The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 23, 1924, Page 10

Reflections on the Negro Sanhedrin iW. 1.4. woorz HE Negro Sanhedrin came, had its say, and time alone will be able to tell whether or not it has added anything to the sum_ total of human social knowledge. The forces which created it are easily seen; the elements that determined its charac- ter stand out in startling bold relief; and it must be acknowledged that the conclusions which it arrived at present an immatw of thinking strikingly at variance with the im- portance of the social issues which it sought to discuss, As I see it, it was not an impres- sively profound body. It may be its elements were too diverse to unite on a soundly constructed social pro- gram. This must not be construe to mean that nothing came out of the movement: that would be far from the truth. What it indicates to me is that the Negro of the West- ern Hemisphere has not yet waked to an appreciation of his present-day social duty. ‘ No big central figure looms up in our consideration of the conference. The personality of Kelly Miller dominat- | i Chamber of Commerce Influence. | he executive secretary of the Negro employment bureau of the local Chamber of Commerce, the ‘Chicago branch of the Urban League, was finally chosen as chair- ‘man of what Dr. Miller designated jas the “Commission on Labor.” Lovett Fort-Whiteman, the leader |of the Workers Party delegation, | protested with eloquent vehemence against what he asserted to be a de- liberate endeavor to stifle the real ! voice of Negro Labor in the deliber- ations of the conference. But “So- cial Welfare” was in the saddle dig- ging a sharpened spur and applying a cruel whip of disapproval whenever the conference, showed even the slightest disposition to kick out of |the traces. Hence the all-important issue of Labor was relegated far to the rear in the body’s consideration of the big problems cf the hour. What were the big questions of the hour? “The Basic Importance of the Physical Stamina of the Race,” discussed by the physicians; “Our Educational Program,” discussed by a group of college officials; “The |gram for an unbiased discussion of ed the conference, it is true, but it | Function of the Negro Press,” dis- was only in the alert, watchful way | cussed by-representative Negro news- that so often characterizes the man-| paper men and Women; “The Afro- ner of the politicians. The delegates of the Workers Party, and the African Blood Brotherhood got a large dose of the watchfulness of this. professor from the District of Columbia. But for friends at court their recommen- dations would have been buried as material destructive of what was at bottom the chief reason the leaders helped to promote the conference. It was not the justness of the position assumed by this particular set of dele- gates that was question by Dr. Miller. He Yollowed a policy of expediency which dema that radicalism of any sort should have little, if any, place in the, social program was to be laid down by the conference for the Negro race in America. American’s Relation to the World- | Wide Race Movements,” discussed by a small group, of writers; “The Function of Fraternal and Benevo- lent Organizations in Race Welfare,” discussed by leading officials of secret and benevolent organizations; “The Religious Factor in Race Wel- fare,” discussed by several Bishops of the several religious organiza- tions; “The Effect of Religion on Race Relations,” discussed by an- other group of digtinguished religion- ists; “The International Co-operation in Civic and Social Betterment,” dis- cussed by welfare organization lead- ers; “The Function of Agitation in Race Betterment,” discussed by lead- ers of organizations engaged in the work of procuring “Equal Rights” for the Negro; “The Woman’s Part .in the Race Problem,” discussed by _the women delegates; “The Part of ithe Young College-Bred Negro in Race Betterment,” a discussion in ; which the college men and women showed off to rather good advantage; “The Place of Business in Race Bet- terment,” discussed by several suc- cessful business men and women. | Labor as a question of first rate im- portance has no place in this rather | @laborate program. As I see it, it was a “Social Welfare” program de- signed to strengthen the already ‘strong hold which the nation’s Cham- bers of Commerce have on the eco- nomic strings of the American: Negro’s life. Leaders in Panic at Labor. I get my ciue in this connection from what I saw of actual panic whenever there came a slip in the workings of the prepared program. Consternation reigned during the un- forseen fight led by Comrade Fort- Whiteman for a place on the pro- the Labor problem as it affected the life of the Negro in this country. At one part of this discussion Leader Miller himself had to pl&¥ge the Workers Party delegation that La- bor would be given a place in the official document that was being pre- pared by the several commissions as the statement of the Sanhedrin’s position on all public questions af- fecting the life of the race. This was done by what was called the “Findings Commission,” with the re- sult that the Labor question got some consideration and position in the document given out as the gen- eral program of the Sanhedrin. There were two odd slants given to the question of segregation at the conference. The northern elements wanted unqualified condemnation of the offenses committed in its name. The Southern elements, however, en- THEY MURDER OUR CHILDREN OME weeks ago a policeman told the following story whilst he was waiting in a queue for food in the north of Berlin. A boy had stolen some rolls from a bakery. He was caught and hauled before the police, and there he insisted that he had not stolen for himself but for his sick mother—“She cannot live on potato peelings alone.” The policeman was instructed to verify the statements of the child. He did so and actually found g woman, thin, like a skeleton, unable to leave her bed, and apart from “7 —— boy pooarity ad hungry children. It was prov at the whole five had estaaie been liv- ing from potato peelings. This is a dry statement of the facts. One can imagine this woman and her children who starve even tho her boy steals. One wonders how it was possible that the woman al- lowed the thing to go so far, why no help came to her. Here is our mis- take, this case was nothing excep- tional, it was not caused by a chain S stances. It is one case amongst thousands of others, amongst hun- dreds of thousands of others. Think of the five, the eight starvation years thru which Germany has Think of the horrible growth of the hunger illnesses which have weakened adults and children, think of the sol- diers’ widows who suffer with their orphan children and whose only con- solation is a few shameful “pension” papers on which it is visibly written “you shall starve,” Think of the prices. Think how the value of the money disappears whilst still in the hand. Think of the thousands of facts, each typical of this period— for instanée, physicians suffer great- ly from unemployment tho the whole population is sick. Think of all these things, and the individual case grows to gigantic proportions. It ig the symbol for the death of an entire le! An entire people! Everyone who works or wants to work is condemned to the ration of potato peels. If not today then tomorrow, Peels! not even potatoes. Where the starving have “stretched out their hands to the. po- tatoes, there the police have been mobilized to protect the fields. ‘The man hunt has been re-established. They have shot into the crowds of starving people. Men and women have been murdered with the machine guns because they wanted potatoes to satisfy their hunger. They have —but let us read the police report: “On the morning of October 26th of particularly unfortunate circum | at a quarter to seven, in the fields of the farmer Frede at Britz, rifle fire directed by the police at potato raid- ers resulted in the deaths of a boy of twelve years and a girl of sixteén, and in serious injury to a further girl of sixteen.” Two children are killed and one is badly wounded. Yes, but the potatoes are safe. Twe children are complete- ly and one partially satisfied, and all that was necessary—three small pieces of lead. The potatoes were saved, property protected from all damage and the basis of the Chris. tian State remains intact, and all at a total cost of the torn bodies of three children. Do not rail at the cruelty! The cost was not too high. For what was at stake? Is not the German economy in the greatest danger, is it not threatened by ruin? Is it not ne to ruthlessly maintain what still stands? What would hap. pen if the quiet enjoyment of prop- erty were no longer guaranteed? Think of the consequences! Today it is the potato fields of the big farm- ers and junkers, but tomorrow al- ready it may be the gold of the citi- zens, the state bonds, shares, for. eign currencies. Today they steal. Tomorrow they will expropriate. If property is not guaranteed what will become of trade and commerce? Therefore, one must shoot! Up to the moment, in Britz alone two men, one woman, pne boy and two girls have been,shot. There are further victims in,other places. Still more must be for the danger is great. Do see those white hol- low-cheeked faces with their sunken deavored to prevent frank and open discussion of this issue. The con- tention of the Southerners was that an unbridled discussion of segrega- tion on the floor of the Sanhedrin would hinder the inter-racial work that was now being done especially if the conference should take too de- cided a stand in this particular. “There is no justness in pussy- footing and no common sense in side tracking this important matter,” contended the Northern elements. “Yes, we know,” answered the Southerners, “but we have got to live in the South, which is a very dif- ferent thing from toasting your shins up here in Chicago.” As a consequence a soft pedal was put on discussion altho there was a loud flourish of generalities in that part of the “big” documents offered for the general public’s cogsumption. Optimistic For Future. I do not know what trend the next meeting of the Sanhedrin will take. I believe, however, thatthe outlook is upward. It must be admitted that at the conference just closed Chair- man Miller’s hands were held and directed by an invisible force of tre- mendous power—the sinister influ- ences of capitalistic interests -deter- mined to maintain the inimical rela- tions that have existed too long be- tween the black and white prole- tariat in all the sections of the land. But the ground has been broken. A distinct desire to break away from many of the older moorings has been shown. It was not a radical outbreak by any means. Yet it was clearly manifest that the old order of thinking and ‘the old character of action is about to be laid aside by what, for the moment, can be named the “New Negro.” Let there be no fear for the future, the Negro is now in the fight for Human Progress and will not turn back... ee EEEEReEe eevinacvin eeletininemeimtitiapetiteten peeing ti tet tata tte EN eats enittpmeninstisetatiniat | everybody who has, against every- eee | lates who amasses, bargains, specu- and plunders in the good old ; bourgeois manner. These starved | people are capable of anything, they ‘have nothing to lose. They are quite ‘ready to throw away their lives, for ‘even those no longer belong to them; ‘they are in the hands of the Stock |Exehange wolves and the barons of | industry. Should they risk their lives in the last throw, they might win and there would be an end to the century old empire of capitalist happiness. No! ‘The rifles and machine-guns must rattle. The armed police must be mobilized everywhere. The army must be. sent to Saxony to stifle the hunger there. Dead workers lie on glowing eyes in line before the po- ;any street in Saxony. More must tato shops? They are an ite- |join them. Men, women, boys and ment by their very existence. girls, hind those bony foreheads there are thoughts of high treason. Nothing is sacred to these starved people. They have nothing to eat and they fill themselves with hatred against Yes! The starving must be mur- dered or capitalism will perish. Mur- der! murder of men, women and children or—the victory of Com- munism!—J. LILBURNE. ~~ 6UL&UEUYUUELELLLETELTELTTELLELIELESS LELTESEETESESSESESSESESSEEEEESESESESESSS ~SRRSPSTALLLRLARSLLSL SS VALASSSSARSSS ~~ SASS and other important books. Doors Open at 10:30. aS SS S555 55.5.5 SS SS SS SSS SS SS SSSA SSS SESS SS A Workers’ UniversitySociety! : STUDEBAKER THEATER 418 S. 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