Page:Samuel Gompers - Out of Their Own Mouths (1921).djvu/173

 Rh

The most important action taken at this congress was the formulation of the "twenty-one points." The sending of these points as an ultimatum to all the socialist parties of Europe had the following results:

First, the powerful Independent Socialist Party in Germany was split and the majority faction entered the Third Internationale, accepting the domination of Moscow and all the twenty-one points.

Second, the same result occurred in the congress of the French Socialist Party in December, 1920.

Third, a powerful element in the Italian Socialist Party took the same action in the middle of February, the remainder of the party also adhering to the Third Internationale but demanding a certain measure of autonomy. Similar results occurred in other European countries. A powerful group of socialist and labor organizations, refusing to repudiate or condemn the Communist Internationale, also decided not to enter into it at the present moment but to attempt to form a new international organization in which the communist parties are to be an important part.

Thus the effort of the communists to control the socialist parties of Europe has made considerable progress within the last year, though failing to capture the movement as a whole and failing also to convert the