The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-04-07
By GILBERT LEWIS.

IN it's campaign of reaching the Negro masses
of the South and winning them for the
revolutionary movement the Party and trade
unions under its leadership cannot raise too
sharply the issue of class against class. Every
opportunity must be utilized to impress upon
the mass of the Negro proletariat the utter
hostility of its interests to those of he upper
and middle class Negro For he petty-bour-
geois Negro of the South, as well as his
brother of the North, is definitely lined up
with the white bourgeoisie and actively sup
porting it's campaign of suppression and ex-
ploitation of the working class, to the extent
of segregation, jim-crowism and by their pas
svity, even lynching.
Recent facts will serve to bear out the above
statement When the Trade Union Unity
League opened it's headquarters in Chatham
ooga, Tenn, and began carrying out its pro-
gram of organizing both Negro and white
workers into the same unions on basis OF
absolute equality. the Negro misleaders were
among the first to come forward in a bitter
attack upon us.
The Chattanooga headquarters of the Trade
Union Unity League (T.U.UL.) was opened
on February 1, with a mass meeting of some
$50 workers, of whom 1876 were Negro prole-
tarians from the railroad shops and metal
plants in the vicinity. 1t was beyond doubt
the largest gathering of Negro and white
workers ever assembled in one hall in the
South. The white workers were composed of
skilled and semi-skilled workers from the
metal plants and furniture factories, with a
small number from the textile centers.
1t was a decidedly responsive group and
hung upon every word of Negro and white
speakers as WE'LL applauding enthusiastically
whenever any of the basic principles of the
TUUL was outlined. After the meeting the
workers crowded around the organizers eager
to join the TUUL or leave their names to
receive literature.
The following morning the southern ruling
class, frightened stiff at our appearance in
this part of the South, lost no time in mobi-
lizing it's agents in an effort to smash our
organization; the Negro misleaders were
among the first of these agents to be enlisted!
Negro Bourgeoisie Attack TUUL.
In the February issue of the Chattanooga
"Times," newspaper boasting the same own
ershp as the supremacy reactionary New York
Times, we find that one Milton S. Hampton,
Negro secretary of the Southern States Edu-
cational Committee is calling special meet
ing of the organization to clay plans to coun-
teract the activities of the Reds here" Says
this petty-bourgeois traitor: "The Negro shall
never be party in any attack upon private
property, for we have as much to lose pro-
portionally as the American white man."
A little later we get an item which should
prove very revealing to both Negro and white
workers who still think in terms of race in
stead of class. After voicing his opposition
to the TUUL and stating that the Negro
wants the sort of harmony" that "the better
class of whites" are striving for, one D. C.
Harper, referred to BY the "Times" as lead
err of his race, declares: "Of course, we are
not asking for social equality, but we do want,
more than anything else, to gel along with
the white people and this l think will help
us all. ! am asking every Negro pastor in
Chattanooga to instruct his congregation next
Sunday against these Communists"
That this tool Harper kept his word and
that there were Negro pastors in Chattanooga
quite willing and eager to comply with his
request is shown by the following item which
appeared in the "Times" for February g.
Under the caption: minister Suggests Ne
groes Shun Reds" and vicious subtitle: "Rev.
Hill issues open appeal and calls attention to
lurking danger" we find the Rev. P. B. Hill
pastor of Union Hill Baptist Church, declar-
ing: II wish to advise you against the move
ment that is launched by the Communists to
organize white and Negro labor. and wish
to advise that you do not take part in it, as
it is not for the best and will do nothing to
promote your advancement I. 1t would be
tunrighteous and ungodly for poor man to
rise up against rich man. /. :. :"
When one considers the influence of the
church in the South, the grip that religion