The daily worker., 1929-04-22
Class Fighter
By Fred Ellis

4
+ He was arrested and within two
hours he was turned over to mill
tary authorities.
After three weeks at Fort Rod
man where he was held incommuni-
cado, he was sent to Fort Adams,
Rhode Island. During this period he
was subjected to the most brutal
treatment by the military who tried
to break his spirit.
The officers were unsuccessful.
Porter remained true to the working
class in spite of the threats of the
officers to court-martial him for
membership in the Young Workers
Communist League and for his
leadership in the New Bedford tex
tile strike.
Nation Wide Protest.
A nationwide protest started by
the Young Workers Communist
League and the International Labor
Defense convinced the authorities
that it would be unwise to give Por-
ter life sentence. The officers
then tried to get Porter not to make
political defense and assured him
that if he would follow their advice
he would get away with month or
so at the most.
Knowing the consequences, Porter
told the court-martial that he de-
serted from the army because it is
used against the workers. 81 would
be ready to give my life for work
ing class army" he declared. The
infuriated officers gave him the
maximum, two and half years at
hard labor. Then he was sent to
Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, where the
Commandant, Col. VIM. Morrow, had
demonstrated his vicious hatred of
Communists when Commandant at
Alcatraz prison where Paul Crouch
and Walter Trumbull were confined.
Only the working class can free
John Porter. In fighting for his re-
lease, we will prove to the ruling
class that they cannot take out of
our ranks our best fighters and rail-
road them to prison.
More John Porters
With the sharpening of the class
struggle we will have more and more
John Porters. Many servicemen will
realize their duty to use their mill
tary knowledge on the side of the
working class instead Of being tools
of the capitalists. Larger numbers
of young workers will come into our
ranks from the factories. Passaic
produced such splendid youthful
fighters as Jack Rubinstein and Bill
Seroka. The mining struggle gave
US Tony Minerich, who is now in
one of the Ohio jails. The New Bed
ford strike brought John Porter to
the front as leader of the Revolu-
tionary youth and an inspiration in
our anti-militarist work. The wave
of textile strikes in the South will
bring to the front more militant
youthful fighters who, together with
the adult revolutionary workers will
root out the corrupt labor takers of
the A. F. of L. and will lead the
working class to final victory thru
their own organizations.
Today the struggle for the free
dom of John Porter is part of the
struggle against naturalization,
capitalist militarism and the war
danger.
Write to Porter!
Porter at present is being held
strictly incommunicado and very
few lettesr are permitted to reach
him. Letters to him, however,
demonstrate the solidarity of the
workers with Porter and have great
Significance to the authorities. Work
ers are asked to write to John
Porter (Walerysiak), U. S. D. B.,
Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas; and also
letter demanding Porter's immediate
unconditional release to: Col. VIM.
Morrow, Commandant, U. S. D. B.,
Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas.
Mass Demonstration.
A mass demonstration to demand
the release of Porter will be held in
New York Saturday, May 18th un-
der the auspices Of the Young Work
ers Communist League, Communist
Party and militant left wing unions,