Framing 1933’s ‘Open Letter’ which saw the Communist Party make its first steps away from the politics of the Third Period in the immediate aftermath of the disastrous coming to power of German fascism.

‘Why the Open Letter?’ from Party Organizer (C.P.U.S.A. Internal Bulletin). Vol. 6 No. 8-9. August-September, 1933.

WHY THE OPEN LETTER?

“Why are we holding an extraordinary Party conference at this time, and why are we proposing that this conference shall issue an open letter to the Party? It is not alone because of the extreme sharpening of the crisis and consequently of the class struggle and of the danger of imperialist war. Above all, the reasons for these extraordinary measures lie in the fact that in spite of the serious beginnings of revolutionary upsurge among the masses, yet our Party has not developed into a revolutionary mass party of the proletariat.

“This extraordinary conference and the open letter are designed to rouse all of our resources, all of the forces of the Party to change this situation, and to give us guarantees that the essential change in our work will be made. The letter represents the most serious judgment of the situation and tasks of our Party and our leadership.” (From Comrade Browder’s report at the Extraordinary Party Conference).

“To carry out the task of winning the majority of the working class every Communist Party shall establish, extend and strengthen permanent and intimate contacts with the majority of the workers, wherever workers may be found.” (Resolution of Twelfth Plenum of the E.C.C.I.)

The American Party must mobilize the masses and concentrate chiefly on the struggle: 1) For social insurance, against wage cuts, for immediate relief for the unemployed. 2) For assistance for the ruined farmers. 3) For equal rights for the Negroes and the right of self-determination for the Black Belt. 4) For the defense of the Chinese people and the Soviet Union. It is necessary to carry out the decision on the turn in the work of the Party and the Trade Union Unity League.” (Resolution of the Twelfth Plenum of the E.C.C.I.)

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THE Open Letter of the Extraordinary Party Conference to the membership of the Party aimed to arouse the entire Party to action. The Open Letter re-emphasized in the sharpest manner that our Party, if it is to become the indisputable leader of the American workers in the day-to-day struggles against capitalism, winning them for the battle to destroy capitalism, must make a rapid turn to approach, organize and win the decisive elements of the American proletariat, especially in the mining, steel, marine, railroad and textile industries.

The Open Letter found immediate response in the ranks of our Party members. Even non-Party workers and poor farmers greeted the Open Letter as an instrument which will spur the Party to greater activity. Dozens of letters poured into the Daily Worker, from workers and farmers, Communist and non-Communist, enthusiastically pledging to improve the work, critically analyzing wrong methods of work. These letters have many lessons for our entire Party.

What do these letters show? These letters once again reaffirm the deep revolutionary ferment rapidly embracing large strata of the American workers and toiling masses, a ferment which is pregnant with sharp class battles already evidenced by the growing strike movement involving hundreds of thousands of workers. This is only another indication that the American workers are looking for a way out—and will follow a militant class struggle policy providing we know how to bring it to them simply and clearly. These letters emphasize once again that the task of the entire Party is to organize and lead the masses into struggles.

Secondly, these letters fully bear out the statement of the Open Letter that our Party members will work, that our membership will prove itself in the present situation as the force which can move the Party forward on the path towards becoming a mass Party.

Our Party members have been stirred. This is also evidenced in the district and section conferences that are now taking place throughout the country. What is necessary now is to organize, plan the activity of the members, direct this activity precisely in those channels which will entrench the Party among the basic sections of the American proletariat.

Need Resolutions, Experiences from Shop Units

But letters and resolutions have not yet come in from our shop units, from our comrades in the large steel plants, from the mines, from the waterfront, from the railroads—from those workers upon whose activity depends that change in our work necessary to transform our Party into a mass Party. This still reflects the insufficient mobilization of these decisive sections of our Party membership.

The Open Letter gives the key by which the change in our Party will take place—through concentrated activity, systematic day-to-day work of the major forces of our Party in selected large plants, developing struggles around immediate issues, preparing the workers for strike struggles, and convincing them by our unflinching and determined defense of their interests that the Party has the correct policy and can lead their struggles. When the Party will be able to win under its influence the workers in the strategic plants, set these workers in motion, these struggles will serve as a lever for the penetration into other factories.

From almost its very inception our Party has put forward the need for rooting itself in the factories, mines and mills, converting each factory into a fortress of Communism—a stronghold of the Party. But while the Party has made some headway in this connection, has done some good work in the shops, in the main it still remains isolated from the most important sections of the American proletariat. It is this fundamental problem that faces the entire Party today—how can we root the Party in the important and decisive factories?

Must Root Party in Strategic Factories

Our Party cannot penetrate all the factories at once. We have to select the most strategic factories, those factories which have a key position in capitalist production, which embrace the largest number of workers, and carefully, persistently, tirelessly win these workers under our leadership.

It is of the most tremendous political importance that our Party shall therefore throw its forces in the first place into steel, mining, railroad and marine industries. And in these industries to select those factories in which through the systematic and planned activity of the Party, we can gain a foothold.

Need Permanent Organization in Basic Factories

In line with our final revolutionary perspectives, in line with winning the masses of American workers not only for immediate struggles, but for the struggle for power—these key industries, these strategic industrial cities and towns will be a determining factor in deciding the victory of the proletarian revolution. Unless permanent organizational connections are established with the workers in these industries, there can be no guarantee for a rapid development of our Party, nor that we will be able to effectively organize the resistance of the working class to combat and defeat the capitalist offensive.

This is the central line of the Open Letter. It is this fundamental problem which must be understood by every Party committee, by every Party member. It is in this direction that every task of the Party must be planned. Our Party membership has the necessary will, the determination, the prerequisites, to solve this fundamental problem. What is needed is more political clarity on this central task, more direct personal guidance and assistance from the higher committees, more careful and systematic planned work, more controlled Communist activity.

The exchange of the vital experiences of our Party in carrying out our work of concentration will be a medium through which to improve the work of our Party as a whole. “It must be absolutely clear that positive criticism and practical proposals, and comradely material exchange of political opinions, for improving the work of the Party are a vital necessity.” The critical examination of our work made by the Open Letter requires that every one of us approach our work with the same seriousness, but also requires an exchange of experiences and “political opinions” in the first place on our work among the workers in the factories, mines, railroads and ports.

Political Clarity and Collective Action Guarantee Carrying out Open Letter

This issue of the Party Organizer, which contains some of the best experiences of our Party, some of the best contributions to the examination of our Party work, by the comrades gathered at the Extraordinary Party Conference, should be carefully studied by every Party member. This issue of the Party Organizer should be one of the instruments through which to bring to every Party member the tremendous requirements demanded of our Party today, especially in the light of the present developments in the United States and the concerted attacks upon the masses of toilers contained in the Roosevelt program—in the National Industrial Recovery Act.

What is needed is collective action of the entire Party membership, from the top to the bottom. If every Party member, every Party committee will pull in one direction, the Party can and will carry out the tasks laid down in Open Letter.

The Party Organizer was the internal bulletin of the Communist Party published by its Central Committee beginning in 1927. First published irregularly, than bi-monthly, and then monthly, the Organizer was primarily meant for the Party’s unit, district, and shop organizers. The Organizer offers a much different view of the CP than the Daily Worker, including a much higher proportion of women writers than almost any other CP publication. Its pages are often full of the mundane problems of Party organizing, complaints about resources, debates over policy and personalities, as well as official numbers and information on Party campaigns, locals, organizations, and periodicals making the Party Organizer an important resource for the study and understanding of the Party in its most important years.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/party-organizer/v06n08-09-aug-sep-1933-Party%20Organizer.pdf