First Published: Marxist-Leninist Vanguard, Vol. II, No. 8, August 1959.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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A year ago in August, the founding conference of the Provisional Organizing Committee to Reconstitute a Marxist-Leninist Communist Party was held. It was at this conference that Communists from major working class centers of the U.S. gathered, determined that the American working class and its allies must have a vanguard Leninist party in order to carry out its historical role; in order to rejoin the international working class movement. Out of that determination was born the embryo which set itself the task of urgently building the foundation of a real CP. No longer would America continue with a revisionist-bureaucratic CPUSA leadership, devoid of any revolutionary theory or practice. With the P.O.C was born its press, “The Vanguard,” with its motto “Without a Revolutionary Theory There Can Be No Revolutionary Practice.”
Fully endorsing and basing ourselves on the 12-Party Statement, and embracing and studying the great wealth of Marxist-Leninist theory; completely rejecting and exposing revisionism and conclliationism; the P.O.C, through many birth pangs, has not only consolidated itself ideologically and organizationally, but has grown nationally, and has taken its first steps, relatively-giant steps, toward mass struggle. Our P.O.C. stretches now from coast to coast. We in Chicago are very happy to welcome the new comrades in California into the P.O.C and we know this will mean a real growth of the P.OC on the west coast, and indeed strengthens us everywhere.
The Chicago comrades are proud and have been inspired by the wonderful mass activity of the comrades in N. Y. and other cities. We are also inspired by the reception given to our paper “Vanguard” nationally.
As part of this outward motion of the P.O.C, here in Chicago we have set the question of unemployment as one of our major concentration tasks. One of the first steps taken to carry out this concentration task was a recent distribution of our P.O.C. leaflet on the question of unemployment, at the Armour Packing Plant. The Armour Plant is closing down and it means thousands of workers will be left jobless. The distributions, is which all of the comrades in Chicago participated, proved to be most timely and successful. The reception of our leaflet was very good. Many workers remarked that it had been a long time since they have seen any kind of leaflet distribution. Some workers invited us to visit them at their homes. That the working class is hungrily looking for answers and organization and that we must redouble our efforts in mass-struggle, is proven once again.
The P.O.C. in Chicago consistently holds Marxist-Leninist classes, utilizing both basic classics and literature of the P.O.C; also on a consistent basis is the holding of discussion groups with sympathizers of the P.O.C, and from such discussion groups the recruiting of two comrades to the P.O.C. was the concrete result. We have a discussion group set up with a group of Puerto Rican workers and also have developed with them a perspective for mass work. The prospect here of a P.O.C. group amongst Puerto Rican workers is in the making. Block concentration for consistent distribution of P.O.C leaflets has begun.
Since last August, the revisionist-conciliationist voices of doom have been sounding the death knell for us of the P.O.C., but today we can see for whom that death bell was sounding. We are growing stronger day by day. Even the efforts of special neo-conciliator agents of the CP. leadership have accomplished tbe opposite of what they intended. Their wrecking tactics have strengthened us much more.
A year ago in September, we in Chicago made our first mailing and distribution of the first issue of Vanguard, which explained in no uncertain terms our rejection of the corrupt revisionist line of the CPUSA leadership and told of our political aims and perspectives. One person who received the paper during this first distribution culled us to say “What you guys are doing is terrific. You must have put this paper together with spit and guts.” We answered “More guts than spit.” It is this type of guts – real Communist courage, based on a clear understanding of the necessity to struggle and build a vanguard party in the U.S.A. that characterizes the spirit of the P.O.C.
The Illinois P.O.C. sends warm, revolutionary greetings to our National Committee and to all P.O.C. organizations throughout the country.
Onward to the formation of a real Marxist-Leninist Communist Party in the United States!
Illinois District Committee P.O.C.