Comment:
Michael Stec's suggestion that we discuss ways to develop class
consciousness is well worth supporting, in my opinion. As a
35-year veteran of leaflet distribution in the Socialist Labor
Party plus 20 more years as a defrocked DeLeonist who possesses
the records of the Leaflet Committee of Section Wayne County, SLP,
from January 1943 to December 1960 compiled by Charley Schwartz,
the leaflet committee chairman for many years-may his name be
blessed, I can testify to the distribution of something like 4
million leaflets in the Detroit area alone. These were all
designed to arouse class consciousness. We were well aware that
the printed word was having little impact, but we comforted
ourselves with the idea that we were planting seeds that would
sprout when the rains came in the next depression. Well, rains
with the intensity necessary to grow class consciousness haven't
arrived yet.
What can we do in the meantime? In my opinion, little more than
1) Keep the faith-much as I hate to use the term; 2) Continue to
point out and explain in our literature and other agitation the
underlying cause of social problems; 3) Describe how a socialist
society could be organized to solve these problems; and 4) Avoid
any actions or words that suggest that our class can improve its
condition in a meaningful way without abolishing the capitalist
system.
In the meantime, I'd like very much to see a discussion of more
optimistic and detailed ideas than I have presented.
- Frank Girard
