The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-11-20
BY TOM JOHNSON.

DECENT events in District Seventeen have
- clearly shown the necessity of clarifying once
and for all the fundamental policies Of the L
W. O. and in particular the stand of the South
ern Branches of this organization on the Negro
question.
The International Worknans Order is not
based on the Jewish workers in the South. Al
most without exception its members are grocery
store owners or petty business men of one type
or another. Many of these people are former
members of the Party who have dropped out in
the natural process of elimination of dead wood
as the struggle grew sharper. There is no Jew
ish proletariat in the South and in consequence
the activities of the TWO are entirely based
on the small shop keepers.
For years these left wing petty bourgeois ee-
ments have quietly vegetated in their isolated
branches in the South. Then in the early part
of this year the Party for the first time under
took serious work in this section of the South.
The Two. Branches welcomed the Party organ
zers with open arms. They took a new lease
on life and dug deep in their pockets to pro-
vide the Party with funds. In this district two
branches of the TWO. raised since March close
to 1000 for the defense OF class war prisoners
AS the work of the Party progressed and new
sections of the workers were brought under our
influence, by far the majority of them Negroes,
the Negro question inevitably arose in a rather
sharp manner AS early last March this
question came up in the Chattanooga Branch
of the Two. in connection with the presence
of Negro organizer of the T.U.UL. in the I.
w. o. hall At once howl of protest came
from a section of the membershp-"their bust
ness would be ruined-the hall would be raided
by police-they would be bounded out of town
II it were found that Negroes frequented their
halr-such we're the arguments used. The Par
ty fraction in the TWO took firm and correct
stand on this issue and after bitter fight
motion was passed stating that the TWO. well
coined Negroes in their hall at all times. This
would seem to have disposed Of the issue but
events we're soon to prove that this was paper
face-saving decision only
In Atlanta the same question came to the fore
IN all its sharpness only when the TWO Branch
arranged affair for the International Labor
Defense to raise funds for the Atlanta Six, and
announced that no Negroes would be allowed to
attend the affair in their hall. The repre-
sentative Of the Jewish Section of the LID
promptly refused to speak at this kind of Jim
Crow meeting and the chauvinists were forced
to beat temporary retreat. But not for long
They then proposed that no meeting be held
but only a quiet little social" be arranged
and the question of Negroes being present be
dropped by common consent. The LID repre-
sentatives and the two Party members at that
time members of the Two. in Atlanta weakly
agreed to this compromise" and the social"
was held-with no Negroes present. The Party
fraction was sharply criticized for this unpar-
donable lack Of principle and instructed to bring
this issue to head and settle it once and for
all. At the present writing this has not been