The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-07-03


mediately. The whole matter
was finished in five minutes,
after being presented a day ear
lier than the scheduled time for
the committees report.
For Farmer.Labor2
Besides this vague hint of AL Smith
(if it can be SO interpreted), there is
much more to the document. 1t strad-
dies between the Gompers' punish
your enemies and reward your friends"
policy, to be applied by Negroes as a
group, and the meagrest suggestion of
the possibility of the Negroes going
over as a group to a "third-party" to
be composed of "other submerged
classes"
The document contains a medley of
suggestions, including the absurd state
ment that the northern wing" of the
Democratic party has ''treated us with
great fairness" Instead Of offering
the remedy Of putting under national
jurisdiction all questions affecting
sectional persecution of Negroes, the
statement merely cites the brutal in
justices to Negroes under southern
local and state laws as an additional
reason for pursuing the Gompers' mon
partisan" policy Of splitting between
Democratic and Republican friends"
and enemies. However the document
suggests that movement or party of
submerged classes" may give the
Negro "a chance to vote more directly
for economic emancipation" and Save
us from a choice between half-hearted
friends and half-concealed enemies or
from the necessity Of voting for the
same oppression under different party
names"
~ IN short. the statement is mixture
of hints and alternatives. Judged as
a statement of policy, the document is
entirely northeast is no statement
of policy. The Importance attributed
to it here is declaration of in
dependence from the republican party"
This valuation can be understood only
in the light of the fact that the
Negroes have been .steadfast and alb
solutely unquestioning followers of the
Republican party for seventy years.
RepudIate Republican Allegiance
The full text of the statement
follows:
1.-THE National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People in
Fifteenth Annual Conference assem-.
bled believes that the pressing pro-
blem before the American Negro to-
day is the use of his vote in the ap-
preaching election.
I'VE face the two old parties and a
possible third party movement. The
Republican Party, which has always
commanded the great majority Of our
votes, has, during the last two adj
ministrations, recognized our right to
a voice in the party counsels and made
some effort to carry out our wishes in
legislation and administration; never
theless, although in power in all
branches of the government, it has
specifically failed to pass the Dyer
Anti-Lynching Bill, to abolish segre-
cation in the government offices at
Washington, to take any action with
regard to Jim Grow" cars in inter.
state travel, to withdraw our military
forces from Haiti, and to make loan
to Liberia.
THE Democratic Party appears to
us in two distinct parts. The northern
wing of the party has recognized our
demands in many states and treated
us with great fairness. But this north
ern wing is at the absolute mercy OF
the solid South" with its "rotter
borough" system depending upon the
Acknowledgement of the Negro; with
its segregation and "Jim Grow" legis
lation, its mob law and lynching, and
its denial of proper education to Negro
children.
Both Cater to X. X. X.
Both parties are catering to the Kr
Klux Khan, that secret fomenter Of
religious intolerance, race hate ant
midnight murder, whose spread is the
greatest proof of national decadenc'
and the greatest menace to democracy
1T is manifestly impossible tha
under these circumstances the enfran
chised Negroes of the United States
should vote a straight ticket for either
OF these parties. Our voting must b.
primarily matter OF individual can
didates for office. In order to vot'
effectively we must know the recordi
OF such candidates. We must demand
OF them clear statements as to thei
attitude toward matters of vital in
terest TO us.
We must remember that we arr
electing in the approaching election
and other near elections not simpl,
the President OF the United States bu
members of Congress and Of the STATE
legislatures; state officials, judges