The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-10-15

ORIGINALLY the Ku Klux Khan founded in
" Pulaski Tennessee in May, 1866. It was born out
of the attempt of the defeated Southern plantation
owners to retrieve of the losses which they had
incurred as ruling class result Of the victory
Of the Northern capitalists.
Immediately after the end of the Civil War groups
Of "carpet-baggers' (Northern politicians) mostly
from the republican party which was the party OF
Northern capital took hold of the political machln-
cry of the South. However, finding themselves I'M
able to cope with the rich of the South they had to
find and develop some new forces so to utilize it
for the purpose of crushing the Southern land
owners to the wishes of the Northern capitalists
The newly liberated Negroes gave them their OPP
portunity.
The Southern plantation owners in their struggle
to retain their former position and to drive the
Negroes back to as great degree of slavery as
possible organized both secretly and openly. The
Ku Klux Khan was the most effective of all its
organizations because it did not follow the rules of
democracy" laid down by Northern capitalism but
instead made it's code which, of course came
into sharp conflict with the federal government.
The constitution Of the old khan states that its
purpose is to aid the widows and orphans Of Con-
federate soldiers, but this only symbol. 1t
limited it's membership to those living in the South
ern states which participated in the secession move
Tnent against the North; it excluded from its mem
bership those who had fought on the Northern side
in the Civil War; it declared itself particularly to
be an organ for fighting the republican party and
taking away the c0nCf0l OF the recently LpGIdt5u
Negroes from that party; its salute was the salute
of the Southern Army during the Civil War
Those writer's who have written favorably Of this
organization boast that after it began to func-
ton effectively, the hitherto unstable and increas
ingly independent labor element, particularly the
Negroes, were now under control" The methods used
by the khan were extremely terroristic similar to
those of the modern fascists but peppered with
American vigor. The contest between the Northern
and the Southern politicians grew very much sharper
+1o Cf fIa
ruling class tried to the existing situation for
their own benefit: the Northerners using their
weapon the federal government, who on the surface
simply fought the terroristic acts of the secret
cetes of the South, and the Southerners suing these
secret organizations
By 1868 the situation become SO sharp that the
federal government and a number of the state gov
ernments under the control of the republican party
proceeded to take action against the Ku Klux Klan
Thus during that year. in various states, laws were
passed making membership in the Ku Klux Khan
crime against the state and imposing severe penal
ties. The movement to crush the khan become so
drastic that finally General Forrest, who the
Grand Wizard" Of the klan in February 1859 issued
proclamation dissolving the organization. 1t is i'm
portant to note in this connection that the dsSolu
ton of the khan did not mean that the Southern
landowners had been completely defeated The is
sue had been, as raised in the South, whether the
newly liberated Negro shall be allowed to develop
to the point where he become political force who,
the Southern capitalists. 1t was only after the
Northern capitalists had promised that it would not
permit such condition by Withdrawing its army
and recalling its imposed politicians that Southern
capitalism liqudated its "extra-legal" method Thus
in the dissolution order for the original Ku Klux
Khan the Grand Wizard said
"The Invisible Empire has accomplished the
purpose for which it was organized. Civil law
affords ample protection to life, liberty
and property. The better elements of So
ciety are no longer in dread for the safety Of
their property. ="
The official order of dissolution did not however
actually dissolve the kan 1t continued to exist IL
localities throughout the South until the Southern
landowners were absolutely assured that the North
ern ruling class really intended to permit them th
of the federal government to protect their inter
ests against the newborn proletariat. By the EN-
of the 18th century the remnants of this Ku Ku1
Khan had gone into complete oblivion. it only
the most outstanding of a number of organization
which had been created by the ruling class of thu
South in defiance of the ruling class of the Nortl