The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 11, 1934, Page 5

( | { | CHANGE THE WORLD! | By MICHAEL GOLD 'O ONE living in New York and who has any money to spare for the theatre, should miss seeing John Wexley’s powerful drama of the Scottsboro case, “They Shall Not Die.” I saw it for the first time the other night, and found it a most moving experience. The old Theatre Guild, which has wasted so much fine talent and technique on feeble costume plays, and the senilities of Shaw and O'Neill, and similar “spiritualities” of the empty end pretentious bourgeoisie, has exhibited a kind of second youth in this production. Like the Moscow Art Theatre, which after 20 years of lilac Tche- kovian lamentation, suddenly was brushed by the flaming wings of Revolution and inspired to a new beautiful strength, one hopes, also, that the Theatre Guild is entering on a new life. It was dead, and it has been resurrected by this play. Let us recognize a miracle when we see one. And let us hope that this is not @ temporary shot of electricity through the veins of a cadaver. New York is ready to support a mature, strong, uncompromising stage that reflects the political passions and struggle of our time. The success of the Theatre Union and the host of workers’ theatres proves this. There is room for the Theatre Guild also, with its remarkable technique and serious approach to stage problems. It can well become what the Volksbuhne of Berlin was in its best days. If it doesn’t do something like this, it really ought to die, and it wi die. . * . } What Wexley Has Done JOHN WEXLEY has won one of the most difficult victories any play- wright has ever accomplished in managing to put the Scottsboro case into a play. He chose for his theme a current issue, which is handicap enough. He ppresented, for a liberal audience, the revolu- tionary aspect, which needed courage and delicacy. And he has actually had to understete—the facts of the Scottsboro case are so brutally un- believable that a playwright who presented them in the raw would be accused of caricature. Wexley, for all his understatement, has actually been accused of exaggeration by some of the more flabby and sheltered of our critics. He has also been called a journalist. It is true, this is a journalistic play, but at a certain point this kind of so-called “journalism” touches the chords of a more universal “art” than all the pastiches and imita- tions of art. Who will remember “Mary of Scotland” ten years from now? Hundreds of college graduates since Shakespeare have written this same kind of play. But “They Shall Not Die,” I venture to say, will be in the American tradition of literature along with “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and “Tom Sawyer.” It is a heartbreaking document of one of the greatest moments in American history—beginning of the struggle that will free the Negro masses. The play has some esthetic faults. The love episode seems un- felated to the composition of the whole. And the final stress on the defending attorney is a most serious political blunder. Sam Leibowitz did a skilful job of defense, but the real story of Scottsboro is the story of the Negro masses, and the militant white workers of America who are joining with them to fight a system that enslaves both black and white. But who has written the perfect revolutionary play in America? As yet, nobody. John Wexley has come as near as anyone, and what is more, has shown a high and nol"~ passion in his effort to state the ease of the southern Negro. : . . . A Moying Play Haase were tears in my eyes at the scene when the parents of the poor imprisoned boys come to visit them, and through the bars, they cry, “Mamma! Mamma!” and the*poor old mothers and fathers throw themselves at their unfortunate children, and you suddenly realize the full horror of this case; the horrible insanity of the white bourgeois South that wants to electrocute children—children of 13 and 15 years— because they come from a suppressed class. The scene in which Joe Brodsky (I mean Rokoff, as he is called in the play) defends the International Labor Defense and its working- class policy of mass-action for the release of the boys, is also a memo- table scene on an American stage—one of the first of its kind. It was strange to hear a Theatre Guild audience cheer and ap- pplaud a scene like this. The working-class has entered that hitherto stuffy museum of bourgeois decay which was the Theatre Guild, Life has entered. You must go and see this play. Like most bourgeois theatres presenting such a play, the Theatre Guild doesn’t bother much to try to win a working-class audience. It maintains a big publicity staff and spends much money trying to get bourgeois subscribers. But it will not go out of its way to organize a working-class audience as carefully and persistently. It probably believes such an audience should be grateful enough to come of its own accord. Yet how can the militant workers know about such a play unless you tell them about it, and tell them again and again? They are busier about more serious things than are the bourgeoisie, and they haven't much trust in Broadway, anyhow. But they must be reached, and I am writing this review to urge the revolutionary workers and intellectuals t go and see this play. GoandSeelt! ig WAS almost taken off last week, but was continued for a while. Prices have been slightly reduced, to put the seats within reach of a proletarian pocket. Go and see this play. Don’t let your prejudice against the Theatre Guild or Broadway hold you back. If we can keep this play alive for six months on Broadway, it will be a great victory for revolutionary culture. And it will help the Scottsboro boys, I am sure of it. Truly, a play like this is one of the forms of mass action. It arouses thousands of new people every week to a realization of the horrible frame-up of these Negro children—OUR children. In concrete and dramatic terms, this play teaches thousands of people that the Negro worker is suf- fering from one of the cruellest slaveries ever known on the planet. We are indignant about Hitler's treatment of Jews. Here in America Hit- lerism has been torturing the Negro masses for a century. Go and see this play—it will move you to new indignation and a bitter resolve to fight against the monsters who kill, lynch and torture the workers— white and black, but more fiendishly, the Negro. 7:15—John Herrick, 7:30—Talk—Henry T. Rainey, Speaker of the House 7:45—Hollywood—Irene Rich 8:00-—The Absentee Killer—Sketch 8:30—Dangerous Paradise 8:45—Carlos Gardel, Songs 9:00—Raymond Knight's Cuckoos; Mary McCoy, Soprano; Armbruster Orch.; Jack Arthur, Baritone; Sparklers ‘Trio %:30—John Charles. Thomas, Baritone; 10 ort e pez. Orch.; Male Trio; ¥ 10:30—Denny Orch. ee 11:00-—Pickens Sisters, Songs 11:18—Reinhold Schmidt, Baritone 11:30—Stein Orch. 11:45—News; Pollack Orch. TUNING IN TONIGHT’S PROGRAM WEAF—660 Ke, 7:00 P. M.—Martha Mears, Songs 7:18—Billy Batchelor--Sketch 7:30-—Shitley Howard, Songs; Jesters Trio 7:45—The Goldbergs—Sketch 8:00—Jeck Pearl, Comedian; Van Steeden Orch. é 8:30—Wayne King Orch. 12:00—Molina Orch. 8:00—Hayton Orch.; Fred Allen, Come-| 12:30 A, M.—Stern Oreh. dian; Theodore Webb, Barttone 10:00—Hillbilly Music Wa latina 10:30—Ghost, Stories—Sketch WABC—360 Ke. HE ae ine ar 11:15—News; Dance - 11:30—Rubinoff Orch, begs’ Plain beri! 12:00—Masters. Orch. ia . M.—Myrt and Marge 7:30—Armbruster Orch.; Jimmy Kemper, Songs ‘7:45—News—Roake Carter 19:30 A, M.—Lucas Orch. Soa aa WOR—710 Ke. 8:00—Men About Town Trio; Vivien Ruth, 7:00 P. M.—Sports Resume Songs _ % 8:15—News—Edwin ©. Hill 8:30—Albert Spalding, Violin; Thibault, Baritone; Voorhees Orc 9:00—Nino ‘Martini, Tenor; Kostelanctz Orch. - 9:30—Lombardo Orch.; Burns and Allen, 10:00—Florito Orch.; Dick Powell, Songs 10:30—The Republican Reaction—Repre- sentative James M. Beck of Pennsyl- vania 10:45—Columbians Orch. 11:00—Nick Lucas, Sonj 11:15—News; Little Orch. 11:30—Noble Orch. 12:00—Hopkins Orch. 14:30 A, M.—Hall &-* 1:00—Light Orch. Sea 8:00—Josef Ranald, Hand Analyst. 8:15—Jack Arthur, Baritone 8:30—Ooncert Creh.; Frank Munn, Tenor 9:00—Italics—H. 8S. Lott Jr. 9:30—Suceess—Harry Balkin ore! 9:45—Robinson he ria) aos Events — Harlan Bugene Rea 10:30—Dorothy Miller, and Garfield Swift, Songs 00—Moonbeams Trio 30—Dance Music . .WIZ—760 Ke, 7:00 P. M.—Amos ‘n’ Andy National Theatre| Festival Opens in’ - Chicago on Friday CHICAGO.—The John Reed. Club of Chicago will be host to the Work- ers Laboratory Theater of New York, and the Biue Blouses of Los Angeles, on April 11, at Lincoin} Centr2, 700 Oakwood Blvd. These two nationally famous workers’| theater groups will arrive in Chicago from their tours through the coun-| try to participate in the National | Theater Festival on April 13, 14 and| 15 at Turner Hall, 820 North Clark Street, The Workers Laboratory Theater, | winner of the New York Final Com- petitions, with their sketch, “News- boy,” will present its full repertoire, including “LaGuardia’s Got the} Bologny,” seenes from “The Miser,” | “Scottsboro,” and scenes from the “Worlds’ Fair” satire, which will be} particularly entertaining to Chi- | cago audiences. The Blue Blouses, winner of the Los Angeles Final Competitions, will present their entire repertoire also, samples of which they have been giving during the last two weeks at one-night stops across the continent. There will also be a discussion and evaluation of the Chicago Final Competitions, held here on March 25, by Bill Andrews, of the Daily | Worker Midwest Bureau, and Anne Howe, national organizational sec- retary of the League of Workers Theaters. Groups wishing to send delegates or procure information | about the Festival, may communi- | cate with Anne Howe, care of Lin- coln Centre, 700 Oakwood Blvd. Los Angeles Troupe Leaves LOS ANGELES, April 9. — The Rebel Player-Blue Blouse troupe of Los Angeles, winners in the Paci- fic Coast Workers Theatre Festival, have left for Chicago to participate in the National Workers Theatre Festival. They will stop in St. Louis and Kansas City to give per- formances, eo See Enroute With Shock (From Letters Received) “The Shock Troupe is discovering hourly the real significance of its name. The finis of our performance at Lakewood at 1 a. m., found us packing our props at lightning speed, gorging a sandwich after an 8-hour fast, and riding off before one had an opportunity to say ‘gotta cigarette?’ ... The 500 mile stretch from Lakewood to Youngs- town had begun. Did I say stretch? The stretches were few and far be- tween. Seventeen hours of sitting is absolutely ruinous to the famous Bio-mechanie process of ‘tension.’ . +» The John Reed Club of Youngs- town had just been organized three weeks ago with the enormous mem- bership of four. These comrades, |made of real revolutionary mettle, issued publicity and made all the arrangements themselves and man- aged to bring down 300 people to the performance. It seems that this affair was the first of its kind and we were certainly made to feel the importance of our work because after the performance fifteen people made out applications for member- ship in the John Reed Club...” . “At 6:30 a. m., Wednesday, we stopped at Gettysburg to do some interior decorating (eating to you). On York St. we saw a restaurant, ‘Famous Texas Lunch’ by name; in We popped and were told that Ne- groes would not be served at the tables, but must eat in the kitchen. We walked out en masse. Farther down the block we encountered another restaurant where we were promptly — served. Holy Father Abraham (Lincoln)! Jim-crow tac- tics are not alien to us, but in the town where ‘Fourscore and seven years ago, ete. ‘Dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal...’ ‘gave their last measure of devotion...” The Shock Troupe is now in Chi- cago playing to workers clubs and will compete in the national com- petitions of the National Theatre Festival beginning on Friday the | of Communism, DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, APRIT 11, 1934 | From | Al leading players in “Stevedore,” at the Civic Repertory Theatre on vivid story of life on the docks of ment against the lynch spirit, Paul lar, What's Doing bs thie Workers’ Schools of the U.S. COURSE for Children’s Group Leaders has been added to the! curriculum of the Spring Term of the Harlem Workers School, which | opens next Monday, April 16th. The course will include organization principles, story the history of the Negro People, arts and crafts, There is no fee for this course. They have also added a course In Political Economy B, given by Williana J. Burroughs, Director of the Harlem Workers School, a course in Marxism - Leninism, by A. Markoff, National Director of Work- ers School, a course in Spanish by Marie Alex, and a course in Trade} Union Strategy and Tactics. Of the two classes in Principles one is given in English by Grace Lamb, and one in Spanish by M. Lamar, as was done during the Winter Term, eee asa) Registration for the Spring Term is now going on at the Har- lem Workers School, 200 West 135 St. New York. . Training School in North Dakota The District Convention of the Communist Party in Bismarck, North Dakota, devoted considerable time to the question of developing more workers for the Party, and they decided to hold a six-weeks full-time training school, beginning May 15th. The Party Sections in that territory have already been in- structed to select 25 students, over 23 years old, and to raise $10 for each student. This sum will include books and reference material. Thi students will bring their own blank- ets, clothing, ete., and the Sections are expected to send a certain amount of food also. The Conven- tion decided that the tuition fees should be in the school treasury | not later than April 15th. ee oe The Student Conference held last Sunday by the Boston Work- ers School was attended by 86 delegates, Among the many or- ganizations represented were the Dye House Workers Industrial Union and the Furniture Work- ers Industrial Union, the National Alumni Association, the Young Communist League, the Commu- nist Party (represented by the Org. Secretary, Weber), the John Reed Club, the Working Women’s Council, as well as the three branches of the Boston Workers School — Chelsea, (50 students of whom the majority are shoe workers), South End (21 students, the majority being Negro workers) , and Malden (20 students, majority 13th, By PHILIP STERLING TE AEE RERe 80 Be, 8. ew G0 reo lutionary development that every workers’ struggle, whether won or lost, leads to another struggle of equal importance. Thus, 10,000 min- ers of Utah and New Mexico, re- covering from the most gruelling strike within their memory, find themselves faced with the task of freeing Charles Guynn and Paul Crouch, two of the strike leaders from charges of criminal syndi- calism. For the first time in years the fighting tradition of the western miners flared into life last fall. Ten thousand of them went on strike under the militant leadership of the National Miners Union. They faced a reign of terror which threatened to reach the proportions of the Col- The strike was settled late in November after three months of undaunted picketing under the very machine-guns of company gunmen and National Guard units. In New fexico, the miners won 15 of their 16 demands at two of the mines. In gee deputized company thugs presented & greater physical force than the workers of such an isolated as from the high schools) — and H. There were hundreds of arrests during the strike. Both in Utah and in New Mexico military concentra- tion camps were established. In New Mexico, the prisoners were released following settlement of the strike. In Utah, however, the mine operat- ors were apparently determined to make examples of Charles Guynn and Paul Crouch for giving leader- shipp to the militant defiance of the miners during the strike. Today, after arrest and re-arrest during the strike, and after bitter legal battle during the past three months, Guynn still faces a long jail sentence. And with him the workers of Utah face the necessity of smashing’ the Fascist criminal syndicalism law which threatens every organized activity. In the eyes of Utah's laws, dic- tated by the mining interests, riot- ing is an act of “criminal syndical- ism” and rioting itself may be de- fined simply as any mass of people with riotous intent. And anyone familiar with the use of govern- mental machinery against organized workers, knows how easy it would be to frame proof that any assembly has “riotous intent.” Ret" 'UYNN was arrested with Charles Wetherbee during the strike, fol- lowing the passage of a “civilian martial law” ordinance by the com- missioners of Carbon County. The ordinance forbade the gathering*of more than three persons at any After the arrest of the two, there was a demonstration of the striking miners on the main street: of Price, Utah. Paul Crouch, one of the lead- ers of the demonstration, among those arrested when depu- ties attacked the ‘gathering with was tear gas and clubs. When Crouch came to trial sev- F. Watts, bina Thomas, and Georgette Harvey, which the Theatre Union will ppresent telling based on| three of the April 18. The play is a rich and New Orleans, and a powerful docu- Peters wrote the play in collabora- | } all the Theatre BRAIN SWEAT, by John Charles Brownell, a play of Negro life, at Longacre Theatre, New York. Reviewed by HELEN A half dozen Negro SHERIDAN 7 i a white bourgeois Broadway audience, meander across the Long- acre Theatre stage in an apparently mild, but subtly ‘vicious, comedy by one John Charles Brownell. It is no accident that a play of this sort appears today on Broadway, which has already seen the deeply stirring “They Shall Not Die,” and which will soon be shown another power- ful play about Negro life in the South when the Theatre Union pre- sents “Stevedore.” The rapidly growing militancy of the Negroes in the South; the elec- trifying effect of the Scottsboro case on hundreds of thousands of Negroes throughout the world, the fear felt by the Negro and white bourgeoisie at the crumbling of the capitalist status quo, called for a play about Negro life that presents the comforting stereotypes of past characterizations of former epochs. No need to worry, everything is Page Five Ww Theatre Union Play, “‘Stevedore”’ | The World of Di sease, Child Labor In Agricultural Camps By JOHN L. SPIVAK FRESNO, Cal. Health authorities are utterly indif- ferent to contagious disea for quarantine a means to ruin | the county he apparently not in business to ruin their neighbors’ crops. In one camp I was in, four miles from Mendota | two of the “homes” h on their doors health autho. residents to sta houses. The stead of one baby who d S Fever originally, there were I was there, three babies with t disease. And the camp was about to break up for its trek north to the pea fields, taking with it the Scarlet Fever babies to spread in those areas, And there are 100,000 migratory workers living like this in Califor- to camp a farmer's crop, and authorities are nia. | Their earnings, too, are incredible A whole family, working in the |fields, from nine in the morning until they are told to quit, which is jall right, the Negro is still a genial] usually near sundown, can earn $7 W. L. Dana, who is giving a special | series of lectures on the Soviet Union fer the Boston Workers School. A. Markoff, National | Director of Workers Schools was the main speaker. . 8 To Tighten Bond With Trade Unions The conference elected a School} Advisory Committee of 20 and adopted a resolution to recruit 400} to 500 students for the fall term,| and to establish a closer bond be- tween itself and the trade unions, | and cultural and fraternal organi- | zations, . 25a oe Between now and the fall term,| the Boston Workers School will get after those organizations who were invited to the conference and did not send delegates, particularly such | organizations as the Marine Work-| ers Industrial Union and the Needle| | Trades Workers Industrial Union. | Dep eon | The St. Lonis Workers School, which is successfully conducting six classes in its first term of ex- istence, is also running forums, and weekly affairs every Sunday night at 1243 Garrison St., where Negro and white workers meet to | dance, eat, play games and enjoy | themselves. aaa aoe | Valuable Suggestions |By Students at Assembly | | The Opening Assembly of the} Spring Term of the Workers Schoo} |in New York, which was held last | Saturday afternoon, conducted by| |W. W. Martin and Art Stein, in-| structors, was packed to capacity. | A number of valuable suggestions | made for the improvement of | the work of the school such as: as- signing students to go to demon-| | Strations, strike meetings, etc. and reporting on these events in class; | making the outstanding news of the| day an integral part of each course. | Rest weary | | were | |Classes Start | | This Week | Spring Term classes began last| night, with an advance registra-| | tion of 1,500 students, the highest} number of students ever registered | for any Spring Term in the history | | of the school, | * A few classes are still open, and| students who wish to register for | these classes may do so this week | any time before the first session at| | 35 East 12th St. | . wine (This column appears every Tuesday. Communications should be sent to A. Markoff, 35 East 12th St., Room 301, New York.) A Miner Faces A Capitalist Court in Utah eral weeks ago, he was convicted of unlawful assembly and was re- manded for sentence. Guynn, who was released on bail following his first arrest and rearrested on the | rioting charge which he now faces, was convicted on Feb. 19, but is now awaiting a new trial. 1 The importance of the cases of | Guynn and Crouch rest not on the vengefulness of the mine operators, who know that their victory over the miners was temporary andj criminal syndicalism law has been | evoked against workers for the | first time since it was passed. Viewing the situation from a dis- | tance of 2,000 miles, one might be |inclined to under-rate the import- ance of the trials, but such false judgment is readily refuted by re- ports of the intense interest of the miners in the case. The importance attached to the cases by the working class, and par- ticularly by the miners of Utah, may be gauged best by a letter from Rae Guynn, wife of Charles, who was herself arrested in her home after the strike had ended. “... The courtroom was jammed with workers all the time. Each trial (Crouch’s and Guynn’s) lasted five days. At first the authorities tried to discourage the workers by making them register and barring non-citizens, but the workers per- sisted and they got in most of the time. Finally after vigorous protest by us, they let everyone in. Even when the jury was out, and in Charlie's case it was out from about 5:30 to almost midnight, the work- ers stuck it out and waited for the verdict and when it came, they first cried and then sang the Interna- tionale on the way out, “We sure have a wonderful bunch of workers here (this makes it pos- clown with an occasional harmless streak of shrewdness. He doesn't want to work because he’s lazy, or has “ideas” (and here the hint is to make quite a bit of money, and it’s only his inherent dumbness that keeps him down). The Negro | or $8 a week, if is a good week. Otherwise they average nearer to $5. This is the total earnings for {a family—father, mother and chil- | thrown out’to any Negro who might | dren able to work. have ventured into the Longacre} | Theatre, and this reviewer did not | work. | see one, that if he is really smart|from field to field. Just how much, }and has good “ideas” he'll be able}in the course of a year, They make this much when they Time is lost on the trek 3 no one | knows. It all depends upon the peste available and the distance the | migratory workers have to cover. | give up working with his hands, | | over the entire Negro race. woman is a loving fool, who is glad| Federal laws against child laber to do the white folks’ washing so| might just as well never have been | she can keep her man, and never| enacted, so far as these migratory complains. There is the familiar) workers camps are concerned. I lecherous pastor, the bold, loose,| have seen children of eight picking cynical sister and her dice-playing,|cotton—the same children who will patent-leather haired husband|go on to the pea fields to pick (easy come easy go, a la Octavus| peas, grapes, lettuce—all vegetables ss ones eae siaatie toe a lings i sizea or village, i Serie 10s (Geet ne Aime | dean graben the uunitior ‘of cllitren in a sentence. Henry, the big | orked in the field: smiling hero, rocks complacently in| "7rkec in the felds. eat, his rocking chair, having decided to ‘ eet ie ee ; r white | OMly registered at the local school. and to use a aint ae | That is for the records, should any- folks do. After “sweating jone become too inquisitive. They ralnn, , (front. wineh derives D6 carinct goto school, TE ta 400 fac atrocious title of the play) for two | rrom the camp, as a rule, and the years he hits on a big idea through | 1 conts they earn cannot be spent which ‘He sucnseds Sc OULWitHINg SHE} 6s 'and oll td take the. chilaren white business man of the town! +o” Sool and call for them, so and makes $10,000, which, as the! ousands grow up illiterate. Call. curtain goes down, he proceeds to| rnia has a low percentage of il- hand out Jovislly to his Various) iiterscy, and it is mostly among relatives. the migratory workers and their Here is a show absolutely guar-| children. If you ask county officials anteed to give every bourgeois white | they will tell you that all migratory in the theatre, however half-witted, workers’ children go to school. See a pleasant feeling of superiority) —nhere are their registrations. But if you go into the fields, you will see them there, instead of in the class rooms. | With the coming of the N.R.A. and the rise in food costs, their expenses naturally increased. A WHAT’S ON Wednesda; y | HIGHLIGHTS of the week's news. Dis- cussion Group, 1491 Macombs Road, corner 170th St., Bronx. Auspices Mt. Eden Br.| P. 8 U., 8:30 p.m. Admission 10c. } THE GROUP SYSTEM in the I. L. D./ will be discussed at membership meeting | of Sacco Vanzetti Br. I. L. D., 792 E. ‘Tre-| mont Ave., 8 p.m. M. Gould, speaker. | OPEN FORUM “Price, Value and Profit’ | at Tom Mooney Br. I. L. D., 323 E. 13th St., 8:15 p.m. Admission free—discussion. | GERTRUDE HUTCHINSON lectures on) school, but most of the children are | wery-day Life tn the Soviet Union,” at Cheerful Cafeteria, 713 Brighton Beach Ave, 8:30 p.m. Auspices Oceanside Br. P. 8. U. REHEARSAL DAILY WORKER CHORUS, 35 EB. 12th St., 5th Floor, 8 p.m. All old and new members are urged to come. IL L. D. CHORUS meets at Boro Park Cultural Center, Laxalt 13th Ave., Brooklyn, 8:30 p.m. Be prompt. GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING, Film a Photo League, 8:30 p.m., ab 12 E. 17th St. All members must be present Election of officers. SAM ORNER'S REPORT on Taxi Strike, followed by Concert. Cooperative Audi- torlum, 2700 B: Park East, 8:30 p.m. Auspices: Harry Sims Br. Se biacklisted strikers. SUNNYSIDE BR. I. L. D. Open Forum. Joshua Kunitz speaks on “The Intellectual as a Revolutionary.” Foster Ave., 8:30 p.m. Thursday OPEN FORUM, Pen & Hammer Club, 114 2ist St “Type Psychology p.m, “SOVIET CHINA - SUN-YAT-SENISM in the development of the Chinese Revoluion.” Friends of the Chinese People, 168 W. 23rd St., 8:30 p.m. Admission 15¢. R, Proceeds for Admission 15¢. and Capitalism,” sible for me to overcome a lot of disadvantages I would have other- wise). I am enclosing a couple of clippings from the capitalist papers, which give you a glimpse of the trials. In the one on Crouch’s trial, where they report. about the little boy testifying for Crouch, I wish you could have heard him. What fearlessness!” The reference to the testimony of | the little boy in Rae Guynn’s letter | concerns 12-year-old Carl Nema- fiimsy, but on the fact that the Utah| nich, son of a striker, who was! . | placed on the witness stand to tell! GUILDe 8? bats Thutceset229 what he saw after deputies at- | tacked the demonstration in Helper during which Crouch was arrested. “When the District Attorney tried to get him to admit the reason he came to testify for Crouch was that he liked him personally,” Rae Guynn’s letter continues, “the boy answered, ‘No, I.don't like him any more than I do like you, except that he fights for the working class.’ It sure made that District Attorney choke. So much so, that he pulled out of the case that night and left the smaller dogs to try it. He ad- mitted that to our attorney. Of course, little Carl’s testimony was not the only thing that made him pull out. He admitted that he saw no case and could not prosecute. “These trials are the greatest education for our workers here, , , .” Meanwhile the fight for Guynn’s freedom goes on. It will go to the State Supreme Court if necessary. And the education which the Utah miners are deriving from the trials they are applying to the first prin- ciple of revolutionary struggle— Solidarity. They are calling on the organized working class the coun- try over to aid them in their de- fense of Charles Guynn and Paul Crouch, se 3S Musicians Concert League and| 4313 47th St., near Edward Amden speaks on | 8:30 One of the chief features in Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Baily circus, now at the Madison Square Garden for a limited en- gagement, 54 has jumped from 20 to 40 per ce: Earnings at the ame time decreased, so that now the migratory worker, when his whole family w s in the fields, can earn just about enough for a bare existence, gas, and perhaps for @ little meat once in a while. INCREDIBLE are the condi- ions in these migratory camps, even the ministerial brother- is shocked. Local newspapers been completely mt about ions in these camps. But the " while I was there item—the only item about migra en only because ier, Calif. be- mbled nNg that hood wed labor. like Federat of Labor i during spontaneous reve and working conditions, is deeply affected by unist organizing activities not in t 1in Valley, but apparently through the whole state, as near as I can ascertain y attributed to This may be ch: cultural workers ists, a high percent- age of which were won during the past year. For a clear picture of why Cali fornia ‘has the “red jitters” and f: i nizations are blossom: ly to counteract Communist @ resume of the 71 strikes in this state during 1933 would help. Thirty-five of the 71 strikes were agricultural. The total number of | strikers during the year was about | 63,000, and 50,000 of these were agri- cultural workers. Of these 35 agri- cultural strikes, 22 were led by the Communist Cannery and Agricul- {tural Workers Union, affiliated with the T.U.U.L. These 22 strikes in- volved some 40,000 workers. Com. munists won 17 out of the 22 strikes. 1 four and one just petered out No one seems to know just what happened to it. | The A. F. of L. during the same period (1933) led ome agricultural strike, that of the lettuce packers, which approaches the grading of a | trade. This strike, too, was won. | There were nine spontaneous strikes in the agricultural field led by workers themselves in blind revolt | after they learned of the strikes in |the San Joaquin Valley. Five of | these spontaneous strikes were won, |the strikes achieving the same de- mands the Communist-led organ- izations asked for. But these unions, because of the very nature of their | migratory membership, disintegrated | shortly after they won their de- | mands. | These few figures and the com- mon knowledge that Communists }are securing firm footholds not only among the agricultural work- ers but among stationary classes‘ \like longshoremen, fishermen, ets., jhas contributed to the prevalent ar of reds by employers. Here the workers do not seem to care whether the group achieving better wages for them are reds’ or purples, |especially since the reds have | chalked up so high a percentage of | victories. These figures are for the entire state. Here, in this valley, they led the now historic Tulare and Kern counties strikes and though Com- munist inroads in Fresno County itself are slight in comparison with other areas, their influence has been inescapable. (To Be Continued) Soloist at Workers Dance League Affair NEW YORK——Fe Alf, formerly on the teaching staff of the Wig- |man School, will make her concert |debut as guest soloist on the pro- | gram to be presented by the Work- | ers’ Dance League at the Brooklyn | Academy of Music on April 20, 8:30 pm. She will present three | numbers—“Fille De Joie,” “Slavery” jand “Summer Witchery.” The first | two dances are from a cycle of | dances, “The City,” an attempt to express the teeming, bustling activ- ity of large-scale city existence, AMUSE MENTS | | | | | | Thetis Drama of Negro and White Opening Wednesday CIVIC REPERTORY THE THEATRE UNION ANNOUNCES *STEVEDORE* PAUL PETERS and GEORGE SKLAR—Directed by MICHAEL BLANKFORT THEATRE, 2%," TICKETS ON SALE AT BOX OFFICE TODAY— 3c, 45c, 600, 75e, $1.00 & SL50 For information on benefits and preview performances TELEPHONE WaAtkins 9-2451 =. RENEFIT PREVIEW PERFORMANCES APRIL 14 - 16 = 17 Workers on the Docks of New Orleans Evening, April 18th 105 W. 1th St. Mats, Wed. & Sat. 9:45 )—THE THEATRE GUILD presents—, EUGENE O'NEILL’s Comedy | AH, WILDERNESS! with GEORGE M. COHAN XWELL ANDERSON'S New Play MARY OF SCOTLAND” with HELEN PHILIP HELEN HAYES MERIVALE MENKEN | ALVIN Thea., 524 St., W. of B'w) | Ey.8.20Mats. Thur. &Sat.2.20 NOW ON BROADWAY. |] The great Anti-War Hit! ‘Peace on Earth’ Theo.,W.ofB'way. Evs. 8:30 44th ST. Niiitee weda Sat 245 200 GOOD SEATS AT 50¢ TO $1.00 TEGFELD FOLLIES with FANNIE BRICE Willie & Eugene HOWARD, Bartlett SIM- MONS, Jane FROMAN, Patricia BOWMAN. WINTER GARDEN, B'way & 50th. Evs. 8.20 Mats, Monday, Thursday & Saturday 2:30 GLADYS ADRIENNE RAYMOND COOPER ALLE! MASSEY THE SHINING HOUR BOOTH THEATRE, W. 45th St. E) Matinees: Thursday & Saturday RKO Jefferson Mth St.& | Now 3rd Ave. | Ramon NOVARRO & Jeanette McDONALD 8:40 40 Also “SIX OF A KIND" with Charles RUGGLES & Alison SKIPWORTH in “The Cat and the Fiddle” | | RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL— |] 50 St & 6 Ave—Show Place of the Nation Opens 11:30 A. M. sucws “WILD CARGO” with FRANK BUCK in PERSON plus a IC HALL EASTER TAGE SHOW Extra! Walt Disney's ;UNNIES”* “FUNNY LITTLE B' CHALUTZIM (Pioneers of Palestine) With |i. Habima Players Hebrew Talking Picture of the Workers n Palestine (English Dialogue Titles) | ACME THEA, 't Street ana Union Square MADISON SQ. GARDEN fap ty TWICE DAILY mat) Re | W -PINGLING RARNUM R' BROS and B CIRCUS ALL NEW THIS YEAR § BIGGER THAN EVER! 1000 NEW FOREIGN FEATURES Tickets Admitting to Ev Seats) $1.10 to $3.50 Incl Te inder 12 Half Price Every Afters | Children us | moon except | TICKETS at Garden, Macy’s and Agencies