The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-11-17
MEXICAN Poems
( HOLDING POWER
WITH RIFLE AID
Every Display of POwer
Gets More Crumbs
BY SCOTT NEARING.
federated Press stair Correspondent

MEXICO CITY, Nov. 16.-The
loaded rifle keeps the Mexican
rulers from monkeylng with the
scanty liberties of the peasant.
This realistic view of the basis
Of freedom was given to me by
an agrarian agitator who is
working thru central Mexico,
encouraging the land workers
to resist the big landowners, the
catholic church and the en-
croaching government.
Watching Gales.
There will be no revolution this
year in Mexico" my informant in
sisted, unless President Gales goes
back on his agrarian program. The
land workers are more numerous than
all other workers combined, and they
can bring SUFFICIENT pressure to bear
on any government to cause its defeat
How will they bring pressure to bear?
Thru their rifles.
"At the beginning, under Diaz, not
only was the land concentrated in the
hands Of few big landlords, but the
poems were kept In debt and ignorance
and were little better than slaves.
Church and state united to crush and
curse them.
"The revolution changed all that
Under Diaz, only the army had guns
Now the peasants have them, and they
know how to use them as well as the
army does"
do you mean" l asked, that the
liberty of the Mexican peasant de-
ponds on the possession of a rifie?"
Win, More Crumbs.
"Just that" answered the agitator.
ut is their only defense. Those who
are in power in Mexico City know very
well that if they desert the cause of
the peasants, there will be another
uprising, and for my part, welcome
It. Every time the peasants have
really showed their power, the govern
ment has thrown them a few more
crumbs. So we are telling them to
keep all they have, and bide their time
I'LL tuey can get more.
There are two classes Of peasants.
First, the serfs from the great estates.
Whenswe say to them Take the land,
they point in the direction of the
church and reply: Me no dare! Me
no like be theft
But the second class is very diff
ferent: the Indians who were never
merged in the great estates, but who
retained a part or all of their tribal
lands until very recent times. The
church and state have never made any
great impression on them, and where
they took possession of the land in
these last 10 years, they have inn
proved it and will fight to retain it,"
! asked about the power of the po-
litical leaders and of the army.
Both are greatly weakened. The
last revolution showed how little the
army can be depended upon. And the
only thing that saved the government
In that revolution was the workers and
peasants
Our talk drifted to Russia And /
asked whether the Mexican people had
been terrified by the name Soviet.
Know Struggle for Bread
My friend said: "Only the few who
read. The masses are illiterate. They
live their simple, semi-communist vii
lage life and know nothing of the af-
fairs Of the great world But one thing
they do know-the village commune
and the village struggle for bread and
peace. Do you realize that today, in
Mexico, the land worker receives from
20 to 40 centavos per day, with an
average of about 30 centavos? e cent
avos, 1c). AS he learns to want more
things, he will be forced to take the
land and work it in cooperative village
groups. That is what we are trying to
teach them: get. the land and work it
in common"
do you receive welcome from the
peasants?"
Peasants WretehedIy Poor.
For the most part do. am not
a member of any organization, and |
90 from village to village, supporting
myself as best can. Most of the viii
Slagers are wretchedly poor. but they
are glad to give me bed, meal and
dlrAactions for reaching those who are
svmhathetic in the next village"
"Does the government approve of
the work you are doing?"
Z "Approve?" he exclaimed, "If am
caught, will be sent to jail or shot in
the village square. No, even the l.
w. w. in your country are treated bet
ter than we are here by the authori-
ties"
SO I withhold HIS name, and simply
arocord hfq onfnfonc