The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 25, 1931, Page 1

q — a! \ (Section of the Communist International) WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE! at New York, N. Vol. VIII, No. 100 Entered an seoond-clags matter at the Post Office <<Bp21 ¥., under the act of March 3, 1879 NEW YORK, SATURDAY, APRIL 25 CITY EDITION Price 3 Cents SCOTTSBORO NINE RAP RODDY, ASK 1. L.D. DEFENSE Only a Policy of United Front Can Save the Nine Negro Boys at Scottsboro Fr the struggle to.save the lives of the nine Negro boys slated to die in the-electric chair'on July 10th, it is'to be expected that every pos- sible device will be fesorted ta by the official representatives of the ruling class of Alabama to’ defeat’the movement against the judicial murder. In this light is.to be understood the incident of ‘Thursday when cer- tain eolored ministers, together, with the attorney, Stephen Roddy, visited the'9 boys in prison and came out with the ‘announcement that the nine boys had repudiated the defense of their cause ‘by the International Labor Defense. The significant. point about the. statement given . out by the ministers is that it calls for the “Communists to lay off” and expresses the fear that.a mass movement is being rallied in. the defense of these boys by the International Labor Defense. Of course the statement is really a statement of the individual ministers, together with the lawyer Roddy and W. M. James, a man with police connections and formerly a truant officer of Chattanooga. These men made the statement, ‘not the nine Negro boys, 14 to 18 years of age, only one of whom is able even to write his own name. “ Tt is obvious that the visit of this picked group to the boys in jail was arranged in harmony with the wishes of those forces who conducted or supported thé prosecution of the boys, and that the group did not go to the'jail in the interest of the boys themselves. Their statement’ (so fart ‘as indicated by the press reports) does not contain: one word to indicate thatthe boys were framed up‘and are being railroaded to. their ‘death. Their statement does not make any demand that the boys be freed or even that they be given another trial, nor does it make a demand for a trial free from the conditions of the loaded dice which condemned: them in the last trial. * * E chort the statement of the ministers, the faithless lawyer, and the police agent does not defend the boys, but attacks those who are de- fending the boys. It even goes so far as to demand the breaking up of the mzss moyement which has already been started by the International Laber Defense to save them, and which has already reached partial mass proportions to such an extent as to impress. those who are murdering thes? Negro children with the fear that their crime of frame-up will be defeated. : The statement of the ministers, the renegade lawyer and the police agent, for which the signatures, of the minor children were apparently extorted, is directed against the boys themselves, against those who are defending them, and strictly in support of those who demand their death. In fact the statement is written in almost the precise terms of an edjtorial which appeared on April 16th\in th¢ Jackson County Sentinel, published at Scottshoro.. The editorial, which is’ now being imitated by the state- ment issued in the name of the-boys }vhe faithless lawyer, the ministers and police agent attacks, as it says: "Two New York attorneys ‘who have arrived in Birmingham to begin preliminary work for the defense of the Negroes tried and convicted in circuit court last week and sentenced to die. These lawyers are employed, so they, state, by the International Labor Defense of New. York, and make statements in this interview, that, to those who know the facts in this case and trial, are without semblance of truth and are vicious to a degree of being extremely dangerous.” . ‘The editorial of the pro-lynching newspaper..goes on to quote the statement of the ILD attorneys that the conviction and sentencing to death of the hoyS was “a frame-up from start to finish,” which the ctli- | torial says is “false to a degree of being ridiculous.” |The editorial:then | ~voceeds to a vicious attack upon the’ International Labor Defense—and ar what? Precisely for saying that the Negro boys are innocent and must not be allowed to die. Tt attacks the International Labor Defense as being to blame for'the fact that: A “In the meantime this ‘great sympathy movement’ of the In- ternational Labor Defense will be carried over the country through many agents and ‘sob sisters’ will multiply by the thousands.» Al- ready, the circuit judge, solicitors and court officials are’ being swamped with letters and telegrams from’ northern states telling them what a grievous’ mistake’ has been’ made in the conviction of the ‘peor innocent Negro lads” ” It is for starting this mass movement of exposure of the frame-up, that the Jackson County Sentinel attacks the International Labor De~- fense, and the present statement by the ministers, the police agent and Mr. Reddy for which the boys’ signatures were apparently extorted, is a demand precisely to stop this mass movement which is exposing the frame-up and bringing the first and only defense of the innocent boys. The Jackson Cotinty Sentinel wrote the editorial as a demand. for the death of the Negro boys. ? My , > * statement of the ministers, Mr. Roddy and the police agent, is almost a paraphrase of jthe Sentinel editorial. It is also written in the interest of the death of the Negro boys. , And the ruling class of Alabama will proceed to kill these boys if the movement for their defense is stopped. If there are’ any ministers or other persons who.are so simple as‘to doubt this, let'us finish the edi- torial of the Jackson County Sentinel which ends with the hope that “the matter is closed so far as new trials might be concerned,” and the open declaration in favor of the open murder of the boys as “the shortest way out” if. their legal execution should be delayed by the appeal which. the International Labor Defense has started. The exact words of this , incitement to murder by the editor of the Jackson County Sentinel are as follows: i “The ugly demand or threat from outsiders that Alabama re- verse its jury decisions:and the filthy insinuations that our people were murderers when they were sincerely being as fair as ever in the history of the county is rather straining on our idea of fair play. It allows room for the growth of the thought that maybe after all ‘the shortest way out’ in cases like these would have been the best method of disposing of them.” . i i 3 BES Ege i j 2 | i FOUR HUNGER MARCHES IN INDIANA STARTED BY MAY 1 DEMONSTRATIONS May Day Starts Five Marches in Ohio; State Capitals to Be Scene of Conferences May 10 Conference in Michigan Plans State! Hunger March on Capital At Lansing The unemployed of the heavy industria] section in the | staets along the Great Lakes are on the move. The great May First demonstrations this year will endorse demands for state insurance for the jobless, and immediate relief in other forms, and will ratify the delegations which will move on the capitals of -at, least three and possibly} ‘four of these states shorty TAKE FIRST STEP Four lines of hunger march-} TO ELECTROCUTE afterward. jers in Indiana will start on May | 3 and drive on to Indfanapolis; five | lines of hunger marchers will start jn P TERSON FIVE Ohio and come dow together from all | sides on ‘Columbus, ‘the capital of} ReneS |that state. They reach Columbus) -, May 10. orkers Must Rally to Preparations in Michiga are just jgetting under way, the number | Defense lines of march and-minor details are Teese not yet arranged, but the delegations | PATEBRON Ne Sy: Aptis ae will be in Lansing on May 27. Thursday morning, April 23, Com- It is probable that a state hunger | rades Helen Gershonowitz, and Ben- march will be arranged in Tllinois| jamine Leib, two af the. five com- within the ced ee rades, held on the frame-up charge | of first degree murder were arraigned | 4 Lines of March. | in court; on another frame-up charge, | TNDIANAPOLJS, Ind. April 24.—! made by Morris Urban, a nephew | The scope of the Indiana state hun- |to Mr. Marx. Urban, who died five ) ger march has been much enlarged. woeks after an altertaion in front Instead of but one march, from the |of his shop with some of fla own Gary-Hamond region, there will be! inderworld thugs. This charge “is four ‘marches starting from different | acsayit with intent to kill Morris [corners of the state and converging i jon Indianapolis, the state capital. | A mass meeting is being arranged | in Indianapolis to greet the marchers jon Sunday evening, May 3, and a state conference on unemployment will be held the morning of May 4. At 4p. m. on May 4, the hunger marchers and the unemployed and (CONTINUED ON PAGE FIVE) BIG RALLIES IN BROOKLYN TODAY Protest Scottsboro — Prepare May Day NEW YORK.—There will be four open-air meetings on Saturday, April 25, at 8 p. m., in South Brooklyn, Red Hook, Coney Island and Brighton Beacia, under the auspices of Section 1, Communist Party, to demand the immediate withdrawal of American marines from Nicaragua and Hon- duras and that the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent to carry on war on the Nicaraguan workers shall be used to give relief to the millions of unemployed workers and their families. The meetings will be held at the following places: South Brooklyn, 50th St. and Fifth Ave. Red Hook, Columbia and President Sts. Coney Island, 23rd St. and Mer- maid Ave. Brighton Beach, Seventh St. and Brighton Beach Ave, Whole Anthracite Seething with Revolt at Lay-Offs, Speed, Wage Cuts; 10,000 Striking Over 10,000 miners in the Sham- okin Section of District 9 (lower an- thracite) have been on strike for over @ week against the new starvation program of the mine owners. This strike, like the recent strike of nearly 25,000 miners of the Glen Alden mines in the upper anthracite (District 1) is a strike directed also against the officials of the UMWA who are open- ly acting as strike-breakers. Brennan, the president of District 9 openly at- tacks the strike and sides with the employers as did President Boylan in District 1 The condition of the miners here is an alarming one. There are 15,000 miners out of abous 40,000 in this District who have been unemployed for many months, and even. years, ‘The greater number have been work- ing past time, At: the present. time J | Urban, | These two comrades will go. on trial first and what ever the out- come may be they must go on trial | cn the second frame-up charge along | with the other three ‘ comrades. | The trial of these two comrades, | Helen Gershonowitz and Benj Leib is set for Monday, April 27, at the Passaic County's Court, Pater- son, N. J. The defense committees: throughout the country, I. b.. D. branches and all committees formed |for the purpose of supporting and | helping in the smashing of the frame ;up against the five active. members | of the National Textile Workers Uni- on, must at once begin to function and send all their support to the I. L. D, Paterson Textile Workers De- | fense Committee at 205 Paterson St., Paterson, N.'J. We request all lan- guage papers to reprint this press release. On Sunday, April 26, at 205 Pater- son St., N. J., at 2:30 p. m. the I. L. D. Paterson Defense Committee is calling the second Conference. The first Conference for the defense of the five active members of the N T. W. U. was held the last Sunday in March. At that conference it was decided to call upon all Jator and fraternel organizations of Paterson, to participate in tle defense of the coinrades. Almost all organizations of Faterson have been visited and a big mamber have already responded fs\orebly. We cali upcn the dele- gates to come on time and build a united front to save these five work~ ers, and strengthen the N'’WU which will be the only force that will wrest the workers fromm the clatches of bosses’ justice, Statement of Parents CHATTANOOGA, Tenn., April 24.—‘‘We are the par- {| ents of Heywood Patterson, Andy Wright, and Eugene Wil- liams now facing the electric chair for a crime they never committed. “The International Labor Defense and George W. |] Chamlee, chief counsel in the case, have complete charge of the defense and are doing everything that can he done to save the lives of our boys. “Although our sons are minors we were never consulted as to the retainer of Steve Roddy either by the Ministers’ Alliance or by Mr. Roddy. “We know that the Internationa! Labor Defense has en- gaged for us as good a lawyer as there is in Chattanooga and we do not want Mr. Roddy to have anything more to do |}-with our boys. “The Interdenominational Ministers Alliance by sending a committee and Attorney Roddy to Birmingham in an ef- fort to have the boys. disown the International Labor De- fense is really helping to send the boys to the electric chair. | “We call upon everyone to give full support to the In- ternational Labor Defense.” Signed: Mamie Williams, Ada Wright, Claude Patterson. _ For Huge May Day Turnout To Fittingly Close May Day With Big Indoor Meeting In the Bronx Coliseum * Over 20 language mags Oren | tions have.reported to the United Scandinavian, Hungarian, Lettish, | Front. May. Day Committee of their | Lithuanian, Russian and so on are | energetic preparggions for the mighty | receiving enthusiastic response from | : the workers of these nationalities for sion peg ering ic ah esa | miass participation in the May Day | haye issued thousands of leaflets, are | demonstration which will constitute | holding regular’ preparatory mass | their reply to the vile provocation of | meetings and have arranged for their the Mulrooney police and socialists | and their alliance with the Russian own band of ‘must and for tiarching | white guards, who will fly the im- | Gamer ghee Sia | perial colors in the socialist, police, ft Pecks sid organizations | class organizations and tens of ote austen: eat oe te | thousands of workers consider this May Day struggle for protection of | open flaunting of the czar’s murder foreign born, against the brutal cam- | S4"85 48 @ dastardly threat to the 1 fascist governments. | New York workers and a vile, active Pot iaibant terion Mack tte | provocation against the Soviet Union. death at the hands of the various; The T. U. U. C. of Greater New | York, representing the revolutionary | labor movement of the city at its BE ACON REFUSES | Meeting last night acted on the re- | port of its delegates to the United | Front May Day Conference. The T. M AY D AY PERMIT | U. U. C. enthusiastically accepted the | | decisions of the conference and calls es | upon the workers of New York to BEACON, N. Y. — A United Front | give their reply on this May Day of Committee, consisting of both Negro | international working-class solidar- and White Workers went down to| ity and struggle against capitalism, see the mayor of Beacon, for the|to the provocation of the corrupt purpose of getting permission from | grafting Tammany police with the the mayor to demonstrate in Beacon | socialist, fascist Veterans of Foreign on May Ist. Wars and Russian White Guards in Mayor Russell, an ignorant, bull- | the attempt to prevent the May Day dozing lackey of the Beacon bosses, | demonstration of the working class refused to give any permit and tried | at Union Square. to dismiss the committee of work-| After the parade to Union Square ers with the following: “As long as| the workers will rally in large num- Iam mayor in this town I wont have | bers to. the May Day demonstration any ‘Reds’ in here’’ The workers) called by the Communist Party at hearing this, made a more definite | the Bronx Coliseum. This monster decision to have a large mass meet-| mass meeting will be the culminat- ing in Beacon on May Ist, permit or | ing point in the tremendous day's no permit. activities. in the anthracite. With this differ- | International Issue Statement Denou string Defense by Fool Parents Call for Continuation Of Mass Fight to Free Boys neing Attempt to Ham- ing Youths, All Minors, Into Repudiating I L D i Leave Chattanooga for Birmingham Prison to see Boys—Rush FLA BIRMINGHAM, April 2 Letters to Sons 4 (By Telegram).—The nine Negro youths in jail here, victims of Scottsboro lynch yer- dict, today repudiated statement extorted from them by defense. BULLETIN. NEW. YORK. — Displaying the | utmost enthusiasm in support of the struggle led by the League of Struggle for Negro Rights and the Labor Defense to smash the Scottsboro lynch ver~ | dict, close to one thousand workers Thousands of Workers Ready | last night packed the St. Luke's | Hall, 125 West 130th St. .and cheered the appearance of Mrs. Claude Patterson, mother of one of the defendants, who arrived in New York last night to aid the defense. The meeting enthusiastically cheered the telegram from the boys. * CHATTANOOGA, April 24.— ; Alarmed by reports in the boss press | that the nine Negro boys in Birming- jham prison had- been induced by | Steve Roddy and others to repudiate National Miners Union Calls On Strikers to * Elect Own Broad Committees Mass Picket, Stop Sell-Out By Officials there are over 10,000 affected by the strike, and 15,000 unemployed or only 15,000 at work throughout the entire} wage cuts to maintain the present District. Production and reduce ‘costs at the The strike sentiment’ throughout |¢xpense of the miners. Mines are the entire District is very great. In| being shut down everywhere. fact, the whole anthracite region ‘is in motion. Everywhere the miners are ready to fight, They are ready to answer attack that is being made against them by the mine op- erators. The anthracite miners are now, faced with the same attacks that the miners in the soft coal re- x gions have gone through. ‘The: op- | her Siatone ae cetegaaigc 0 Sopa Sane the miners they can not fight these conditions imposed by the op- erators but must accept them. Under different conditions, different meth- ods.are used but the same betrayal ‘was put over by Lewis and his upon the soft coal Pl ence. The UMWA officials are now shamelessly and openly siding with the operators. In the soft coal the UMWA has been practically wiped out with the exception of Illinois, where the same policies and methods are pursued by the Fishwick-Lewis leadership as by the Lewis-Boylan- Brennan leadership in the anthracite, In both of ‘these places the- bosses | collect the dues for the officials which the miners would not pay vol- untarily. » Thus the UMWA is noth- ing more than the foreman for the companies in return for which they the. International ‘Labor’: Defense, Claude Patterson, father of Haywood Patterson, one of the eight already sentenced to burn in the electric | chair, sent a special letter to his son, telling ‘him: “You will burn sure. if you don’t let them preachers alone and trust the International Labor Defense to handle the case.” Mrs. Claude Patterson also wrote @ special appeal to Haywood, while waiting with a delegation of South- ern white and Negro workers for the train which would take her to New York to help rally the masses to the defense of the boys. In her letter Mrs. Patterson told her son: “Dear Son: “We got the International Labor Defense working for all you boys. I don’t want Roddy to have noth- ing to do with you. All that Roddy wants is money. He don’t care nothing about you. Don’t let no- body turn you around from what Mama said. If you ever listened to me before, I want you to listen to me right now, I got no money to help you, but the International Labor Defense is doing everything possible fo save your lives from the electric chair. Don’t let Roddy put no sweeten on your brain. Do what T say.” The reference of Mr. Patterson to the preachers is based on the action of the big preachers of the Interde- nominational Ministers’ Alliance here which hired Roddy. The preachers of the poorer churches who are in closer touch with the. poor Negro Masses are supporting the Interna- tional Labor Defense in its efforts to Save the lives of the boys, two of whom, including one of the eight al- ready sentenced, are only 14 years and the oldest not over 20 years. ere he CHATTANOOGA,. April. 24.—Mrs. Mamie Williams, Mrs, Ada’ Wright and Claude’ Patterson, parents of four of the nine young Negro vic- tims of the Scottsboro lynch verdict left hurriedly for Birmingham jail this morning upon learning of the efforts to hamstring the defense work being carriéd on by the Inter- national’Labor Defense to save the lives of the nine working-class boys, eight. of whom have already been sentenced to burn in the electric chair on July 10, The source of their alarm was 4 statement, published with great gusto and joy by the boss press, to the ef- fect that the boys had repudiated the International Labor Defense. The boss press which wants these boys lynched,’ has been greatly alarmed at the rapid development of a gi- gantic mass ‘protest from workers and sympathizers throughout the country, joyfully welcomed the news of the elimination of the I, L. D. from the defense. ‘ are paid by the company through salaries robbed from the miners in the shape of dues taken through the so-called “‘check-off” which the op- erators enforce as optional on their Without saying one word to any of the parents of the boys, Steve Roddy (who was not hired by the court, as we. had been wrongly informed, but by the International Ministers “Al- Roddy, and asked International Labor Defense to continue (By Telegraph to Daily Worker) BIRMINGHAM, Ala. April 24~ | There was a touching scene in Birm ingham jail this afternoon as Claude Patterson, Mrs. Ada, Wright, and Mrs. Mamie Williams saw their sons for the first time since their arrestin | Paint Rock, Alabama, on March 25. The parents of four of the eight | boys condemned to burn in the elec- | tric chair by a boss court lynch ver- | dict had travelled to Birmingham to | explain to all the boys the fight being jled by the International Labor Dé |fense against the Scottsboro lynch ) verdict, Boys Repudiate Roddy. In answer to the statement ex- torted from the boys under false pre- tenses yesterday by Steve Roddy and some’ representatives of the Chat- tanooga Ministers’ Alliance the boys enthusiastically endorsed the follow- tng statement prepared by the par- ents of the Chattanooga four: “We, Heywood Patterson, Andy Wright, Roy Wright and Eugene Williams, after a conference with our parents, Claude Patterson, Ada Wright and Mamie Williams ,desir~ to re-affirm our written contract with the International Labor De- fense to engage George W. Cham lee as chief counsel in our de- fense, and we, Ozzie Powell, Olin Montgomery, Clarence Norris, Wil- Hie Robertson and Charlie Weems join with the above named defend- ants in ratifying our written state- ment to the International Labor Defense concerning the employment of counsel for us. Brand Roddy and Tools as Betrayers. “A statement yesterday obtained from us by Steve Roddy and by W. M.. James, L. P. Whitten and H. Terrell under circumstances we did not understand indicated that we were not satisfied with the Inter- national Labor Defense. This statement was obtained without the consent or advice of our parents and we had no way of knowing what to do. We completely repu- diate that statement and brand those who obtained it as betrayers of our cause.” The confidence of the parents and all of the boys in the workers de- fense organization was well expressed by Claude Patterson, father of Hey- wood Patterson in this statement ta his son: “Listen, son, this is our bunch. You stay by them.” I. L. D. Engages Additional Attorney. The local representative of the In- ternational Labor Defense and George W. Chamlee accompanied the pate ents from Chattanooga to Birming- ham and will return tonight to the Chattanooga defense headquarters. Albert Rosenthal of Birmingham was retained today by the I. L. Deas associate counsel. Heywood Patterson was overjoyed at the news that the I. L. D. andthe League of Struggle for Negro Rights had together sent his mother north to rally the workers and all sympa~ thizers to the fight to free the boys, Heywood called upon all to give-her the support necessary to save hint and the other eight youngsters from the electric chair. Boys Protest Innocence. The boys protested ‘their complete innocence to their parents. The attitude of the bosses and thely Jailers towards the boys is so vicious that it-was only under pressure that | the sheriff permitted these mothers who had come almést 200 miles ta See their coridemied sons to enter the jail. Although all nine beyshave officially accepted and approved des fense by the I, 1. D., the sheriff did not permit the IL. D, representae tive to see them. Only the organized: power of ti | etsooee class can save the poli prisoners!» severe Auf eet fs ate pai iH ry | a)