Paul Mattick

Unity for What?

Communist League and the American Workers Party Move to Form New Party

1934


Published: in International Council Correspondence Vol. 1, no.1, October 1934, p 15.
Source: Antonie Pannekoek Archives
Transcribed: by Graham Dyer


According to the Militant (#37) the organizational unity of the groups is close at hand. The political bargainers are almost sure to put their deal through to the satisfaction of all concerned. The membership of both groups will be very happy, and they will be proud of a larger and more important organization. The Trotsky bodyguard will easily forget that only yesterday the Musteites were fakirs and political scoundrels. The Muste crowd will soon agree that Trotsky on the same side with their "American Lenin", the former and present Priest Muste, is not so bad. Together they will fight for the American kind of a revolution, and celebrate the memory and bones of American Bourgeois rebels dead 150 years or more.

The whole matter is a joke, only indicating that by this merger they hope to stop the disintegration going on in both groups. It is of no importance to the working class, and as a matter of fact the workers ignore both of "the only ones". Divorced or combined, they have no future as their only weapons are outworn traditions which may still confuse part of the workers, but never really influence them.

Practically it may be summed up as an expression of the sound policy "for bigger and better business". As long as it is not positive that this unity will actually take place, it is not worthwhile to deal with it at great length. We will come back to the subject in one of the future issues of the C. C.

 


Last updated on: 6.13.2018