The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-12-07

SAlC Nl4O WIN dASN bllLu Is llOA oAASS
of birth control knowledge, and in
innate that it is Reds feeling of
guilt in this connection which causes
him to so readily break down in
solitary (hallucinations after only
two days.. They contain the road
house scene where the district at
torney flaunts his persecution OF
the strikers to his stenographer-
concubine, and drunkenly boasts
that in return he "gets his" cham
payne, squads en- casserole, and
whatever else he wants. eve, the
owners of the world" he says to
Red, in Reds phantasy, 1--WE know
how to stand together all right. We
make our will into law, and you
obey it. You show your muscles in
the slave markets-or your pretty
faces in the roadhouses-and we
buy you. We're the masters"
Then comes the stool pigeon
scene, when the "cutor" boasts of
buying up most of the executive
committee" Gust what committee
is doubtful, Sinclair never would
learn technical terminology) and
the trial scene, much modified from
the original, but mighty good,
probably better than it would have
been with Sinclair's bulls and
tigers. There are only the hayseed
Judge, the "cutor" the bailiff with
the doll jurors strapped on his back,
and "jack in the box" the assigned
counsel for the defense. True in
spirit however fantastic in detail,
to a superior court of the state of
California. Herbert T. Bergman, as
the judge, deserves special mention.
Then days of delirium, with Sim
clair in unusual bad taste even for
him, injecting one of his dietetic
fads, even here. Red Adams, he
would have you think, goes on hun
ger strike because in the dungeon
they feed him white bread! And
he wants health bread!
Then the second most effective
scene in the play, Red Adams dies,
still delirious, and with the rats
eating his eyes even before he is
dead. The most effective scene, l
should say, is the end of the first
act, with the tank full of men, sing
ing as they gasp, one by one faint
ing from heat and lack of air.
Well, there you have the play,
better than Sinclair, but still pri-
marily Sinclairish, a humanitarian
revolt against the brutality of mas
ter class rule. l hope that Upton is
still alive when the class war
reaches the next stage, and the real
white terror comes down, for which
San Pedro was only a subdued re-
hearsal.
Singing Jailbirds" is drama of
protest, it is not revolutionary. The
whole idea of Filling the jails" the
whole martyr philosophy which in
the last days of the I. w. w. as a
force in the American labor move
ment did so much to destroy it, the
whole pacifism and hysteria of nom
resistance, the idea that the l. w.
W. is new religion with it's mar
tyrs and saints, with a set of
magic formulate, with the G. E. B.
in the place of Christ's twelve apos-
ties, ideas against which the old
time, militant wobblies were fight
ing within their organization at the
very period in which Singing Jail
birds" was written, was by Sinclair
seized upon, and given clearer ex-
preston, more dramatic appeal
The New Playwrights softens this
appeal, discards some of the spe-
cious argument, but cannot get rid
of it altogether. Piscator's reported
approval to the contrary notwith-
standing, Singing Jailbirds" is bad