[p. 31]
Los Angeles, Calif.
March 12, 1957
Dear Jerry:
Please forgive me for delaying so long to answer your letters. We have been thinking about the problem all the time and talking about it here in Los Angeles, and I believe the final result of our thinking will prove to be worth the delay.
My letter to Goonewardene and the supplementary proposals contained in the letter to the PC and the International Committee ought to be helpful to your organization in Britain either way it goes. If the Pabloites reject the proposal you will have all the answer you need to convince the people breaking from Stalinism that the Pabloite unity propaganda is merely a maneuverist diversion. Since the Pabloite regime was the direct cause of the disruptive split in England, nobody can reasonably ask you to take another chance on it. On the other hand, if the Pabloites accept the proposal, your organization will be amply protected against the kind of disruptive interference that caused the damage in the past. It must be borne in mind that the British cadres, tested in two great struggles, one internal and one in the mass movement, are much firmer and stronger now and much more able to cope with any irritating problems that might come up as a result of unification with the small Pablo group. You should have no difficulty in putting them to work and under control.
* * *
We are most of all concerned about France. Alongside their sectarian trend and their excessive factionalism, we seem to sense a nationalistic current there. We were very unfavorably impressed by their handling of the Bleibtreu case, and also by their threat to withdraw from the International Committee because of its inquiry into the matter. I think that, a little later on, Bleibtreu and his friends should be given an opportunity to reintegrate themselves in the movement, if they wish to do so.
We are dead set against nationalist-isolationist tendencies, and also dead set against the idea of permitting the French comrades to veto a necessary decision on the larger question of international unity. Of course, every effort should be made to persuade them to go along with the proposal. But it should be made clear that we have to proceed by majority rule, or else we will have to give up the idea of trying to work together.
We are all greatly enthused by your successes among the people breaking from Stalinism. We are also making substantial progress along the same line here on the West Coast. Now, if we can make headway in the ranks of Stalinism in the two countries where the Stalinist parties are the weakest and probably the most corrupt of all, because they have been most directly dependent upon the Soviet bureaucracy, why can't we make big progress in France where the Communist Party is a real workers' organization and where our chances should be one hundred times better? That is something to think about very seriously.
Please give my best regards to Tom [Sam Gordon] and the other militants. Tell Tom I did not yet receive the letter I have been expecting from him, but I am still waiting.
Fraternally,
J.P. Cannon
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