the proletariat itself followed this path of reform and there was nothing anyone could do, but workwithin this flow and try and win folks to the cause of communism. . Browrder was a symptom of a larger problem. The CPUSA anti-monoply ideology and political outlook remains to this very day. WL. _______________________________________________ Marxist-Leninist-List mailing list Marxist-Leninist-List@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxist-leninist-list _______________________________________________ Marxist-Leninist-List mailing list Marxist-Leninist-List@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxist-leninist-list
