rhe Little Red Library No. 6 ,^i Marx and Engels on ^ — Revolution in America '^ By HEINZ NEUMAN nia CENTS DAILY WORKm PUIIISNINO CONMNY i^^.> ^♦o New Numbers — (jj the Little Red Lihrary ^\ ill be iaaued in as rapid succeasi' as suitable materinJ irlJJ nlUnr TITLES NOW READY: Xo.l.— TRADE UNIONS IN AMERICA, by Wm. Z. Foster, J. P. Cannon and E. R. Browder. No. 2.— CLASS STRUGGLE vs. CLASS COLLAB- ORATION, by Earl R. Browder. No. 3.— P RINCIPLESOF COMMUNISM, by Frederick Engels. Translation by Max Bedacht. Xo. 4.— W O R K E R CORRE- SPONDENCE, by Wm. F. Dunne. Xo. 5.— POEMS FOR WORK- ERS, Edited by Man- uel Gomez. IN PREPARATION: THE DAMNED AGITAT- OR and Other Stories, by Michael Gold. THE WORLD RULE OF WALL STREET, hy Manuel Gomez. o r $1.00 Twelve copies will be sent of any single number — choice of numbers— op follow- ing numbers as soon as off the press. Marx and En gels on Revolution in America HEINZ NEUMANN 290 I^TRODICTIOX Marx and Engcls were not only the theoreticians huty in the first pJace, they were the leaders of the proletarian revolution. It is in the study of the conditions of the proletarian struggle and its vic- tory that they per f rated the science of Marxism, the science of the proletarian revolution. In the First Iiitcrnational these men satv an in- strument of proletarian struggle and leadership. Thru their theoretical works they supplied a guide to this leadership. Both Marx and Engcls equipped themselves in the most painstaking fashion with a thorough knowledge of the conditions in the vari- ous countries so that they might give authoritative advice and instruction to the leaders of the working class movement all over Europe. Even in their old age, they set themselves to master new languages to enable them to draw from the literature and journals of the respective countries a knowledge of their various conditions. And so we find displayed in their advice and instruction to their followers an intimate knowledge of the subjective and objective conditions of the labor movement, a knowledge that toould surprise any native student. The body of this little booklet is made up of ex- cerpts from letters written by Marx and Engcls on conditions in the United ^States. To a large ex- tent these conditions still prevail, at least in so far as they deal with the subjective factors of the pro- letarian revolution. The ideology prevailing among the Anicricdn workers in those days showed a much (/rcdfcr resistance to counter-acting jorces than Mar.r and Engels had hoped. Marx and Enr/els )n is judged the tempo of the process of dissipation of the illusions obsessing the American tvorking class hut they were entirely correct in their esti- mation of the forces and methods that will finally destroy them. All these letters and quotations speak for them- selves. But a few words must he said as to their origin. The heroic struggle of the Paris proletariat for the Commune in 1811 had driven home to the ruling classes of those days the reality of the danger of a proletarian revolution. No wonder, then, that, to their ever-jyresent hatred of the revolutionary as pirations of their icage-slaves, they nmo added a haunting dread. The International Workingmen's Association (The First International) came in for a full share of this hatred and fear. The place of the '^Zinoviev letters^' of today was taken in those days hy letters from that "'arch fiend/' Karl Marx. It is hut little known today that in the first tele- graphic reports of the Chicago conflagration (Oc- toher, 1871), it teas not Mrs. Kelly's cow that caused it, hut — the International Workingmen-s Associa- tion. The General Council of that body was fully justified ivhen it sarcastically complained that the tornado devastating the West Indies about the same time was not booked to its account. The defeat of the Commune brought the inner differences of the International to a head. Al though the Centralists under the leadership of Marx and En gels defeated the Autonomists hehind Michael Bakunin at the Congress of the Interna- tional at The Hague in September , 1812, yet it he- came clear that only radical measures could save it from complete dissolution. In fact, neither Marx nor Engels had any hopes that it would he saved. But they wanted to secure it an honorable death. With the General Council in London it was certain that the Blanquists would dominate it. To estab- lish the headquarters in any other European capi- tal icas impossible under the existing conditions of general reaction. So Marx insisted on the removal of the General Council to yeio York. The center of the General Council in New York became its local leader, F. A. Sorge. F. A. Sorge had taken an active part in the revo- lution of 18j8 in Germany. For some time there- after he lived iv exile in Switzerland. In 1851 he went to London where he became acquainted with the Communist Club and with Karl Marx. When later he emigrated to America he settled in New York where, in 1857, he founded the Communist Club which later became the American Section of the First International. Sorge died in Hoboken, in 1906. His whole life he had devoted to the revolu- tionary movement of the proletariat and the Ameri- can movement, especially, is indebted to him for its first Marxian education. The removal of the General Council of the Inter- national to New York did not terminate the leader- ship of Marx and Engels. Both kept in close touch u^ith affairs and numerous letters full of advice, in- structions, and suggestions, written by both Marx (tnd IJn (/<'!. s to Sorfjc, test if }j to this. The need for OTH England and America have always offered a number of particularly knotty problems for the exponents of Marxism. In practice, both 15 countries were characterized by the absence of a revolutionary workers' party; in tlie theoretical field, they led Marx and Engels to utter the well- known epigram — that the proletarian revolution could take place in a peaceful manner in England and America. Kautsky employed this phrase against Lenin in the polemic about the dictator- ship of the proletariat. Lenin replied in his pam- phlet against Kautsky: "In the 'seventies, was there anything which made England and America . . . exceptions? It should be a matter of course for anyone in the least degree acquainted with the requirements of science in the field of historical problems that this question must be raised. Not to put this question signifies falsifying science and being satisfied with sophistry. If this question is raised, however, there can be no doubt of the answer; the revolotionary dictatorship of the proletariat signifies the rule of force against the bour- geois. The necessity of this rule of force is, as Marx and Engels repeatedly and at length. , . pointed out, primarily conditioned by the existence of militar- ism and of bureaucracy. At a time when Marx made this statement, in the 'seventies of the nineteenth century, these institutions did not exist in England and America! (However, they are now to be found In England as well as in America)." The causes of the late development of these typical phenomena of the capitalist state in Eng- land were the existence of the industrial monop- oly and the century-old tradition of parliamen- tarism. In America, the historical period of feud- alism had never existed; America has been demo- 15 cratic from the very beginning of its existence as an independent state. While in England capi- talist monopoly delayed the development of a bm-eaucratic-militaristic state machine, in Amer- ica the diametrically opposite cause, the imma- turity of capitalist development, acted in the same direction. Engels was already able in the 'eight- ies to state that on the one hand England's indus- trial monopoly had been shaken to its founda- tions while on the other hand, the United States was changing from an agrarian country into an industrial power. Thus, almost simultaneously, the harmonizing of the most developed and the least developed capitalist countries took place, with the general legal line of development of the bourgeois state as analyzed by Marx. The pre- mises for the "exception" to the Marxian theory of the state, thus vanished. In a similar fashion, but much more slowly, the approach of the American labor movement to the European type is in process. The British worker already began this assimilation to the proletarian class struggle of the continent in the 'nineties. At that time Engels established the fact of the development of a "new unionism." This new tendency in the British labor movement required forty years to mature — its most recent fruits are the radicalization of the British trade unions through the Purcell group. The class struggle of the American proletariat has had to travel a much more difficult path. The after-effects of the downfall of an industrial monopoly were easier to overcome than the influence of bourgeois ideol- 17 ogy in America, the derivation of which from the feudal period is not evident to the American work- ers in consequence of the lack of an American feudalism. The penetrating eye of Engels sees in this specific characteristic of America's history the reason for American workers' well-known "contempt for theory," which was one of the greatest obstacles to the formation of a revolu- tionary mass party. He writes to Sorge on Sep- tember 16, 1886: "In a country as elemental as America, which has developed in a purely bourgeois fashion without any feudal past, but has taken over from England a mass ideology surviving from the feudal pariod, such as English common law, religion and sectarianism, and in which the necessity of practical work and of the concentration of capital has produced a general contempt for all theories, which is only now beginning to disappear in educated and scientific circles, — in such a country the people must come to realize their own social interests by making mistake after mistake. Nor will the workers be spared that; the confusion of trade unions, socialists, Knights of Labor, etc. will continue for some time to come, and they will only learn by injuring themselves. But the chief thing is that they have been set in motion. . ." In another letter, dated February 8, 1890, Engels draws the conclusion that this "elemental conservative" ideology of the American workers can be overcome "only through experience," and only through getting in contact with the trade unions: 18 "The people of Schleswig-Holstein and their des- cendants in England and America, cannot be converted by preaching; this stiff-necked and conceited crew must learn through their own experience. They are doing that from year to year, but they are elementally conservative — just because America is so purely bour- geois, has absolutely no feudal past, and is therefore, proud of its purely bourgeois organization — and there- fore, will only be freed through experience from old traditional intellectual rubbish. Hence with trade unions and such like, must be the beginning, if there is to be a mass movement, and every step forward must be forced upon them by a defeat. But, however, after the first step beyond the bourgeois viewpoint has been made, things will move faster, just like everything in America. . . and then the foreign element in the nation will make its influence felt by its greater mobility." From the rise of a mass movement, therefore, Engels hopes not only for the revolutionization of the "native" workers, but at the same time the overcoming of a sectarian spirit and of doctrinair- ism amongst the foreign-born proletarians. The shifting of the center of gravity to the native workers in the trade unions is in no way intended to hmit the historical role of the "foreign ele- ment," but to extend it by the exploitation of the latter's "greater mobility" and by linking to- gether the two elements of the American working class. Engels considered the antagonism between the native-born and the immigrants one of the princi- pal obstacles to the development of a mass party. 19 The danger of this antagonism consists in the fact that it coincides with the class antagonism be- tween the labor aristocracy and the mass of un- skilled wage workers. The connection of the na- tional with the social distinctions within the working class is for him the most Important reason for the slow development of the American labor movement. "It appears to me that your great obstacle in Ame- rica is the privileged position of the native-born work- er. Until 1848, a native-born, permanent working class was the exception rather than the rule. The scattered beginnings of the latter in the East and in the cities could still hope to become farmers or members of the bourgeoisie. Such a class has now developed and has organized itself to a large degree in trade unions. But it still assumes an aristocratic position, and leaves (as it may) the ordinary, poor'y-paid trades to the immi- grants, of wtiom only a small percentage enter the aristocratic trade unions. These immigrants are, how- ever, divided into nationalities, which do not under- stand one another, and for the most part do not under- stand the language of the country. And your bour- geoisie understands even better than the Austrian government, how to play off one nationality against another. . . so that, I believe, there exist in New York differences in the standard of living of the work- ers such as are out of the question anywhere else. . ." In the same letter to Schlueter, dated March 30, 1892, Engels explains the rhythm of the American labor movement through the coincidence of this national and social line of demarcation within the proletariat: 20 "In suoh a country repeated starts, followed by just as certain relapses, are unavoidable. The only differ- ence is that the starts grow more and more vehement, and the relapses less and less paralyzing, and that on the whole things do go forward. But I consider one thing certain: the purely bourgeois foundation without any fraud behind it, the correspondingly gigantic energy of development which manifests itself even in the in- sane exaggeration of the present protective tariff sys- tem, will some day bring about a change, which will astonish the whole world. When the Americans once begin, they will do so with an energy and virulence, In comparison with which we in Europe will be chil- dren." Therefore, Engels considers as of the greatest importance, not the formation of a purely immi- grant party, but ''of a real mass movement amongst the English speaking population:" "For the first time there exists a real mass move- ment amongst the English-speaking (Engels refers to the preparation for strikes to obtain the eight-hour day and to the enormous growth of the Order of the Knights of Labor in spring, 1886 — just before the bomb-throwing affair in Chicago. H. N.) It is un- avoidable that this at the beginning moves hesitating- ly, clumsily, unclearly and unknowingly. That will all be cleared up; the movement will and must de- velop through its own mistakes. Theoretical ignor- ance is the characteristic of all young peoples, but so is practical speed of development. "Just as all preaching is of no avail in England, until the actual necessity is at hand, so too in Amer 21 ica. And this necessity is present in America and is being realized. The entrance of the masses of native workers into the movement in America is for me one of the great events of 1886. . ." (Letter to Sorge dated April 29, 1886). In his correspondence with the American So- cialists, which lasted for decades, Engels repeat- edly emphasized that the German Marxist Social- ist Labor Party is of much less importance than the development of a mass party of the native- born workers, even if the latter is not consciously Marxist. On the other hand he rephed to the ob- jections which were already then raised by the German immigrants, to the effect that he was thus "denying the role of the Party," and was "showing preference for the 100 per cent Ameri- cans," with the sentences of the above-quoted letter; that amongst the conscious Marxian immi- grants, there still remains "A nucleus, which retains the theoretical insight in- to the nature and the course of the entire movement, keeps in progress the process of fermentation, and finally again comes to the top." Engels writes even more lucidly to Mrs. Wisch- newetsky on February 9, 1887: "As soon as there was a national American work- ing class movement independent of the Germans, my standpoint was clearly indicated by the facts of the case. The great national movement, no matter what its first form, is the real starting point of American working class development; if the Germans join it 22 in order to help it or to hasten its development, in the right direction, they may do a deal of good and play a decisive part in it: if they stand aloof, they will dwindle down into a dogmatic sect, and will be brushed aside as people who do not understand their own principles." The problems of the mass party and of its re- lation to the trade unions, is dealt with by En- gels in close connection with the, at that time, equally acute trade union problem in England. In his letter to Sorge dated December 7, 1889, he reminds the American socialists of the Hyndman Social-Democratic Federation in England — which should serve them as a warning — which was ''Marxist," it is true, but which became a sect in consequence of its fanatic aversion to the trade union movement: "Here it is demonstrated that a great nation can- not have something hammered into it in such a simple dogmatic and doctrinaire fashion, even if one has the best theory, as well as trainers who have grown up in these special living conditions and who are relative- ly better than those in the S. L. P. The movement is finally under way, and, as I believe, for good. But not directly socialists; and those persons amongst the British who have best understood our theory, are out- side of it; Hyndman, because he is an incorrigible brawler, and Bax, because he is a savant without prac- tical experience. The movement is first of all formally a trade union movement, but entirely different from the old trade unions of the skilltd laborers, of the labor aristocracy. "These people are attacking the problem in an altogether different way, are leading much more co- lossal masses into battle, are shaking the foundations of society much more profoundly, and are making much more far-reaching demands; the eight-hour day, a general federation of all organizations, complete solidarity. . . moreover, these people consider their demands of the moment as only provisional, although they themselves do not yet know the goal towards which they are striving. But this vague notion is deeply enough embedded in them to influence them to elect only declared socialists as their leaders. Just as all the others, they must learn through their own experience, and through the consequences of their own mistakes. But that will not last very long since they, in contradiction to the old trade unions, deceive with scornful laughter any reference to the identity of the interests of capital and labor." Eighteen years prior to this letter, Karl Marx wrote in his letter to F. Bolte, a member of the New York Provisional Federal Council, the fol- lowing famous passage: "The International was founded in order to set the real organization of the working class for the strug- gle in the place of the socialist or semi-socialist sects: The original statutes as well as the inaugural address show that at a glance. On the other hand, the Interna- tional would not have been able to maintain itself, if the course of history had not already destroyed sectar- ianism. The development of socialist sectarianism has 24 always been inversely proportional to that of the real labor movement. As long as the sects are justified (historically), the working class is still not ripe enough for an independent historical movement. As soon as it reaches this maturity, all sects are essentially reac- tionary. Meanwhile, there has been repeated in the history of the International what history proves every- where. The obsolete endeavors to re-establish and to maintain itself within the newly gained form. "And the history of the International was an inces- sant struggle of the General Council against the sects and the endeavors of amateurs, who try to maintain themselves against the real movement of the working class within the International." (Letter to Bolte, dated November 23, 1871.) As examples of these sectarian tendencies, which time and again attempt "to re-establish and to maintain themselves" within the Interna- tional Working Men's Association, Marx men- tions the Proudhonists in France, the Lassaleans in Germany, and the Bakuninists in Italy and Spain. He adds in the same letter: "It is a matter of course that the General Council does not support in America what it combats in Europe. The decisions 1, 2 and 3 and iX now give the New York Committee the legal weapon to put an end to all sectarianism and amateur groups, and in case of need to expel them." The decisions, 2 and 3 of the London Confer- ence of the I. W. M. A., forbid all sectarian names of the sections, branches, etc., and provide for their exclusive designation as branches or sec- 25 tions of the International Working Men's Associa- tion with the addition of the name of the locality. Decision IX emphasizes the necessity of the poh- tical effectiveness of the working class, and de- clares that the latter's economic movement and political activity are inseparably united. This dialectic relationship of the economic and the political aspects of the labor movement, were already at that time one of the chief problems in the tactical discussion in America. In a post- script to the same letter to Bolte, Marx again de- fines the inseparable unity of the economic and the political struggle in one of those famous pas- sages, which are again and again quoted by Eu- ropean Marxists, but which today very few know are written for the socialists of America, just like Marx's criticism of the sects. "N. B. to political movement: the political move- ment of the working class naturally has as its goal the conquest of political pov/er, and to that end is neces- sary of course, a previous organization of the working class, developed to a certain degree, which arises of itself from the latter's economic struggles. "On the other hand, however, every movement in which the working class as a class faces the ruling classes and attempts to force its v/ill upon them by pressure from without, is a political movement and in this manner there everywhere arises from the scat- tered economic movement of the workers a political movement, that is, a movement of the class, in order to fight for its interests in a general form, in a form which possesses general, socially compulsory force. When these movements are subordinate to a certain 26 previous organization, tliey are just as much means towards the development of the latter organization. "Where the working class is not yet sufficiently ad- vanced in its organization, in order to undertake a de- cisive campaign against the collective power, i. e., the political power, of the ruling classes, it must under all circumstances be trained for this by Incessant agitation against the hostile political attitude of the ruling class towards us. Failing, it remains a play- thing in the latter's hands . . ." IV. The Formation of an Independent Working Class Party. AS early as July 25, 1877, Marx wrote to Engels; "What do you think of the workers of the United States? This first explosion against the associated oligarchy of capital, which has arisen since the Civil War, will naturally again be suppressed, but can very well form THE POINT OF ORIGIN FOR THE CON- STITUTION OF AN EARNEST WORKERS' PARTY. The policy of the new president will make the NEGROES, and the great expropriations of land (exactly 'the fertile land) in favor of railways, min- ing, etc., companies will make THE PEASANTS OF THE WEST, who are already very dissatisfied, ALLIES OF THE WORKERS. So that a nice sauce is being stirred over there, and the transfer- ence of the center of the International to the United States may obtain a very remarkable post festum opportuneness." 27 Marx thus demanded, in consequence of the changes which had taken place in the United States since the Civil War, the "constitution of an earnest workers' party." In this connection it is of great importance that he emphasized the spe- cial role of the farmers in view of the agrarian crisis and of the land expropriation In direct con- nection with tiie formation of the mass party of the proletariat. A decade later Engels touches upon the same problem in his letter to Sorge dated November 29, 1886. He clearly and unmistakably demands that the American socialists work within the Knights of Labor to arouse the masses. Despite his desig- nating this order as one of "confused principles and a ridiculous organization," he demands that the American Marxists "build up within this still wholly plastic mass a nucleus of persons," who will have to take over after the inevitable split of this "Third Party" the leadership of the latter's proletarian elements: "To tell the truth, the Germans have not been able to use their theory as a lever to set the Ameri- can masses in motion. To a great extent they do not understand the theory themselves and treat it in a doctrinaire and dogmatic fashion as if it were some- thing which must be committed to memory, but which then suffices for all purposes without further ado. FOR THEM IT IS A CREDO, NOT A GUIDE FOR AC- TION . . . hence the American masses must seek their own road and APPEAR for the moment to have found it in the K. of L. whose confused prin- ciples and ridiculous organization APPEAR to con- 28 form to their own confusion. However, a^'^ording to what I hear, the K. of L. are A REAL POWER in New England and in the West, and are becoming more so day by day as a result of the brutal opposi- tion of the capitalists. I believe that it is necessary to work within it, TO BUILD UP WITHIN THIS STILL WHOLLY PLASTIC MASS A NUCLEUS OF PERSONS, UNDERSTANDING THE MOVEMENT AND ITS GOALS, AND THUS OF THEMSELVES TAKE OVER THE GUIDANCE OF AT LEAST A SECTION IN THE COMING UNAVOIDABLE SPLIT OF THE PRESENT 'ORDER.' . . . The first great step, which is of primary importance in every coun- try first entering the movement, is always THE CONSTITUTION OF THE WORKERS AS AN IN- DEPENDENT POLITICAL PARTY NO MATTER OF WHAT KIND, SO LONG AS IT IS ONLY A DIS- TINCT WORKERS' PARTY . . . That the first pro- gram of this Party is still confused and extremely deficient, that it sets up H. George as its leader, are unavoidable evils, which, however, are only tem- porary. The masses must have the opportunity and the time to develop themselves; and they only have this opportunity as soon as they have their own movement — no matter in what form, if only it be their own movement — in which they will be driven forward by their own mistakes and will grow wise through Injury to themselves." Engels compares — in 1886 — the role of the Marxists in the American Labor movement with the role which the "Kommunistenbund" had to play amongst the workers' societies before 1848. At the same time, however, he points out the dif- 29 ferences in order to avoid the opportunist inter- pretation of any schematic comparison of the sit- uation of the American labor movement at that time with "the situation in Europe prior to 1848": "Only that things will now move forward In America INFINITELY MORE RAPIDLY; that the movement should have obtained such success in the elections after only eight months' existence is en- tirely unprecedented. And what is still lacking will be supplied by the bourgeois; nowhere in the whole world are they so brazen-faced and tyrannical as over there . . . Where the battle is fought by the bourgeoisie with such weapons, the decision arrives quickly . . ." In his letter to Mrs. Wischnewetsky dated De- cember 28, 1886, Engels again emphasized that the American Marxists should not poch pooh the proletarian "Third Party" from without, but rev- olutionize it from within." He again uses un- minced words in condemning the German sectar- ians in America and their dogma of the "role of the party" w^hich in reality, then as now, renders impossible for the party to fulfill its role in the proletarian revolution by separating it from the masses. The remarks made by Engels in this passage on the dialectic-materialist conception of the role of theory are moreover the direct point of departure from which Lenin developed his doc- trine of the importance of theory in the proleta- rian revolution: "It is far more important that the movement should spread, proceed harmoniously, take root and EM- 30 BRACE as much as possible THE WHOLE AMERI- CAN PROLETARIAT, than that it should start and proceed from the beginning on theoretically perfectly correct lines. There is no better road to theoretical clearness of comprehension than to learn by one's own mistakes, 'durch Schaden klug werden.'* And for a whole large class, there is no other road, especially for a nation so eminently practical and so contemptu- ous of theory as the Americans. THE GREAT THING IS TO GET THE WORKING CLASS TO MOVE AS A CLASS; that once obtained, they will soon find the right direction, and all who resist. . . will be left In the cold with small sects of their own. Therefore I think also the K. of L. a most important factor in the movement WHICH OUGHT NOT TO BE POOH- POOHED FROM WITHOUT BUT TO BE REVOLU- TIONIZED FROM WITHIN, and I consider that many of the Germans then have made a grievous mistake when they tried, in the face of a mighty and glorious movement not of their own creation, to make of their Imported and not always understood theory a kind of alleinseligmachendts** dogma and to keep aloof from any movement, which did not accept that dogma. Our theory is not a dogma but the exposition of a process of evolution, and that process involves successive phases. To expect that the Americans will start with the full consciousness of the theory worked out In older industrial countries is to expect the impossible What the Germans ought to do is to act up to their own theory — if they understand It, as we did in 1845 * 'Grow wise through injury to oneself.' ** Claiming the monopoly of all means of grace. 31 and 1848 — to go in for any real general working class movement. ACCEPT ITS FAKTISCHEN*** START- ING POINT as such and work It gradually up to the theoretical level by pointing out how every mistake made, every reverse suffered, was a necessary conse- quence of mistaken theoretical orders in the original program: they ought, in the words of the Communist Manifesto: IN DER GEGENWART DER BEWEGUNG DIE ZUKUNFT DER BEWEGUNG REPRESENTIE- REN."**" But above all give the movement time to consolidate, do not make THE INEVITABLE CONFU- SION OF THE FIRST START worse confounded by forcing down people's throats things which, at present, they cannot properly understand but which they soon will learn. A MILLION OR TWO WORKINGMEN'S VOTES NEXT NOVEMBER FOR A BONAFIDE WORKINGMEN'S PARTY IS WORTH INFINITELY MORE AT PRESENT THAN A HUNDRED THOU- SAND VOTES FOR A DOCTRINALLY PERFECT PLATFORM. The very first attempt — soon to be made if the movement progresses — to consolidate the mov- ing masses on a national basis — will bring them all face to face, Georgites, K. of L., Trade Unionists, and all; . . . then will be the time for them to criticize the views of the others and thus, by showing up the inconsistencies of the various standpoints, to bring them gradually to understand their own actual posi- tion, the postion made for them by the correlation of capital and wage labor. But anything that might de- *** Actual. **** Communist Manifesto: To represent the future of the movement in its present. 32 lay or prevent that NATIONAL CONSOLIDATION OF THE WORKINGMEN'S PARTY — on no matter what- platform — I should consider a great mistake. . ." In another letter to Mrs. Wischnewetsky, En- gels speaks of the necessity of first, and most important of all, "gaining the ear of the working class." He then develops this idea as follows: "I think all our practice has shown that it is pos- sible to work along with the general movement of the working class AT EVERY ONE OF ITS STAGES WITHOUT GIVING UP OR HIDING OUR OWN DIS- TINCT POSITION AND EVEN ORGANIZATION, and I am afraid that if the German Americans choose a dif- ferent line they will commit a great mistake." (Letter of January 27, 1887.) It should be noted that Engels wrote these lines just at the moment of the disgraceful behavior of the K. of L. towards the Chicago prisoners. H. George founded at that time in New York a week- ly in which he disavowed the New York Socialists and refused to do anything in favor of the an- archists condemned in Chicago. Without hesi- tating a moment Engels supported Aveling, the son-in-law of Marx, who even in this situation bitterly fought the sectarian tactics of the Na- tional Executive of the Sociahst Labor Party. The viewpoint of Marx and Engels in the ques- tion of the American labor party is thus absolute- ly clear; they demanded of the American Marxists the formation of a national working-class party in America at any price, without regard to its pro- gram so long as the latter included the class 33 struggle, but with the complete maintenance of the political independence and the organization of the Marxist nucleus with the great mass party. V. The Role of the Marxist Nucleus Within the Working Class Party. AXT'E have already pointed out that Marx and En- gels never wanted to give up the mainte- nance of a real Marxist party of the most class- conscious and progressive elements of the native and foreign-born in the working class within the great mass party. For thirty years, in their cor- respondence with the American Socialists, they rejected any endeavor to set up a mechanical dis- tinction between the Marxist party and the labor party, as two opposites which exclude each other. The sectarians in the German S. L. P., who ac- cused them of "liquidating the leading role of the Marxist party," were criticized unmercifully by them. More than that, year after year they pointed out through the results of the progress- ing labor movement in America that the leading role of the Marxist party can be best realized and can only be realized within the great revolution- ary mass party. Only when the Marxist — or put- ting it in modern phraseology — the Bolshevik party fulfills this task within an extensive prole- tarian mass party — a labor party — can the his- torically conditioned backwardness of the Ameri- can movement be overcome by the practical ex- perience of the masses themselves, and can the 34 differences and antagonisms within the working class be settled. In his letter dated November 29, 1886, Engels formulates the task of the Marxist party, "to build up within this still wholly plastic mass a nucleus of persons who understand the movement and its goals ''and which later takes over the real leadership of the movement, as fol- lows: "But just now it is doubly necessary for us to have a few people who are thoroughly versed In THEORY and well-tested TACTICS ... for the Americans are for good historical reasons far behind in all theoretical questions, have taken over no med- iaeval institutions from Europe, but have taken masses of mediaeval tradition, English common (feudal) law, superstition, spiritualism, in short, all the nonsense which did not directly hurt business and which is now very useful for stupefying the masses. And if THEORETICALLY CLEAR FIGHTERS are available, who can predict for them the consequence of their own mistakes, who can make clear for them that every movement, wh-o". does not incessantly fix its eye upon the destruction of the wage system as its final goal must go astray and fail, many mis- takes can be avoided and the process can be consid- erably shortened." (Letter to Sorge dated Novem- ber 29, 1886). In the letter of January 27, 1887 (quoted be- fore), Engels outlined the fundamental tactical policy of the American Marxists: working along with the general movement of the working class at every one of its stages without giving up or hiding their own political position and organiza- tion. 35 In his letter to Sorge dated February 8, 1890, he denotes as their task ''to take over through their superior theoretical insight and experience the leading role" in the masses, as events them- selves drive the American proletariat forward. And he adds, in order to reassure Sorge, who fears for the preservation of the past results of the pure Marxist party: "You will then see that your wprk of years has not been in vain." Although Engels time and again points out that the working class can only learn from its own ex- periences, he is far from becoming a worshipper of spontaneity. In the same letter, he tells the American Marxists in connection with the suc- cesses of the miners' movement in 1890 in Ger- many: "Facts must hammer it into people's heads and then things move faster, MOST RAPIDLY OF COURSE, WHERE THERE ALREADY IS AN ORGANIZED AND THEORETICALLY TRAINED SECTION OF THE PROLETARIAT. . ." Finally, taking up the specific conditions in America, he foresees that in the great labor party, principally composed of native workers, "the foreign element in the nation will make its influence felt through its greater mobility." This foreign element, however, comprised and com- prises of necessity in America the maiority of the pure Marxist party. It is just the Communists' confining themselves to the ranks of their own supporters and those who are already in whole- 36 hearted sympathy with them, it is just the renun- ciation of the formation of a mass party which leads to the spontaneity theory, to "Khvostism," to the hindrance of the Communist task of taking the leadership of the entire class in the revolu- tion. VI. The Role of the Farmers. TN his letter of July 25, 1877, Marx predicted the role of the farmers, who are being revolution- ized in consequence of the agrarian crisis and their expropriation through big business, as that of the allies of the working class. He designated the revolutionization of the farmers as well as the beginning of the Negroes' awakening "to favor- able circumstances" for the "constitution of an earnest workers' party." On the other hand En- gels proves in his letter to Sorge dated January 6, 1892, that the American farmers as a class have not the strength for the formation of an indepen- dent political party. Every endeavor to form an independent farmers' party in America must of necessity make this party the plaything of petty bourgeois political speculators and consequently an appendage of the two capitalist parties : "The small farmers and petty bourgeoisie will scarcely ever be able to form a strong party. They are composed of too rapidly changing elements — the farmer is often a wandering farmer, who cultivates two, three or four farms in different states and terri- tories one after the other; immigration and bank- ruptcy promote the change of personnel in both; eco- 37 nomic dependence upon creditors also hinders inde- pendence — but to make up for that they are excellent material for politicians, who speculate with their dis- satisfaction in order to sell them later to one of the big parties." The oppression of farmers by immigration has meanwhile disappeared, but to compensate for that, bankruptcies have multiphed. Under any circumstances, the fact remains that the working farmers in America can never defend their class interests against finance capital through an in- dependent party. They can only fight the bour- geoisie and its big parties under the leadership of a mass party of the American workers, which in turn is led by a Marxist party. VII. The Modern Development of America. TX the third preface to the Communist Manifesto, written in 1883, Engels pointed out the change in America's position in the capitalist w^orld. Marx and Engels often spoke in the last few years of their lives of the predominating participation of the United States in the fight for breaking British monopoly. In one passage of his corre- spondence, which has received altogether too lit- tle attention, Engels speaks directly of the pos- sibility of an American monopoly, of the coming domination of American capitalism over the whole world. In his letter to Sorge dated Janu- ary 7, 1888, he speaks of the danger of the Eu- ropean war which Bismarck threatened to bring 38 about. "Ten to fifteen million combatants" would take part. "There would be devastation, similar to that in the Thirty Years' War." "If the war would be fought to a finish without in- ner movements, a state of exhaustion would result such as Europe has not experienced for two hundred years. AMERICAN INDUSTRY WOULD THEN WIN ALL ALONG THE LINE AND WOULD SET US ALL BEFORE THE ALTERNATIVE: either a relapse to pure agriculture for our own needs (American grain forbids any other kind), or — SOCIAL TRANSFORM- ATION." Engels thus foresees the imperialist World War and the resulting world monopoly of American imperialism. His prediction that under these cir- cumstances Europe would relapse into pure agri- culture has not been literally fulfilled. Its place has been taken by the specifically imperialist method of pillaging and subjugating old European industrial countries through the loans and in- vestments of the Dawes system. The historical perspective sketched by Engels, however, remains unchanged; the monopoly of American finance capital is not to be compared with the former monopoly of British industrial capital. It cannot maintain itself for a long period of time; it is no monopoly in the true sense of the word. It must break down in consequence of the unequal de- velopment of the various imperialist powers, of the competition of British finance capital, and principally as a result of the rebellion of the work- ing masses in Europe and the colonies. In the words of Engels, it sets "us all before the alterna- 39 Live" of the proletarian revolution. Even more clearly than the development of American imperialism did Engels foresee the fu- ture course of the American labor movement. He knew that the progress of capitalist production must unavoidably lead to the revolutionization of the American labor movement: "As for those nice Americans who think their country exempt from the consequences of fully ex- panded capitalist production, they seem to live in bliss- ful ignorance of the fact that sundry states, Massa- chusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, etc., have such an institution as a Labor Bureau from the re- ports of which they might learn something to the contrary." Engels sees the difficulties in the path of the de- velopment of the revolutionary labor movement. After the defeat of the Knights of Labor move- ment, he writes to Sorge on October 24, 1891, as follows : "I readily believe that the movement is again at a low ebb. With you everything happens with great ups and downs. But each up wins definite terrain and thus one does go forward. Thus for instance, the tremen- dous wave of the Knights of Labor and the strike movement from 1886 to 1888, despite all defeats, did bring us forward. There is an altogether different spirit in the masses than before. The next time even more ground will be won. But with all that, the stand- ard of living of the native American working man is considerably higher than that of the British and that alone is sufficient to allot him a back seat for some 40 i time to come; added to that, immigration, competition, and other things. When the point is reached, things will move forward over there with colossal rapidity and energy, but until then, some time may have to elapse." The chief obstacles, the high standard of living of the majority of native workers and the compe- tition caused by the incessant stream of immi- grants have been eliminated to a certain degree. The World War brought with it the increase of wages of all unskilled workers in America. The economic crisis after the war led to radical reduc- tions of wages not only among the foreign-born, but in even greater degree among the native workers. The competition of foreign workers has been considerably reduced by the restrictions up- on immigration. Another obstacle, the diversion of the workers from the class struggles by the hope of obtaining land, has for the most part been removed by the disappearance of the possibilities of free settle- ment. There exists '* a generation of native-born workers who have nothing more to expect from speculation:" "Land is the basis of speculation, and the American possibility of and craze for speculation is the chief in- fluence of the bourgeoisie. Only when we have a gen- eration of native-born workers who have nothing more to expect from speculation, will we have firm ground under our feet in America." (Letter to Sorge dated January 6, 1892.) Engels time and again emphasized that the 41 revolutionization of the American labor move- ment, which he foresaw as unavoidable, would begin under tremendous difficulties and would ex- perience incessant ups and downs, but would then develop *'with colossal rapidity and energy." His letter to Schlueter dated March 30, 1892, con- cludes with the sentence: "When the Americans once begin, they will do so with an energy and virulence, in comparison with which we in Europe will be children." VIII. The International Role of the American Labor Movement. JN his letter to Mrs. Wischnewetzky dated June 3, 1886, Engels writes: ". . . one thing is certain: ths American work- ing class is moving, and no mistake. And after a few false starts, they will get into the right track soon enough. This appearance of the Americans upon the scene I consider ONE OF THE GREATEST EVENTS OF THE YEAR. "What the breakdown of RUSSIAN CZARISM would be for the great military monarchs of Europe — THE SNAPPING OF THEIR MAINSTAY— that is for the bourgeoisie of the whole world THE BREAKING OUT OF CLASS WAR in America. For America after all was the idea! of all the bourgeoisie: a country rich, vast, expanding with purely bourgeois institutions unleav- ened by feudal remnants or monarchial traditions and without a permanent and hereditary proletariat. Here 42 every one could become, if not a capitalist, at all events an independent man, producing or trading, with his own means, for his own account. And because there were not, as yet, classes with opposing interests, our — and your — bourgeois thought that America stood above class antagonisms and struggles. The delusion has now broken down, the last bourgeois Paradise on earth is fast changing into a Purgatorio, and can only be prevented from becoming like Europe, ?.n Inferno, by the go-ahead pace at which the development of the newly-fledged proletariat of America will take place." This analysis of the international significance of the proletarian class struggle in America holds true even today, stronger and more vital than ever. There already exists in America a ''stand- ing hereditary proletariat." The illusion of the bourgeois paradise has already been dissipated. The outbreak of the class war in America, its leadership by a revolutionary mass party, at the head of which the American Communists will place themselves, and the inception of revolution- ary mass struggles in America, would in reality signify the^ "snapping of the mainstay" of imperi- alism throughout the world. THE END. 43 University of California Library Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. JAN 2 3 1998 OCT 51997 I a APR 9^^^^ UC SOUTHERN RCGiONAl u.'BPAR, FA B 000 002 215 2 Proletarian Authors — Will find in the Little Red Llhrary a rare opportumty for their development. Manuscripts on amj subject tmll he given most careful attention: Trade Unions, Communism, History, Poetry, Literature, . \ rt, rfc. The only requirements are these: the manuscript must he definitely proleta- rian in character and treatment; it must contain from 10,000 to 15,000 words; it must he typewritten and stamps must he included for return postage if not ac- cepted. Address: THE DAILY WORKER PUB. CO., 1113 W. Washington Blvd., CHICAGO, ILL. IittfeMfibiaiv' All the booklets of th'- -"»^io« ;l will carry carefully selet UniverQifTr ^* / terial on all phases of tf ""J; ®^Slty of ( movement: T r a d eT Southern Re Communlsmui^ti^jg^! Librarv V^, tory. Literature, Art g^ ^^^ ^^^aiy |*a( subjects — ^to form a lifllrel^bfary^ of real value to Labor. New numbers will be Issued steadily, i