THE WORLD-WIDE DANGERS of the communist conspiracy started with the Russian revolution in 1917. There and then, for the first time, a communist party seized control of a nation. Almost immediately this conspiracy spread to the United States, seeking to take root by undermining our institutions and traditions.
The Communist Party, USA, first emerged in Chicago, Illinois, in 1919. In the beginning it seemed little more than a freak. Yet in the intervening years that freak has grown into a powerful monster endangering us all. Here is the story:
An emergency convention of the Socialist Party was scheduled to begin in Machinists’ Hall, 113 South Ashland Boulevard, Chicago, on August 30, 1919. The air was charged with tension. The socialists were badly split. The left wing, thrilled by the Russian October Revolution, wanted to establish a Communist Party. The rightists opposed.
The procommunist left-wingers, however, could not agree on a program of action. One group wanted to use the emergency convention to take over the Socialist Party. Another group objected, wanting to set up a Communist Party right away.
A battle quickly developed. Men famous in the history of American communism—Benjamin Gitlow, John Reed, Charles Ruthenberg, Alfred Wagenknecht—were present. Each was trying to assemble followers for his point of view.
One group, the Reed-Gitlow group, refused entrance to the Socialist Convention, retired to another room in Machinists’ Hall (later to the IWW Hall, 129 Throop Street), and on August 31, 1919, founded the Communist Labor Party of America (CLP). Wagenknecht was named Executive Secretary. (John Reed, incidentally, was to become the Party’s first “martyr.” An American, well-educated, a poet, writer, and newspaperman, Reed was in Russia during the October Revolution. Completely captivated, he wrote a book, Ten Days That Shook the World. He later returned to Moscow, participated in Comintern meetings, and died there in 1920. Reed was buried in the Kremlin.)
A rival group, together with a number of foreign-language federations, met at Smolny Hall, headquarters of the Russian Federation, 1221 Blue Island Avenue, Chicago. Its members criticized the Communist Labor Party as not being truly communistic. The CLP returned the retort, and all attempts at reconciliation failed. On September 1, 1919, this rival group formed the Communist Party of America (CP). Split off was a group from Michigan that was later to form the Proletarian Party. Ruthenberg was chosen as Executive Secretary of the CP.
Not one but two Parties, the CLP and the CP, each claiming to be the true representative of communism and bitterly maligning the other, came out of the Chicago turmoil. The CLP set up headquarters in Cleveland, the CP in Chicago. The Communist Party was born in America amid confusion, bickering, and partisanship, a condition that was to haunt it for years.
The communists of 1919 were a motley lot, vastly different from the highly disciplined, efficiently operating Party of recent years. Though not lacking zeal or fanaticism, they had little Party training or discipline. They varied in extremes from bitter die-hards, who were ready to do anything for the “cause,” even throw a bomb or lead a riot, to comical show-offs, attracted by violent language and subversive possibilities. Many believed revolution in the United States was imminent.
The great majority were foreign-born. Many had difficulty speaking English. The Communist (June 12, 1920) states: “The Communist Party, from the very beginning of its existence, found its work hampered because it had in its ranks only a few men capable of expressing Communist principles in the English language.” The comrades lacked a practical understanding of American affairs, especially in the trade union field. Soon all kinds of wild-eyed plans arose. Each leader became his own interpreter of Marx and Lenin. Cliques, quarrels, and personal rivalries were rife.
The Russians (those who had been born in the “home of the revolution”) thought they should play the predominant role. They argued: Wasn’t Lenin a Russian? Didn’t the revolution start in Russia? Hence they, the Russian-born, obviously had an “insight” denied all the others. They should be the leaders.
On one point, however, all agreed: obedience to Soviet Russia. Every communist considered Lenin a god and the Russian Bolsheviks as models of perfection. These were the men who had made the October Revolution. They were the teachers; the Americans, the learners. Soviet Russia, at this time, was assuming an authority over communists in this nation that it has never relinquished. This control was to become ever more pronounced, inescapable, and dangerous.
The history of the Communist Party in the United States since 1919 is characterized by two main trends: (1) the development of a disciplined Party structure or, in the words of William Z. Foster, “the building of a Leninist Party of a new type,” and (2) the complete and unquestioning subservience of the Party to Soviet Russia. Every word and deed, hope and aspiration, of American communists over the years has promoted these two objectives.
The conventions of the CLP and CP were over, but “civil war” continued. Communists roamed the country, denouncing each other.
Just a few weeks after the Chicago conventions Charles Ruthenberg, Executive Secretary of the Communist Party (the “American Lenin,” who died in 1927 and whose ashes lie buried in the Kremlin), mounted a platform in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
He began his address. The Communist Party was the heir of the revolutionary spirit and its rival, the Communist Labor Party, was wrong. The CLP, he charged, was “centrist,” a vile word to communists, just like the Party in Germany where the communists had failed. But his group, the Communist Party, was without sin. It represented the thoughts of the victorious Bolshevik Party of Soviet Russia.
When would the revolution come? Ruthenberg did not know; tomorrow or next week. But he was optimistic. The communists, he said, had better hurry to learn how to run the government.
Communist Labor Party orators replied in kind. They denounced their opponents. They alone held the sacred communist truth. Splinter factions, and they were many, raised their voices. They attacked everybody but themselves. American communism in these early days was bedlam.
There were other complications. Just a few weeks after the founding conventions, in the fall of 1919, the federal government and local authorities initiated prosecutive action against the communists.
As a consequence the communist movement went underground. Comrades met in secret hide-outs, maintained underground headquarters, and sent messages by couriers. Hidden printing presses poured out propaganda.
Underground or not, the “civil war” continued. The cramped quarters did not hinder the oratorical artillery. The inter-Party strife became fantastically bitter.
Moscow did not like either this bickering or the enforced underground work. The Kremlin wanted a single, unified Party, able to operate legally (above ground) as well as illegally (underground). Communism simply could not thrive on factional fights or in stuffy undercover cellars.
Moscow intervened through the Third International, an organization designed by the Soviets to control Communist Parties in other nations and to serve as an instrument of world revolution. The founding Congress of the Comintern, which opened March 2, 1919, in the Kremlin, was a bizarre affair.
The “delegates” were chiefly make-believe, picked from prisoners of war, visitors in Moscow, or “rubber-stamp” friends. The main problem was to find as many nationalities as possible. This was an “international” organization. That these individuals were not truly representative of their “home” groups did not matter. England was “represented” by a Russian émigré; Hungary by a prisoner of war.
The proceedings were impromptu. It is related that Lenin, during one session, sent Angelica Balabanoff (later to become General Secretary of the Comintern) a note on a scrap of paper instructing her to take the floor and announce the affiliation of the Italian Socialist Party with the International. She replied that she could not. She had not been in contact with Italian Socialists. They were “loyal.” There was no doubt of that, but she could not speak for them.
Lenin’s answer was prompt, scribbled in another note: “You read Avanti [their newspaper] and you know what is going on in Italy.”
The Comintern soon became a powerful weapon of communist control. The Second World Congress of the Communist International, held in Russia during July-August, 1920, adopted the notorious twenty-one points of admission for Comintern membership. These were basic rules that every Communist Party must accept before being admitted. The twenty-one points established an ironclad discipline, a single type of Party structure from which there could be no dissent. Here are some of the conditions:
—All party publications must have communist editors.
—If communists cannot carry out their work legally, “a combination of legal and illegal work is absolutely necessary.”
—Vigorous and systematic communist propaganda must be carried on in the army. If forbidden by law, it must be pursued illegally.
—Each Communist Party must develop communist agitation in rural areas, within trade unions, workers’ councils, and other mass organizations.
—”Parties belonging to the Communist International must be built up on the principle of democratic centralism.” that is, “organized in the most centralized manner,” controlled by “iron discipline.” and with a leadership possessing power and authority.
—Parties operating legally must “make periodical cleanings” of the membership to weed out dissenters.
—”Every party that desires to belong to the Communist International must give every possible support to the Soviet Republics in their struggle against all counter-revolutionary forces.”
—”All decisions of the Congresses of the Communist International, as well as the decisions of its Executive Committee, are binding on all parties affiliated to the Communist International.”
Here is the final, clinching point:
—”Members of the Party who reject the conditions and theses of the Communist International, on principle, must be expelled from the party.”
The Comintern made its position clear: either join on its terms, involving complete surrender, or become a renegade. Later congresses elaborated on this communist discipline. In July, 1921, for example, an order was issued by the Comintern Executive Committee that national congresses were to be held after the Comintern congresses so that they could ratify decisions. The Fourth Congress (1922) ruled that all Comintern delegates should arrive in Moscow uninstructed. Lenin was determined to make the Comintern the iron fist that controlled communism throughout the world.
The Third International exercised supervision not only by instructing American communists who flocked to Moscow but by sending representatives, or “reps” as they were called, to this country. These individuals would openly sit in communist meetings, participate in decisions, and issue orders. The “reps” represented Moscow, and that fact alone was proof of their communist “divinity.”
The Comintern “reps” contributed to a picturesque period in the history of American communism. Many were riffraff European Bolsheviks, of various nationalities, themselves knowing little about communism, who were hurriedly dispatched to the United States. Often, by their inept actions, they made American leaders more confused than ever. To gain admittance to the United States, they often used fake names, false passports, and special “covers.”
This sounds like a crude system, and, in the light of present day communist “diplomacy,” it was. Nobody would imagine an official Soviet representative so identified in today’s communist meetings or American communists openly going to Moscow to receive instructions. This “crudity” has been polished. The same channels of communication are still open, but more “professional” ways of supervision have been perfected.
Soon after the 1919 founding conventions, the Executive Committee of the Communist International sent a letter to the two underground Parties, the CP and CLP. The split, said the Comintern, had harmed the communist cause in the United States. Unity must be established “in the shortest possible time.” The letter recommended the calling of a joint convention. The condition for unity was acceptance of the program of the Comintern.
This meant that personalities must be submerged, cliques ousted, and a uniform, standardized structure instituted. The concepts of a small, tightly knit Party (as taught by Lenin) must be put into practice. The Russian mentality must be imposed on every Party member. The Comintern was emphatic:
“. . . unity is not only possible, but absolutely necessary. The Executive Committee categorically insists on its immediate realization.”
In May, 1920, a “unity” convention of the Communist Labor Party and a faction (led by Ruthenberg) of the Communist Party was secretly held at Bridgman, Michigan, resulting in the formation of the United Communist Party of America (UCP). The delegates, as a security measure, used assumed names. The Communist, in a special convention issue, was secretive: “Some-time recently, somewhere between the Atlantic and Pacific, between the Gulf and the Great Lakes, two groups of elected delegates assembled as the Unity Conference of the Communist Party and the Communist Labor Party.” A Comintern “rep” was present.
Many elements of the Communist Party, however, refused to go along and boycotted the new UCP. A chief point of dispute between the CP and CLP was the position of the foreign-language federations: should they be autonomous within the Party, having the right, if they desired, to withdraw, or be completely subject to the will of the Party? This issue touched the very heart of communist doctrine. No Communist Party could ever allow a member the “right” to withdraw. The misguided members seeking to retain some of these “rights” were swimming up-stream, destined to failure.
Finally in May, 1921, after another year of bickering, the UCP and the remainder of the CP formed the Communist Party of America, Section of the Communist International, at a secret two-week convention at Woodstock, New York. The group’s program, among other things, provided that the Communist Party would work for violent revolution, preparing “the workers for armed insurrection as the only means of overthrowing the capitalist state.” The convention officially accepted the twenty-one points for admission to the Comintern. The CP was now a complete prisoner of Moscow.
By early 1921 an “outward” unity was achieved in the communist movement, but the second problem still remained: bringing the Party into the open. The Third Congress of the Comintern (June-July, 1921) defined the problem:
“The Communist International draws the attention of the Communist Party of America (unified) to the fact that the illegalized organization must not only serve as the ground for collecting and crystallizing the active Communist forces, but that it is the Party’s duty to try all ways and means to get out of the illegalized condition into the open, among the wide masses.”
The outline of the Party of today was beginning to take shape, the true Party conceived by Lenin, having both a legal and illegal apparatus. The legal aspect would be necessary to conduct communist propaganda among the noncommunist masses, to infiltrate organizations and operate communist fronts. But the underground must exist, for the revolution, the final aim of the Party, could never be anything but illegal. The underground apparatus would handle espionage, super-secret Party work, and would always be ready to expand if the legal Party, because of “capitalist” opposition, could not operate fully. The Communist Party at all times has desired both an upper and a lower level.
In December, 1921, the Workers Party of America was formed, a “legal” outlet for the underground Communist Party. The founding convention, held in New York City, was organized, controlled, and directed by Party leaders. Acting as a front for the underground communists, the Workers Party set up “open” headquarters, issued a “public” paper, and operated in full view. The communist movement now had a dual setup: the underground Communist Party, affiliated with the Third International in Moscow, commonly known among members as Number One, and the Workers Party, not so affiliated, known as Number Two. They were, however, the two faces of the same communist coin.
Those were turbulent days in the American communist movement. Party leaders were grotesque characters, making speeches in underground meetings, sitting in secret conventions (some-times in the middle of woods), or traveling to Moscow. They usually had several aliases for use on fake passports and in Party correspondence or to be given to the police if arrested.
Their obsessive love was Soviet Russia. Communists of all varieties streamed to Moscow. William Z. Foster, Earl Browder, Jay Lovestone, Benjamin Gitlow, John Reed, “Mother” Bloor visited there. Many had business: to attend Comintern meetings, to serve as “representatives” of the American Party, to enroll in a communist school. Others went as plain sight-seers, to view at first hand this land of “paradise.” Sometimes whole groups would go, as for example a delegation that sailed in 1927 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the revolution.
The visitors were received cordially and treated well unless reason existed to the contrary. Some actually got to see the great Lenin. William Z. Foster, telling of seeing Lenin for the first time in 1921, commented that “It was one of the most inspiring moments” of his life. They attended Comintern Congresses, talked to high Party officials, looked around the town. They were being primed for their roles, puppets to fight the communist battle in America.
Then back they came to tell their comrades of the marvels of this new land. In speeches all over the country they shouted communist propaganda:
“Russia is the only “real democracy” on earth; the working people are better off in Russia than in America.”
Never has the American communist movement expressed itself in more revolutionary, violent, and bitter terms than in the early 1920’s. Party leaders shunned the cautious, evasive double talk of today’s communists. They believed in violent revolution and said so. The underground communist press was filled with revolutionary statements. One journal tried to outdo the other in the use of violent language.
The Party was controlled, just as it is today, by a very few. Moreover, policy, at all times, was subject to the approval of the Kremlin, acting through the Comintern. Loyal Americans should always remember that the Communist Party, USA, has never existed as an independent organization. Soviet control was instituted at the very beginning. Acceptance of the twenty-one points confirmed the imprisonment.
Party business of the underground apparatus and the above-ground Workers Party was supervised by the Secretariat, a group usually consisting of three of the most trusted leaders. A larger group, the Political Committee of some seven to ten comrades, handled many of the Party’s day-to-day affairs, such as manipulating a strike, designating a new Party official, planning infiltration tactics. The Secretariat, elected by the Political Committee, however, handled the most confidential matters, items not even brought to the attention of the Political Committee: the safeguarding of records, receipt of subsidies from abroad, maintaining contact with Russian espionage agents. These activities were too confidential even to be mentioned in minutes.
Relations between the Comintern in Moscow and American communists were almost like those between feudal lord and serf. Moscow wanted to know everything: the background of Party leaders, how a certain strike was getting along, the strength of the Party in various localities. The “reps” did not hesitate to criticize. In one Political Committee meeting a letter from the Comintern “rep” was read. It contained the following criticisms:
—Lack of information received relative to the Party convention;
—The Party’s campaign on a certain issue, though going well, was not strong enough. The “rep” recommended a pamphlet be written;
—Editorials in the Daily Worker [the Party’s newspaper] were politically incorrect;
—The Party had not taken a correct position against certain enemies of Russia.
The minutes of the meeting indicate that a motion made to accept the letter was “carried unanimously.” The Comintern’ s influence was felt in practically every communist meeting. Every move of the American Party was watched from Moscow. No wonder a joke making Party rounds went as follows: Why is the Party like the Brooklyn Bridge? Because it is suspended on cables!
Besides controlling its over-all policy, the Comintern used the Communist Party in a variety of ways, especially to help the new Soviet government in its work. In one instance the Comintern sent over a “rep” known as Comrade Loaf. He sent a statement, which was read at the meeting of the Political Committee in New York City presided over by Max Bedacht, as Acting General Secretary, outlining his need for assistance in collecting information on the American labor movement for the Communist International. The Political Committee agreed to help.
In another instance, Moscow referred a request for a visa by an official of the New York Jewish Daily Forward to United States comrades. Moscow in these years often used the Communist Party in the United States as a consular clearinghouse, seeking its advice as to whether visas should be granted or denied. In answering this request, the already inherent anti-Semitism of communism dictated the decision. The Soviets were advised that the visit of the Jewish Daily Forward representative would be detrimental to the Soviet Union and the communist movement.
On occasions, also, the Comintern helped the Party by arranging to receive cordially American visitors sponsored by the Party, thereby hoping to create a favorable impression of communism. A prominent author, for example, desired to visit Russia for The Modern Quarterly. The Political Committee instructed that a letter be written to Moscow requesting that he be given a royal welcome. The Party wanted him to be favorably impressed. Then, it hoped, he would “paint a glowing picture” of the Soviet Union.
Russian control, moreover, was implemented through the operation of another institution, the Lenin School in Moscow. This training center was an adjunct to the Marxist-Leninist Institute. Founded in the 1920’s, the Lenin School had for its purpose the training of an international corps of communist leaders. These graduates, regardless of the country in which they operated, acted in accordance with the discipline and policies of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Each Communist Party was assigned a quota of students. To be eligible, students had to have a working-class background with experience in a trade, shop, or union. They had to be under thirty-five years of age, either a charter member or a member with at least five years’ experience in Party work, and possess a “clean” Party record. The Comintern studied the students’ background and approved those selected by the Party to attend. As a general rule, students traveled to Moscow under assumed names and with fraudulently obtained passports.
The original Lenin School was located in an old Czarist palace. Students and faculty lived under strict security conditions. The curriculum included not only Marxist-Leninist tactics but the theory and practice of organization, underground and conspiratorial operations, and the tactics of revolution and civil war. The students were taught how to erect stout barricades, conduct guerrilla warfare, and handle firearms. The Soviets wanted rough-and-ready revolutionists, men who would kill, murder, blow up trains, and start revolutions.
Many of the top leaders in Communist Parties around the world are graduates of the Lenin School. The National Committee of the Communist Party in the United States today includes such graduates of the Lenin School as Eugene Dennis, Claude Lightfoot, Carl Winter, Simon W. Gerson, William Weinstone, Nat Ganley, Steve Nelson, and others. Former Lenin School graduates also include such well-known communists as Betty Gannett, Gus Hall, Albert Lannon, Phil Bart, Rose Wortis, Loretta Stack, Henry Winston, and numerous others. The Lenin School became so notorious that it, like the Comintern, was discontinued. After all, it had turned out thousands of graduates, and the communists probably thought it had fulfilled its usefulness.
The American Communist Party began to grow up. From an infant, mostly mouth and little body, it gradually began to take on shape and form. It was soon to increase its participation in American life.