The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-05-02
MICHIGAN GIVES
1887 RED VOTES
FOR COMMUNISM
Startling Results in Off
Year Election
CONTINUED from page u.

/ anu pun ARA AhCA6 VI Tic bldLt 10 kU 10
the polls and write in the names of
Foster and Gitlow.
Ran Under Hammer and Sickle.
How many took this advice it was
quite impossible to learn, yet there
must have been several thousand who
did so, in view Of the returns, only
now available, of the general election
which was held on April 8, when 1887
voters cast their ballots for the Work
ers Party candidates, who ran under
the symbolic hammer and sickle.
The Workers Party was the only
party entering the spring elections to
make a working class appeal. The
socialist party has finally recognized
that it is dead. The socialist labor
party, for reasons best known to it,
self, failed to make the grade. The
proletarian party's educational activi-
ties do not include participation in
the election campaigns.
Distribute 1000 Leaflets.
More than 100000 leaflets were dis
tributed stating the party's position
on the issues confronting the elector-
ate. Lack of funds with which to
conduct a strenuous campaign, and
lack Of effective organization, raised
serious difficulties. Yet in spite of
these difficulties a most remarkable
response was Forthcoming.
In Wayne county (Detroit) Comrade
Herman Richter, running for county
auditor, received 1889 votes, while
our candidates for state Offices ranged
from 1,12O to 1886. Out Of a total
Wayne county registration of more
than 100000 only 54,s7O votes were
cast. Genessee county (F1int) was
second with SIS out of a total vote
of 25,20S. Marquette county in the
upper peninsula came third with 347
out of a total vote of 7,S41. The
counties in the upper peninsula all
gave very respectable votes for the
Communist candidates. It is signif-
cant that only three counties of the
SO in Michigan failed to register any
votes for our ticket. Saginaw, head
quarters Of the. ku kluxers in Michi
gan, voted 228 for the Communists:
Jackson, location Of the prison in
which Comrade Ruthenberg was in
generated before his release pending
his appeal to, the United States SUI
preme court, delivered 9S-votes, while
Berrien county wherein the ,Commun-
list trials araiapending, came across
with 1872. One county gave $500 plus,
one nearly 600,1one BAT; six voted from
217 to 283, six from 127 to 1914, while
the others ranged down from 95 to 2
(Oscoda county,.
Distinct Achievement for Party.
In view of the fact that the April
9Th elections occurred in an off year.
that no sharpr issues were up to
rouse mass interest, and the further
fact that the Workers Party lacked
both funds and effective organization
with which to wage a strenuous cam
paign, the polling Of 1887 votes is a
distinct achievement.
The returns indicate that Michigan
is seething with discomfort against
things as they are, a discomfort that
effects rural communities as well as
Industrial centers. They indicate fur
Their that present conditions are fore
ing the workers and poor farmers to
crash thru the wall of prejudice that
capitalist institutions have sought to
erect around anything that savors of
Communism, Confronted with mort
gage foreclosures, falling prices for
farm products, and increasing prices
for farm equipment; with wage cuts.
open shop drives, and the menace of
unemployment, the poor farmers and
industrial workers are learning that
the spectre Of Communism is merely
nursery tale which the apologists
of the present order use to brighten
them into continued subsection to their
system Of ruthless exploitation.
Indicates Big Vote In 1926.
April. 1925, presented the first CD
portunity in Michigan for the Work
ers Communist Party to participate
in an election under its own name.
Seven thousand votes in an off-year
election!
What will It be, in the congressional
elections in 1926,
Il