The daily worker., 1931-03-14

swing. AutomaticS are drawn. Blows
are struck-on both sides. Bedlam!
Pandemoniu1n!
Flashlights boom. Smoke curls to-
ward the arched ceiling A woman
skrieks. 1t is impossible to see what
is happening.
There is an angry roar as workers
leap into the fight, defending women
who are being clubbed and struck by
the state police.
Wax-faced legislators run up the
aisle, out of the chamber in the
safety of their offices. Some gather
into small knots on the floor and
look up into the galleries where the
fighting is taking place.
Give it to EN-" they shout to the
police.
Above the turmoil and shouting
singing is heard.
The Internationale! 1t is weak at
first and gains in volume. =.
Arise ye prisoners Of starva-
ton. :"
Boom. Boom. Boom. Flashlights.
Smoke. Shouts. Shrieks of the as
Semblymen to the state troopers:
Give it to 'em. Sock EN-"
&c. arise ye wretched of the
earth :"
A trooper leaps on the back of a
frail girl, choking her as she goes
down. A husky world war veteran,
one of the marchers, grabs the
trooper by the scruf of his coat,
twirls him around so that they are
face to face. Crash! the troopers
face seems to collapse under the
blow. A worker kicks an automatic
out of the hands of an officer. An
other blow. Another state trooper
falls between the benches. He is
motionless. A woman becomes hy-
sterical, but above her shrieks the
singing is still heard =.
"For justice thunders condemna-
ton. :. :"
Reserves are sent for. Some state
troopers are carried out. A little
New York needle worker leaps at the
face of, Captain Keeley. She sends
her nails deep into his face. She
pulls down. 1t is horrible to see
Keeley's face. Blood spurts, staining
the white walls of the ante-rooms as
he flees for medical help.
More reserves arrive. The march
ers fight tenaciously for every step
before retreating.
There is a hard, military quality
about the resistance of the workers.
This is explained by the many ex-
servicemen in the ranks. They
know They rememberl But it is
different now. They are fighting for
something different now. They re-
treat step by step. Workers are hurt
but they give blow for blow and
sometimes more. More troopers are
taken away, cut, Dleeolng ana Corn.
Camera Shots.
A trooper and siX-foot ex-service-
man. Face to face. The trooper
waves his automatic. zone move out
of you and I'll let you have it." The
burly worker replies: That's all
right, I've got seventeen pieces Of
shrapnel in me from the last war
can stand another" The trooper
served in the war also, apparently.
He is romantic. He says: "'Aw, gee
buddy" Buddy, me eye,"' says
the hunger marcher. His fist shoots
out, lands on the troopers jaw. The
trooper caves in. lies still.
A green-faced assemblyman sticks
his face out of his office and asks in
a trembling voice: "Is it all over?"
Three state troopers being carried
to the Capitol medical offices.
The measured, slow. organized re-
treat of the workers in the face of
guns, clubs, fists.
The SLOW retreat down the steps
of the Capitol before the serried
ranks of the troopers. Like that
Cossack shot in the movie "Potem-
kim"
1t is all over.
For twenty minutes the hunger
nlarchers held the assembly.
Hundreds OF heroic actions took
place. What pity that they can
not be decorated with an American
Order of the Red Banner.
1t was a fine, heroic battle; the
forerunner, in a small measure, of
the inevitable larger struggle which
is now in the making.