A report on the second international congress of the International Red Aid (M.O.P.R.), the Comintern affiliate whose task it was to defend and support class war prisoners and their dependents around the world.

‘The Results of the Conference of the International Red Aid’ by M. A. Kuschner from International Press Correspondence. Vol. 5 No. 42. May 7, 1925.

At the same time as the Plenum of the Enlarged Executive met, there took place in Moscow a conference of the representatives of the sections of the International Red Aid of the capitalist countries. The Conference had been convened by the Executive Committee of the International Red Aid. Responsible functionaries of the I.R.A. from 32 countries were present. Thanks to this fact the E.C. of the I.R.A. has obtained a more or less detailed survey of the work in the whole world. After the International Conference of the I.R.A. in July last year, this Conference was the first attempt, and it must be admitted a successful attempt, to have the representatives of the I.R.A. of the whole world gathered for the purpose of discussing the questions of the White Terror and the support given to the revolutionary fighters.

The representatives of the various sections emphasised that, thanks to the moral and material support of the I.R.A., the lives and the fighting spirit of the revolutionary fighters are being saved.

In analysing the work of the I.R.A. and emphasising the importance of supporting the prisoners of Capital, the participants at the Conference were unanimous as to the correctness of the slogans of the I.R.A. and the responsible role of their daily work and their written and verbal propaganda, which is based upon the description and the exposure of the horrors of the white terror. It was the unanimous opinion of all the representatives that the I.R.A. has become a powerful mass organisation of the working class.

The bourgeoisie has become aware of the fact that the slogans of the I.R.A. are easily understood by the masses. It has therefore declared war on the strongest sections of the I.R.A.

In Yugoslavia the I.R.A. organisations are being persecuted. The co-workers of the I.R.A. are arrested. The work of supporting those who are imprisoned and their families is extremely hampered by the bourgeois government. Under these circumstances it is very difficult for the I.R.A. to carry on activity on behalf of the revolutionary fighters in Yugoslavia. Nevertheless, the comrades do not lose courage and do not abandon their work.

In Poland the government not only persecutes the co-workers of the I.R.A. in order to punish them for the support they render the victims of the Polish torture chambers, but it also persecutes the members of the families who receive support from the I.R.A. The I.R.A. in Poland is therefore compelled to conduct its work underground.

The Austrian section is forbidden by the bourgeois government. The Austrian bourgeoisie considers the activity of the I.R.A. as dangerous to the State.

The I.R.A. has won popularity even in such countries as Mexico and South Africa. We even have our organisations in these countries.

The Conference of the I.R.A. laid down a number of daily task which arise from the continually growing white terror.

One of the most important questions in the sphere of organisations was the question of the active cadres of the I.R.A. sections in the capitalist countries. A practical solution of this question will be able to secure us further successes in the development and consolidation of our maintenance work on an international scale. One of the most important principles of organisation in the work of the I.R.A. is the greatest possible creative initiative and self-activity of the masses, both as regards the discovering of the best forms for rendering material and moral support to the revolutionary fighters, as well as regards the propaganda of the idea of proletarian solidarity. In this connection the Conference has approved the line of activity of the I.R.A. in the Soviet Union. The I.R.A. has succeeded in achieving considerable successes as regards supporting the revolutionary fighters, without increasing the paid staff, but by evoking a maximum of self-activity among the lower organisations.

In regard to the work of the I.R.A. in the capitalist countries, it was shown that considerable achievements have been made since the first International I.R.A. Conference, particularly in the sphere of extending the scope of the work, as well as in regard to the growth in the number of organisations, the strength of their membership, the increasing publishing activity the successful carrying out of campaigns etc.

At the same time the Conference pointed to a number of shortcomings in the work of individual sections: this applies before all to the failure to keep proper records as regards the number of those imprisoned and of the families requiring help, further, the belated information regarding the white terror; in some sections there is a tendency towards philanthropy and an inadequate development of the self-activity of the lower organisations etc.

The Conference expressed the view that it is necessary, in those countries where the I.R.A. is already a social mass organisation, to extend the work and, with the help of the I.R.A. nuclei, to transfer the centre of the work to the factories, the villages, the clubs, etc. The main slogans of the I.R.A. in this sphere must be: “not breadth but depth”, further the selection and the consolidation of active cadres, the creation of a small but adaptable apparatus, along with the maintenance of a line of work directed towards public initiative and broad self-activity of the masses. This applies before all to the I.R.A. sections of the Soviet Union.

All the I.R.A. sections in the capitalist countries must devote their chief attention to strengthening the organisations, to the building up of the work of all the nuclei and committees upon the basis of an open mass organisation. Efforts must be made to carry out mass recruiting of new members of the I.R.A., to extend the educational importance of the I.R.A. and to place the whole maintenance work upon a broader basis. One of the most serious tasks of the organisation is presented by the decisions as to a broader and systematic organisation of the work of defending political prisoners at their trials.

As the Conference attached great importance to the work of maintaining the children of revolutionary fighters, it approved the proposal of the Executive Committee as to the organisation of a number of I.R.A. children’s homes. In these homes the children of the imprisoned and fallen revolutionaries shall not only find shelter, but also receive education in the revolutionary class spirit.

The Conference also devoted attention to political emigrants and pointed out to the I.R.A. sections in the capitalist countries that it is necessary to regulate the stream of political emigrants and to extend the support of the political emigrants.

The Conference considered it necessary to transfer the experiences of the I.R.A. sections of the Soviet Union to all the other sections and to lay down for all sections the principle of minimum membership fees.

“The lowest possible membership fees for every individual worker and peasant, and at the same time the embracing of the broadest possible circles by the work of the I.R.A. this must be the fundamental line of the work of the sections in this important question.” (From the resolution of the Conference.)

These are in brief outline, the most important decisions of the Conference. We are firmly convinced that the workers and peasants of all countries will know how to strengthen the I.R.A. still further, in order to promote the work of supporting the revolutionary fighters. In this way they will prove by deeds that they are true to the slogans of international solidarity.

International Press Correspondence, widely known as”Inprecorr” was published by the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI) regularly in German and English, occasionally in many other languages, beginning in 1921 and lasting in English until 1938. Inprecorr’s role was to supply translated articles to the English-speaking press of the International from the Comintern’s different sections, as well as news and statements from the ECCI. Many ‘Daily Worker’ and ‘Communist’ articles originated in Inprecorr, and it also published articles by American comrades for use in other countries. It was published at least weekly, and often thrice weekly.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/inprecor/1925/v05n42-may-07-1925-Inprecor.pdf