The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 23, 1926, Page 13

= The Negro in American Labor History The First Negro Labor Congress (Dec. 6, 1869) By Amy Schechter. This is the second of a series of ar- ticles by the same author in the Satur- day Magazine Supplement of The DAILY WORKER. The first article appeared in this section on Saturday, January 9. N the preceding article it was shown that the advanced element in the post-civil war labor movement be- lieved the future of the emancipated Negro workers of the south to be indissolubly bound up with the Amer- ican labor movement as a whole. This view was, unfortunately, not shared by the great majority of the organ- ized (white) workers. Governed by the deep-seated prejudices which arise wherever slave labor exists side by side with wage labor, and where the slave is identified in the popular mind with the system of which he is the victim, many trade unions discrimi- nated against the Negro worker, rendering him antagonistic to the labor movement, and flinging him into the arms of the bourgéois politicians of both races, : William Syivis and the other for- ward-looking leaders of the National Labor Union, who, after emancipation, had taken the initiative in declaring for the solidarity of white labor with Negro labor, were powerless to en- force the lifting of the ban against Negro membership in the unions, The National Labor Union, as has been said, was a loose federation of nation- al unions and central labor bodies; and its committee had no control over the affiliated trade unions, acting rath- er in an advisory and organizational capacity. At the Chicago congress of the Na- tional Labor Union a delegate stated that “although there were a number of colored mechanics in New Haven, we have so far been unable to induce the trade unions to admit them.” Some delegates inclined to the view that the question was similar to that of the foreign-born workers, the Ger- mans; for;inetance,. who voluntarily organized in national unions of their own. But William Sylvis, the leading figure in the labor movement of the time, and a keen analyist of contem- porary conditions, held that the mat- ter was extremely urgent, and said, “This question had already been in- troduced in the south, the whites striking against the blacks, and creat- ing an antagonism which will kill of the trade unions unless the two be consolidated.” Trevellick, Sylvis’ most active aid in the organizing work of the National Labor Jnion, declared, in the course of the discussion, that, “The Negro... has already. stood his ground uobly when a member of a trade union.” A case which attracted general at- tention and took on the character of a test case was that of the Negro printer, Douglass, who was refused admission to a local Washington un- ion in 1869. The constitution of the National Typographical Union in which this local was affiliated con- tained no clause regarding racial dis- crimination in reference to member- ship and Douglass appealed to the national convention, but his appeal was turned down. The case aroused a good deal of bitterness, and was brought up as typical of union dis- crimination at the Negro Labor Con- gress held at the close of that year. This discrimination on the part of its affiliated unions naturally militated against the possibility of drawing the Negro workers into the National La- bor Union as an integral part of the organization. Another factor of equal importance was the fact that very real divergencies existed between the immediate needs of Negro labor and white labor at this period, In the first: place the sense of a allegiance (quite inevitable at that time) of the Negro toiler to the re publican party -as the party of Lin- coln and emancipation, brought. him into opposition to the policy of inde- pendent working class political action which was the foundation upon which the National Labor Union was built. Then, the question. of money inflation was an issue of immediate importance to the white’ worker of the industria! “north, whose wages were paid in lh “ greenbacks while the prices of com- modities were fixed in gold (which caused a tremendous depreciation in real wages); but the newly emanci- pated Negro worker was not yet con- sciously interested in the problem. Another, and the basic, divergency followed from the fact that the great mass of Negro labor was agricultural, and the workers represented in the National Labor Union, industrial, Af- ter generations of sowing that other men. might reap, the Negro agricul- tural laborers naturally felt a deep longing to possess land of their own, and like the Russian peasantry, linked together “land and freedom.” Even the view-point of the industrial Negro worker was influenced by this great need of the mass of his race, and thus the demand for a liberal home- stead policy became his central le- gislative demand. This question could not possess any such interest for the members of the National Labor Union, the great majority of whom were skilled industrial workers, though they did carry on a campaign against the wholesale grabbing of public lands, upon which so many of the vast fortunes of our “best families” were founded. In July, 1869, the first state conven- tion of Negro workers met in Balti- more. The convention report em- phasized the discrimination against Negro labor, and recommended that a nation-wide organization campaign be carried on among the Negro workers. This convention issued the call for a national congress, to be held in Wash- ington, D. C. on December 6th on the same year. The seperate Negro Na- tional Labor Union was planned, the parent body assisting in its organiza- tion. The convention-call, endorsed, a- mong others, by the union of the (Negro) employees of the Chesapeake railroad stated among other things that the purpose of the congress was: “To consolidate’ the eolored'" working- men of the several states to act in cooperation with our white fellow- workingmen in every state and terri- tory in the union who are opposed to distinction in the apprenticeship laws on account of color, and to act so co- operatively until the necessity for separate organization shall be deemed unnecessary.” The tone of the call, as well as the fact that the state con- vention publishing the call sent fiye delegates to the National Labor Un- ion convention held In August at Philadelphia, shows the existence of a definite will toward cooperation with the general workers’ movement: And in the course of an organizing trip through the south in the spring of the same year, William Sylvis several times remarks the sympathetic atti- tude of the more advanced elements among the Negro workers toward the National Labor Union. s This tendency toward cooperation was opposed, however, by bourgeois politicians, intent upon using the workers of their race for their person- al advancement and upon delivering their vote intact to the republican party: A pre-convention editorial ap- pearing in’ the Workers’ Advocate’ issued an urgent warning to the Ne- gro workers to steer clear of this type of counsellor: “On the 6th of December, 1869, the first national labor convention of the colored laboring men of the United States under the auspices of the Na~- tional Labor Union will be held in the city of Washington, D. C. We earnestly trust that it will frown down any attempt to transform it into a politico-partizan assemblage. The colored people have too much at stake at the present juncture to allow any of the political charlatans, who are so profuse with their sympathy and ‘advice,.and who are ever-ready to ride upofi any hobby upon which a Httle capital may be made, to guide their councils, They must act and think for ‘themselves—independent of ‘party dic- tation— if they expect the support of their white fellow-toilers, “The action of the National Labor Union is an earnest that its profes- sions of sympathy are no lip service; that its members are prepared to.... aid by every means in their power the dissemination of those principles which have proved so advantageous to the white mechanics of the north. Let them threfore eschew all schemes of a chimerical character,.... and act upon the principle that their true friends alone can be found in the ranks of labor, and their safest coun- sellors in those whose interests are identified with their own... .” The fear that an attempt would be made to capture the convention for the republican party and to use race- hatred to stifle the dawning conscious- ness of common class interests with the white workers, proved to be only too weil founded. Samuel P. Cum- mings, a member of the National La- bor Union, who attended the sessions, gives an excellent account of the process, “The convention of colored men at Washington last week was in some respects,” he writes, “the most re- markable one we ever attended. We had always had full faith in the capa- city of the Negro for self-improve- ment, but were not prepared to see, fresh from slavery a body of two hundred men so thoroughly conver- sant with public affairs, so independ- ent ip spirit, and so anxious apparent- ly to improve their social condition as the men who represented the south in that convention. “The convention was called to order by Myers, of Baltimore, and Geo. T. Downing, of Rhode Island, was chosen temporary chairman; and upon as- suming his position Mr, Downing made one of the best speeches on the labor question we ever heard. It was a gem in its way, and had his counsels been heard, some unpleasant things might have been avoided. But there were a few who evidently had some secret purpose to serve, who tried to make the convention the means of carrying it out. among these was: Mr. J. M. Langston, ‘the “Tamoiis “Colored “lawyer of Ohio, who evidently aspiring to the leader- ship of his race, and who we hear has been promised a high position in the government if he can contfol the colored vote of the south, in the in- terest of the republican party. Mr. Langston certainly possesses ability, but very little discretion, at least his course indicated it, for on the first evening of the convention he took occasion to insult the white delegates from Massachusetts, and warned the delegates to beware of us, intimating very strongly that we were the emi saries of the democratic party, which was certainly new to us, who have until this year acted with the repub- lican party.” (They left the latter party to agitate for a national labor party.—A. 8.). Upon Sella Martin taking the floor in answer to Langston’s attack, the latter’s supporters tried to prevent Martin from being heard, but he stood his ground and spoke in strong con- demnation of Langston’s tactics. “He said forcibly and truthfully,” continued Cummings, “that the inter- ests of the laboring class on this con- tinent were identical, and that“ they should work harmoniously together for the furtherance of the cause of labor.... we are happy to say the convention finally adopted his views. “Whether their course in forming an indepeudent National Labor Union was wise or not, time alone can tell... It is useless to attempt to cover up gulf between the two races in this country, and for a time at least they must seek each to work out a solu- tion of this labor problem in their own way. At no very, distant date they will become united, and work in harmony together, and we who have never felt the iron as they have must be slow condemn them because they do not see as we do on this labor movement, For ourselves, we should have felt better satisfied had they decided to join the. great national movement now In progress. But fresh from slavery as they «.e, looking na- turally as they do on the republican party as their deliverers frombond- age, it fs not strange that they hesi- tate about joining any other move- ment... .” Prominent A number of the resolutions adopted by the congress clearly show the hand of the bourgeois politician. There are resolutions recommending frequent conferences between employers and worker, ardently advocating loyalty to the government, unequivocally con- demning strikes. The resolution on education is typical: “Resolved that education is one of ; the strongest safeguards of. the .re- ' publican party, the bulwark of Amer- ican citizens, and a defense against the invasion of the rights of man... We feel that it is our duty to educate them and impress them with the fact that all labor is honorable and sure road to wealth.... that the habits of economy and temperance combined with education and independence are the great safeguard of free republican institutions, the elevator of the con- dition of man, the motive power to increased trade and commerce, and to make the whole of this land the wealthiest and happiest on the face of this globe.” Then there is the following Hill- manesque resolution on the relations . of capital and labor: : “Resolved: That we do not re capital as the natural enemy of labor; that each is dependent on the other for existence; that the great conflict daily waged between them is for want of a better. understanding between representatives of capital and labor; and we therefore recommend the stu- dy of political economy in all our la- bor organizations. ... as a basis for the adjustment of the disputes that arise between employer and employe.” The most important definite recom- mendation of the congress, according to the accounts available, was con- tained in the.memorial on agricultural labor in the south, with its proposal to remedy the evils existing in this con- nection by “making labor more scarce,” thru the medium of “making laborers landowners by means of homestead grants.” The: New: York Tribune (Dec. 11, 1869), gives the fol- lowing account of this memorial: “The chief matter of interest was a memorial... setting forth that the average wages of agricultural laborers in the south was but $60 per annum, that the planters were combined to keep labor down; that this combina- tion was made more bitter from pol- itical motives, and its influence was So great that it was impossible, as matters stood, for the colored laborer to exercise civic privileges, except at the risk of his livelihood, poor as that was. To remedy this, labor must be made more scarce, and the best way to do that was to make the agricul- tural laborers landowners. Congress is to be asked, therefore, to subdivide public lands im the south into twenty- acre farms, to make one year’s resis- dence entitle a settler to a patent, and also to place in the hands of a com- | mittee a sum of money, not to ex- ceed two million dollars, to aid the settlement, and also to purchase lands in states where no public lands are found, the money to be loaned for five years, without interest.” The congress platform omits most of the main planks of the parent Na- tional Labor Union, such as the taxa- tion of the wealthy for war purposes, the establishment of a federal labor department, the incorporation of un- ions, greenbackism, the solidarity of men and women workers, the demand for the abolition of convict labor, etc. In addition to the resolutions men- tioned above it adds resolutions on the equal rights of Negroes to jobs, en- dorsement of the Freedman’s bureau, endorsement of the republican’ party, etc. About the only definite point ‘of agreement in the two platforms ‘is the emphatic demand for the aboli- tion of the importation of contract oriental labor, In the period between the first.con- gress and the second (and last) beld two years later, the Negro organiza- tion fell more and more completely under republican domination, as will be shown in the succeeding article, finally severing all relations with the National Labor Union when the latter began to take definite steps for the organization of an independent na- tional labor party.