The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-08-02
l. General World Situation of
Negro Masses.

Throughout the world today the
Negro masses live and struggle I'M
der the most brutal and oppressive
conditions. In Africa, America and
the East Indies, the Negro workers
are exploited in the most beastly
manner in order to create huge
profits for the capitalist class.
Millions of Africans have been
robbed of their lands, their tribal
governments destroyed, themselves
herded like cattle into "reserva-
tons" and forced into the industrial
centers to work in the diamond and
gold mines. Given the heaviest
tasks ard underpaid, the natives are
exploited in the worst way. Dis
franchised, their movements con-
trolled through a vicious pass sys-
tenn, victims of the most brutal
forms Of race and class oppression,
they are murdered by the thousands
for daring to protest against these
inhuman and atrocious conditions.
out of the sweat and blood and the
mangled bodies of these defenseless
natives, British imperialism extract
tremendous profits.
In the West Indies we witness the
intense exploitation of workers and
peasants who are reduced to a pow
erty stricken mass of landless work
ers. Compelled to work long hours
for a mere pittance they are at the
mercy of the white petty officials
who rule with an iron hand on be-
half of the absentee landlords. Mis-
cry, drudgery and poverty is the lot
of these overworked and underpaid
workers.
In order to maintain securely thei"
rule and to divide the workers and
cripple their action, the white ruling
class fosters a rigid caste system
based on color. By pitting the mu-
lattoes against the blacks, by Civ
ing the mulattoes small degree of
recognition they have temporarily
succeeded in dividing the workers on
the basis Of color. The black work
ers, the largest section Of the popu-
lation, therefore, suffer the worst
exploitation. They have been pushed
down to the lowest level Of society
and are looked upon with contempt
as interiors. The colonial policy of
the capitalist nations is to keep the
native workers as huge army Of
slaves producing riches for their
masters.
. Conditions in the U. S. A.
In the United States the twelve
million Negroes are treated as lep-
ers, as social outcasts. The Negro
masses in America are subjected to
most brutal system of torture and
Intimidation. Lynching, segregation,
disfranchisement, mob violence, pc
onage are the methods used by the
white ruling class to subjugate and
suppress the Negro workers. a In the
south where the majority of Negroes
live, they are virtually slaves. A
vicious system of vagrancy laws,
debt Imprisonment, convict lease la
Dor is used by the landowners in
collision with the banks and the
courts to enslave the Negro masses.
In the north, the condition of the
Negro is little better. He is forced
to work long hours at low wages at
The dirtiest, heaviest labor. He is
barred from skilled and better paid
labor by both the bosses and the re-
dictionary American Federation of
Labor, which functions more and
more as an instrument of the bosses.
Negroes thus suffer a double ex-
ploitation, being exploited both as
Negroes and as workers.
Victims of Monstrous System of
Exploitation.
The millions of Negroes in Africa,
the West Indies and the United
States suffer under imperialist ag-
eression and domination. They are
the victims of one Of the most mon
strous systems of exploitation the