The Semi Monthly Organ of the Communist League of America (Opposition)
MILITANT VOL. II. No. 16 NEW YORK, OCTOBER 15, 1929.
PRICE CENTS THE MASSACRE AT MARION The Trial in Charlotte Workers Murdered The Impossible WEEKLY While mill owners guns were barking death to five After the murder of Ella May Wiggins and the at.
textile workers in Marion, the second trial of the Gagtempted lynchings of half a dozen organizers of the tonia defendants was getting under way. The utler National Textile Workers Union growing out of the worthlessness of the case for the prosecution in the recent Gastonia strike, comes the cold blooded massacre first trial, the great difficulty it would experience in The publication of the Militant has been the achieve of five Marion, textile workers and the wounding getting a conviction under first degree murder charge ment of the impossible! When we issued the first of more than a score of others by the gunfire of Sheriff against the thirteen men, has now been partially number of the Militant as a semimonthly paper, the Adkins and his law gworn, mill owners thugs. remedied by the new set of charges brought against Stalinist leaders scoffed at it and said that it was not the defendants. Three women and six of the men have only the first number but also the last. This predic ion Manufacturing Company were confronted by the On October 2, a group of strikers picketing the Marhad their cases dismissed with leave. and the other tion has been made now for almost a year and the Sheriff and his legalized plug uglies and ordered seven men, including their leader Fred Beal, have had Militant is today more securely established as a spokesdisperse so that the scabs might enter the mill. The their charges changed to call for a sentence of the man for the regeneration of the revolutionary moveworkers, unarmed though they were, stood their ground 30 years in prison that go with second degree murder. ment than when it was first issued. The Party buand refused to scatter. Without a word of warning, The fact that the prosecution has been forced to reaucrats, who cannot conceive of any progress unless the Sheriff fired a tear gas pistol into their midst and change line of action and back down from the it is organized by a subsidized apparatus, thought that charges that involved death sentences for the defend to publish the Militant would be impossible. Many even he and his gang followed it up with a fusillade which left three workers dead and more than 20 wounded.
ants is a definite victory for the workers of the United of our closest friends were doubtful in the beginning In the course of the next few days, two others who States. Had it not been for the protest movement, had of the likelihood of our continuation. But these very had been fatally wounded died in bed; many of those it not been for the consequent fear of the North Caro friends and supporters helped to achieve the imposshot will probably be crippled for life. The dead are lina capitalist class that an attempt to repeat the crime sible. The place established in advance for our work George Jonas, a man past 60, Sam Vickers, Randolph of Massachusetts would make them the center of a na by the opportunism and adventurism of the Stalinists tion wide working class attack, this victory would never Hall, Luther Bryson and James Roberts.
has been filled the Militant now for almost a year, have been won, and the workers would still be in the by the stubborn spirit of sacrifice of our small fight The brutality of the butchery is almost indescribshadow of the electric chair.
ing army.
able. Medical investigation shows that many of the But this victory is not the whole battle. It is only But now the requirements of the situation demand workers were shot in the back while fleeing from gunWith the apparent softening of the a part of it.
that we advance a step further. The disintegrating fire. One of the murdered workers, George Jonas, charges, the prosecution wants to secure an easy con effects of the present official Party policy upon the bleeding to death and clubbed into unconsciousness, viction. The peremptory (absolute) challenges of the Communist movement, the crisis in the International, was carried to a hospital in handcuffs, and was operatdefense have been radically reduced (from 168 to 28) the dangers confronting the dearly bought achieve ed upon while still fettered in steel and this makes it all the easier for the prosecution men of the Ru Revolution all these are mak The frightful assault followed almost directly upon pack the jury and cinch the frame up. The temporary ing big demands upon the revolutionary vanguard that the heels of the declaration by Governor Gardner for removal of the women defendants from the case is a has rallied to our banner. The Militant as a semi the improvement the textile workers conditions chivalrous geature by which the prosecution wants monthly is insuficient to meet these demands. It is and against the Communists. The smooth hypocrisy to get a surer conviction of the men. Finally, a second not frequent enough in its appearance to enable it of the mill owners governor was immediately suppledegree murder case permits the acceptance of a juror to react in time for the burning issues of the day. mented by the bloody reality of Marion. The massadespite admitted prejudice on his part.
THE MILITANT WILL BE WEEKLY MILI cre also followed upon the sell out of the first Marion To rely upon the capitalist courts, North or South, TANT ON THE TWELTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE strike by the reactionary officials of the United Texfor a fair trial is to build hopes on treacherous quick RUSSIAN REVOLUTION! The American capitalist tile Workers union. The workers found it impossible sands. The more widespread and militant is the pro class is becoming arrogant in its offensive upen to continue their work under the agreement made betest movement of labor the greater is the assurance the working class. The misleaders of labor are be tween the bosses and the union officials. The attempt that sufficient pressure will be exerted upon the mill coming more cynical in their trafficking with the to weed out the militants from the mill by transferring barons courts to free these fighters. Their cause is terests of the working class. The socialist party, nour them to the night shift and then abolishing that the cause of all labor. The chivalrous Southern tex ished and revived in part by the blndering of the of shift, caused a practically spontaneous walkout. The tile mills are largely controlled by Wall Street inter ficial Communist Party, is experiencing a re birth fruits of class collaboration, the gospel of the ests, which hold the reins of American industry and fi and new strength in this country, The Communist of leaders which the progressives of the Muste group nance in their hands. Should the seven men be con Party is being led by its present leadership from one timidly refrained from condemning openly, were victed, it will not only mean a blow at the unionization catastrophe to another. On the twelfth anniversary brought to rapid bloom, drenched with martyred blood.
of the Southern workers but also a setback for work of victory of the Russian working class, the ap The murder of the Marion workers is a crushing ers everywhere.
pearance of the Weekly Militant will raise the flag of answer to the state officials, the mill owners, the Now more than ever must every worker rally to the Bolshevism higher, a challenge to its enemies and its of fat boys, the sugary. liberals and the pink protest movement. As the case proceeds, it becomes revisionists.
socialists who laid all the troubles in North Carolina steadily clearer that it is a frame up of the bosses THE CREATION OF THE WEEKLY MILITANT to the interference of the Communist and Left wing and their legal tools. The witnesses for the prose IS PART OF THE WORLD MOVEMENT FOR militants. The black day in Marion, where the Comcution perjure themselves with tongues made glib by a RE INVIGORATING THE COMMUNIST RANKS! munists were not even in evidence for various reasong, golden oiling. They bear a startling resemblance In France, our comrades of the Opposition have finally points to where the trouble lies: in the fierce exthe policeman Roach, for instance to the characterless succeeded in establishing a central WEEKLY organ, ploitation of the textile slaves, in their resultant misery, underworld degenerates who testified Mooney and Bil La Verite, a rallying point for Leninism in France. in the class collaborationist policies and downright belings to life imprisonment.
In Germany, our comrades of the Opposition have be trayals of the old line labor leaders. The trouble The latest developments have demonstrated to the gun a campaign to make their four times week Volks with the Communists has been that they have dared to hilt the correctness of the slogan raised by the Com wille a regular DAILY paper. Our Russian comrades break into the Solid Non Union South and lead the mill munist League of America (Opposition. Fight the have begun the publication of their first organ, the slaves in struggle for better conditions without using Gastonia frame up! The fight against the frame up Bulletin of the Bolshevik Leninist (Opposition. In un them as pawns around the conference tables of the bogs is the main issue in this case, to which all others are derground China, Opposition has begun the issuor the governor.
secondary and subordinated. Even more clearly than ance of the Proletarian. In the International, prepara Because of these very facts, it is essential that the in the first trial the essentially legalistic courtroom tions are being made for the issuance of a CENTRAL Left wing conduct its work in such a manner that slogan of the right of self defense, put in the fore organ of the Opposition in the French and German will make it possible to unite the forces of all the ground by the Party, now falls to the ground. More languages. The Weekly Militant will be part of this workers. The bosses prefer the of union to firmly than ever we believe that the prosecution is growing army.
the National Textile Workers Union. But they prefer trying to frame up the outstanding leaders of the THE WEEKLY MILITANT IS POSSIBLE ONLY no union at all to even an of union. This strike, particularly the Communist fighters in it; wè WITH THE SUPPORT OF ALL OUR COMRADES stubborn hostility of the bosses, coupled with the rising cannot accept a conclusion that the nine whose cases AND FRIENDS! The Militant is your paper. Its pub sentiment of the textile workers, makes imperative were dismissed have thereby won the capitalist court lication as a Weekly by November 7th can be accom and possible the fight for a united front of all workacknowledgment of their right to self defense. It is plished only if we are assured of widespread support. crs, regardless of their opinions, for the unionization a good sign that the Daily Worker has ceased to put We repeat what we have said before: If an average of of the South. wrong policy now will destroy possiforward this latter slogan and is turning correctly to TWO HUNDRED comrades will pledge an average of bilities that may take years to recover. correct emphasis upon the perjured testimony and the attempts ONE DOLLAR WEEK for the next period, the course will bring advances all along the line. The only to railroad the defendants, that is, upon the essential Weekly Militant is assured of regular publication. We reason why the mill barons can execute such horrible features of a frame up case. It is necessary to take are depending upon every reader to respond. Only massacres is the lack of organization and unity of the full step and to mobilize a broader movement, on make the impossible Weekly a genuine the workers. The winning of this organization and a genuine united front basis, among the broadest pos reality.
unity is the best reply and vengeance for the marsible sections of the workers. The first victory gained SEND IN YOUR PLEDGE OR YOUR DONA tyred dead. This victory will be found through the so far can and must be made final and conclusive. TION! WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!
broad path of united struggle.
they Mass Meeting at the Speakers: LABOR TEMPLE 242 14 St. near 2nd Avenue)
James Cannon on TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1929.
Martin Abern 7:30 sharp Max Shachtman ADMISSION: 23 CENTS Auspices: New York Branch, Communist League (Opposition. The Crisis in the American Communist Movement