The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 21, 1931, Page 4

4 corey f Published by the Comprodally Publishing Co., Inc, dafly except Sunday, at 50 Fast 2 8 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Page Four 18th Street, New York City. N. Y. Telephone Algonquin 7956-7, Cabl WORK” ai or @F By mail everywhere: One year, $6; six months $3; two months, $1; excepting Boroughs Address and mail all checks to the Daily Worker, 60 East 13th Street, New York. N. ¥. 4 . New York Ctly. Foreign; one year, $8- six months, $4.50. im lew Yo Conrad Ong: d Porty US.A. of Manhattan and Bronx, New York y. Foreign yi By BURCK WORKERS MUST ANSWER) "#9 wantep: oo0 ATTACKS OF ALA. FASCISTS By HARRIS GILBERT. to understand what the full significance IN order I of the proposed Alabama criminal syndicalist law it necessary to have a clear picture of 1ation of the Negro farming masses in 0 of Negro framers and share-croppers are in the southern part of the State. It is a ple to move or leave the farm without rd’s permission as they are tied to him bts he has fastened upon them with the orts of crooked work, threats and s. If the Negro leaves, there is a ich provides jail for debts (though violates “our” constitution) and ho are caught ‘ masses live mostly in small one- into which a family of 10 or 12 the floor at night. The not even brick—but a “stick of mud” the wood which they can manage There are no windows—only holes which have to be boarded up when is cold, leaving the house dark, as and candles are things unknown and too [he poor people are going around ut shoes and all in old rags patched in every conceivable way. Food gen- of corn bread, lard gravy, fat- rup and perhaps a little coffee ip greens. Doomed to Slow Starvation. Whenever it rains or is very cold, sickness of all soris find plenty of victims—and small won- der, on the diet they have. Now on top of that —with the present crisis in cotton as well as the drought last year—hundreds and thousands of these poor farmers and croppers are today ‘act that most of them live in peon- | actually doomed to a slow death by starvation. | The landlords and merchants have refused credit for next year’s crops to these poor propertiless toile ho are likewise unable to hope for any- thing in the cities where tens of thousands are unemployed. Now the Red Cross has announced they will cut off relief after March 15. That is the prospect the Negro and white farming masses are faced with. Nothing saved up—no credit to be expected— and no crop can be raised to provide something for the next year. Fertilizer sales in the state of Alabama have decreased over 50 per cent what they were last year. Oi course, it is a well known fact that the Negro toilers, many of whom are little better | than slaves, have no semblance of political or | social rights. Justice is a bitter farce for them es of hundreds being sent to the chain nes for nothing. Political rights there is not adow of, and socially they are regarded as slaves and referred to—not by name—but in many cases by the caption “Gaston's nigger,” r “Jones’ nigger,” etc. Is jt then strange that ur comrades report that the Negro agrarian masses are today more ready to struggle than ever before. Is it strange that our literature and leaflets have been spread and discussed far | and wide among the Negro farming masses. Daily we receive letters asking how to organize the fight against hunger. Truly the Negro farm- ing masses will form a militant part of the struggle against capitalism—another smashing refutation of Lovestones theory about the po- tential counter-revolutionary content of the southern masses, ve Drivers Tremble at Signs of Revolt It is indeed in this situation that the Party is building its work among the Negro farming masses. Full well may the slave driving, blood- sucking “lily white” landlords and their flunkey their benign supervision “white man’s burden” | will be rudely kicked off and the Negro toiling masses, together with the white toilers, will force their rights to be recognized—not perhaps by “legal” means—for assuredly this will be back- ed up by the organized strength of white and Negro toilers. Is it then surprising at the sudden fright and chills the capitalist class and the big landlords feel at the progress of the Party. Indeed the very thought of the Negro farmers organizing together with white farmers and workers to de- mand better conditions is enough to give these “gentlemen” who promote lynchings as a sign of “white supremacy” a nightmare. Here indeed we see the close direct relationship be- tween the ruling class and the governmental apparatus expressed in a classic form. How closely linked up the interests of the capitalists and the semi-feudal relationships on the land together with the state machinery are, is ex- posed very clearly. But a few days after the Communist Party had sent an organizer down into the Black Belt, the State Legislature has decided to hold a special sessidfi—after the con- ference of Gov. Miller and the state attorney- general—after wiring the Fish Committee for help—to pass special laws to be modeled after the vicious anti-working class Michigan law. Not Content With Present Oppressive Laws They are not content with their Criminal An- archy law which provides ten years and $5,000 fine or with their frame-up charges of “va- grancy” etc. This they feel will not prevent the mercilessly oppressed masses from rebelling and refusing to be “sensible” and quietly starve to death. No—they must deal more severely with these “foreign agitators” (anyone outside the state is a foreigner here). How smugly hypo- critically they talk of this being done without “any thought of violating the right of free speech or free press” (Montgomery Advertiser. 3-6-31). How touching their sacred regard for the “in- violable” rights of free speech and free press. They who look upon the 14th, 15th, and 16th amendments, giving the Negro masses even the so-called “democratic” rights, as so many scraps of paper. The significance for the Party in this latest and most vicious attack lies in the fact that the actions of the Alabama State Legislature are only a forerunner of what the workers and their Party in the rest of the country will soon be up against. It is precisely down here where the oppression is sharpest and the conditions worst that the bosses’ attack is the sharpest and hard- est. It is precisely because here the Party is doing. something never before attempted—mob- ilizing white and colored toilers in a common fight against their oppressors. Forerunner of Attacks Is it not natural that the capitalist prostitute press should try to isolate us—and prepare the ground for definite steps to drive us into ab- solute illegality by its provacative lies of “Reds call on Negroes to revolt,” ete. Comrades—we must draw the conclusions—that this attack on the working class of Alabama is the forerunner of other sharper attacks on the working class and its leader, the Communist Party. Now is | the time for all comrades to prepare to with- | stand the coming blows. politicians tremble as they recognize the danger | of their murderous super-exploitation of an en- tire people for their own profits. How quickly they react to the thought that their “niggers” whom they regard as still their slaves and pri- vate property will organize and struggle against their starvation and hopeless future. Quite clear- ly these “upright, respectable, patriotic” citizens must crush this “Red peril” in the bud or else Here in Alabama our | answ-r is increased organization in the shops | and on the farms to mobilize the toiling masses of white and Negro workers against this latest vicous attack, Throughout the country the comrades must tighten up the Party, strengthen the Iron Discipline and root ourselves so firmly in the shops that no amount of terror or per- secution will be able to break the influence of the Party. In spite of all the terror and per- secutions of the bosses and their government the Party will win the toiling masses of Negro workers and farmers of the South as firm fight- ers together with the white workers against our common oppressors—the capitalist class. Resist the bosses’ attacks by rooting ourselves firmly in the shops, mines, and on the farms! Smash all signs of white chauvinism—for the firm unity of white and colored toilers against capitalism! Vagrancy and Chain Gang Article 2. By WALTER WILSON. eed system of vagrancy and chain gangs is also being used to hamper militant labor organ- izations by arresting organizers on vagrancy charges and sentencing them to long chain gang terms. This has been particularly true since the outbreak of southern strikes, including Gas- tonia, in 1929. Paid labor organizers from the revolutionary unions are sent to the chain gang on charges of vagrancy. The judges who have the discretion of applying the law merely state that tie organizer is not in “a legitimate busi- ness.” To be a vagrant and to be eligible for this tor- ture system of forced labor you must have at least two primary qualifications. You must be @ wroker or poor farmer. You must be without money and without powerful friends. Not only unemployed workers refusing to accept starva- tion wages but also “discontented” workers are framed and sent to the chain gang. What is this chain gang? It is a part of the convict camp system in the South under the control of the county governments, though it frequently takes in state prisoners, too. The chain gang victims are forced to work on public roads for the state or a contractor and sometimes on other jobs. The men are hobbled with short chains riveted to the legs to restrict movement. Hence the name. It is the chief penal institu- tion of the South and was organized to put teeth into the peonage and vagrancy laws to guarantee an ample supply of forced labor. Once convicted, “leave all hope behind all who enter here.” The typical southern chain gang is more than a nightmare of horrors. It is a stark reality staring every unemployed worker in the face, Men toiling on the chain gangs are slaves without any capital value. Slaving from sun to sun, brutally beaten, wantonly killed—it does not really matter. Another worker can be brought in. The men slave crushing rock, felling trees, digging ditches, building roads, with big shackles and chains on them to restrict movement. Guards with whips and guns watch to see that the striped-clothed convicts work speedily and con- tinuously. Blisters on feet from worn-out, ill- fitting shoes and swollen, calloused hands are ‘inevitable. During the hottest day the men are driven wntil they are struck down by the sun, then whipped to make them get up and work again. On July 24, 1930, for example, two convicts— C. F. Brooks, white and Leroy Smith, Negro— serving on the Forsyth County, S. C. chain gang died wtihout regaining consciousness after suf- fering sunstroke. Another case occurred at Gaf- feney, 8. C., a little later. Many such deaths are not reported, or the men are whipped to death or shot and the case is reported as “sun- stroke” or died from “natural causes.” Ignorant and brutal men are selected to have charge of the gangs. Most of them have had experience working as guards in turpentine camps, for levee contractors or other private slave drivers. A prime qualification for the job is to know how to “handle blood hounds and ‘niggers. ” Punishment which is frequent, and which in- cludes all the horror devices: chains, shackles, spikes on feet, flogging, confinement in the “dog-house” ( a coffin-like box barely large enough to suspend a man upright by his wrists), clubbing, sticks, bread and water diet, etc., are punishment nine times out of ten for non-per- formance of task, failure to keep up with pace- setters. A committee of women who were investigating a prison camp in Alabama recently compelled the guards to break open a “‘dog-house.” A Negro worker was suspended by the wrists in the cof- fin-like cell, his weight being-on his numberd arms. He was unconscious. Lime had been placed at the bottom of the box and had eaten into his feet. They were swollen many times their natural size. When released, the worker pitehed forward on his face unconscious. “eticot attention can be had only as white- Wai J osture after a death from overwork or whipping. Pills are administerea by the guards for all ailments not serious enough for sending to the hospital. ‘ Housing conditions around the chain gang camps are of the worst. Two methods of housing are in vogue. One is a cage-like cell house mounted on wheels so that the camp can follow the work. This cage is about 13 feet long and about 8 feet high and wide. It is the home for about 20 men. During the hot summer nights | the men, packed sardine-fashion into this cage, sweat and stink but seldom sleep. When night comes the tired workers find a piece of coarse dirty cloth stretched over some lumpy straw | between Section and District. tr) LERINGRAD bil seow HAVE Ma. GREEN OF THE AF.OFL Come ff oveR IMMEDIATLY! | | PARTY LIFE | Conducted by the Organization Department of the Central Commitee, Communist Party, U.S.A. Some Experiences In Putting Into Effect Planned Work By B. S. (Minnesota) Ap nono the plans of work worked out by | the District, Sections, and Units have not been carried out 100 per cent in the Minnesota Dis- trict, yet it showed that the Party membership | learned during the process of formulating the | plans, the value and aim of planned work. | In our District planned work and the process | of working out our plans has served as a teach- er of the need and value of planned work and also served to bring to the fore some bad social- democratic practices in the units. Let us take the Section plan on the Mesaba Range. The Section committee worked out its plans and sent it to the distirte org. dept. for approval. After some study the org. dept. found that the major weakness in the Section was re- flected in the plan, namely, not enough em- phasis on getting miners into the Party and building the miners’ union. A series of commu- nications and an analysis of the plan followed Finally the Sec- tion adjusted the plan with main emphasis to overcome the weaknesses. The plan then was sent to the units, the units having a guide which focused their attention to mine work, worked out their plans. Some of the mistakes of the units were also revealed in the plans. The difficulty of orientating the units on a definite point of concentration was evideni in every section. The Section committee then was instructed in conjunction with the discussion of the Plenum resolutions to stress particularly shop work and definite point of concentration. After these discussions the unit plans contained this definite information. In the copper country of Michigan the plans were too extensive, also revealing the principal weakness in that section. In these plans, the organization committee and the district bureau felt that the section is biting off too mush, A series of communications followed as to possi- bilities, work already accomplished, rate of in- fluence and number of contacts. The reports of the section organizer proved that there were tremendous possibilities, especially among the lumber workers, that could be exploited if the membership got definite tasks to accomplish. The plan of work here therefore served to put boldly before the membership the task ahead and concentrated their attention on a particu- lar mine and lumber camp for definite results within a definite given time. When the plans of the units and sections were finished we found some difficulty in putting them into effect. Old methods of work blocked the progress of our advance, We will take one example, One of the units in Minneapolis was given a railroad shop as a point of concentration. The comrades worked faithfully day in and day out distributing leaf- lets, selling Daily Workers and trying to get contacts, week after week no results. The unit bureau was called to the section committee to discuss the methods of work. It was disclosed that the comrades go to the shop gates, openly — filled with bed bugs. This is a bed! All the men are forced to lay down on their bunks in rows and a single long chain is run through the | short leg chains of each. There are flaps which are lowered during the rainy or cold weather. The other method of housing is by tents pitched on the ground near a creek, Around | both type of camp flies and mosquitoes swarm | in clowds. The sewage pits located close by are uncovered. All convicts, syphiletics and tubercu- lars, sick and healthy use the same wash basins, towels and beds. The bill of fare consists of corn bread, corn grits, grease gravy, peas, black coffee and oc- casionally salt pork. Everything is cooked swim- ming in grease. No refrigeration is provided and much spoiled food is served. A county in Ala- bama recently boasted that it was cheaper to feed convicts than mules. It costs 141% cents a Gay f0; feed. convicts while 16: copie B5,'cerits to feed 8 mule, From Bardoli to Delhi . (This is the first of a series of three articles dealing with the recent developments in India. ‘The revolutionary struggle there has entered a uew stage. These articles evatuate the pros- pects of the si They merit the most HE capitulation of the Indian bourgeoisie and the calling off of Gandhi's passive resistance (civil disobedience) campaign by the Indian Na- | tional Congress marks the end of a certain stage in the development of the revolutionary struggle in India. This is not the first time the Indian bourgeoisie puts itself at the head of the mass movement in order to behead it. Nine years ago, at the height of the offensive of the Indian masses against British imperialism and the land- lords, the National Congress passed the ill-famed Bardoli resolution calling off in a similar man- ner all anti-imperialist activities. At that time the Indian capitalists succeeded in stemming the rising tide of the revolution, in diverting the blow from their imperialist masters. What in the present situation are the perspectives of the revolutionary struggle in India? No amount of prophetic inspiration will help to answer this question. But neither can we rest content with a question mark with which the majority of the so-called serious bourgeois observers and false Communists of the renegade variety wind up their discussions on the Indian problem. It is to the relationship of classes in the anti- imperialist struggle, to the objective factors gov- erning it, to the ability of the Indian Commu- nist Party to make use of these objective factors that we must look for an answer to a question which is of greatest moment not only to the Indian masses but also to the revolutionary work- ers of the whole world. The Struggle Develops on a Higher Plain. In more than one way the present revolution- ary struggle in India differs essentially from the post-war upheaval. The upheaval of 1919-22 started as an ele- mental revolt of the exploited Indian masses spurred on by high prices and a devastating famine. The unspeakable atrocities perpetrated by the imperialist butchers (notably the mas- sacre in Amritsar) on one hand, and the in- fluence of the Russian revolution on the other, combined to arouse the masses against their im- perialist exploiters, But while actually waging the struggle the revolutionary classes hardly knew what they were fighting for. With the working class still in its infancy, in the absence of proletarian organizations able to contest the leadership of the revolution, the hegemony in ! | the petty bourgeois and bourgeois elements. the movement naturally fell into the hands of it with this the beginning of the present ry struggle. Regardless of what the National Congress traitors say and naive people believe, it was not Gandhi's salt march to the sea but the gigantic strike movement of the In- dian working class during the last three years that set the revolutionary wave rolling over the country. The impression of proletarian mili- taney is written large on the uprisings in. Shola- pur and Peshawar, on the numerous battles with the police, on the peasant movement, and no ameunt of bourgeois bigotry and treachery can erase it. A very noticeable change has taken place in | the character of the peasant movement. Nine years ago as now the peasants were objectively fighting for land and for the cancellation of debts. But the whole class struggle in the vil- lage was covered with the cloak of«caste an- tagonism and religious hatred. For instance, the heroic Mopla uprisng (in Madras Province) after which about 10,000 peasants were sentencod to hard labor in the Andamans and many more were slaughtered, was a fight of the peasants against the most reactionary, feudal landlords in India. But it happened that the peasants were Moslems while the landlords were Hindus. So it turned into an issue of Moslems against Hindus, which of course only helped the British imperialists and the landlords to crush the revolt. In the present peasant movement the religious and the caste issue is definitely no more the dominant question. Nearly in all cases where the British Indian government menticns peasant uprisings it admits that the movement is “not communal but economic,” which in imperialist language means that it is a class movement of the exploited peasantry regardless of religion. Even the supposedly wild tribes of the north- western Indian frontier showed a new outlook when in the summer of last year they came to grips with the Indian army. The Indian cor- respondent cf the London Times bitterly com- plained at the time that a “very disquieting feature of the rebellion” was that the tribesmen who are Moslems no more robbed the Indian villages but, on the contrary, were making friends with the Hindu peasants who were hiding them from the imperialist soldiers. An entirely new feature of the peasant move- ment is the emergence of the agricuw{tural labor- ers as the leading element in the agrarian strug- gle. This was recently the case in a broad move- ment in Berar Province. representing the Party. The shop gates are full of stool-pigeons and the workers guarding their jobs are reserved and cannot be led into con- versation. To the section committee also was called a comrade, from another unit, who had edone considerable work in getting contacts. This comrade related his method of approach as “worker to worker.” He tcld how he goes with the workers on the street ear, gets ac- quainted, becomes friendly and finally visits him at home. By this method he has succeeded in getting contacts with many workers in the shop. ‘They talk freely to him about the conditions in the shops, about their grievances, etc. This comrade showed that by steady friendship and gaining the confidence of the workers much can be accomplished. ‘ ‘The new method was adopted by the unit in question and within a short period of time two members came into the T. U. U. L. an unem- ployed council was developed under the leader- ship of the workers in that shop in the neigh- borhood where most of them live, and the unit is concentrating on getting a shop nucleus in that shop. An organization committee of the T. U. U. L. is now working there. To a less successful degree, but with continued persistence, the plan of work is serving to strike a blow at some manifestation of “white chauvin- ism” in one of the units, This unit is located in the heart of the Negro neighborhood and has resisted doing work among the Negroes. Vari- ous excuses, such as “I don’t know how to talk to them,” “It is useless—they will not join us, they are too religious,” “The Negroes in the North are different,” etc. All these excuses are typical and betray serious elements of white chauvinism and lack of understanding of the Negro problem. The section committee in- structed this unit that its plan of work must concentrate on the Negro neighborhood, The district bureau sent a comrade into the unit to discuss with the comrades the district plan of work for the building of the L. S. N. R. and the Party policy on the organization of Negro work- ers. The section committee sent a new unit organizer into that unit, and(still only a few of the members responded to this work, The sec- tion committee again discussed’ this failure of the unit. It was decided that a comrade be transferred into the unit that would go every night in the company of one of the unit mem- ers to show these members how to speak to Negro workers. This was done in preparation for Feb. 10, In the following unit meeting the comrades related their experiences and great enthusiasm was displayed over the simplicity of the task. This seryed to break the chief ob- stacle in the way of doing Negro work. ‘The unit has, since then opened a special head- quarters in the Negro neighborhood and formed an unemployed council. The results of the three months’ pian will be tabulated on one sheet of paper directly corre- sponding with the tabulation of the plan and will no doubt reveal many weaknesses, which | the it will be the duty of the Party committees to overcome in formulating the plans for the fol- Towing | three hes re | Beteffnte By JORGE eee From—and for—Shockers “It is,” asserted a Y. C. L. writes us from Pittsburgh, “not so good to go around hungry, with no place to stay, very lit- tle clothes or other elementaty needs; but we can face it and make progress and in fact pay little attention to these matters. i “But what gets us is a Party member who has a home with an extra room, yet every dog-gone time we come from the ‘field’ to the city of Pitts- burgh we can’t get a place to stay. And when we do, the way we are treated makes us feel as if we are not wanted around. This does not hold true of all C. P. members, but unfortunately the few are the exception and the rest are the “shock trooper” who rule. U....mm! This seems to be a case for the Workers’ and Péasants’ Inspection. But we have not established that yet. So we'll have to use moral persuasion, not only on the unfeeling Party comrades, but also on the “shockers,” some of whom, we hear on good authority, are also a bit thoughtless. There may be, and probably are, rooms enough to go around for all if there we attention given to the matter, have a right to On the other hand, when a F es a key to one lone “shocker, a bit surprising to days afterward that “sho multiply like r: bits and the extra room is in a state of affairs resembling the Wickersham Report, all mixed up. Maybe some comradely Hausfrau might vol- unteer as a Ways and Means Committee of one, to tend to a single pigeonhole somewhere around district office, where Party ides who haye places can leave word, and “shockers” need- ing places can put in applications, the com- mittee to balance the supply and demand, and inform both sides of the rules as laid down by | the oracle of Red Sparks. 0 ka bi Steut-Hearted Upholders of Free Speech The following amusing example of something or other, is the letter of the Civil Liberties Union to the Los Angeles Chief of ee, taken from the L. A. Record of March 5 “The executive commiitee , of the American Civil Liberties Union, Southern California branch, at its meeting this afternoon took cognizance of the fact that there was no vio- lence exhibited by the police Wednesday, Feb- ruary 25, in arresting Communists at their so- called demonsiration.” (So it was merely a “so-called” demonstration to these so-called upholders of the civil rights of speech and as- sembly!) “We feel particularly gratified over the show- ing that the police made on that occasion. . (It seems that they would be not only “grati- fied,” but overjoyed if the victims were not only arrested, but sent up for 14 years to San Quen- tin for “criminal syndicalism”’—so long as no- body got a bloody nose.) “We as an organization have neyer objected to the pelice department making arrests when they felt that any law or city ordinance was being violated. The thing we steadfastly ob- jected to has been the unwonted use of vio- lence. . . .” (If the violence was “wonted”—or customary, then it would be all right! Yet these outrageow hypocrites protest against the simple arrest @ the imprisonment by the revolutionary courts of the Soviet Union, of counter-revolutionary crim- inals!) Look to the Bee, Ye Sluggard “Dear Jorge:— I See in yours of March 12, these words: “In the sweat of thy brow thou shalt earn thy bread!” “Now you've been raised on a farm, and must be able t ogive me some information on bees. I have always noticed that during bee harvest time the Mule bees gather all the honey while the male bees eat honey and fly around on pleasure trips. But during the Fall and Winter, )these male bees miraculously disappear; anyway they are not there in the Springtime. “Please tell us what becomes of them or where they go to?—A Worker.” Our dictionary uses other terms: than our cor- respondent for the classes of bees. There are three classes: the queen female, the male drones, and the “neuters” or undeveloped females which our reader calls the “Mules.” Our dictionary says: The drones serve merely for impregnating the queen, after which they are destroyed by the neuters. These last are the laborers of the hive.” Not exactly the dictatorship of the proletariat but not so funny for the drones. Convict Labor in Indiana! After getting all aflutter about “convict labo’ in the Soviet Union, it was most distressingy the City Council fathers, of Hammond, Indic to be caught at it. Comrade Paul A. B., tells, about it: “A chcuvinistic outfit of the A. F. of L. ¢ cials, lawyers and businessmen of this town, ling themselves the ‘Municipal Taxpay League,’ intending to ship all Mexican work: back to Mexico and give ‘Hammond taxpaye! the blessings of jobs, went to the City Council. “The Council gaye the M, T. L. ‘whole-hearted support,’ for which the M. T. L., felt very grate- ful,’ and the meeting was about to be adjourned when up spoke a manufacturer. “He manufactures street name-plates, his factory employs Hammond men, ‘no Mexicans, And he censured the City for letting a contract for $6,000 to the State Prison for these plates Here the City Council was using the products 0: convict labor in competition with ‘free’ labo: and a most patriotic manufacturer. “The City Fathers were taken aback. The; elected a committee to see if the city couk renege on the contract. Thus a meeting to “air and furnish jobs for unemployed” ended oy giv ing the jobless nothing and, to a manufacturer a contract.” es 8 6 The Unsociable “Socialist” At a meeting of the Parliamentary “Labor party on March 17, in the city of London, sor of the followers of Ramsey MacDonald, says tk N, Y. Times, “accused him of being too aloof fro the rank and file of the party, declaring he he not spoken to some members since he Prime Minister nearly two years ago" / 4