First Published: Marxist-Leninist Vanguard, Vol. II, No. 10, October 1959.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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Celebrating its first anniversary, the Provisional Organizing Committee to Reconstitute a Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (POC) held its second National Conference in New York City over the Labor Day weekend.
In attendance was a cross-section of the American workingclass: Negro, white, Puerto Rican: men and women; young and old. Visitors from various parts of the country were present, and two fraternal delegates from the Communist Party of Puerto Rico greeted the Conference.
Reviewing the events of the year since POC’s founding, the main report delivered by Armando Roman, dealt with the 2lst Congress of the CPSU, the Cuban revolution, the steel strike and the anti-labor legislation, and the stepped-up anti-Negro terror, and warned that:
“There is a certain quality in the national events of the past year. The smell of incipient fascist trends is strong in the present rise of reaction in the U. S. This is a logical development. As in the case of France mid Germany, the American bourgeoisie is finding it even more difficult to rule in the same old way. With the mounting problems which beset the imperialists abroad, it should be expected that they would attempt a stiffening of their policies at home.
“But the worst thing is not just that reaction is rising in the U.S. – the real tragedy for the American people at this juncture of history is the fact that the labor movement is under the complete hold and control of the most opportunistic and cowardly bunch of so-called leaders anywhere in the world.
“As if this were not bad enough the American working class finds itself minus a vanguard Communist Party that could orient it and fight for it during a period of extreme reaction.”
Noting that the main objective of the POC – the reconstitution of a Marxist-Leninist Communist Party – has not yet been achieved, nevertheless, progress in this direction has been by the consolidation of the POC and its growth into new areas. Despite predictions of the old CP leaders that the POC would collapse, the militancy and enthusiasm of the 2nd conference proved that neither the expulsions of POC leaders from old CP, nor internal dissentions caused by a few petty-bourgeois minded elements, nor the open attacks of the ruling class could stop the growth, activity, and effectiveness of the POC, nor weaken its proletarian backbone.
“The period of inner struggles in POC is over,” declared the main report. “The main direction of POC is outwards. The main slogan for POC today is for the extension of the outward motion in every area of POC.”
Confidence in the working class and the ultimate victory of Socialism in the U.S.A. was reflected in the collective discussion and was posed in the main report as follows:
“The question may be asked in all honesty. Aren’t we too small to resist the impact of the forces arrayed against us? The answer is . . . historically, Communist movements have started with even less, both ideologically and numerically. As a matter of fact we started with infinitely less, when the opposition forces were much stronger than they are today. All Communist movements develop from class conscious, theoretically grounded small groups. The dialectics of this process involves the change from quality into quantity and a higher quality.”
Outstanding was the unity of the discussion with the main report, gone were the phony platitudes, tiresome repetitions of the main report. No one in the POC conference had any time or need to engage in abstract discussions. The delegates were too busy implementing the main report with their discussions on struggles engaged in the past, activities planned for the future, analysis of ideological and practical questions. As one delegate put it later: “There was no b.s.”
The outward movement as exemplified by unemployment struggles in Chicago, the longshore struggle in Philadelphia and the housing struggle in New York underlined the growing attention to mass work and the observation that the working class will respond to the leadership of the POC if they are approached with a correct line, a solid organization and a collective leadership.
This was a conference where unity of line was forged without the disruption of concealed conciliators. If the success of a conference is measured by the unity of line as well as its correctness, then this was a most successful conference. The high quality of the discussion, its collective character, and the enthusiasm generated by the speakers helped to create the clarity needed for more effective work.
Visitors spoke in praise of the deliberations and two fraternal delegates from the Communist Party of Puerto Rico took the floor and gave the conference a wonderful lesson in criticism and self-criticism.
In greeting the POC on its first anniversary, the Puerto Rican visitors concurred with the main report in linking the liquidation of the Communist Party of Puerto Rico to the revisionist CPUSA, and its line of accommodation to the colonial oppression of Latin America by the United States imperialist.
One of the most notable features of the conference was the unity of the young comrades with the old. No older cadre held back the participation of development of the young cadre. There were no personal struggles for leadership. The struggle in the POC against the cult of the individual and for the principles of democratic centralism eliminated this harmful feature which has always characterized the old Party method of work.
The comradeship and warmth displayed by the delegates and visitors, the colorful display of leaflets and literature, the fried chicken luncheon topped with strawberry short cake, the presentation of flowers to the wives of fallen comrades, the social affair on Saturday night, added glowing accents to the serious job of hammering out a line of struggle.
The Conference closed on a keynote of boyant enthusiasm coupled with a sober acknowledgement of the tremendous tasks ahead.
Determination was voiced time and again to move outward among the workers, to lead them in their day-to-day struggles; to plant the banner of Communism firmly upon the American scene; to build in this country a new vital. Marxist-Leninist Communist Party, indispensable vanguard of the workingclass in its inevitable historic struggle for a Socialist America.