the forerunners of the great American army of victory. The names of Communist youths who gave their lives for Republican Spain—Dave Doran, Milton Herndon, Joe Dallet, Harry Hines, Joe Bianco, Wilfred Mendelsohn—will be added to the lists of later American heroes, including many Communists, such as Ben Gardner and Herman Boettscher, who also fought in Spain, Henry Forbes, Party organizer of Western Pennsylvania, and many others. The Chairman of our Communist Party in New York State today is former Staff Sergeant Bob Thompson, who was awarded with the Distinguished Service Cross for "extraordinary heroism" on the Pacific Front, who also is a veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
But beyond all others we are inviting workers (which includes Negroes, women, veterans and youth, of course) to join our Party. Our main concentration is among the workers in this campaign for new Communists. The working class is the living core, the heart and soul of any nation. The working class is the most advanced class in society. The trade unionists are the most advanced and class conscious element within the working class, and the Communists are the most politically advanced elements within the unions, because "they have the advantage of clearly understanding the line of march, the conditions and the ultimate general results of the proletarian movement," as Karl Marx and Frederick Engels wrote nearly a century ago.
A Communist Party cannot function without a wide, deep and firm base of a working class membership. Communists join with all progressive workers in every immediate demand to protect established union working and living standards, and to improve them. Communists were in the vanguard in organizing the unorganized, for the right to strike, to picket for collective bargaining, etc. William Z. Foster, Chairman of the Communist Party, has a record of over 50 years as a labor organizer, strike leader, and pioneer industrial unionist. Many progressive trade unionists have learned from the Communists to defend Negro rights, to fight against an imperialist foreign policy, etc.
Sometimes such trade unionists ask: "Why should I join the Party? What is the difference between me and a Communist trade unionist?" It is an important question. It arises
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