The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 3, 1926, Page 15

j ' Second Thoughts on the Fourth of July By JAY LOVESTONE, RIOR to this year we communists in America called the day on which the Declaration of Independence was signed, July fourth. It occupied just the same place ideologically, politic- ally, that July fifth, or sixth, or June thirtieth did. Until 1926 it had very little significance as a historic day for us, This is the first time that we speak of the Fourth of July. This day as- sumes a real significance for us. We must look out. against any Americanization craze in our Party. In the bourgeois sense of the word, Americanization is a very dangerous thing. In the bolshevik sense of the word, Americanization at once affords a hope for the future and practical re- sults in the present, To speak of Americanizing our Par- ty in the bolshevik sense of the word, means to speak of the Party adopting tactics based on the objective con- ditions. Examination of these objec- tive conditions will indicate that his- torical traditions much as they appear to the superficial observer as abstract forces, are in reality very concrete elements, very substantial phases of the objective conditions at hand and transmitted. The American bourgeoisie have al- ways prided themselves on saying that there are no classes in the United States, never have been, and never can be. The history of America, like the history of any other country, is the history of class struggle. The first American Revolution is a gigantic class struggle. If we scratch the sur- face of the historical evidence of the first American Revolution, we will find that the Civil War was a class war. This Revolution grew out of conflict of economic class interests. It was not a single event; it was the climax of a series of events, It is not my purpose to describe any -hattles’ or ''skitmishes- or deal with the military disasters or victories of the contending forces of the first American Revolution. Such investiga- tions are relatively unimportant for the American workers in 1926. What is timely for us at this time is to trace certain facts of the first American Revolution, to see what lessons we can draw from this tremendously sig- nificant historical event and to see how the experiences of our forefathers stack up in the light of the estimates of these experiences given by our bourgeoisie. More than that, what is most valuable for us is to compare the tactics, the practices and activities of the American masses and their leaders in 1776 with the advice now being given to the American workers by those whom they still, unfortunately in the main, recognize as leaders to- day. Much ink is being spilled by the robed, untitled and well-paid de- fenders of the present system in their attacks on the opponents of the cap- italist order. These apologists of the exploiting class are shouting against the revolutionists. They are yelling against a dictatorship by the prole- tariat. They are ranting against the use of force. They say that is foreign, that is un-American. They are yelling from the housetops against the Amer- ican workers having anything to do with other workers from the different countries in their struggles against the bosses. The official historians and editors of our ruling class are working overtime propagating the idea that the present form of the American government is eternal, and that it af- fords the workers of thig country an opportunity in pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. Let is examine these “eternal truths” that are hurled so gratuitously by the exploiters at the workingman. It ill becomes the defenders of the bourgeois class which is a small minority of our population to speak of the sanctity, of the inviolability of the majority rule. American democ- racy today is the most crass, tho in spots well camouflaged, expression of minority rule in the interests.of: a minority, at the edostly expertise of the’ vast majority of the population, in the world. The American workers can very well draw inspiration on the ques- tion of majority and minority from the experiences of the first American Revolution. The workers and ex- ploited farmers of this country are the overwhelming majority of this coun- try. But in view of the fact that the capitalists who are a small minority are speaking so much against the Communist Party because it frankly Says that the proletarian revolution at the outset may be initiatea by a minority in the interests of the great majority, it is worth while to analyze the background of the first American Revolution for extremely valuable les- sons. At the time of the first American Revolution the Patriots (those who were against the government) were in a minority. The Loyalists (those who were for the then existing govern- ment) were numerically very strong. The conscious supporters of the gov- ernment at that time were at least a third of the entire colonial popula- tion. They formed a majority in such important colonies as New York, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania. It is estimated that at least 100,000 per- sons who were for maintaining the government existing then in Ameri- ca, were exiled by the revolutionists. Their property was confiscated. They were tarred and feathered and they were treated much more roughly in many respects than the Czarists who were for maintaining the old reaction- ary government in Russia were by the Bolsheviks. The Communists of today can learn many lessons from the American Revolutionists of 1776 in treatment of counter revolutionists, of Loyalists, of Tories. The noted his- torian, Adams, in his book “New Eng- land in the Revolution” declares that “More colonials served in the Imperial than the Revolutionary army.” He further says, “If we accept the esti- mate that at the beginning of the war one third of the people were in favor of independenee, a, third. of the people were opposed to it, and one third in- definite, it is evident that two thirds could not have been counted upon to sustain the Patriots’ (revolutionists, those against the government) y with any ardor.” Force and Violence, American workers have been sent to jail for defending themselves against the terrorism of the existing Tory government in the United States. Many states have passed laws which provide for severe jail penalties, and years of imprisonment to be vis- ited upon any worker who dares even insinuate in the most indirect manner that the workers and poor farmers have a right to defend themselves against the brutalities of their ex- ploiters. In this light it is interesting to re- call the declaration of the Continental Congress of 1774, which so forcefully declared: “We are reduced to the alterna- tive of choosing an unconditional submission to the tyranny of irri- tated masters, or RESISTANCE BY ~FORCE. THE LATTER IS OUR ' CHOICE. We have counted the cost of the contest, and mnd nothing is so dreadful as voluntary slavery.” No more inspiring words have been uttered for American workers by any Communist section of the world. Let us go on to listen to one of the leaders of the American Revolu- tion, Tom Paine. Incidentally, we should remark that Tom Paine has been much underestimated by the yourgeois historians and has been much neglected. These classic words of Tom Paine mean very much to the American workers today. We should think very seriously of what Tom Paine meant when he said: “By referring the matter (the grievances against the British rul- ing class) from arguments to arms, a new point for politics is struck. All plans, preparations, etc., prior to the 19th of April (the battle of Lexington), are like almanacs of last year.” Let the American workers think of Ludlow, Calumet, the Bisbee deporta- tions, the slavery in the mining ‘séc- tions, the tyranny in the steel regions, in the light of these meaningful words of Paine, The Negro Since 1776 By LOVETT FORT-WHITEMAN. HE American Revolution of 1776 was not a complete national revolu- tion, and its achievements amounted to hardly more than a political sever- ance of British authority, yet remain- ing economically dependent upon Eng- lish industry. It was only after the second war of 1812 that the American people were able to enjoy economi¢ independence of England; thus we have the poltical and economic inde- pendence of America arriving at dis- tinct periods in American histoty. The geographic features of the early re- publie at once manifest themselves to the evolution of its economic institu- tions and the differentiation of group interests. The rock-strewn soil of New England, in conjunction with an unfavorable climate, was enimical to the development of agriculture; but, on the contrary, these parts, by virtue of rugged coast line, swift flowing cur- rents, abundant timber land close to the coast line, et al., constituted some of the basic factors conducive to ship building and maritime trade. Altho Negro slavery existed in the New Eng- land colonies and continued in those parts for some years after the birth of the republic, slavery in New Eng- land was never an important economic benefit. The Negro slave in New Eng- land found his chief occupation in the homes of the Puritans as a domestic servant, But, turning to the tidewater re- gions of Virginia and the broad, fer- tile areas of the lower South, natural features at once lend themselves to the rapid development of an agricul- tural society into which the Negro slaves fitted as an exceedingly impor- tant economic asset. This became more so after the invention of the cot- ton gin, resulting in the increased pro- duction of cotton and it becoming a staple commodity of those regions, It was the result of the series of inven- tions in the treatment of cotton in“the latter part of the 18th century that the Negro slave and the institu- tion of slavery in the Southland took on new and increased economic value and political importance. Arising out of the new alignment of economic class interests are the politi- cal controversies centered about the question of a loose And strict interpre: tation of the federal constitution. The growing interest of the young com- mercial and manufacturing class of the North was to be thrown in increas- ing opposition to the agricultural and slave barons of the South. This oppo- sition and contradistinction of class interests was to find itself reflected in their development of political thought and party organization. Rise of the Republican Party. oo birth of the republican party in the middle of the 19th century marks the definite organized attempt of the young manufacturing class of the North to win the reins of the na- tional government in order to legislate in the interest of its class and to de- feat the opposing interests of the rul- ing class of the Southern states. The abolitionist movement was the moral reflection on the question of slavery of this new manufacturing class of the North, The latter class was not only opposed to the extension of slavery into the Southwest, but desired its complete abolition. A slave-owning society bought little in the way of manufactured goods and desired a low tax on imports from England. The bitterness of the struggle between these two classes ever became more intensified, thus culminating in the Civil War in 1861, The emancipation of the Negro slave in 1863 was a war measure, one of the means utilized to break the economic power of the Southern states in rebellion. Epoch of Reaction. OON after the Southern states had been taken back into the Union on a basis of perfect equality and the spirit of mutual good will had devel- »ped between the North and the South, strong political reaction set in against the Negro thruout the South. This ‘was expressed thru legislative acts of political disfranchisement of the Negro, the instituting of Jim Crow cars, mob violence, etc. Booker T. Washington, the Southern Negro advocate, rose to prominence as the embodied spirit of the Negro’s ac- ceptance of the New, South with its policy of Negro repression and racial inequalities. The central principle of the Washingtonian philosophy was that the Negro should turn to the soil; to become useful as a basic industrial factor, to postpone an active desire for political power and that industrial education was more necessary to the Negro at that time than the higher branches of learning. It was a philos- ophy of reconciliation and acceptance, In opposition to the Washingtonian school of thought on the Negro ques- tion there arose in opposition in the North a militant group of Negro lead- ers having at its head such men as William Monroe Trotter of Boston and Wm. B. DuBois. These men saw in the Booker Washington program ser- vile submission and the ultimate de- feat of all that the Civil War had ‘se- cured for the Negro in respect to his civic and political rights. The group crystallized about Trotter and DuBois stood for a liberalism for the Negro, demanding for him his full-fledged rights and privileges as an American em om ith the death ot Booker Washing- ton, in 1915, and shortly aftes Ameri- ca's entry into war, followed by hun- dreds of thousands of Negroes coming North working in the industrial cen- ters and many going across in the American Expeditionary Forces, lib- eralism was re-enforced, The New Negro. J ge World War thruout the world of the oppressed races produced a day. profound stir. In America the deep unrest among the American Negroes was a sort of back-fire to President Wilson’s 14 points for peace and democracy. During the World War socialist thought began to have its influence upon an appreciable area of young Negroes in the largest cities of the North. But the development of soojalist interest and understanding among the Negroes at this time was overshadowed by the rise and phenom- enal growth of the Garvey movement, purely a Negro Zionist movement with the African continent as its objective. The Garvey movement has had its strong appeal for the Negro proleta- rian class, but has always been more or less frowned upon by the Negro petty-bourgeoisie and the intellectual. Today the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Garvey movement constitute the two most influential liberation movements among American peoples. The former, based upon ideas of Negro nationalism, the latter the achieve- ment of the Negro rights in American society thru the publicity of ‘Negro racial merits and moral suasion. But daily there is growing among the Negro proletariat a group who sees the ultimate solution of the Negro problem in neither of the programs of- fered by the above organizations, This new group in increasing volumes is clamoring for radical changes’ in the social structure of the American order. Its central thought is that the “social inequality the Negro suffers arises from economic class exploita- tion and that only thru the abolition of capitalist exploitation can the Ne- gro attain complete emancipation. To- day the Negro suffers lynching, Jim Crowism, political disfranchisement, inadequate educational facilities, in- dustrial discrimination, residential segregation, etc. These are his imme- diate racial problems today, as yester-