Page:Resolutions and Theses of the Fourth Congress of the Communist International (1922).djvu/119

 certain shortcomings in the practice of the Party, it was the duty of all the comrades to rectify the errors which they admitted. Instead of this, the opposition demanded the continued existence of a factional organ, "Kommunista," which was a contradiction to the resolution of the Third Congress, which forbade the formation of factions. In the fight for its factional organ, the Opposition committed a gross violation of discipline when, a few days before the meeting of the Council of the Party and of the Party Conference, it circulated an appeal containing the gravest accusations against the Central Committee. The Opposition, by hesitating to withdraw these accusations, caused extreme irritation to the Party Council and to the Party Conference, and thus unwisely provoked their own expulsion.

In the forum of the International, the Opposition preferred a charge against the majority of the Central Committee and against Comrade Smeral, that the latter were working for a governmental coalition with the Left elements of the bourgeoisie. This charge is in direct contradiction to the known facts of the activity of the Party, and must be rejected as totally unsubstantiated. The programme demands of the Opposition as expressed in the draft programme of Vajtauer, contain syndicalist and anarchist, but no Marxian and no Communist conceptions.

The fact that such demands were advanced by the Opposition demonstrates an anarcho-syndicalist deviation on their part from the basic principles of the Communist International.

Nevertheless, the Fourth Congress is of the opinion that the expulsion of the Opposition was inexpedient. The Congress substitutes for this expulsion a stern rebuke and their suspension until the next Conference of the Czecho-Slovakian Communist Party. The decision to revoke expulsion as inexpedient should by no means be interpreted as an expression of consent to the programme of the Opposition, but it was prompted by the following considerations:—The Council of the Party had failed to make it clear to the Opposition at the outset that the formation of factions would not be tolerated; the Opposition therefore deemed itself justified in fighting for the existence of its factional organ. Furthermore, a number of previous breaches of discipline had been tolerated, which caused a weakening of respect for discipline and responsibility on the part of the Opposition. The Fourth Congress leaves the expelled comrades within the Party, but it emphasises the imperative duty of the Opposition implicitly to submit itself to the discipline of the Party and to strictly discharge all its obligations.

This subordination to the discipline of the Party makes it incumbent upon the Opposition to withdraw the assertions and charges which are damaging to the unity of the Party, which were found to be unsubstantiated and untrue on investigation by the Commission. Henceforth they must obey