The ‘Third Period’-era fight with the so-called ‘Right Opposition’ that saw the Stalin faction break with and displace that of Bukharin in the Soviet Union and the Comintern, was played out in the midst of 1929’s revolt in mandatory Palestine. Joseph Berger Barzilai (Bob being one of his many aliases) was the central figure of the Palestine Communist Party in its first decade.

‘The Fight Against the Right Deviation in the C.P. of Palestine’ by Bob (Joseph Berger) from International Press Correspondence. Vol. 9. No. 29. June 21, 1929.

The Last Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Palestine passed a resolution giving detailed expression to the attitude of the Party in regard to the Right deviations in its ranks. The basis of these deviations lies in an underestimation of the strength of the proletariat in the Arabian countries in general and in Palestine in particular, as also in defeatist tendencies in regard to the role of the Communist Party.

From this point of view, a number of comrades oppose the passing of a resolution in favour of a Workers’ and Peasants’ Government, such as was recommended to the Party in a letter addressed to it last December by the E.C.C.I. These comrades are in favour of aiming at a “Democratic Republic”, since it is only by adopting such an aim that the Party could gain the support of the petty-bourgeois circles, whose role, it must be added. is greatly over-estimated by the Right deviationists. Such a principle, however, would entail the danger of arousing democratic illusions among the masses, which would be all the more noxious seeing that just at present the bourgeois leaders of the national movement are aspiring to a compromise with the British imperialists upon the platform of a “Parliament” (which could naturally be no more than an empty formality as long as the British occupation continues).

In the first place, however, the opportunist opponents of the idea of a Workers’ and Peasants’ Government fail to understant that at the present moment of accentuated class war in Palestine and the neighbouring countries, the programme of the Communist Party cannot consist in general phrases in regard to the liberation of the country, national independence, and the like, but that the concrete contents of the fight for liberation must necessarily be formulated. A broad movement among the people can only be based on a maximum activity of the toiling sections of the population, particularly the workers and peasants. Such an activity, however, can only be attained if the worker has before him the prospect of social liberation and the peasant that of an agrarian revolution, entailing the distribution of landed property, liberation from indebtedness to usurers, etc.

In close connection with the opposition to the directives recommended by the E.C.C.I. and confirmed by the C.C., there is the capitulatory tendency of many members in regard to the tactics of the Party. Overlooking the slow but continuous progress of radicalisation among the toiling masses and underestimating the growth of the Party organisation (especially in regard to the inclusion of Arab workers) and the achievements of the Party (success at the last trade-union elections, organisation of an Arab workers’ demonstration on the Nebi-Mussa holiday, greater circulation of the Arab and Jewish Party papers, etc.), the Right elements see nothing but the increased attacks of the reactionaries (arrest, deportation, etc.) and are of opinion that the Party should merely retire in the face of such an offensive and should not mobilise the workers to a counter-attack.

The Right deviation in the C.P. of Palestine is particularly dangerous in view of the fact that, whereas many representatives of the opportunist direction entrench themselves behind purely “local” motives, others employ motives of the Right deviationists of European Parties (such as a false estimation of the “third period”, a misconception of the danger of war, and the like) and interpret the resolutions of the VI. Comintern Congress in a “Brandlerian” way.

The C.P. of Palestine, which recently celebrated the Tenth Anniversary of the foundation of the first Communist group in Palestine, has in the decade of its existence experienced an ideological concentration. It has overcome all remnants of Zionist and Poale-Zion tendencies, liquidated boycottism and putschism, put an end to the theories of emigration, and succeeded in consolidating the best elements of the Palestine proletariat around its banner. To-day it is the only party in the country which is really international in word and deed and revolutionary in its tactics.

Therefore the C.C. is fully justified in its resolution by which it energetically declares against peace with the Right deviationists in the Party (which would only lead the Party into a hopeless slough of opportunism and defeatism) and calls upon the Party speedily to liquidate its Right wing.

The New International began as the theoretical organ of the Communist League of America, formed in 1928 by supporters of The International Left Opposition in the Communist Party. The CLA merged with the American Workers Party led by AJ Muste to form the Workers Party of the U.S. in Dec 1935 before intervening in the Socialist Party, at which time this magazine was suspended. After leaving the SP, the main Trotskyist forces formed the Socialist Workers Party in 1938 and resumed publication. In the split of 1940, the State Capitalist/ Bureaucratic Collectivist faction left the Party and held on to the magazine; the SWP then produced ‘The Fourth International’ as their organ of theory.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/inprecor/1929/v09n29-jun-21-1929-inprecor.pdf