The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-12-23
CHICAGO LABOR
DEMANDS recall
OF AMBASSADOR
Release Cuban Labor
Leaders," Workers Cry

Placing the full responsibility for
tho plight of julio A. Melia and his
twelve imprisoned comrades in Cuba
upon the shoulders of American i'm
perlallsn, a mass meeting of Chicago
workers at Northwest Hail. corner
North and Western avenues, Sunday
niaht protested against the intrigues
of the American sugar trust on the
island and unanimously demanded that
the United States government recall
Ambassador crowder and abrosate
the treaty which forces Cuba to main
tain the notorious "Platt amend
ment" TO her constitution in the in-
terests Of American lmperiallst DOM
InatIon. The meeting was one OF
many to be held in all the important
cities of the United States, under the
loInt auspices Of the AII-Amerlea
Antl-ImperialIst League ". S. seotion)
and international Labor Defense.
Demand Immediate Release.
The meeting further demanded inn
mediate release of all those kept in
iajl in Cuba by American influence.
Quick action is necessary, it was
pointed out, if Mella and his COM
rades are to be saved. Mella is in a
desperately serious condition as re-
suit of the long hunger strike he has
been carrying out in prison.
William F. Dunno, the principal
speaker, gave a survey of American
imperialist history with regard to Gu
ba. beginning with the unprovoked
war Of aggression of Spain in 1898.
one of the slogans of this war, he de-
clared, was 'eVia Cuba libre!" Long
live free CubaD but Cuba today is
suffering under a reign Of terror such
as even the black regime Of the Span
ish General Weyler did not surpass.
Under the domination Of the sugar
trust and the National City Bank of
New York, the real Owners" Of Gu
ba, colonos in the sugar fields are
being forced to work at the point OF
the bayonet for a bare subsistence,
while labor leaders who attempt to
organize the sugar slaves are impris-
oned. trade unions are smashed and
all who protest against American I'M
perialism are prosecuted by the sub
servient Machado government.
Workers Must Fight imperialism
"The greatest share OF the RESPONSE
bility for fighting American imperial
ISM" declared the speaker. rests
upon us-the workers Of the United
States. The official bureaucracy OF
the trade unions does not take up this
task. Instead It strives to extend
American Imperialism by poisoning
and rendering harmless the labor
movements of the subject countries,
while at the same time sharing the
ill-gotten gains Of Imperialism thru
the profits Of so-called labor banks, in
surance schemes, etc. This makes
our responsibility for determined
struggle all the greater. We must
win the trade unions for class strug-
gle, and away from the policy Of
class collaboration built upon the
foundation Of imperialist exploitation.
ere, inside the very fortress of Amer
lean imperialism, we can strike the
most telling blows at the monster that
has become the universal exploiter,
the enslaver Of all the world"
Other speakers included Manuel
Gomez, secretary of the All-American
Anti-Imperialist League, George
Brewer, a young Negro who told Of
the struggle of the Negroes against
race discrimination and oppression in
this country; Vicente orbet, a Fill
Pine, who described the iniquities Of
the rule of Gov. Gen. Wood in the
Philippines, and George Maurer, sec
rotary OF the Chicago bran IN Of Inter
La;'onal Labor Defense.
Adopt Protest Resolution.
A resolution demanding complete
and immediate independence for the
Filipino people was unanimously
adopted, copies Of which ara to be for-
war led to President Coolidge, to tie
Filipino independer ce Mission now at
Washington and to the Philippine
legislature.
He ioiH like it! GiCe your union
brother a sub to The DAILY