The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-09-02
By A. B. MAGIL.

NAANNSSA SAAC oCclO. bub lllS Ou OIlJS
still live. And their name goes
marching on.
This is the story of something that
never happened. But it will, never
theless, remain one of the most glori-
Gus chapters in American history,
this tale Of the saving of an entire
town through the heroism of a single
individual, whose quick thinking and
quick action thwarted the plans of
Moscow and its paid agents in Amer
lea. And Wilmington, sweet, placid
Wilmington, chief city of the free
commonwealth of Delaware, has
hugely breathed sweet, placid sigh
of relief. Saved.
Wilmington, Delaware, is city of
some 10000 souls, most of them
pious. 1t is under the heel of the Du
Pont family who own about every
thing worth owning in Wilmington,
including the city officials. The four
newspapers, divided among the repub-
/ lican and democratic camps, are also
owned by the Du Points, one branch
of the family controlling the repub-
lican papers and the other branch the
tell which is which. Most people can't
tell which, is which. Elections are
settled, in civilized fashion, in adj
vance to avoid uncertainty and in
convenience.
! nAlo Sc JN,.a11I Of ifc historical
associations. 1t was the first state to
ratify the Declaration of Independ
ence And during the World War the
entire state contained but one con-
scientious objector, Donald Stephens,
of Arden He is now in Soviet Rus
STA, working with the Russian Recon-
struction Farms, so this blot on the
states fair name has been partly re-
moved.
Another historical association is
the whipping post. All other states
have adopted more modern methods
of torturing prisoners. But Delaware
remains faithful to its traditions. 1t
is true the historicity of the whipping
post is impaired somewhat by the fact
that it is used chiefly for Negroes.
But one must compromise at times.
Wilmington, containing half the
population of Delaware, is its chief
/ industrial center. There are labor
unions in Wilmington, but no labor
movement. Strikes are few and gen
orally unsuccessful. Such matters
are also settled in advance by the all
beneficent Du Pont family and their
capitalist subordinates in collabora-
ton with their intimate friends, the
officials of the American Federation
of Labor.
Thus this moribund flower of cap
italist civilization, whitening softly
on the banks of the Delaware, re-
mains undisturbed. Lying prone on
it's back, with it's churches and syna-
gogues, it's factories, business places,
up-to-date redlight district for the
convenience of the male parishioners,
schools and undulant hills, Whining
ton beholds itself and finds itself
good.
Unfortunately a few Reds, "boring
from within" have managed to inject
themselves into the population OF
Wilmington, occasionally upsetting
the equanimity of the good folk of
the town. These Reds took it into
their heads that even Wilmington
ought to hold some sort of Sacco-Van-
zetti meeting and protest against the
contemplated murder of the two Ital-
ian workers.
A Wilmington Sacco-Vanzetti De-
tense Committee was hastily formed
with Samuel Markizon, one of the
most active comrades in the state OF
Delaware, as chairman. Members OF
the Anti-Fascist Alliance co-operated
in the plans for the meeting. But
the Workmen's Circle of Wilmington
piously washed it's hands of the whole
matter. Like most of the branches
throughout the country, the Whining
ton Workmen's Circle is a hollyroller
organization that maintains its re-
spectability at any cost. The mem
beers read the Jewish Daily Forward
regularly and still occasionally recall
the days when they were just ordinary
workers, before they got some sense
went into business, madeS their plies
and settled down to enjoy peaceful
dotage. When they die they will be
, buried with ceremonies befitting re-
, volutionaries in the Workmen's Cir
, Gle graveyard. The few Left Wingers
+ who are members of the Circle are
, kept judiciously under leash.
The Wilmington Sacco-Vanzetti De
J tense Committee, comprising a mere
/ handful of militants, decided to go or
with their plans to hold Sacco-Van'
: zetti protest meeting despite thS
passive sabotage of the Worl1men's
Circle. They tried to get hall, anc
: found all halls in Wilmington CLOSED
to -Vanzetti meetings. Finally
they manged to secure a lodge room
over q store at Gil Market street fol
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