Written: As an internal document for the Tucson Marxist-Leninist Collective, n.d.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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The conference was attended by eighteen delegates. Represented was Mayday in Eugene, WWOC [Willamette Workers Organizing Committee – EROL} of Portland, Local Centers in the Seattle and Los Angeles areas, the TMLC, and the Bay Area Local Center which had two delegates from the BAWOC minority and one independent delegate, as well as delegates from the BAWOC majority. There were also a number of observers, including one from the Hawaiian Union of Socialists (HUS).
The documents distributed before and during the conference made it clear that the campaign against white chauvinism would be a central part of the conference itself. Thus forewarned, the TMLC and BAWOC minority worked up speeches and resolutions which put forward an alternative process for taking up the struggle against white chauvinism and targeting the SC’s campaign as ultra-left, sectarian, and aimed not at racism, but at dissident views in the OC itself.
The first night of the conference was speeches and rebuttals. Dave F. for the majority spent close to 50% of his speech on white chauvinism, including quotes from the campaign against white chauvinism directed by the CPUSA in 1949-53. This use of CP history was a key issue of dispute throughout the conference. Charlie, of the BAWOC minority, who delivered the minority speech, jointly developed by the BAWOC minority and the TMLC, spelled out our line on federationism, ultra-leftism and white chauvinism. Then Dave and P. Costello gave rebuttal speeches.
After the speeches were over and the conference finished for the night Tyree S. of the NSC [National Steering Committee, OCIC - EROL], who had been acting in a provocative manner throughout, provoked a “racist incident” which the SC needed to concretize its campaign. He overheard several members of the BAWOC minority and Al Szymanski of Eugene arguing with Dave F. about the white chauvinism campaign. When the discussion was breaking up, as everyone had to go home to prepare for the next day, he jumped in and demanded the discussion continue. When the comrades explained that they were leaving, he accused them of racism, for refusing to discuss the issues with a Black man, and then proceeded to lecture them on their racist motives. When Al stated, “I don’t want to talk about motives, I want to talk about the politics of racism,” this was cited as further proof of a refusal to “take up the struggle against white chauvinism.” Tyree stormed off saying he had never been so insulted in all his life.
When this was reported back to us, we all caucused to come up with a strategy as we knew the SC was going to make a major issue of these incidents the next day. I proposed that we refuse to take up the incident on their terms and insist that first we needed to have unity on the process of how the struggle against white chauvinism was to be taken up, so we would have an agreed-upon structure with which to deal with the specific incident. The proposal was accepted by BAWOC minority and Eugene.
Day two of the conference began with workshops in which one member of the minority position was put into a workshop with 9-10 majority supporters and/or independents and then grilled for three hours on our line. Not surprisingly we were attacked for racism on any and all grounds. If comrades directed their remarks to a white comrade it was racism: ignoring a minority comrade. If comrades disagreed with a minority comrade and directed their remarks to him/her this was racism: refusing to take leadership from minorities.
In my workshop I was put in with Tyree and a real zombie from the Los Angeles LC who blindly backed the SC line to the hilt. Here Tyree retold the events of the previous night (from his own distorted perspective) and ominously warned that anyone who would not take up the struggle against their own racism would be outside the bounds of the OC. When questioned about this by other workshop members he reiterated his line. It was clear that they would try to force us out, if we did not capitulate to their white chauvinism campaign.
During the lunch break after the workshops, we caucused again as we knew that the SC would bring up the incident of the night before after lunch. It was agreed that none of the accused would speak to the specific incident until there had been a discussion of the process of taking up the struggle. One comrade was given responsibility for reading a statement to this affect, after which we were going to expand upon it to target the CP’s campaign upon which the SC’s campaign was modelled, the ultra-left and sectarian manner in which the campaign was proceeding and the fact that the majority was not starting from “unity-struggle-unity” and “cure the disease to save the patient,” but rather from struggle-unity-struggle and “destroy the patient to cure the disease”.
When the conference reconvened and without any discussion, the agenda was set aside and Dave got up and retold the incident, falsifying a number of particulars. Afterwards the incident was analyzed for its racism by a leader from LA who discovered a “racist body posture” on the part of one comrade.
Then it was demanded that the accused get up and discuss the specific incident. They declined deferring to the person chosen to read the statement. The chair however, refused to give her the floor. This was a stalemate and the majority was confounded that we dared to defy them and function collectively.
It went back and forth for some time until finally one of the accused got up and read the statement. This was taken as a deliberate refusal to fight racism and Tyree got up and said that anyone who so refused to take up the struggle over his/her own racism was outside the unity of the OC. On a point of information I rose and asked if Tyree was expressing a personal opinion or speaking for the SC. When he stated it was SC policy, a majority delegate put it in the form of a motion, that anyone who would not get up and speak to the specific charges against them was refusing to practice criticism/ self-criticism and was therefore outside the unity of the OC. The vote was 11-7 with Eugene, Tucson, BAWOC minority and the independent from the Bay Area local center voting with us.
Thereupon the four accused were asked if they were going to speak to the specific charges or not. Al Szymanski arose and began a speech he had written over the lunch break. He denounced the OC campaign and its progenitor in the CPUSA 1949-53. After a minute or two it was clear that he would not address the specifics and the chair ruled him out of order. When he continued, the majority tried to shout him down, but he only continued in a louder voice. Finally he stated that he would not take up the specifics until the correct process was adopted and, referring to the 1949-53 campaign in relation to the SC’s one he said, “History repeats itself, the first time is tragedy, the second time is farce,” and sat down. The other accused likewise said that they would not participate in the process on the terms of the SC which they believed incorrect. Then the chair ordered them out and all of us got up to leave.
The consternation of the majority was evident as they had not expected a mass walk-out. We had just reached the back of the room when an elderly comrade (Clay Newlin’s former father in law) rose on a point of personal privilege. Shaking with emotion he read a poem he had written the night before attacking sectarianism and splitting. Clearly directed at the SC process, the poem ended with the lines:
Whatever happened to:
They are capitalists, we are communists?
After the poem the chair called on all of us who were leaving to state our reasons. Each explained that they were resigning in solidarity with the comrades who insisted on putting the process first and each denounced the SC’s line and practice. As we all filed out, the remaining delegate from Eugene, who hadn’t participated in this discussion until them, rose and said that the whole thing made him sick, but when he saw the majority nodding their heads in agreement, added to them, “but not for the reasons you think,” and then proceeded to denounce the SC and resign as well.
At this point the entire conference broke down into small spontaneously formed groups. The leadership lost control, and was extremely embarrassed when two older comrades, who had been in the CP, POC, PL, etc. started yelling at the top of their lungs that the whole thing had been a “set-up” and that the same thing had happened in the CP. Whereupon they walked out, as did a number of other Bay area independents from the local center.
After this break the conference reconvened and (as reported to us by some who remained) spent the rest of the afternoon and evening dealing with what had happened. The SC warned people that no one was going to leave until they had reached unity on what had happened, or, as one delegate from LA put it, that what had happened was the OC had lost a bunch of racists. Tyree exulted over the fact that the TMLC and others had been driven out. “We smashed them, we smashed them,” he commented repeatedly.
Tyree also warned “the white chauvinism campaign hasn’t even started yet”. “We are going to see a white flight out of the OC”, he added, insisting that the loss of a bunch of “white petty-bourgeois men” was no loss as all.
In case delegates were not being open about their reservations (as if anyone could be open in this atmosphere) majority leaders got up and pointed out individuals one by one for hiding or conciliating to racism and then they were forced to get up and admit their racism and self-criticize. This went on for hours after which a number of delegates were broken and a number of observers thoroughly sickened.
Since the opposition was with one exception, white, and minority cadre were leading the campaign, the struggle was extremely difficult and comrades faced an enormous amount of race, class and sex baiting. The one minority cadre who opposed the campaign was accused of anti-communism and class baited for his “fancy clothes” and glib manner of speaking. In the end he was shouted down, and although he had opposed our walk-out because he thought we should have stayed in and struggled, after he remained to continue to struggle till the end of the conference, he called to say that he now recognized that we had been correct and that principled struggle with the majority was hopeless.
After the conference was over a meeting was held with representatives of the TMLC, Eugene, BAWOC minority, HUS, and BAOC. It was agreed that a small group be set up to write an urgent letter to the movement on the degeneration of the OC and that we get as many signatures as possible on it before releasing it. Also a statement of why the delegates at the western regional conference resigned was to be circulated. Finally, we discussed some kind of theoretical historical sum-up of the OC experience, and perhaps jointly working on a document of this kind.