The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-06-11
in the North Carolina

unions and local organizations, and
used language substantially as fol-
lows: every man and every woman,
white and black, tan, yellow and red,
that comes into this union comes
upon an equal footing, which, as
the defendants are informed and be-
lieve, is calculated to create feeling
between the employees opposed to
such race equality"
Another charge against us is that
we were foreigners. That is, we
were not born and raised in Gas
tonia. After listing the strike lead
ers, the defendants state "None of
them are natives of North Carolina
or natives of the South, but are from
city of New York or that section of
the country The authorities com
planned that "the expense incurred
by CASTOR county for the aforesaid
deputies in preserving peace and
protecting property at this time is
from $1,000 to $1,000 per week, be-
sides the expense to the city of Gas
tonia in maintaining it's police force
for such purpose" 1t. is common
knowledge in Gastonia that the Man
vile Jenkes Corp. pays the salaries
of the deputies. The main charge
against the union is that it called
a strike in the Manville Jenkes plant
and the brief is particularly SANDER
Gus against Fred Beal, southern
head of the N. T. w. U. The brief
declares "the employees were called
upon and advised to leave their en-
ployment and enter upon such strike
and those employees who had left
their employment and entered upon
such strike were called upon and
advised to prevent in every way
possible all other employees of said
company and of said plant from re-
turning to their work in the said
plant of the Manville Jenkes Corp"
Thugs Smash Headquarters.
The smashing of the union head
quarters by masked mob of 200
men using tools from the Manville
Jenkes mill, mob which was COM
posed partly of the special deputies,
was the definite turning point in
the use of mob violence in the strike.
The headquarters were smashed
while the National Guard looked on.
Beryl Stewart, one of the deputies,
was drunk as usual, shortly after
the smashing of the headquarters
and declared to number of witness
ses whose affidavits I possess, that
he and other deputies had taken part
in the smashing Of the union head
quarters, and that the entire job
had taken not more than fifteen
minutes. This and similar evidence
was turned over to the special grand
jury, called together by Max Gard
ner. But, as could be expected, this
jury was also controlled by the mill
owners and declared they had no
evidence as to who tore down the
headquarters.
Learn of Class Struggle.
Newspapers of the South charged
that the N. T. w. U. is against the
government. The strikers have
learned that all government agencies,
from the federal government to the
city government of Gastonia, are OPP
posed to them and their struggle for
better conditions. This knowledge
has been beaten and bayonetted into
them in the course of the weeks of
struggle. Thousands have Joined the
N. T. w. U. The strikers have be-
come members Of the International
Labor Defense. They have learned
that in Soviet Russia there is
workers government, where there is
no cause for strikes, and where the
trade unions and the government CO.
operate to benefit the working class.
They are no longer afraid of the
words Communist" and "Bolshevik".
This is the result Of the use of terror
in the strike by the mill owners and
their government agencies, and the
result of the many lessons learned
in the Gastonia strike.
(Tke nert article will deal Nth
/. tie Nero QwsstiQu in the Soutk.)