Page:Charles Emil Ruthenberg - Speeches and Writings (1928).djvu/13

Rh American working class as the outstanding expression of communism in the United States.

Ruthenberg learned much and quickly from the Russian Revolution and the proletarian State of the Soviet Union. His indefatigable mastery of the principles and strategy of Leninism has gone a long way towards accelerating the building of the Workers' (Communist) Party of America.

What have been Ruthenberg's main contributions to the American labor movement? One: He was the first man in the various left wing movements to realize the value of organization, Ruthenberg always emphasized organization in a concrete, positive manner. Two: His heroic fight against the imperialist war. Here Ruthenberg was a trail blazer for the American working class in a true Leninist sense. Third: He knew how to link up the smallest, immediate, most elementary everyday needs of the workers with the biggest, most fundamental and revolutionary objectives of the whole proletarian struggle. Fourth: He was the leading founder of the Communist Party in the United States.

Ruthenberg was an organizer par excellence. Immediately after he joined the Socialist Party in 1909, he assumed responsible organization work in the Cleveland organization as recording secretary of the City Central Committee. The Cleveland organization in the former Socialist Party symbolized strength, stability, and mass influence. Proportionately it far exceeded many local city organizations in this respect at the time. Ruthenberg was quick and able to utilize the local issues for the purpose of building a Cleveland section of the national movement.

It did not take long for Ruthenberg to become nationally known as an organization builder and an outstanding local political leader. From 1909 to 1912 he served as recording secretary of the Cleveland Central Committee of the Socialist Party. In 1910 he was Socialist can-