| Transcript |
i. tv"'1;1'
Comma*
an Cm''.
,,tition °t
American party with authority and wisdom" (p. 88). He
insists that the CPUSA "can derive deep satisfaction from
the fact that it unfailingly received brotherly advice anil
guidance from the Communist International." And he defiantly adds that "The leading role of the Communist Party
of the Soviet Union in the Comintern needs neither explanation nor apology" (ibid., p. 71).
He goes on to voice the feeling of pride with which the
American party views the fact that it is part of "a world
party together with the glorious Party of the Soviet Union"
will that this world party "is daily guided by such proved
leaders as Manttilsky, Kuusinen * " ' Piatnitsky" — all
prominent leaders of the Russian Communist Party (ibid.,
P. 92).
Climaxing his panegyric, Bittelman declares:
In the fifteen years ol its existence the Comintern has grown
into a true world partv. It has reached the high state where
all "Communist Parties are carrying out one single line of tbe
Comintern," a stage where all "Communist Parties are united
by the Executive Committee of the Communist Internationa]
into a single centralized World Party • * *." (Piatnitsky,
Speech at the 'thirteenth Plenum of the Executive Committee
of the Communist International) (ibid., p. 92).
Pointing out that the existence of this "world party" of
Wlich the \merican party is an organic part, makes possible the formulation of a "world revolutionary strategy,"
'"' adds that "it i.s in Comrade Stalin, since Lenin's death,
"•at this strategy has found the greatest formulator, inter-
peter, and organizer."
In demonstrating the complete subservience of the
"Olerican party to Moscow, Mr. Bittelman is not content
,0 present his case in broad, general terms. He is most
sI)'iilii in itemizing the nature of Kremlin intervention
"' detail.
When the American Communist movement was first
'"I'nli'il in 1919, it consisted of two rival groups: the
jj°rnmunist Party of America and the Communist Labor
aty of America. Bittelman describes the Comintern's role
" this founding stage:
The bringing together of all American revolution,iry workers
Into one Communis! Party ° ° ° was the first of the more significant aets of advice of the Comintern * * * A unified and
single Communis! Party was materialized in the United States
'" shorter time, less painfully and wastefully, than could have
been the case without the advice and assistance of the Com,*,,
t tern (ibid., pp. 74, 75).
,."s. according to Bittelman, is the first milestone in the
^ory of the CPUSA.
|. '' i'om 1919 to 1922, for example, the Communist Party,
(( V was illegal. Bittelman outlines the nature of Mos-
^ s advice and guidance in evading the law, as follows:
Once re the American Communists consulted with the
(:"""' ist International. This was in 1921-11)22. Anil the
'"■nit advice came, as it was bound to ° * * Illegal work,
''■it is. revolutionary work that could not he done openly
because ol governmental persecution, was not abandoned
'"I continued; the illegal work supplementing the legal, and
Vice versa ' ' °
Whal was it that proved especially helpful for the Ameri-
immunists in the Comintern advice on legal and illegal
lllrk.J It was the world and Russian experience of Bolshevism
Ul>id., p. 76).
l ■'* major concern of the CPUSA is the task of boring
>i/-: t( "" within the labor movement. Mere again the Comin-
oi
'*i
actively intervened, according to Bittelman:
, 'he next milestone in the Con,intern leadership for the
','Ml'rican Party we find on the quest,, I trade-union work
.. It was the Comintern advice and guidance that helped
' nerican Co unists to turn full face to the building
il belt Wing in the reformist unions beginning with 192(1;
it was the advice of the Comintern that helped ° * ° formulate strike policies and tactics; it was Comintern advice on
how to revolutionize the labor movement ° " ° (ibid., pp. 77,
97).
According to Bittelman, the directives of the Communist International extended to the point of advising a polity (which is still in force) calling for the establishment
of an independent Negro republic in what he called the
Black Belt in the South, a step which would involve armed
insurrection against the United States in which countless
Negro lives would be sacrificed to the machinations of
Moscow. Here are Bittelman's own words on the subject:
Once more came the "outside" influence of the Comintern; and what did it say? It said that * * ' in the Black Belt
the full realization of this demand (for national liberation)
requires the fight for the national .self-determination of the
Negroes including the right of separation from the United
State and the organization of an independent state (ibid.,
p. 85).
It has been pointed out that in the early 19.30's the
Communists advocated measures for so-called unemployment relief which were jacked up to tlie point where their
acceptance would have meant national bankruptcy. In
support of these demands embodied in the Lundeen bill,
the Communists promoted hunger marches calculated to
incite the unemployed against the government. In a number of cases, state legislative chambers were occupied and
vandalized and numerous instances of violence developed.
Where did the inspiration for this program come from?
Bittelman gives the answer:
the Comintern undertook to prepare the proletarian vanguard, the Communist Party, and through it the whole working class for effective struggle against unemployment.
The Communist Party, guided by the Comintern, eventually succeeded in making this demand ° * ° a major issue in
the class struggle of the United States (ibid., p. 87).
Referring to the ouster of Jay Lovestone, former gen-
Joy Lovestone,
who told the Dies
Committee in
1939 that he was
ousted as General
Secretary of the Communist Party by
Josef Stalin in 1929
because of a
"violent" conflict with
Moscow over how
the various units of the
party should be led.
WIDB WORLD PHOTO
era] secretary of the CPUSA and his followers, Bittelman
calls attention to
the advice of the Con,inter,, in ° D ° cleansing itself of the
l.o\rsto,,e opportunists and the conciliators with the advice
of Joseph Stalin (ibid., pp. 88, 89).
Thus, according to Moscow's leading apologist and
spokesman within the American partv, the Communist
International with headquarters in Moscow, actively intervened in the affairs of the Communist Party of (he United
Slates he following major issues: (1) the founding of
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