The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-12-19
The Tasks Of Revolutionary Workers in the Mobilization Of the Negro Ma

for the revolutionary movement In the United
States. The postwar crisis which brought in
its wake the most cruel sufferings for the Ne
gro masses-widespread impoverishment of Ne
gro farmers as a result Of the agrian crisis;
In the industrial centers, mass unemployment
lay-offs, and on top of this lynchings, Grace"
riots, etc-witnessed the birth of the first great
Negro movement But due primarily to the weak
ness of the revolutionary labor movement and
the immaturity Of the Negro working class at
that time, the leadership of this potentially revo-
lutionary movement was seized by petty bour-
geois intellectuals represented by Marcus Garvey
Who to considerable extent succeeded in steer
ing it into reactionary, Uptopian channels of
peaceful return to Africa"
Rise of Negro ProIetariat
THE period after the postwar crisis was marked
by the further migration of Negroes into the
industrial centers of the north and south as a
result of the deepening agrarian crisis in the
south and consequently further development
Of class differentiation among the Negro peoples
The period since the postwar crisis has witnessed
the emergence upon the political arena of
Negro proletariat as an independent class force
in the Negro liberation movement.
This working class, in the crucible of the sharp
ening class struggle, is rapidly lberating itself
from the influence of the Negro national REFORM
lists. This process has been accelerated by the
present economic crisis, the growth of the revo-
lutlonary labor movement and the Communist
Party with real BolShevik program on the
Negro question. Thus the chief Characteristic of
the present stage of the Negro liberation move
ment is the rapid maturing of this most import
ant driving force of Negro liberation an indus
trial Negro working class. In close organic unity
with the white workers and under the leader
ship of the Communist Party this industrial Ne
gro working class is the only force capable of
rallying the scattered and disorganized peasant
and semi-proletarian Negro masses and leading
them in revolutionary struggle against imperial
ism. The struggle for Negro liberation is now
taking place under conditions Of growing pro-
letarian hegemony and Communist Party lead
erShip. This process is a reflection of those
changes that have taken place on a world scale
IN the revolutionary movement in the colonial
ana senl-colonial world in consequence of the
postwar crisis in world Imperialism.
Achilles Heel of U. S. Imperialism
All of the above circumstances have brought
the Negro question sharply to the fore and great
ly increased the actual significance of the Negro
movement as a powerful factor in the intensifi
cation OF the crisis of American imperialism
The Negro question at the present time con-
stltutes the most dangerous sector in the Amer
lean 1mperialist home front, spot where revolu-
tionary explosions are the most imminent. Such
is the situation Of the Negro movement on the
eve OF a new imperialist war.
THE American ruling classes are extremely sem
sitive to this Achilles Heel" of Negro rebel
lion. This is reflected by the increasing alarrnist
utterances of its agents, such as Kester, who
warns that "this year will be year of testing
we are faced with conflict situation, the pro-
portions of which one cannot imagine without
being in it."
In this statement Hester expresses the appre-
hension of his Wall Street masters lest the Ne
gro masses, under the leadership of the Commu-
mist Party, take advantage of this situation in
order to strike real blow for liberation Pre-
clsely in this light must we regard the present
savage reign of terror against the Negro masses.
This situation throws light upon the motives of
the U. S. War Department in nquidating four
Negro regular army regiments-24th and 25th In