Published: The Militant, Vol. VI No. 6, 11 February 1933, p. 1.
Source: PDF supplied by the Riazanov Library Project.
Transcription/Mark-up: Einde O’Callaghan for the Marxists’ Internet Archive.
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To all branches, members, and supporters of the Left Opposition
Dear Comrades:
CONCENTRATE ALL ACTIVITY ON THE GERMAN CAMPAIGN OF THE LEAGUE!
The League is reacting to the German crisis with the greatest campaign in its history. It is precisely at the moment of sharp turns and world-shaking events, when the Centrist bureaucracy reveals its impotence and bankruptcy, that the Left Opposition must show its political initiative, its boldness, and its capacity to multiply its activities many fold. From this point of view the National Committee has already taken a number of decisive steps which are shaking the Communist movement in New York to its foundations.
The first of these actions, and the pivotal point of our campaign, is the decision to publish the Militant during the next month THREE TIMES A WEEK!
This decision was made with the greatest deliberation and sobriety and will be carried out in life. It is not a bluff or an empty gesture, and must in no case be so regarded by a single member of the organization. At the time of making the decision we had no money on hand – not a penny, in fact; nothing but pressing bills and obligations. Our resources for the execution of this ambitious plan consist exclusively in the burning world importance of the German crisis and the movement we shall create on the basis of that issue. That is enough.
The correctness of our decision from a practical as well as from a political standpoint was confirmed to the hilt at the magnificent mass meeting of the Left Opposition in New York Sunday. Never since the days following the Russian Bolshevik revolution has New York seen such a meeting – such unrestrained enthusiasm, such a stormy assertion of the spirit of proletarian internationalism. And – what is no less significant – one could see by the size of the splendid audience, by its fervid demonstration of support of our campaign, how quickly the Left Opposition, if it acts boldly at the moment of great happenings, can bound forward and rally the Communist workers around its banner. The financial contributions alone – five and ten dollar bills in the fourth year of the crisis! – registered a spirit of sacrifice that stops at nothing; a spirit that has not been seen in the years of Stalinist degeneration.
This glorious beginning of our great campaign filled us all with unbounded confidence that we can carry it through and fulfill our international duty in a manner worthy of a section of the International Left Opposition. The appearance of the Militant three times a week in this fateful period cannot fail to electrify the Communist workers, to shake them out of passivity and routine. It cannot fail to awaken them to an understanding that the defense of the German proletariat against the dreadful scourge of Fascism is a matter of days, perhaps of hours. This is our aim – to awaken the Communist workers. This is why we begin our campaign and center it around the triple editions of the Militant.
But the struggle of the Left Opposition will not be confined to the literary sphere. Our thrice-a-week Militant must be for us not merely the propagandist, but also the agitator and organizer of a great movement, as Lenin said a Communist paper should be. Mass meetings must be held everywhere. Workers meetings, shops, gatherings of every kind must be invaded boldly with the burning message of the Left Opposition on the German crisis. Every member of the organization, and every sympathetic worker, must be mobilized for daily activity to distribute the Militant. The whole revolutionary labor movement must be shaken from top to bottom with the message of internationalism.
And now the capacity of the Left Oppositionists for material sacrifices must really assert itself. We expect that every Bolshevik-Leninist will put bis duty to the German revolution above every personal consideration and see to it that the funds necessary to assure the steady appearance of the Militant on the new schedule are forthcoming without delay. Do this, comrades, do everything, not tomorrow but today!
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With Communist Greetings, |
Last updated on 29 January 2022