Alex Bittleman Quotes
The real and immediate problem is: to win away the masses from the capitalistic parties. Failure to do this means helping Roosevelt, helping Republicans, helping reaction.
Alex Bittleman, *, Communist Party Activist, “Review of the Month,” The Communist, April 1936
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
New Deal opponents are generally thought of as Conservatives. However, the Communists are as much of an opponent as any of the right wing organizations. However, in classic Communist Party style, when Stalin and the Russians became war allies and Russia needed arms and financial assistance from the U. S., the American communists fell into line and flip-flopped on Roosevelt and the New Deal.
Comintern was upset by the American Socialist Party because the party had rejected the 21 Conditions for Affiliation and withdrew their intent to join the Third International. To Comintern, the Socialist Party was a party of “bourgeois socialism.”
Although the Nazis railed against the Communists & Socialists, the potential opposition they feared the most was the middle class. See also {582966}.
Just before the outbreak of hostilities of WWI. The German Social Democratic Party was a minority party in Germany and the majority was very anxious to go to war.
So often in America, citizens and government officials have made alliances or joined organizations under the theory that “the enemy of my enemy must be my friend.” It has almost always been a mistake ranging from joining the Communist Party in the 1930s to supporting the dictators or the Middle East, Asia, and South America. In the 1930s Fascism was growing and already on the march and neither America nor England—the leading democracies were not doing anything to combat the threat. America was emerging from the Great Depression, had a string Isolationist movement, and a small but influential group of Fascists and Hitler enthusiasts. Also, no one outside of Russia knew about the Stalin atrocities.
Despite the fact that many conservatives labeled him a Communist, he not only saw them as different but was very critical of the failure as he saw it of Russian Communism. See {626693} .
There are some who question the authenticity of this Steinbeck quotation on the grounds that all the references to it seem to be secondary sources. However, we lean toward its authenticity.
