"Party Building In The Northwest" - 1938 Party Organizer Pamphlet - Issued by Central Committee, Communist Party, USA

"PARTY BUILDING IN THE NORTHWEST by Louis Sass, Organization Secretary, Northwest District

In the Northwest the objective political conditions for the building of a mass Communist Party are extremely favorable. The struggle against reaction in Washington and Oregon has attracted large sections of the population to the progressive movement. The Washington Commonwealth Federation is broadening out more and more to include organizations and people holding various views on some political questions, but united on the immediate objective of defeating reaction and preserving and extending the much-curtailed democratic rights of the people.

Labor rackateering, complete lack of democracy in unions dominated by the notorious Dave Beck, have created a genuine desire on the part of the majority of the members of the A.F.L. to do away with these practices and unite with the C.I.O. to represent a solid labor front against the lumber barons and Chamber of Commerce. The growth of the C.I.O., particularly in lumber and marine, thus advancing the forces of progress, adds considerably to the possibilities of building a mass Party.

The district leadership, as well as the membership of the Northwest District, realize that only by strengthening our Party politically and numerically will we be able to participate effectively in the election campaigns now being conducted in such cities as Seattle and Tacoma and serve as an important factor in the unification of the Northwest labor movement. Our first job, therefore in connection with the national recruiting and Party building campaign was to get the membership of our district to understand the political meaning of a large party. This meant an intensification of our educational work in all of our sections and units, through full-time and weekend classes, unit discussions, and a campaign to get our comrades to read the basic Party literature.

A BROAD CAMPAIGN OF MASS PROPAGANDA AND AGITATION

One of our principal problems we have confronted is the necessity of developing a broad campaign of mass propaganda and agitation to overcome the I.W.W. and syndicalist traditions, and the influence of the Technocrats and Townsendites, which still exist among the people of the Northwest.

We have noted a number of shortcomings in our work as, for example, our inability to establish a functioning educational commission up until very recently; our weakness in factories, as evidenced by the fact that in the entire district we have built only two shop units during the national recruiting drive; the lack of leadership by our neighborhood branches, which have not yet given sufficient attention to problems of their community. The drive has demonstrated to us the necessity of building our Party in the smaller industrial towns, where branches existed at one time but collapsed due to lack of attention and leadership.

We have certain positive achievements to record, however, very significant for our district. Take, for example, the development of our section in Aberdeen. Last year the section registered 60 members. Comrade Henry Huff, section Organizer of Aberdeen, and the section Committee decided to concentrate on the lumber industry. Schools were conducted to develop comrades in this industry, particularly as to the way to conduct effective Communist work in the unions.

Socialist competition was introduced as a method of involving the largest possible number of members in Party building. At every one of the unit and branch meetings, discussions were conducted on the important local and national problems. The section committee has consistently checked up on its own decisions, so as not to permit itself to forget about them. One full-time section school was conducted for one week, with about 50 people involved.

As a result of constant political activity, Aberdeen has registered 165 members, and Comrade Huff, the section Organizer, tells us that they are by no means finished. The delay is caused by the fact that many of their members are working out in the lumber camps, and are hard to contact. The dues payments of this same section, for the past four months show an average around the present registered membership. However, Aberdeen is not alone in doubling or more than doubling it's membership.

ADVANCES IN PARTY ORGANIZATION

Seattle, in January 1937, registered 472 members. Now, it has over 1,100 members, and it has registered to date (January) over 900. We have succeeded in breaking through the terror of Mayor Dore, at least partially, by signing a contract for 26 radio broadcasters on a small station in Seattle. Here, the major organizational problem was the establishment of sections on a legislative district basis with strong leading committees that would be able to give leadership to the units and branches the very intricate political problems facing them in their localities.

At the present time, Seattle has eight sections, all of which have just held conventions. In most instances, these are the first section conventions, since the organizations of the Party in these localities. They were well-prepared, laid down the main political tasks confronting the sections, and concretely tackled the problems of Party work. We can appreciate the great significance of these conventions in every field of the Party's activities in the Northwest when we realize that we they were attended largely by native sons and daughters of the Northwest, many of them descendants of the first peoplers who came to this region, and that these comrades are very new in the Party.

The county organization in King County has and is conducting county classes on the Principles of Communism, Current Problems, Trade Union Methods, Organizational Problems of the Party; in addition to which specialized classes for organizers, membership directors, and finance secretaries are being held on a section scale.

As another example, take the city of Spokane. Our District Organizer, Comrade Raport, conducted a school in Spokane for one week, in which about 60 comrades participated. He also led an informal class for the leading members of the section. In this way, the examples of Aberdeen, Seattle and other sections were brought home to our Spokane comrades. As a result, Spokane, which had registered 95 members in 1937, now has a registered membership, including the December new members recruited, of over 180.

The registered membership of our district at the beginning of 1937 was 1,181. So far, we have registered 2,115 members, and we expect to register about 200 more members. There has been a significant increase in dues payments. In August, they were 1,320; September, 1,796; October 2,223; November, 2,119; and in December, 2,684. This compares with an average dues payment of 1,056 for the first six months of 1937.

The average monthly recruiting for the last four months was about 250, as compared with a monthly average of about 90 in the first eight months of 1937.

While we are proud of our advances we are, at the same time, very much aware of our weaknesses. Our District Committee is taking steps to overcome these by involving a large number of people in leading work, by strengthening our departments and committees, by working more directly with the section committees and county organizations and by broadening our educational activities. We are going forward in the Northwest to realize our pledge to the Central Committee of 3,000 dues-paying members by July first."

March, 1938 Party Organizer Pamphlet- Vol. XI No. 3 - Issued by Central Committee, Communist Party, USA