Page:Raymond Augustine McGowan - Bolshevism in Russia and America (1920).pdf/27

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Bolshevism in Russia and America
27

democracy, that the proletarian revolution must be carried through by workmen's councils and not by political democracy and the vote. When formed, the new revolutionary State, based on workmen's councils, should have a new army to protect itself in the civil war which would come with the revolution. The Manifesto repudiated "the vacillation, mendacity and superficiality of the Socialist parties," and calls out for Communist parties everywhere. It ends: "Join us, proletarians, in every country—flock to the banner of the workmen's councils, and fight the revolutionary fight for the power and dictatorship of the proletariat!"

What are the groups in the United States which subscribe to such a programme and how many American Bolsheviki are there?

The Socialist Labor Party.

The first American group mentioned in the invitation to the Moscow International was the Socialist Labor Party. While this party maintains that it is a Bolshevik organization, it refuses to deal with the other American Bolsheviki. Moreover, though it declares that it has the theory of Bolshevism, it relies more than Bolshevism does upon the vote—at least more than Bolshevism did in Russia and more than the other American Bolsheviki in this country outline in their programs. For these reasons, the Socialist Labor Party cannot be considered a replica of the Russian Bolshevik Party, nor even an active part of the American Communist movement. Besides, since it has less than 3,000 members, its effect is almost negligible.

The I. W. W.

The other American organization invited to affiliate with the Communist International is the Industrial Workers