davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-04-29
YOUNG MINERS MEET

both young and old, in the state OF
Illinois. The purpose of this con-
ference is to lay plans for the draw
ing in of thousands of young min-
ers into common struggle with their
older brothers, against the worsen-
ing slave-like conditions that exist
in the mines, against unemploy-
ment, against the speed-up, for the
six-hour day, five-day week, for
the smashing of the Lewis and
Howat Company tools and for the
building of the rank and file fight
ing miners union, the National
Miners Union.
"Yourg miners, prepare for the
great National Convention of the
National Miners Union to be held
in Pittsburgh in June. Forward to
mass delegation of young miners
from Illinois.
every local is urged to elect at
least 2 youth delegates to the Zeig-
Ter Youth Conference to be held on
May 4th. Young miners in the U.
M. w. of A., form committees OF
action and elect delegates for this
conference"
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-04-29
By CYRIL BRIGGS.

IMPERIALISM attempts to justify its vicious
and murderous oppression of the Negro mass
es by advancing the myth of white superiority.
Stripped of it's pseudo-scentific trappings Cob
ligingly supplied by prostitute bourgeois
science) the theory of white superiority boils
down to the ridiculous conclusion that since the
Negro has been enslaved by the white master
class, and is today even after his so-called
emancipation still ruthlessly exploited and bru-
tally oppressed by the white imperiaists, the
Negro is per Sc inferior. "White men would
never submit to such treatment as the Negroes
accept" white men would long ago have re-
volted," "the Negro is innately servile" ETC.,
are some Of the specious arguments advanced
by the imperalist opponents of white superiority
to "prove" their point. They seek to prove that
the Negro has never played "a leading role upon
the stage of history" that his "immemoriaP'
character and role have been backward and
subordinate, respectively
In support of the imperialist position, the ut
most care is taken by bourgeois historians to
consistently present the picture of the Negro
as a slave satisfied with his slave status and
incapable of revolt A conspiracy of silence is
maintained on the role played by the Negro
in ancient society, his dominance in Egypt, the
Songhaii, Ethiopia, etc.
The conspiracy of silence extends to the revo-
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-04-29

nisms, can only be achieved by a
combination of three principal meth
DDS Supplemented by tariffs, etc.,
all of which are now being vigor-
ously carried out with the aid Of
the Hoover regime.
The first method is an offensive
directly against the workers with
the objective of lowering greatly
production costs, thus increasing
Americas competitive power in the
market at the expense of the work
ers and of destroying the workers
resistance to the imperialist often
sive rs e whole.
The second method is an offensive
against the colonial peoples with the
objective Of securing political DOM
ipation in the colonial and semi
colonial coun tries, guaranteed
sources Of cheaper raw materials,
fields for the investment of surplus
capital with super-profit, and mar
kets for American goods to the ex-
clusion of the goods of other coun-
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-04-29

sands of workers have demanded
"Work or Wages" Hundreds of
will renew this demand on
May Day. Masses of American
workers demand 1.-The right to work. u
This alone shows that the working
class is throwing off the influence
of imperialism's agents, preparing
for mass struggles having a clear
political character.
"The right to work, in the bour-
geois sense, is a contradiction, a
miserable pious wish, but behind
the right to work looms up the
power over capital, behind the
power over capital the eXpropria-
ton of the means of production,
their subsection to the organized
working class, therefore, the abo-
lition of wage labor, of capital
and of their mutual relations. Be-
hind the fright to work" stood the
June Instruction" MARX, The
Glass Struggles in France.
Behind the slogan of "Work or
Wages" is the demand of the pro-
letariat for the fright to work"
Behind the fright to work" is the
sharpening class struggle,
the revolutionary trade unions of
the Trade Union Unity League rally
ing the workers in the decisive in
dustries, challenging, exposing and
defeating in action the agencies Of
in the ranks of the
workers-the fascist A. F. of L., the
social-fascists of its Music wing
and the Socialist Party.
For the first time our Party is
able to speak to and rally hundreds
of thousands of workers for struggle
against naturalization and mass I'M
employment, to show the connection
between the preparations for attack
on the Soviet Union, for war be-
tween the imperialist powers, and
the drive against the economic, So
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-04-29
By Bill Dunno

"On the one hand, the enormous
ceaseless stream of men, year
after year, driven upon America,
leaves behind a stationary sedi-
ment in the east of the United
States, the wave of immigration
from Europe throwing men on the
labor market there more rapidly
than the wave of emigration west
wards can wash them away. On
the other hand, the American Civil
War brought in it's train a colos-
sal national debt, and, with it,
pressure of taxes, the rise of the
vilest financial aristocracy, the
squandering of huge part of the
public land on speculative COM
panies for the exploitation of rail-
ways, mines, etc., in brief, the
most rapid Capitalization of cap
ital." MARX, Capital, Vol. 1, Page
Skier Edition, 1919.
=
May Day became an international
day for the working class
as a result Of the struggle for the
8-hour day in the United States,
which eliminated in the general
strike on May l, 1886, centering in
Chicago, the arrest of eight leaders
of the workers and the legal muir
der of five of them following the
bomb explosion in Haymarket
Square while huge mass meeting
was being held. The explosion is
commonly believed to have been the
work of an agent-provocateur and
was used as an excuse by the cap
italist class and its agents to re-
venge themselves upon the workers
and check the growing mass move
ment.
The struggle for the S-hour day
was the answer of the working class
on national scale to the develop
ments described by Marx in the
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-04-29

tries.
The third method is that Of impe-
rialist war.
In the forefront is the danger of
imperialist war against the Soviet
Union. The great need of the i'm
perialists for markets, on one hand,
and the great progress being made
in the carrying through of the s.
year plan, in the industrialization of
the country and in the collectiviza-
ton of agriculture, inspiring the
toiling masses of both the imperial
list and colonial countries to sharper
and more determined struggles,
makes the Soviet Union a special
point of capitalist hatred.
Our Party, because of its militant
fighting leadership in the growing
struggles of the workers, has won
great mass influence. 1t is on the
road to becoming a mass Party.
In carrying through the prepare
tons for May First (and after) the
greatest attention must be given to
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-04-29

ifesto which he wrote on May l,
1890, Engels, reviewing the history
of the international proletarian or
CARNATIONS, calls attention to the
significance of the first Interna-
tional May Day:
GAS l write these lines, the pro-
letariat Of Europe and America is
holding review of its forces; it is
modified for the first time as One
army, under One flag, and fight
ing for one immediate aim: an g.
hour working day, established by
legal enactment. :. The spec
tacle we are now witnessing will
make the capitalists and land own
ers of all lands realize that today
the proletarians of all lands are,
in very truth, united. If only
Marx were with me to see it with
his own eyesv ("The Communist
Manifesto of Marx and Engels,"
edited by D. Ryazanoff, "Marxist
Library" No. 3, p. 26S.)
Lenin on May Day
The Russian revolutionary move
ment utilized May Day to great adj
antage. In the preface to pam
2hlet, "May Days in Kharkov," pub
iished in November, 1900, Lenin
wrote:
"In another six months the Rus
sian workers will celebrate the
first of May of the first year of
the new century, and it is time
we set to work to make the ar
engagements for organizing the
celebrations in as large a number
of centers as possible, and on as
inspiring a scale as possible, not
only by the number that will take
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-04-29
From March 9Th, to May Is
the Growing Clash of
Class Forces
Workers Must Consolidate Their Forces
May Day

camp here and there, but in the
frantic efforts to stem the tide
the mass movement, the exploite
often decry the Party for "usin,
the mass discomfort "for it's ov
purposes" thus admitting that t.
Party is linked up with the broc
American masses. In fact, no lii
of demarcation is drawn by the ca.
italists and their spokesman betwec
the unemployed movement and IT,
Party. :.
d. Capitalism finds no way e
easing the unemployment or nit :
eating the crisis. The more helple. ,
it is in the presence of an economic
debacle, the more viciously it grasp
at the weapon of suppression. .
e) The labor" agents of capita
ism are no less helpless and cor
fused than their masters. One thin:
they know clearly: the revolution
airy mass movement must not
allowed to grow. But as to til
methods, they can suggest nothin:
beyond terror on the one hand, shan
relief on the other. Thus Ryan ad
vocates "a little clubbing now" so a;
to avoid the calling out of the mil
tia and the shooting down of "a To-
of people" later. .
f) Outside of terror on the one
hand and deception through the
social-traitors on the other, capital
ism can offer nothing by way of
improvement. g..
History is being made rapidly in
this epoch. We have all elements
for a new chapter of the history of
the American revolution on May
First. 1t depends upon all of us
to make that day what it can be
in these stormy times.
The wheels of history are turning
fast. Glass forces are crystallizing.
Lines are drawn sharply. The con-
tours of the class construction of
society are becoming visible to the
eye of the plain workers. A pro-
test against capitalism is maturing
among the masses. A movement
against exploitation is gaining mo-
mentum. May First must give new
impetus to all these processes. May
First must increase the scope Of the
mass movement and mark an adj
vance compared with March Sixth.
May First must help the consolida-
ton of the Communist forces and
their further welding together with
the basic proletarian masses. May
First must bring political clearness
into the mass movement, transform
ing it into a great political demon
stration against capitalist class die
tatorship and for proletarian die
tatorship which tends to abolish
classes. May First must be a pow
erful mass demonstration against
the war danger and for the Soviet
Union. Above all, May First must
be a further consolidation of the
forces of the American working
class in its march against capital
| ism.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-04-29
Young Workers Mobilize for
Mass Political Strike
on May Day
Working Youth in u. S. Is in Forefront of
Class Battles

the speed-up. In some electrical
plants such as the Victor, on hot
days the young workers are given
soothing drugs so that they should
not collapse over the belt. We must
fight for two rest periods of Is
minutes each, besides full hour for
lunch each day.
The wages of young workers aver
age only $12 to $13 week. Many
work for less. The young Negro
workers are exploited even worse
than the white young workers, get
ting less pay and having the worst
Jobs. The workers must fight for
minimum wage of 500 week for
the young workers and no discrim-
ination on jobs.
The bosses are training the young
workers for war. They don't hest
tate to send us to death in the wars
for their profits. They are prepar-
ing war against the Soviet Union,
the workers fatherland. In the
armed forces the treatment of work
ers in uniform is rotten. Desertions
have increased threefold in the past
year. The young workers must fight
against such conditions. The young
workers must learn how to use their
arms and must use them against the
bosses in the next war. The next
bosses war must be turned into
war against the bosses. All young
workers must rally to the defense
Of the Soviet Union!
This May First the bosses thought
they would prevent the workers
from demonstrating. They were
afraid of the rising tide of militancy.
They remembered March 9th, when
100000 demonstrated on the streets
of New York. They gave Union
Square to the fascists. They were
going to forbid the workers demon
stration. But they failed. The
workers won the right to demon
strate and will have a great pa
rade.
The task now is to mobilize the
largest number of young workers in
shops and young workers organiza-
tions to participate in the demon
stration. IN EACH SHOP YOUNG
WORKERS MUST STRIKE AND
IN ORGANIZED MANNER COME
TO DEMONSTRATION.
All youth organizations will march
together, headed by the Young Com
munist League. All young workers,
out to Rutgers Square, march to
Union Square! Strike for your de-
mands! Organize for the struggle
against bosses!
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-04-29
MAY FIRST 1880

cracy, the American Legion, etc. The
workers struggles have been brutal
ly and bloodily crushed. Several
workers have already been killed;
hundreds have been viciously dubbed
and beaten. But still the workers
counter offensive continues to gain
strength and momentum.
The struggles take on political
character. Starting with demands
for Work or Wages" for social in
surance, or for the 7-hour day, s.
day week, the workers find them
selves in struggle against the bosses
state. They find the A. F. of L.
and Socialist Party fighting on the
side of the bosses in alliance with
the police. The workers more and
more are becoming disillusioned;
more clearly they understand the
role of the State. They are break
ing away from and fighting against
the so-called ~abor' organizations
which serve only the bosses. They
are accepting the leadership of and
joining the Communist Party and
the revolutionary Trade Union
Unity League.
The spreading of the economic
crisis throughout the capitalist
world augments the permanent army
Of unemployed in all countries by
millions which, together with ration
alization and wage cuts still further
impoverishes the toiling masses and
also large sections of the agrarian
population and even sections of the
netty-b ourgeoisie, thereby still fur
ther narrowing the market possibil-
tiles and sharpening the struggle be-
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-04-29

cial and political status of our class,
to secure wide mass response from
and establish a broad base among
thousands Of workers.
In 1886, in the infancy of the
trade union movement, the clear line
of the class struggle had not been
carved deep enough by capitalist
development to make it impossible
for its agents among the masses to
obscure it.
Today its crimson burrows are to
be seen on the bodies of millions
of workers.
Work or Wages, the fright to
work." the struggle against imperi-
alist war, defense of the Soviet
Union, are linked inseparably to-
day and are synthesized in the rev.
dictionary slogan of "class against
class"
The organization of our class, the
building Of the revolutionary unions
under the leadership of our Party
as the mass base of proletarian
power is the main task facing US
on May Day, 1880.
Communists fight on behalf
of the immediate aims and inter
ests Of the working class, but in
their present movement they are
also defending the future Of the
movement" Communist Mani
festo).
The correct connection of the i'm
mediate aims and struggles of our
class with the revolutionary strug-
gle for proletarlan power, with our
revolutionary detectives, is the key
to the winning of the majority Of
the decisive sections of class for
Communism-the task that cannot
be separated from the building of
the class struggle unions.
Excerpts from an article in the
May issue of The Communist.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-04-29

above quotation and marked the
definite emergence of the American
proletariat as a class.
The determined attempt by the
trade unions to conduct the fight for
the 8-hour day on a national scale
is to be seen from the fact that it
was authorized and the date set two
years in advance-in 1884, at the
Fourth Convention of the Trade
Unions and Labor Organizations.
The class political character Of the
conflict was evident to the capital
lists from the very beginning, as
shown by the literature of the perl
cd, and their bloody suppression Of
the movement. AS in all such
struggles he implications were far
more significant than the mere de-
mand for the 8-hour day would in
dictate.
The American trade union move
ment began in this period as a def
mite class instrument.
The revolutionary logic of the
class struggle has made the Com
munist Party of the United States
the bearer of all the militant tradi-
tons of the early labor movement
The blood of the Haymarket mar
tyrs mingles with that of Ella May
and Steve Katovis. Our Party
alone carries forward the brave
traditions of the general strike for
the S-hour day, raises as the Amer
lean Section of the Communist In
ternational, the slogan of the poll
teal strike on May Day, 1880, for
the unconditional release Of all class
war prisoners, against unemploy-
ment, for Work or Wages, for social
insurance, for the 7-hour day and
the 5-day week.
100000 workers have no jobs.
Millions more work part time for
miserable wages. Under the leader
ship of our Party hundreds of thou
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-04-29
By c. A. HATHAWAY

ORIGINATING in the United States
v during the workers struggle for
the 8-hour day, May First has be-
come an international day of strikes
and demonstrations against militar-
ism and war, for the shorter work
day, for the workers demands gen.
orally, and for revolutionary work
ing class unity in the struggle
against capitalism.
A far-reaching and deep-going
change, however, has taken place
among the workers in the United
States which gives the May First
demonstrations this year tremen-
dous significance. We are entering
into a period of struggle now which
will equal and probably greatly sur
pass any traditional struggles of the
American workers.
The much heralded permanent
prosperity" of American capitalism
has collapsed. The country is in the
throes of an economic crisis. Over
seven million are jobless. Actual
starvation is everywhere rampant.
Naturalization in the shops and fac
tories is being intensified at brutal
tempo. Wages are being cut. Hours
are being heightened. The bosses
are attempting to force the workers
to bear the burden of the crisis.
IA The workers have already replied
to this offensive Of the bosses with
numerous strikes and demonstra-
tions, only to 0e@pet by a strike
breaking, fascist united front of the
bosses, the government, the A. F.
L. and Socialist Party bureau
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-04-29
By X, SHOHAN

May First is here again. Again
the bosses throughout the world
shake with fear of the great dem
onstration of workers. Everywhere
the workers stir in the shops, in
mills, in mines. Every section Of
the working class develops intensive
activity to show its strength on
May First to prove its strength to
the workers and bosses. Years of
militant struggle on May Day give
brilliant traditions to workers. The
working youth has much inspiration
to draw from for it's struggles. When
in the great Railroad Strike in 1887
the workers defended their right to
strike, the young workers in the
army divisions in Baltimore and :
whole company of the National
Guard in Reading went over to the
side of the workers and defended
them against attack. This is ira
dition that we, young workers, must
learn.
In the struggle for the eight-hour
day, May First was established.
From the United States it spread
throughout the world. But still we
work eight, nine and ten hours a
day. The struggle for shorter hours
is still ahead of US. The militant
struggles of workers in the past
were betrayed to the bosses by the
American Federation of Labor. Now
the Communist Party and the Trade
Union Unity League fight against
bosses for improvement of condi-
tions and lead to organization
against the whole bosses system.
But no longer do we fight for the
eight-hour day. Today, because of
the terrific speed-up, the workers
strength is Slapped long before he
becomes really aged. The young
workers speed in factories and are
driven to premature old age and dis
ease. Accidents increase tenfold and
more. In the electric industry, pro-
ducing household goods and radios,
the rate of accidents has risen 1000
per cent in five years. In the
sweater industry 100 per cent. This
is the burden placed upon the work.
ing youth by the bosses. Today the
young workers under the leadership
of the YOU NC COMMUNIST
LEAGUE must fight for the six
hour day for those under Is and
seven-hour day for those over IS and
a five-day week. We must fight for
one months vacation with pay and
two Weeks for those over 10. Young
workers can not stand the strain of
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-04-29
By Moissaye J. OIgin


The wheels of history are turning
fast. Clashes of forces are grow
ing. Class division and class battle
is the order Of the day. endencies
hitherto discernible only with the
x-rays of Marxism, are becoming
visible to the naked mass eye. The
United States is filled with revolu-
tionary potentialities no less than
any European country of the pres
ent. This is being written by the
masses Of the American workers
over the length and breadth of
Hoover's land of permanent pros
perty" and Lovestone's land Of "ex-
ceptional capitalist strength"
On March 6 the workers Of Amer
lea, under the leadership of the
Communist Party, boldly stepped to
the forefront of the political stage
planting themselves firmly there as
the most harassing problem and
compelling everybody to take sides.
While the present moment cannot
yet be fully reviewed in all its
phases, it is necessary to have in
mind its chief characteristics as
pointing the way and contributing
to the May Day mass political ac-
ton.
a. The movement Of the masses
is spreading. Moreover, it IS as
suming more organized character.
1t gains momentum, as it de-
velops.
By The American worker, the ma
tive, appears more and more on the
scene. This process started with
the South where the workers are of
native stock. In the present strug-
giles, the native loses his feeling of
superiority over the foreign born,
the latter loses his hostility towards
the ordinarily better paid native.
Unemployment is the great leveller.
All are equal on the bread line.
Origin race and color dw;ndie to ir-
significance in face of police black
Jacks.
The Negro worker is a native.
The movement among the Negro
workers both in the South and in
tie North is no more sporadic and
not confined to few select.
g Stimulated by the rising tide
OF mass revolutionary movement
and in turn stimulating it, the Com
munist Party of the United States
is becoming more consolidated or
ganizationally and is passing to new
forms of mass struggle. 1t IS be-
tweer March ard May that the
Patty made the final count Of its
memrtI ship drive to find that the
rumbec of recruits was GlG7.
The Communist Party has be-
come a recognized power, major
American political factor. The WORD
moscow" is still used in the enemy
Excerpts from an article in the
MAY issue of The Communist.