The Path to a Unitary Organization

The Cologne Independents have called for a thorough discussion of the issue of a unitary organization in their party and the establishment of such a unitary organization.

This is further proof that the unitary organization is not a hobbyhorse of short-sighted theorists, or whatever else the kindnesses would like to call it, but a necessity that is increasingly being recognized.

But the Cologne resolution has another merit.

It once again points the finger at the fact that the independents have not yet found the necessary inclination to even once address this cardinal question. At least we are not aware of any such attempt.

On the contrary, we saw that the question was avoided like a burning fire wherever it stood in the way of the Independents.

Or did it not impose itself on Paul Lange when he defended his writing on the trade unions?

If nothing else, the thorough treatment of this question had to give him material for a truly fruitful critique of the trade union movement.

He refrained from doing so and thus remained stuck in a sapless carping. The Lange case is the case of the Independents.

For a young party that has broken away from an old body, there cannot be enough questions, clarifications, statements and resolutions.

It must not stop anywhere, must never be afraid of stumbling if it wants to move forward differently. The Independents, however, have not given an answer to any question and have not examined any old familiar answer, because they are afraid of decisions, because they tremble before the strong demand that every new insight makes on man.

The Independent Party was old when it was born. That is why demands such as those of the Cologne membership cannot drive this party forward, but can only separate the wheat from the chaff within it, which would, of course, be a very necessary effect.

For left-wing radicals, the unitary organization is a unifying goal, in such a way that every resolutely radical politics must feel the need for this form of organization, but also that everyone who strives for this form of organization must ultimately recognize in left-wing radical politics the effective and forward-looking one.

Our readers are aware of this. But it is precisely the Cologne resolution that points us to a question that has been discussed quite extensively among our comrades, without a satisfactory result having been achieved so far, namely the question: How do we arrive at a unitary organization?

The need is strong and urgent, but the difficulty posed by the state of siege and the lack of understanding of the masses is almost insurmountable.

In a sense, we could be grateful for these difficulties. They prevent hasty steps, the success of which would be nothing more than a paper solution to the problem without creating anything truly living.

Imagine if Haase and Ledebour were to follow the Cologne Independents and create a unitary organization. Can this become a living entity? From the top, through a board or party conference resolution?

There would be a new means of taxing the workers and hiring new officials, hardly more. The struggles themselves would receive no impetus. Even the enlightening effect - assuming the possibility of powerful propaganda - would be minimal. On the contrary, it is to be feared that the working masses will only see the fragmenting effect of this measure and will therefore turn against it.

The practical solution is not to be found by showing us statutes with elaborate paragraphs, but by briefly recalling the origin of the idea. Unitary organization is necessary because the structure of the economy demands it. Just as the local trade association was sufficient for small businesses in earlier centuries, just as medium-sized businesses pushed for a central professional organization, the preponderance of large businesses forced the industrial association, despite all the reluctance of the professions that remained behind and especially the trade unionists who led them.

In the meantime, however, this basis of the industrial association, the large company, has expanded enormously. It no longer embraces only branches and trades, but throws the various industries into a jumble, and presses them all with mighty arms into its colossal works. This is where the industrial associations fail, because they are fragmented. They fail at the same time because their outlived tactics can do nothing against the armored and crushing centers of capital.

The modern giant enterprise, the trust structure, is the basis of the unitary organization. We want to emphasize that. Of course, this alone would only justify the complete centralization of trade union organization.

But if the working class is at all ready to go beyond the present tactics of political demonstrations to real political struggles, then political and economic organizations must be united, for the workers alone have political power as factors of production.

The fact that the Independents cannot decide in favour of the unitary organization is due to their unwillingness to engage in major struggles and to the fact that they believe they have to take into account the masses of workers in the medium-sized enterprises, who were still satisfied by the professional organization and have too little confidence in its strength. In this tactic of the Independents lies the same anxiety that causes the revisionists to renounce a radical program and to take particular account of the interests of the petty bourgeoisie and peasants.

A party that does not adapt its tactics to the interests of the most advanced working-class groups is doomed to weakness and bankruptcy. Our tactics work into the hands of development. Since the unitary organization wants to unite the economic forces of the workers, and since a further development of the present trade union movement is impossible, the road to the unitary organization goes through the struggle against the trade unions.

The independents have also failed. The most fearful attempts have remained stuck in the initial stages. If a year ago it was thought that this struggle was hopeless because of the complete standstill of the economic movement during the war, the last strikes have set the process of decomposition in motion.

The disappointment over the failure and betrayal of the trade unions must be exploited with all our strength and education about the unitary organization. The slogan now is: Get out of the trade unions, which have become a stumbling block to the workers' movement and a means of betrayal.

At the same time, the supporters of the unitary organization must be brought together in the workplaces and shop stewards elected.

This building of the organization from below is the most natural. It will bear fruit if it is approached with energy.