The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-01-11
WORKERS.
MILITANCY
VS.. BOSSES
LID Provides Defense
to Class Prisoners
By JOSEPH NORTH

The year 1929 will be written in
red letters in the history of the
Observation-Disclosures dyed in blood.
1t was the year of economic crisis
and the great stock market crash.
It brought on the period of great
hunger in it mass unemployment.
1t was a year of many murders in
The class struggle. 1t found capital
beating the economic system into
shape for the coming imperialist
war. But first of all it found the
workers massing for attack-the
tide of rebellion rose swiftly.
The red letter days of 1929 are
literally written in blood. The
twelve-month saw the slaughter Of
six workers in Marion; the murder
of Ella May with bullet in her
heart in Gastonia; it saw two strik-
ing carmen shot dead in New Or
leans; it spelled death to a striking
laborer in New York, and oil sold
during the oil-drivers' strike in New
York was streaked with blood.
The year 1929 would have sent
seventeen workers to the electric
chair-at the bidding of the capital
list class-had it not been for one
powerful fact.
Mass protest.!
Sixteen Gastonia strikers lived
under the shadow of the electric
chair for six months. Salvatore
AccOrsi, a coal miner of Pennsyl-
vania, was slated for electrocution
by Andrew Mellon, archbishop of
capital in Pennsylvania and high
priest of the American treasury.
But the workers of America anc
the world shouted "No"-and the
electric chair did not go into action
although seven at Gastonia are now
facing the living death of long
prison terms.
The ]. L. D. Did 1t.
That one strong directing force
that welded together the protest Of
the worlds workers is the Interna.
tional Labor Defense. The l. L. D
as it is known from coast to coast
faced the machine guns and the
Black Hundreds in Gastonia, ir
Southern Illinois, in New Orleans.
The l. L. D. handled the cases Of
5,905 workers in 1929 and saved
seventeen men and women from the
electric chair.
4,316 Arrested in Strikes.
The 5,905 workers who went tt
prison fell into the following cate
gories: 435 for distributing litera
ture; 627 in demonstrations sc il
deportation charges; 4,316 in strikes
2l0 for protesting the Gastonia sen.
fences; 81 for sedition and crimina
syndicalism; 100 on miscellaneous
charges. libel, disrespect for the
flag, etc.
Just a Few.
Remember, these are but few o.
the major cases of the l. L
D. There are many others that
in this brief article mist be
overlooked. Remember that 1885,
looms as year of gigantic class
battles. Remember further that the
police and the government agencies
are Tightening the screws-polishine
up the sedition laws-getting Out
their frame-up plans-and the In.
ternational Labor Defense must
cope with this coming year Of
struggle.
The organization is directly or
the way to becoming a mass organi.
zation-of a strength comparable
with the powerful Red Aid in Euro
pean lands. The organization is now
driving full speed ahead for a mem
bership of $4,000 workers. 1t has
laid down a minimum quota of Neg
roes to be included in that number
The drive will continue until March
18-the day of the Paris Commune
Today the I. L. D. counts as mem.
bers fishermen and cannery workers
in Alaska and stevedores in New
Orleans. Farmers from among the
fields of corn in the Northwest be-
long to the organization as we'll as
Negroes in the South.
Free the Gastonia Strikers.
One of its major duties at the
opening of this year is to gain the
freedom of the Gastonia strikers
Four of them, Fred Beal, JOSEPH
Harrison, Clarence Miller anc
George Carter, have been sentenced
to 20 years; two others, Bill Nc
Ginnis and Joe Mclaughlin, to II
years and K. Y. (Red) Hendrix, t.
seven years.
Their appeal comes up January Il
"a few days hence.
You can save them from bein,
buried alive in prison,
The year 1880 has begun with
major task. A united working elias
can accomplish