Published:
Socialist Appeal, Vol. IV. No 18, 4 May 1940, p. 1.
Source: PDF supplied by the Riazanov Library Project.
Transcription/Mark-up:
Einde O’Callaghan for the Marxists’ Internet Archive.
Public Domain:
This work is in the under the Creative Commons Common Deed. You can freely copy, distribute and display this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit the Marxists’ Internet Archive/Encyclopedia of Trotskyism On-Line as your source, include the url to this work, and note any of the transcribers, editors, translators, proofreaders etc. above.
Our campaign to restore the Socialist Appeal to twice-a-week publication is the result of a spontaneous decision of the delegates at our recent party convention. The proletarian optimism of the delegates found expression in the demand that the party take a determined step forward at all costs. It was the unanimous sentiment of the delegates that this forward step could be expressed best of all by re-establishing the twice-a-week Appeal.
The retreat to the weekly Appeal after ten months’ publication of the twice-weekly was a heavy blow. It was part of the price our movement had to pay for the faction struggle against the petty-bourgeois opposition, The victorious conclusion of this struggle created the conditions for a bold decision to regain the lost ground by again returning to the twice-a-week publication of the Appeal.
Not what is “possible,” but what is necessary – that is the fighting motto of the worker-Bolsheviks. Their decision in this case was dictated by necessity. The United States drifts at an accelerated pace towards entry into the European war. The events in Norway have given a tremendous impetus to the campaign of the imperialist war-mongers and their agents in the labor movement. The time for a revolutionary counter campaign – the time in which we can speak freely and openly and out loud against the war preparations – grows shorter every day. We must utilize this time to the best advantage.
We must strain all resources and energies to make our voice heard as frequently as possible. We must broadcast our message twice as often as before. That means, first of all, that we must publish our fighting paper twice a week. The delegates at the convention demanded it. They pledged in the name of their branches the necessary funds to make it possible within a sixty day period.
We believe in the seriousness and determination of the delegates who made this decision. We believe in their ability to inspire their branches with the necessary enthusiasm to make good the quotas pledged in their name. That is why we launched the campaign on May 1st with full confidence that by July. 1st our twice-a-week Appeal will again be a glorious reality.
Fight the war-mongers with the twice-a-week Appeal!
Build the party with the twice-a-week Appeal!
Last updated on 23 May 2020