Source: Daily Worker, October 14, 1929
Transcription/Markup: Paul Saba
Copyleft: Internet
Archive (marxists.org) 2018. Permission is granted to copy and/or distribute this document under the terms of the Creative Commons License.
Since the assassination of President-elect Obregon in Mexico, on July, 1928, deep economic and political changes have taken place manifesting themselves in important events characterized by a realignment of class forces with the ascending revolutionary tide of the oppressed workers and peasants.
The repercussions following the assassination had further divided the gap between the government forces – the official instrument of American imperialism whose interests are well represented by Ambassador Morrow – and the Catholic Church, having the support of a substantial part of big landowners and generals. This antagonism came to a climax in March, 1929, when the reactionary generals and big latifundistas, with the support of British imperialism, rose up in arms.
The uprising sought to seize the state power from the hands of Portes Gil-Calles group. The American government immediately stepped into the situation, and by its direct support given to the government of Mexico the uprising was smashed in less than two months in spite of its widespread character.
The national bourgeoisie, obeying the orders of its imperialist masters, came to an agreement with its vanquished enemy. There were two important factors in the signing of the pact between the Mexican government and the Church which were the motives for Mr. Morrow to act as a mediator in behalf of American imperialism.
(1) The imperialist necessity of uniting all bourgeois forces under the hegemony of Wall Street. This was essential in view of the splendid opportunities for American financial interests to further expand in building new railroad lines and introducing rationalization in the textile, mine and oil industries. Mr. Morrow has secured Calles as head of the Mexican railroad as a sure guarantee for the American bankers to be the sole foreign investors.
(2) The March uprising revealed the potential revolutionary power of the oppressed masses. The armed peasants who during the civil war (March, 1929) acted in many instances as an independent force against the reactionary generals, constituted a permanent danger for the bourgeoisie, hence for American imperialism.
The radicalization of the masses due to the economic crisis, the organization of the Revolutionary Trade Union Center and the Workers and Peasants Block under the leadership of the Communist Party, were a constant menace to the national bourgeoisie. The simultaneous attack upon the revolutionary workers and particularly upon the Communists during the uprising is a decisive evidence of that menace. Since the conclusion of the pact, and as a part of this pact between the Mexican bourgeoisie and U. S. imperialism, the government has initiated a campaign of terror against the revolutionary trade unions and the Communist Party. The fascist “Labor” Code, the assassinations and deportations of the leaders of the proletariat, aim at the complete annihilation of all genuine revolutionary forces fighting the national bourgeoisie and its imperialist lords. The struggle of the exploited workers of Mexico against the combined reactionary block is a struggle against rationalization which is being rapidly introduced in the textile industry, mines, oil fields, etc.
In the midst of the vicious government attacks upon the revolutionary workers, stands the treachery of Ursulo Galvan, head of the National Peasants’ League. This traitor was responsible for the execution of Guadalupe Rodriguez by the orders of Calles. The Communist Party of Mexico expelled Ursulo Galvan.
The Communist Party of Mexico, which followed an opportunist line at the beginning of the uprising, quickly corrected its mistakes. It called for an independent struggle against both the reactionary generals and the treacherous Federal Government. The opportunist elements within the Party refused to accept the policy of the Party. Galvan was the first to refuse, and he immediately passed into the ranks of the enemy. But opportunism had only begun. The Party soon found that within its Central Committee a crystallized group of Right opportunists was determined to put up a strong resistance to the new policy.
The Party Plenum was held in July in the midst of a heated atmosphere produced by the resistance on the part of these elements fighting, not for the persecuted workers and peasants, but for an alliance with the government, with the bourgeoisie – with American imperialism.
The opportunists, Diego Rivera, Reyes Perez, Luis Monzon and Fritz Bach capitulated before the tremendous tasks of the Party which is to lead the exploited masses whose fighting mood shows a growing radicalization. This radicalization is evidenced by a series of strikes which are taking place in spite of the white terror.
In the face of the sharpening struggle against the imposed arbitration, prohibition of strikes, etc. (Fascist “Labor” Code), against the reaction of the government and the yellow labor leaders, these opportunists propose an attitude of “passivity” to be adopted by the Party. All their arguments tended to a liquidation of the Party.
They refuse to see the radical changes in the situation of the country, the counter-revolutionary character of the bourgeoisie, the systematic fascist persecutions, etc. They interpret this last as “individual” acts not having the pressure from the center (Government). Another grotesque opportunist line brought forth by these allies of the reaction is their proposal to make an alliance with the so-called petty-bourgeois group represented by Denegri. Denegri is the coauthor of the “Labor” Code!
It is interesting to take the case of every one of these four renegades in order to point out the necessity of a merciless struggle against opportunism in our brother party.
The “theoretician” of this right wing group, Fritz Bach, a strong supporter of Lovestone for a long time in the American Party question, has come out with a monstrous falsification of Leninism. He maintained at the Plenum that the Communist Party of Mexico must make an alliance with the national bourgeoisie for national independence and against imperialism. The Party, taking a true Leninist position, rejected this line. While the Communist Party in a colonial or semicolonial country makes a temporary alliance with the petty-bourgeoisie if the latter will really fight for national independence and against imperialist, such conditions do not exist in Mexico today.
The bourgeoisie, including the petty-bourgeoisie, in alliance with the reactionary feudal landowners, forms a solid counter-revolutionary bloc fighting for American imperialism and against the workers and peasants. This petty-bourgeois, opportunists ideology of Mr. Bach is reflected in his personal attitude towards the Party in refusing – when ordered by the Party – to leave the lucrative position he is holding in the Department of Labor of the Mexican government. His answer was: “I think I can best serve the working class by keeping the job.”
Diego Rivera accepted a government appointment as Director of the School of Beaux Arts, without the consent of the Party. He refused to make a public denouncement of the government and to sever his friendly relations with the Vasconcelistas (supporting the bourgeois candidate Vasconelos). He stated that because he is accustomed to lead a bourgeois life it would be impossible to continue being a member of the Party, that he made a mistake by entering the Party.
Luis G. Monzon accepted an appointment of the government as “labor” attache to the Mexican Embassy in Berlin. He leaves Mexico to take the position in defiance of Party orders. The fourth opportunist leader, Reyes Perez, puts himself at the head of a “Rubio-for-President” group in the state of Jalisco, a true fascist organization. Rubio is Ambassador Morrow’s choice to succeed Portes Gil. Perez also sold himself to the government and American imperialism by accepting the position of Secretary of the Department of Labor of the state of Jalisco.
These traitors and renegades were expelled from the Party.
The expelled opportunists have developed a theory of exceptionalism which brings them in line with Lovestone and his group. The refusal to see the growing radicalization of the masses in Mexico brought them to the conclusion of adopting a “passive” attitude. No perspective for intensified struggle against imperialist oppression. On the contrary, they propose an alliance with the oppressors. Like the renegades of our Party in the United States, they fight the Party at a time when the blackest reaction is sweeping the country, when persecutions, jailings and assassinations are being conducted against the militant leaders.
The struggle against opportunism in the Mexican Party is part of our general struggle against the International right wing. The Mexican Party feels that by purging itself from the opportunist elements, it strengthens itself and enables the Party to go ahead with its struggle against the fascist terror, to mobilize the workers and peasants to fight the future battles of the proletarian revolution.