Reports of a milestone meeting on the road to a unified, open Communist Party. Unity of the majority of Communist forces into one Party took two and a half years and was achieved at the ill-fated, not-so-secret, Bridgman Convention (everyone got arrested) of August, 1922. The Party Council was advisory body that included the Central Executive Committee (Israel Amter, William Z. Foster, Ben Gitlow, James P. Cannon, Abram Jakira, J. Louis Engdahl, Ludwig Katterfeld, Ludwig Lore, Edward Lindgren, C.E. Ruthenberg, John Pepper, Alexander Bittelman, William F. Dunne, Jay Lovestone), District Organizers, Language Federation Secretaries, and publication editors. Two documents below; a remarkably honest press statement on the meeting from the new Executive Secretary, Abram Jakira, himself the leader of the underground/opposition C.P.A. until Bridgman, and a report on the meeting itself. As the articles shows the underground “Communist Party of America” was being replaced, in practice if not formally, by the above-ground Workers Party soon to have its first convention.

‘Report of the First Sitting of the Party Council of the Communist Party of America’ from The Communist (Section of the Communist International). Vol. 1 No. 12. December, 1922.

‘Party Statement Issued by the Central Executive Committee as a Result of the FIRST PARTY COUNCIL Assembled in December’

Three important events have closed a period in the development of the Party. These three events are the Cleveland Conference for Progressive Political action, the Chicago Railway Conference and the Second Convention of the LLP. If we draw the balance of this period, we will find that, since the Party Convention the Party has had several political victories. As a result of the correct policies laid down the CEC, the Party is a unit and is no longer isolated from the American labor movement.

There is every possibility of making our Party a powerful political factor in the United States.

If we observe the political situation with open eyes, we must confirm the fact that, despite the good policies adopted by the CEC, the Party, as a party, has not proven equal to the task. Our political ideas were good, but they were not carried into realization. In spite of all efforts of the CEC, it was not possible to mobilize the Party for any of our campaigns.

The Defense campaign was a success politically, because we could win over a large number of trade unions; but organizationally it was a failure because the Party, as an organization, participated in the campaign to but a small extent.

The Labor Party campaign was politically a big success, for the LPP won the cooperation of the Farmer Labor Party, the Chicago Federation of Labor, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers and various farmer organizations; but we did not succeed in getting the Party itself into the Labor Party campaign. The worst example was set by New York, where a “mass meeting” of 600 people took place as the apex of the Labor Party campaign, and after the Cleveland Conference only 200 people represented a “mass meeting.” It must be remembered that the LPP has a membership of 3000 in New York City!

The campaign for amalgamation was politically a tremendous success. No less than eleven State federations of labor, representing about 25 per cent of organized labor of this country, declared themselves ideologically for amalgamation; organizationally, however, we had a fearful failure, for, as we could not mobilize our Party forces, we were not able to occupy all the strategic points, and there is danger that the amalgamation movement, which is growing more and more powerful from day to day, will get out of control.

In a word: in the defense, Labor Party and amalgamation campaigns, there was every possibility of good political success, but very great, even destructive failure from an organizational standpoint.

The CEC feels compelled to enlighten the Party members on these questions with perfect frankness. We declare most emphatically that organizationally our Party has been failure, so that now we must issue the slogan: “BUILD THE PARTY.”

We must analyze the reasons of this failure.

It would be a mistake to believe that our Party could not be mobilized because it is an underground party. It is a mistake to believe that an underground party cannot be mobilized, as the centrists claim. That is not true; as an analysis will show that during this time we could perform all political work openly, and that the LPP daily is functioning more and more. completely as an open Communist party. Evidences of this latter fact are:

1. The entire political administration and the whole political work of the LPP are Communstic. 2. The LPP is now connected with the Communist International through fraternal representation. 3. The LPP adopted a good Communist program at its convention. 4. The LPP is regarded not only by the authorities as a Communist party, but by the workers as well. 5. Through the LPP we have had full possibilities of propagating the Communist ideology.

During this whole period, the CEC, in accordance with the Convention decision, has consciously acted on the idea, that every chance for open work should be taken advantage of. For that reason, we not only consciously aimed at making the LPP a Communist Party, but also determined that the Industrial Department of the Party should be an open institution. Before the large masses of American workers we openly stated in our Labor Day Manifesto that the underground form of Party organization is not a dogma for us, but a bitter necessity.

The real causes of the organizational failure of the Party, however, are as follows:

1. The Party apparatus is too cumbersome. This defect has had a most harmful effect on all Party actions.

2. The groups are removed too many steps from the CEC. As a result, instructions sent by the CEC at times have not reached the groups for three or four weeks. Innumerable examples could be given, but two will suffice. Instructions regarding the mobilization of the Party forces against the split threatened in the LPP by a certain federation did not reach a section organizer in District No. 2 till long after the controversy was settled. The instructions in regard to the Labor Party reached the Party membership after it had been taken up in the LPP.

3. Our groups are too small. Group meetings have degenerated, and it is a most rare event when a full meeting occurs.

4. The very often exaggerated dualism between the Party and the LPP doubles the work. Meetings of the Party units are duplicated in most instances in the LPP branch meetings. Thus, in District No. 2 a comrade of the DEC had to discuss a certain matter in a subcommittee of the Party DEC and then take it up again in the full DEC. He had to discuss the same matter in a subcommittee of the DEC of the LPP and finally in the full DEC of the LPP. In other words, the comrade had to discuss the matter four times, which represents a fearful loss of energy.

5. The Party groups are built artificially and not on the basis of the work to be done. The groups are not based on a similarity of function, but on residential qualifications. Το work effectively, there must be unity of function.

6. The Party numerically is not equal to the tremendous tasks confronting it. The number of Party members is too small. The number of organizations among which we must work is so large that only a few members are available for each organization. In order to extend our work we must increase our membership.

On the basis of decisions by the CEC and the Party Council, therefore the following remedies for these are to be applied:

1. To increase the size of the Party, a big membership drive shall be conducted. We must absorb all good elements in the LPP into the Party. We must, in addition, get militant trade unionists into the Party. We wish to remove a serious obstacle to increasing our membership, by reducing the dues to 25 cents per month.

2. We intend to reduce the number of steps between the CEC and the membership.

3. We must enlarge the Party groups and allow Party branches to meet regularly as units of the Party.

4. We must convert the groups from mechanical units into working bodies, thru a division of labor, by assigning specific tasks to various groups, such as trade union, protection of foreign-born workers, defense, relief, literature distribution, confidential work.

5. We must combine the leading committees of the Party and the LPP, so as to make them identical wherever possible. (How intolerable the position of the Party is, is manifest in the fact that the LPP District Organizer of a certain district has no less than 16 Party meetings a week, aside from trade union and other meetings.)

6. At last we must seriously take up the self-protection of the Party. The present underground party is only an underground in name. We must organize various confidential and secret departments of the Party for ensuring its safety and carrying on the Party’s underground work, in order to protect ourselves from future attacks.

The CEC will furnish detailed instructions on methods of achieving these improvements.

The political development and the condition of the labor movement demand more and more work from our Party, and, we may add, ever MORE OPEN political and trade union work. Up to the present, the CEC has done everything to With remove all impediments from the path to open work. these organizational decisions, the CEC and the Party Council have sought to simplify and facilitate the open work. We must continue to study political developments most carefully. We must not fail to mention some important facts which demonstrate that, since our last Party convention, better and broader possibilities for the open existence of the Party are developing.

These new possibilities are as follows:

1. The class struggle within the bourgeoisie. The November 7th elections and the formation of the La Follette group showed that the petty bourgeoisie and the farmers are conducting an ever sharper struggle against the big bourgeoisie. In the matter of the treatment of the labor movement, there are deep conflicts between the two sections of the bourgeoisie. This cleft in the bourgeoisie makes it impossible to persecute the Communists with united forces and with a solid bourgeois public opinion behind it, as was done in the past.

2. The solidarity of the working class revealed itself in the past few months as never before. The signs of this solidarity are: a) the tremendous labor struggles; b) the idea of a general strike in the minds of the workers; c) the rapid development of the amalgamation movement; d) the growing Labor Party movement; e) greater influence of the Communists. in the labor unions; f) greater sympathy for the Communists and the LPP in the labor movement, as, for instance, in the defense and the Labor Party Conference; g) to be persecuted is no longer a privilege of the Communists, for it strikes all militant elements of the working class. Therefore, persecutions no longer remain local matters but become events of national significance. h) The LPP is functioning more and more as a Communist Party, and is controlled more and more completely by the Communists.

All of these facts demonstrate clearly that the development is in the direction of an open Communist Party. Of course, it is one of the most important duties of the CEC not to attempt any dangerous experiments. We state most emphatically that the CEC would wage a pitiless struggle against any attempt to FORCE the establishment of an open Communist Party; against any attempt not only to establish an open party before a Convention of the CP has decided, but also against any effort to propagate the idea that an open Communist Party may be established without a decision of the Party Convention. The CEC will wage a sharp fight against any attempt to make a factional controversy of this matter.

The CEC declares: We adhere to the decision of the last Party Convention. In the spirit of the Communist International, we make no more a principle of the underground form of organization than of the open form. We stand for a well equipped, large, politically mature, elastic CP, which, according to circumstances, can function openly or underground.

The question of the reorganization of the Party was taken up at the Party Council which recently took place. The matter was discussed must thoroughly, every angle being touched upon. When the vote was taken, the proposal of the CEC, upon which the above document is based, was adopted almost unanimously. No member of the Party Council was against the principle of the proposal; only a few objected to the method of carrying it out. A subsequent conference with the comrades who dissented removed all doubts so that the decision now is practically unanimous.

Central Executive Committee CPA

J. MILLER, (Abram Jakira) Exec. Sec’y.

‘Report of the First Sitting of the Party Council of the Communist Party of America’ from The Communist (Section of the Communist International). Vol. 1 No. 12. December, 1922.

The Party Council of the C.P. of A. recently held its first meeting with highly constructive and satisfying results. As provided by the last Part Convention, which founded this new institution in the Party, the Party Council regularly meets on the call of the CEC every four months.

In the Council the following were delegates with voice and vote:

1. The fourteen members of the Central Executive Committee.

2. One delegate (as elected by the last Convention) from each District, with the exception that Districts 8 and 9 were represented by one delegate (as decided by the Convention), and the delegate of District 3 was absent.

3. One delegate from each of the former Opposition Districts Nos. 1, 2 and 4, as agreed in the terms of unity drawn up when the Opposition re-entered the Party (Opposition District 5 being absent).

With voice but no vote the following were present:

1. Several editors of Party papers, a few being absent.

2. The Secretaries of 7 Federations, other Federations Secretaries being absent.

3. Two representatives of the Industrial Department.

4. One representative of a subsidiary organization.

5. One alternate from District No. 2, who was granted permission by the Council to attend.

At the opening of the Council sitting, the CEC announced that all members of the CEC were free to express their individual opinions; that is, were released from CEC discipline while sitting in the Party Council.

A Presidium of three members was elected.

MORNING SESSION: ORGANIZATIONAL MATTERS.

The Executive Secretary reported on the present condition of the Party. He first gave as a background an account of the experience of the Party since the Convention, calling special attention to the failure of a large portion of the membership to grasp the political significance of the campaigns initiated by the CEC of the Party, and to the parasitic effect that some of our affiliated organizations have in drawing away the strength and energy of the Party. From this premise he arrived at the conclusion that the present unsatisfactory condition of the Party is largely an inheritance from the past and that immediate steps would have to be taken to improve the method of work. He expressed the opinion that the subsidiary organizations of the Party must not be conducted in a manner that saps the energy of the Party, but in a manner that will strengthen the Party and promote its work.

The latest decisions of the CEC on this subject were then quoted by the Secretary and explained.

The Secretary also pointed out the defects of the present structure of the Party machinery for purposes of quick action. The Party is compelled to devote much of its time and energy to the upkeep of the organizational machinery and can devote but little time for the work among the masses and for political campaigns. He therefore urged the simplification of the present Party machinery by eliminating some of the links that connect the CEC with the membership and by modifying the present functioning of the Party.

The report of the Executive Secretary pointed out that there is no factional division of any sort in the CEC. Furthermore, the correspondence from the outlying Districts leads him to believe that the formerly virulent factionalism does not now exist anywhere to any menacing degree. Such of it as does still exist is rapidly being cleared up. The Secretary himself, as a leader of a former faction, admitted that factions are detrimental to the growth of the Party.

The report showed the following facts and conditions in regard to the Federations:

LITHUANIAN. The best functioning of all our Federations.

UKRAINIAN. Working well, as far as the Federation itself is concerned.

SOUTH SLAV. The same. Its financial matters being taken care of by other organizations.

RUSSIAN. This Federation was completely disorganized, but with the return of new life has been put into it. The Federation Convention has been most successful. If the policies laid down by the CEC in regard to emigration of members are carried out, the prospects in the Russian Federation are very bright.

JEWISH. This Federation was also completely disorganized up to the time of the Convention, but since then is working well. A crisis was successfully solved by action of the CEC. The Federation plays an important role in the Jewish labor movement.

HUNGARIAN. There were factional difficulties, which have been settled satisfactorily. The CEC acted in the matter. Recently an important question has been raised which undoubtedly will be settled with good results. The Federation is now making steady progress.

LETTISH. Decided not to hold Federation Convention: The Bureau was approved by the CEC. Difficulties with branch in District 2 have been settled.

FINNISH. Conditions made necessary a reorganization of the Bureau. Friction is evident; and further steps are necessary to eliminate the friction. Connections are now established and new life is already shown.

GERMAN. Same as the Finnish conditions.

ITALIAN. This Federation is in about the same condition Efforts must be made to improve the present The Italian Federation has been reorganized. The proportion of Party Federation is too small and must be strengthened. The fight against the Fascisti movement becomes important here.

POLISH. The Polish Federation is still weak and lacking in funds. There have been editorial difficulties. Some remaining friction between some of the former Opposition members in some localities and the other membership has to be settled.

ESTHONIAN, GREEK and ARMENIAN. These three Federations are very small. The Armenian Federation has a big field to work in, and must make use of the opportunity.

The attention of the Council was called to the fact that the National office of the Party is in possession of numerous and detailed reports from the Districts and Federations especially prepared for the Party Council. The CEC is analyzing these extremely valuable reports and will use them as a guide in its future work. Time would not permit to consider these reports at the Council meeting.

The Secretary concluded his report by pointing out that the policies of the CEC since the Party Convention were correct and urged the membership to stand solidly behind these policies and help build the Party.

Moved to accept the report of the Executive Secretary. No disagreement was expressed. Those present were then asked to make criticisms or suggestions. Questions were then asked, to which the Secretary replied.

Discussion followed, which dealt mainly with conditions in the various districts.

District Six reported friction in a matter about which the CEC is informed and is acting.

District Two reported that the RI work is sadly neglected in the District, and the delegate said that the reasons were: lack of proper direction from above; lack of a definite program; and lack of industrial reports and guidance. The comrade further reported that the defense work was suffering from friction between the G and the D. He claimed that this was due to a lack of a definite position on the part of the higher authority. The same comrade said that the campaign for a Labor Party had been a failure in his District because too hastily planned. In general, this delegate from District Two made criticisms but offered no suggestions for improvements.

District Twelve reported that although great factionalism had existed in that District in the period immediately after the Unity Convention, the last Convention has been followed by a period of great improvement. This District reported that the present condition of the work promises great progress.

District Four complained that there have been too many changes, too suddenly made, and too many political campaigns initiated. That the membership no sooner got accustomed to discussing a problem than instructions came to start work on a new question. The result was that each meeting had to discuss something new, before the comrades had had a chance to digest the old. It was pointed out to this delegate that the CEC had not put problems before the Party any faster than these problems are forced onto the attention of the working class by actual life, and that a Communist Party must learn to handle all vital questions that face the working class, no matter how fast they may be presented by quickly changing history.

District One reported that there are about 2000 members of the LPP in that District, of which about 1500 are of one nationality and believe more in their community life than in the Party ideology. They are satisfied to speak their own language, think in their own way and make no attempt at getting in contact with the American workers. From this example he elaborated upon the whole federation problem of our Party. He further declared that the Party is financially overburdened on account of the control method. That is, the active members are obliged to belong to about ten different organizations, paying dues in each and buying tickets in each. He made a plea for a simplification of the machinery in line with suggestions made by the Executive Secretary in his report–namely that only certain comrades shall be assigned to subsidiary organization work, and that the work in our Party generally shall be departmentalized.

The delegate from District Two spoke again, this time suggesting that the dues system shall not be changed, but a check on the expenditure shall be established. He also complained that there were entirely too many CP caucuses making it necessary for some of the members to attend 16 meetings a week.

District Five delegate declared in his opinion factionalism is not wiped out-only the phrase is, but the spirit still exists.

Another representative from District Two suggested that there is one main trouble and that is that there is no discipline in the Party, and the Party has no power to exert discipline. Recommended that the work be so divided that certain comrades would have certain assigned duties. This was in line with recommendation made by Executive Secretary.

District Seven reported that the main work in his district is the RI work. There is no difficulty in getting the comrades to do this work if only definite instructions come to them. He finds that the organization must be simplified so that at least two of the steps between the CEC and the membership will be eliminated. The dues must be reduced. Members in District Seven refuse to pay increase. The Lithuanians boldly refused to pay, others instead of refusing are dropping out of the CP. They have 12 to 14 branches of the RI, and all eager to do work. All they need is instructions.

The Secretary briefly replied to the various points raised during the discussion.

Having heard the report of the Secretary, the Party Council approved the report as read, and instructed the Presidium to incorporate into it the following suggestions:

1. The necessity of simplifying the Party apparatus.

2. The necessity of bringing closer together the English-speaking and foreign-speaking elements.

3. The necessity of carrying out in a disciplinary manner the orders of the Party and pointing out that no personal interpretation is permissible.

All three points accepted.

AFTERNOON SESSION: POLITICAL REPORT AND DISCUSSION.

The report of the Political Committee on behalf of the CEC, crystalized before the Party Council the most weighty problems that it had to face. Of course the organizational problem exists only for the sake of the political and industrial work that has to be done. The Secretary of the Political Committee, in the name of the CEC, presented a resolution which covered the main matters to be acted upon by the Party Council. The substance of this resolution can be found in this issue of the Official Organ under the heading, “Party Statement.” After reading the resolution, the reporter made a long and very important review of the political and industrial developments of the past four months and the direction which these developments are taking at the present time. It was a fundamental analysis of the problems that the Party must solve, and of the circumstances in which the Party must work. The comrade further expressed the view of the CEC, regarding the internal condition of the Party and the question of its ability to adapt itself to its task. The weaknesses that had been brought out by the Executive Secretary’s report and by the reports of the delegates from the Districts, were cold-bloodedly analyzed. Constructive plans for remedying the faults were proposed in the resolution which the Party Council was asked by the CEC to approve.

As this resolution was the crux of the Party problems, a great deal of careful discussion followed from nearly all delegates, the CEC members expressing themselves as individuals. When the vote was finally taken, the CEC resolution was approved by twenty-eight votes to five, one delegate not voting. It was agreed that out of the five delegates who voted “no,” the four who were for the resolution in principle but who felt obliged to vote against it in the precise form in which it was presented, would be taken into consultation later, so as to have their views considered in the final draft. This consultation has since occurred with satisfactory results, so that the substance of the resolution as it now appears in the Party Statement has practically the unanimous approval of the Party Council.

Another resolution was presented by the CEC for the censure of the entire delegation (including fraternal delegates) of the Party to the Fourth Congress of the Comintern for continuing their factionalism in Moscow. It provided further that these delegates shall not be permitted to continue the factionalism after their return. The vote showed three delegates against censuring.

NIGHT SESSION: INDUSTRIAL REPORT.

A representative of the Industrial Department reported on its activities since the Party Convention. In this report and the discussion which followed, the delegates were forcefully reminded that the most prominent and emphatic action of the Convention was its decision that “The work in the trade unions must be increased ten-fold.” It was made very plain that the Party has not yet carried out even a small fraction of the duty laid upon it by its Convention. In some particular phases the Party has done extremely well–that is, its Industrial Department has accomplished some very important successes. But on the whole the Party organization is not responding satisfactorily to the calls of the industrial field. In many Districts the establishment of the RI has been disgracefully neglected by the Party members. Our trade union press has been struggling ahead almost without any support from the membership.

Although the industrial report is of supreme importance, it is not advisable to go into the further details of it here. The comrades are reminded that practically all knowledge of our activities and progress in this field can be obtained in the other press, which they must read and support.

The industrial report was accepted. Then a motion was made and passed, to give certain help to the industrial work.

OTHER BUSINESS.

The Party Council approved the reinstatement of Comrade Leon to full Party activity. The expulsion of another Party member for refusing to accept a Party position offered to him by his Federation was approved.

Adjourned.

Emulating the Bolsheviks who changed the name of their party in 1918 to the Communist Party, there were up to a dozen papers in the US named ‘The Communist’ in the splintered landscape of the US Left as it responded to World War One and the Russian Revolution. This ‘The Communist’ began in July 1921 after the “Unity Convention” in Woodstock, New York which created the Communist Party of America, Section of the Communist International uniting the old CPA with the CLP-CPA party. With Ruthenberg mostly as editor the paper acted as the Party’s underground voice, reporting official party business and discussion. The Toiler served as the mass English-language paper. This ‘The Communist’ was laid to rest in December, 1922 with the creation of the above-ground Workers Party. An invaluable resource for students of the formation of the Communist Party in the US.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/thecommunist/thecommunist6/v1n12-dec-1922-com-CPA.pdf