The daily worker., 1928-06-25
MUST CAMPA
TO END SOLDIER
STRIKEBREAKINC
Real Struggle With War
Department Now On

sJohn Porter must be released from
his military prison by the power of
the working class" says Paul Crouch
who was himself soldier and was
sentenced to 40 years Imprisonment
for organizing a Communist League
in the army, but was later released,
after more than two years, as a result
Of nationwide protests.
"The arrest of John Porter, a mill
tant leader of the New Bedford tex
Tile strike and an organizer of the
Young Workers (Communist) League.
is not surprising to anyone who knows
the army and the purposes for which
soldiers are trained" says Crouch.
The fact that Porter is a former SOL
der, who realized the purposes for
which he was being used and refused
TO be a tool Of the master class any
longer, viii make the military autho-
rites especially vindictive. and nc
mercy or justice can be expected from
a court-martial.
Joined League.
Porter did not follow a correct
policy in deserting from the army
but at that time he was not member
Of the Communist youth league, and
has just realized the role of the army
against the working class. At that
time he did not yet understand the
Importance of class conscious soldiers
remaining in the army to win their
comrades over to the cause of the Re-
volutionary workers. What he did do
was to go on strike against being a
strike-breaker-and every worker who
is true to his own class must get be-
hind the nationwide drive which alone
can free John Porter from a long
sentence to the military prison at Gov
ernor's Island.
The sentences of 40 and 26 years
which Walter Trumbull sand l re-
ceived in Hawaii in 1925 was in
tnded as a warning to soldiers that
they must not dare think for them
selves and must be ready to do and
die and not 10 reason Why We were
saved from life Imprisonment by the
organized power Of the working class,
and the same method can free Porter.
Why Jailed?
The Imprisonment of John Porter
ikan army jail is not because he is a
deserter. 1t is because he is a mill
tant textile strike leader who could
not be forced from the struggle by
five arrests and five months jail
sentence. As last resort, his finger
prints were compared with those who
have deserted from the army in the
hope of finding another method of dis
posing Of this young fighter for the
workers cause.
"If Porter is permitted to be sent
t othe military prison at Governors
Island, where indescribable horrible
conditions exist, it will mean that the
army will increase its efforts against
the workers and that it's intervention
in strikes will become more frequent.
Test Case.
AS the power of the cIass-consci-
Gus workers becomes a greater dan
ger to capitalism, the armed forces
the last defense of the exploiters-ar
called upon the exploiters. We must
begin now to conduct intensive pro-
paganda to win over the soldiers who
come from the ranks Of the workers
to their own class so that they will
refuse to be strike breakers.
''The Porter case is a test case. 1t
must be answered by the entire
power of the working CLASSIFY
huge drive that will bring the War
Department to its knees and release
this militant young worker-who
symbolizes the unity Of soldier work
ers with civilian workers in their