The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 2, 1932, Page 4

at 30%. dails Published by the Comprodaily Publishing Cv., Un except 8 sth St., New York City, N. 1. Telephone Algonquin $-2956. Cable “DAIWORK.” A@dress and mail checks to the Daily Worker, 50 E. 13th St., New York, N. X- SUBSCRIPTION RATES By ruil everywhere: One year, 36; six months, 1 month, 750 excepting Borough of Manhattan and Brons Foreign and In yesterday’s editorial in the Daily Worker, quoting the telegram of the gement, in the second line, it is stated that the statement of the hunger rchers to Con- gress will be published Monday, December 15th. It should have read, December 5th. We urge al! comrades again to order circulate the issue of the Daily December broad masses of extra bundles and | 5th so that it | on ches A Significant Tribute ee bourgeoi ute to current issue, the New York Amsterdam News, a Negro we , pays a glowing trib- the memor. . Louis Engdahl and his tireless activ ictims of capitalist class, Negroes. oeha Scottsboro and natior ibute the sion of the s all the more justice The tr because of the significant lass role of msterdam of the Repub! sible for nd countle the Negro ms ment, hunger t war In its editorial, the Amsterdam News refutes much of its own slander against the revolutionary policy of mass pressure of Negro and white workers on the lynch courts, as well as its shameful part in recent]y supporting the imperialist-inspired slanders against the — | Soviet Union in connection with the Negro Film Group invited to | the U.S.S.R. for the production of « film of Negro life in the United States, 1... the lies that the group was stranded in Moscow, that production of the film was abandoned for fear of hurting the “sensi- bilities” of the U. S. imperialist lynchers. Such a sweeping refutation—at least in words—of its own slan- ders could have been secured only by the mass pressure of Negro workers increasingly sympathetic to the Communist Party of tho U. S., and to the Soviet Union, the only country where both unem- ployment and race hatred have heen abolished. It is another victory for the revout) y struggle against re- acts of terre their fig s other for gainst unemploy- tormist betrayal of the Negro masses and further emphasizes the correctness of the Communist program of mass struggle. The Am- | sterdam News’ editorial follows: J. LOUIS ENGDAHL HE American Communist whose ¢ gave national and inter- | national prominence to the famou: ttsboro case and led the long | -- uphill fight to secure defendants a new ad in Moscow and his untimely ail persons who ap- | demise preciate | dahl’s fina ta was to join w Ada in @ revolution t to tated attaci on the legations ropeal capitals ar ileged youths. J. Louls | behalf of the defendants » condemned. boys, 1 countries. The tour precip’ s of the United States in s Engdabl and Mrs, Wright were ahd mo: noi permitted to h heir scheduled 1 times they were er thrown into jail or deported from one country to another until they Russia. Here the United States news reached them that the decreed another trie seven of the victims of mi Court had for ‘Alabama law | “Bor ago et Minneapolis, Minn., educated at the university of that ahi early in life became a newspaper man and iden- tified. him » liberal movement. He was of the In- t organization went to the defense since labored in their behalf ke Engdahil, the lynchi or near “legal lynch- 1 of the Negro in America e no longer isolated with by the United States alone; for . Russia, with one-sixth ternation: hanks to men and exploitati lems to be ineffectively dealt of the population of the world, i e ploitation and mr As Lori ie recently, “to international prominence. The lynching of an unknown. Mego in Mississippi or the brutalities of an Alabama peon farm reverbrate throughout the world. Spok ‘ise to condemn in all of the great world capitals” “J. Louis these gr S$ one cf condemning spokesmen.’ SHELL OUT! A Uaeany 2 abe, 4, ood —By Burek Tinkering with Constitution Scheme to Halt Jobless Fight Is New S. P. ‘A.F.L. and S.P. Utilize Issue of Unemployment Insurance to Demobilize Growing Mass Struggle Mi. By BILL DUNNE ITH the A. F. of L. bureaucrats Thomas and the Socialist Party press furnish the argument of con- stitutionality for the ruling class and its governm’t, against federal unemployment insurance. Mass struggle to force the Supreme Court to pass favorably upon such a law would enganger capitalist democ- so dear to the heart of ‘Thor as. He has drawn some disconcert- ing conclusions from the Scotts- boro campaign. Without a struggle the Socialist Party capitulates to the provisions embodied in the constitutional framework of American capitalism and advises the working class to do likewise Depth of Servility of S. P. Servility to the interests of capi- talism in the present period could hardly go farther than Thomas does. It is urgently necessary to draw the conclusions from this for the working class in this fourth winter of the crisis—to expose the Socialist Party’s pretenses of being a working class party for what they are: @ tactic which exceeds in in- because of these very pre- the cynical hypocrisy of A. The A. F. of F. of 'L. officialdom. Support Polish Struggle GAIN tt j libe 1e press of the world records a camy ratel; de- and murder being carried ign of planned mass te ro out against the toiling masses of Poland by the vicious re- | From one end of the country to the other the blood of martyred victims. r drive ha gime of Pilsudski. the soi S Withir this murd long of oid Russia. 0 lor licted ible tortures upon individuals rot! ing in ti foul prisons of Pol ar r ts and public highways, where men and boys, wome d to run the gauntlet while fiends inflict the most upon them. Men and womnen are mutilated in the st oung girls are ravaged by of frightf perate condition of the Pilst the Pilsudski gang ried to smash down living standards in an ef- fort to place the whole burden of the is upon the masses. The at- tempt to beat down further standards, already on a level lower than ever before ed e under the darkest days of czarism, have met with determined resistance. Iness are evidence of the increasingly des- * , * | r three months this year there were 97 strikes, affecting 620,000 workers These sir: » bringing into action united ranks of the employed and unemployed wor! were of duration and inte not before ex- perienced in Polar ™ Craco of the ple (one hence now and Dom- e government. the movement, were sigr es that brought into aciion for the first time’ sections of the proletriat as the metal, yeriod such deci i munition wor! The Communist Pa: the victim of the most leader, the organiz of Poland, driven underground and for years atrocious excesses of torture and terror, is the motor force in the fight against the Pilsudski butcher regime true to the best traditions of the revolu- tionary movement, many of its. leaders schooled in the Russian Bolshevik ranks in the days of Czarism, is directing the movement into revolu- tionary channels. ‘The strike movement assumes more and more political character. The time nears when the mass revolutionar trike will be the order of the day in Poland, ‘There are at the same time the ripening of the elements of an agrarian revoiution. is this mighty movement that the Pilsudski regime tries to smash . by blood and terror. It will be noted that the news dispatches relating the new wave of terror report the vilest. attacks in precisely those places that have seen fierce class baitles during the past year—Cracow, War- saw, Lwow (Lemberg), Vilna, Lodz. ‘Time and again the toiling masses of the world have vehemently pro- tested against the atrocities of the regime of Pilsudski. Workers every- where have fought in behalf of the victims of the torture system in the Polish dungeons. There were world-wide struggles against the blood- baths administered to the suppressed peoples of White Russia and Uk- vaine. Now, again, as this monstrous regime in its desperation to pro- long its life unleashes a new wage of terror, it is imperative that the toiling masses of the world rally to the defense of the heroic revolution- ary fighters in Poland. Workers of America have fought against this regime in great demonstrations. At this moment, as the Polish masses stand before decisive struggles we must rally in greater numbers to help deliver the final blow. * * ’ IORKERS everywhere should protest against the new outbreak of sayv- agery being carried out against the Polish masses. International solidarity action can strengthen the heroic working class fighters in Po- land as they close their ranks to deliver the final blow against the regime that, with the aid of imperialist subsidies, has been maintained since he world war as a buffer against the spread of Bolshevism, and as one Mf the main bases for imperialist conspiracies and attacks against the Soviet Union. 4 L. officials quite openly but Thomas and ist Party prate about sapport the philosophy” in order to appe the revolutionary ‘kers bureaucrats cannot re: xplains the speed with ich the Socialist Party has shed igto print with its praise pf sabo- 1ployment insurence On another bi point of the ir terests of the y Thomas goes ev r than the A. F. of L. bureaucra Their state insurance program deals very cautiously—or rather evades—the question of unemployment insur- ance for all wor! its wording does not specifically exclude the millions of workers now unem- ployed. A i UT Thomas, anxiously eager to show the capitalists that he is statesman of that nstructive type” of socialist so much admired by them (like MacDonald, Clynes, Henderson, Brockway, in England, Bauer in Austria, Blum in France, Braun, Scheideman and Noske in Germany, etc.), rules out the vast army of unemployed without hesi- tation He says: “As matters now stand, we are dealing with millions of men and women WHO HAVE ALREADY LOST THEIR JOBS ND ‘ORE CANNOT INSURE It would be a terrible thing and would further jeopardize the Walt Street, democracy that “is in grave danger” already, according to ‘Thomas, if it were forced to fur- nish unemployment insurance for these jobless and hungry millions before they were put back to work ‘They must have @ master before they can be fed. It is an attorney for capitalism speaking. One is forced to ask: What ts the purpose of any compulsory un- employment insurance program if not to place the expense of feed- ing, clothing and sheltering the unemployed and their dependents upon the capitalists and their goy- ernment? THOMAS’ PURPOSE ‘Thomas here exposes himself and the Socialist Party. His whole treatment of the question of un- employment insurance shows first, that he wants workers to regard the world capitalist crisis as a mere temporary phase of capitalist de- yelopment, instead of seeing it as evidence of the stoppage of ex- pansion and upward development, as evidence-—now piled up for three years—of the decline of capitalism; a phase which requires new and more militant methods of mass struggle even for Mightest concessions trom canital- securing the | ism on the part of the, working class and its leadership. The whole struggle against star- yation and most of the small daily struggles today Jutionary has stated sible have definite revo- nce Thomas that “socialism is pos- wit a generation” (Mil- ee Convention) in the United tates, and can be achieved by peaceful processes, he has assured ss of his disbelief organjed mass side of the rujes capital- framed. It is there- ected that Thomas ¥ t Party would in- clude in the ‘ogram a “practi- cal” proposal with which the work~ ing class could occupy itself for a generation without in any way in- terfering with the power of the capitalists to rule and rob. They did * aspec and the § eh HE extraordinary efforis now being made by the A. F of L. dom to stifle the mass de- for federal unemployment. insurance at the expense of the government and employers is em- phatic evidence of the strength of the movement and the depth of the crisis. There are millions of work- ers who are determined not to go hungry in silence any longer. illusion that the istration The Roosevelt admin- 1 enact measures to end will soon be dissipated ple reason that it will do nothing of the sort. The unemployment problem 4s acute and will become more so rap- idly both before and after the Roosevelt inauguration. The capi- talist class needs all its imstru- ments. Tt is therefore an appro- priate time for Thomas and the Socia Party bring forward still another mu which, it is engthen the hoped, will s illusions in So Thomas resu! Point 6 the Socialist Party platform on “constitutional changes” as an ad- ditional method of creating con- fusion among the workers and hampering the development of mass struggles by holding out hope of decisive changes by constitutional amendment. He says: “At the same time I am con- vinced we should work with might and main for the socialist amendment to the constitution which would give Congres power to enact all necessary social and economic legislation in behalf of the workers.” It-is indeed a happy prospect Thomas puts before the working class: First, it is to spend years in changing the constitution, and, when and if that is done, it still has Wall Street’s Congress to con- tend with. Compared with this, the “gradualisny” of the British Labor Party,is a hurricane The whole scheme, of course, is based upon the reformist theory that runs counter to the facts of all history—that capitalism permits decisive changes to be made peace- fully. ee ae 'UCH proposals are also based on the theory that the workihg class is too backward to see through them—and it is true that without its Communist Party, its systematic €xposure of and strug- gle against the social-fascist lead- ers, the cause of the working class is retarded; without the populari- zation of revolutionary theory and tactics among the masses, the working class is unable to repel effectively the constant attacks of its class enemy. That is one reason why the ex- posure of these vicious proposals by the Communists lets loose a veri- table deluge of vituperation from the Socialist Party camp. Such exposures, especially in time of crisis, put capitalist “democracy in grave danger.” Resobistinns of 12th C. I. Plenum in New Pamphlet Now Ready ‘Thesis and Resolutions of the ‘Twelfth Plenum of the Execu- tive Committee of the Communist International held im Moscow, September, 1932, Published by Workers’ Library Publishers, P. ©. Box 148, Station D, New York City, Price 10 cents. aces “@PHE end of relative capitalist stabilization has come. . . What is taking place at the present moment is the transition to a new round of big clashes between classes and between states, a new round of wars and revolution With these words the Twelfth Plenum of the E. C. C. I, summar- wes the present world. situation, and on this basis the conclusions are drawn as to the tasks of the Communist Parties for the imme- diate future, The above pamphlet contains the thesis of the Twelfth Plenum on the report of Comrade Kuusinen as well as resolutions on other points on the agenda, “The Lessons of Economic Strikes and the Strug- gles of the Unemployed, The War in the Far East and the Tasks of the Communists in the Struggle Against’ Imperialist War and Mili- tary Intervention Against the U. S. S. R., and the resolution on So- cialist construction in the U.S.S.R., jn connection with the completion of the first Five-Year Plan and the basic principles of the Second Five-, Year Plan. ‘The Pamphlet gives, therefore, to . the Party membership and revolu- tionary workers. in a. rounded. out form, a survey of the tasks of the Communists in mobilizing the workers against the capitalist of- fensive, against fascism and social- fascism, and against imperialist war and military intervention’in the Soviet Union | in preparation for the impending “new round of big clashes beiween classes and be- tween states, a new round of wars and revolutions.” This pamphlet should therefore be reag and studied by every Party member and revolutionary worker as a basic guide in their everyday revolutionary activity. Copies are obtainable either through your lo- cal Party organization or may be purchased direct from the publish- ers at the above address, Ask for Material on Life of Engdahl A Memorial pamphlet on J. Louis Engdahl, who died recently in Moscow, is now being prepared under the direction of the Inter- national Labor Defense, of which Engdahl was National Chairman. All workers having letters, docu- ments, cl'ppings, photographs, etc., dealing with Engdahl’s many years of activity in the revolutionary movement are asked to send it at once to Harriet Silvermann, c-o LL.D. Room 430, 80 E. lth St. New York City, Daily Worker to Have 6 Pages This Saturday Appearing in six pages, the Saturday issue of the Daily Worker will contain a oumber of interesting features, including articles and workers’ correspondence on the Hunger March. On the special feature page will also appear an article on the 32th anniversary of the death of John Reed, by Karl Browder. Workers! and one for your friend and sho} Be sure fo get a copy of Saturday's paper for yourself ypmate! unt NOTE:—“Georgia Nigger’ John L. Spivak’s Stirring Novel "GEORGIA NIGGER” Toe author shares this view, but, rm onfer te NEGRO SLAVERY TODAY + + ia: & deenantng|expranty of i's hinoven, Darpeesiiad’ “ons national oppression of the masses. The Daily Worker 1s relentlessly opposed to the white ruling clase term, “nigger,” and te contemptuous treatment of Negroes which it symbolizes, plctere of these horrible conditions, he considerad it nocessary to use this term as oth: mouths of the boss Iynchers terms of respect for Negroes which they do not cse.—ED) So ovpreasion t tree ee he would have pet tuts The fl 4 INSTALLMENT 28 | THE STORY SO FAR: David Jackson, a Ne- | | gro youth, is on his way to Macon, Ga., to look for | | a job when he is picked up on the streets of a | small town, charged with vagrancy and sentenced | to three months on the chain gang. | to escape while being taken to the prison camp | For trying a road. known as Buzzards Roost, the sentence igs in- \ creased to 12 months and David is forced to wear | | 20-pound steel spikes riveted around his legs. He — | is put to work with a chain gang crew, building UTCH CLYDE was the helper, drove the meal truck when the crews worked a distant road. He had served two and a half of a three-year sentence for stealing foodstuffs from a grocery before he was permitted to drive alone. On a day when the August sun turned leaves a shrivelled brown. | and yellow, and convicts and | guards coughed from the dust, he drove the truck between the shot- gun guard and the shovel-crew. ‘The guard’s view was obstructed for a few mds and he cursed the driver furiously. That night Butch hung i» °‘ocks for an hour to remind hira to drive be- tween a guard and his convicts. UNDER AN OVERTURNED TRUCK At eleven-thirty the next morn- ing when the walking-boss shouted “Lay ’em down!” Butch had not yet appeared and a mule wagon was sent to look for him in case | he was stalled somewhere on the | road, They found him under the FILTH—A Negro prisoner on the Seminole County, Ga., chain gang taking a bath on a Saturday after- noor. Most of the prisoners are too tired to even do this, As described in “Georgia Nigger,” the same water is used by several prisoners, the healthy being forced to bathe with the sick, thus spread- ing disease. (Capyright by John L, Spivak, author Of “Georgia Nig- ger.”) overturned truck, his right leg broken and complaining of pains in his stomach, They rushed him to camp, and, in the. warden’s ab- sence, his wife. telephoned the county physician while two trusties prepared the cot in a shed reserved | for white women visitors when they | calleg on their husbands. A trusty | brought a bottle of moonshine from the warden’s house and poured a drink down the half-conscious Ne- gro’s throat, Qnce Butch ‘rolled his eyes in agony, coughed and clutched his abdomen, . “Oh, dat hu'ts,” he said with a shiver. “Hit hu’ts. Feels lak mah whole insides is busted loose.” aD tty R. BLAINE came as the warden drew up at the stockade gate, The physician was thin, undersized. His store suit was wrinkled and his nails dirty. He examined the injured Negro and nodded sol- emnly, “You'll be alright,” he said assur- ingly. “All you need right now is | to set your leg in splints.” QUICK WORK He -ordered two flat boards. aad washing the leg casually, bandaged it. When he finished he said cheerfully: “Til send you some medicine. ‘Take’ a tablespoonful every three hours an’ just lay still.” “Cain’ you gi’ me somethin’ to stop de pain, doctor?” Butch plea _ ed. “Lawd, mal whole stom feels lak hit’s busted loose.” “Yes, yes. I know, Thé”medi- cine’ll stop. the pain, You'll have it in a couple o’ hours.” Fete HE warden walked out with the physician, “You didn’t set his laig——” he began, “No. He's got internal injuries an’ can’t last long. Why torture him settin’ his leg? An operation might save him, but there’s no wing in the county hospital for niggers, an’ if you take him to a nigger doctor’s house he'll have to stay there for weeks, maybe months. It'll cost the county a lot 0” money.” Bill Twine’s Jowls shook regret- fully, “That's too bad, He was a good nigger. Time almost up, too.” “DATE IT THE DAY HE DIES” “It you'll send a trusty to town Til give him something to qase the cook's | @ day or two. pain, but that nigger’ll be gone in Tl sign the death ceutificate now and save myself another trip. Date it the day he dies.” “What the hell happened?” the warden asked, “You heard ‘him,” the doctor re- turned irritably. “Heat. Exhaus- tion. Dizziness. He didn’t git over the stocks last ev'nin’ an’ when he tried to apply the brakes somethin’ went wrong an’ the first thing he knew the truck was on him.” “Yeah,” said the warden. “Le’s sign the papers.” oe ow Boze lasted another day. They shipped the body on the milk train to his. mother, so =the ice would keep it from decomposing be- fore it reached home. A coroner’s jury and the doc- tor's certificate said Butch was 2 careless Negro who met an acci- dental death, but few care how many Negroes die of accidents following exhaustion or punish- ment, nor how many might be saved if permitted into white hospitals. In some corner of a field lost in tangle of thicket, a fresh mound marks a Georgia Negro returned by the state to his mother, and a slip of paper is added to the Prison Commission files. A Negro dead of an accident. A Negro dead of dis- ease. A Negro killed trying to escape. Little slips of paper with rubber bands around them gather- ing dust in Atlanta, and little mounds of Georgia clay for mothers to weep on, ANOTHER VICTIM To Chickasaw County Butch’s death meant only one Negro less to work on Jeff Beacon’s road and. the state would send them another for the county's quota. The Prison Commission’s wheels ground another into the maw of Buzzard’s Roost. He came within a week, thin-faced, round-shoul- dered and with a whipped air. Al- bert Hope was his name and he was troubled with a cough that shook his body and left him gasp- ing for breath. His papers said he was twenty-one. He had cut a barber with a razor and got ten years for it, The warden of the ! camp where he had been had asked the Commission to transfer him and the request came in the same mail with Butch’s death cer! tificate. The coughing convict waa promptly sent to Buzzartd’s Roost. oe, © HEN Bili Twine saw the emia- ciated face and heard the ratke ing cough he swore. “Jesus Christ! What do they want to sen’ niggers like him to me fo’? I can't work that consumptive without killin’ him an’ I'm noti goin’ to have my death total raised because some other warden wanta his lowered.” He left orders to chain him and put him to work driving a dirt wagon until he could be transferred. to the state farm. “That'll be easy work,” he ex- plained The convict watched the chains being riveted around his ankles. “What dey wan’ to put dem on me fo'?” he asked plaintively. “I cain’ run twenty ‘ feet widout cough- in’ my lungs up.” BLOOD Two days of work from sanrise to sunset and the Negro coughed up a mouthful ef blood, The war- den saw him spit it out. “God damn!” he shouted. “Pur him in my car an’ I'll take him back to camp befo’ he dies on me. Jesus! Why don’t they examine ’em before sendin’ ’em to a chain gang!” Bill Twine told the sick Negre to lie in. his bunk until the doctor came. The convict covered him- self with a blanket though the day was hot. He lay on his back ex- hausted by spasms of coughing. Sometimes blood welled to his mouth even when he did not cough, Flies gathered on the dark wes he spat on the floor. (Continued Tomorrow.) ee ae KEPT IN PRISON CAMP DE- SPITE HIS ILLNESS, IN VIOLA TION OF EVEN THE LAWS OF THE GEORGIA CAPITALISTS, WILL THIS SICK NEGRO BE LEFT TO DIE AS BUTCH CLYDE AND THOUSANDS OF OTHER CHAIN GANG PRISONERS HAVE DIED? DON’T MISS TOMOR- ROW’S INSTALLMENT! Athens County, Atlanta, Oa. Gentlemen: , George Johnson To the Prison Commission of Ucorgia, J report to you this day the following: Pri Name 5 5 Date Keoenverd 1m Pemtentlary 3___Larcenoy from heuse 4__Uet 25 1990 E Date Recel ved iw FLiVCamD iy ee! Geanty Wore Convletal 83 te 5 yre ‘Crime DESCRIPTION WHEN RECEIVED: ; Yontente Bram 27yra Liale » 162" ne% fF? Cotor Age Bex I Weight = 5 ft.10h tus. Baek Black : Tish olor ol Brew Calot ut Halt der Compleatoe Physical Coniston. Authority tor Teawnter af Hattie Johnson, 958 River St., Athens, Ge, x Reareat Kelatives and Postofive Address: Has been sick with T,3, fer some time, Died Feb. 2 C ' attending teetcins —R. vi Fy 4 ; Nawent Warden ra is SLOW MURDER—The story of Arthur Hope in “Georgia Nig- ger,” who is denied proper medical care and is allowed to die by ° degrees, is the story of thousands of prisoners, especially Negroes, . on the ruling class chain gangs in the South, Proof of this is con- © tained in the official report, shown above, on the death of George Johnson, a Negro prisoner on’ the Clarke County (Ga.) chain gang. This prisoner died Feb. 23, 1931, and the warden’s report states: .< “Has been sick with T.B. for some time.” Despite his serious illness, this Negro was kept at the prison camp with other prisoners in ' direct violation of the official rules, a section of which is reproduced below, The system of white ruling class oppression of the Negro — people, of which the chain gangs are a part, never hesitates to |~ violate its own laws in order to keep the Negroes enslaved, i DUTIES OF PHYSICIAN When a convict is pronounced sick the Physi- cian his name shall be placed upon the hospital record, in accordance with the forms therein pre- scribed, and he shall be under the control of the physician until discharged by him. No sick con- vict shall be kept in the sleeping quarters with well. ses, Dont, ehall he: Ment fa: the, eapiiet -g permanent TONIGHT! TONIGHT! HEAR AUTHOR OF “GEORGIA NIGGER"—Jobn L. Spivak will opeak at the N. ¥. John Reed Club, 450 Sixth Ave., tonight at 8 Subject: “Chain Gangs In Georgia.” Admission 25 cents, eal ai: