The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-08-19
BY JOHN WILLIAMSON

course of mass struggles against eVlcuonS ana
the subsequent activity of the Party and IN
employed Council, which eliminated In 10000
workers. Negro and white together coming out
on the streets of Chicago at the funeral parade
and turning this into a mighty demonstration
against unemployment, starvation, evictions, and
police terror, and for unemployment insurance,
unity of white and Negro workers, and support
of the Communist Party, is indicative OF this
coming third winter of unemployment and star
yation For several weeks prior to this the bour-
geoise through press (ooth editorially and car
toons), radio ETC., have been talking about the
problems of this coming winter, since unem-
ployment is recognized even by them, as not di-
ninishing The fighting spirit and determine
ton and the unity between white and Negro, IN
this struggle and subsequent mass outpouring on
the streets has now raised sharply more than
ever the spectre of unemployment before the
bourgeoisie.
Background of August Srd
The action of workers on August was not
purely spontaneous, and separated from the
Party. The activities led by the Communist
Party in recent months, such as the February 10
demonstration on the South Side; the delega-
ton to the City Council of white and Negro
workers on January II; the Hunger march to
Springfield; the Scottsboro campaign with sew
en- new LSNR branches on the South Side, all
laid the foundations for August g. From July 10
the time OF the District Plenum, additional
attention has been given to work among the I'M
employed by the Section Committee and only
two days before our comrades were murdered,
5000 Negro workers, many of them marching all
the way from the South Side, participated in the
Anti-War Demonstrations of August l.
For fully three weeks prior to August 8 I'm
employed Council Branch No. was becoming
1i1oI dol lJy
hundreds to thousands to prevent, not one, but
three, four and five evictons of workers
Through these daily activities, primarily against
evictons, it fast became known throughout the
West Side. On the day of August g. Unemployed
Council Branch No had already modified
workers to prevent three evictions that day and
the case of 72-year-old Mrs Diana Gross, was
the fourth eviction case. Five hundred workers
who participated, had already returned all the
furniture when the relays Of police fired into
the crowd killing our comrades as they retreated
before the firing guns. The workers showed
mlitancy and fought hand to hand with the
police.
Aroused by these activities of three successive
weeks, the real estate sharks with representa-
tives of the NAACP, Chicago Defender, and the
state attorneys office had held conferences the
previous week, and called upon the police to take
drastic action to stop the activities of the IN
employed Council. Thus the murder OF our
comrades was planned, and responsibility for
the murders lies on the City Hall and the boss
class
How Bourgeoisie Met Situation.
On the night of the murders, Acting Mayor
Sexton already had conferences with the petty
bourgeoisie among the Negroes-the real estate
sharks lawyers, ministers and also the Negro
politicians
Beginning the next day and continuing
this is written, the bourgeoisie follow double
policy of:
% Giving promises to the unemployed-stating
there will be no evictions for a few weeks
promising to raise thirteen million dollars
through taxing the employed-empty talk Of
luxury tax "a la notwithstanding fake
workers Unemployment Committees" with So
cialst Party, Amalgamated Clothing Workers
of America, ETC., epresented-conference with
this fake committee and other liberals; all
aimed at trying to fool the unemployed and
separate them from the leadership of the Com
munist Party and the Unemployed Council.
CO Calling for drastic measures and terror
against the Communist Party, talking about the
situation being the same as a national emer-
gency-stating: TITS open season to shoot vul-
lures (Communists) any time" etc,-trying to
terrorize the workers with talk of jail, deporta-
ton, shooting, etc.
Within half an hour after the murders of our
comrades, the district leadership was on the job
That same night leaflets were written so that
$4,000 leaflets in the name of the Party appeared
among the workers the next day. This was fol-
lowed up by securing witnesses to the massacre
by police, and interviewing relatives of dead
comrades. Speakers addressed the thousands
who gathered nightly at Washington Park, and
dozens of street meetings were held throughout
the city. An additional $4,000 funeral leaflets
distributed as well as 10000 each by the
LSNR and Unemployed Council. delegation
Of representatives working class organizations
also visited the City Hall with resolution en-
bodying our demands, which was promptly re-
jected by the acting mayor.
During this entire period, despite the mobil-
ization Of 1900 police on the South Side and the
press trying to whip up sentiment against the
Reds" and terrorizng of workers, all our work.
ing class organizations and the Party continued
our leaflets and meetings reached hundreds of
thousands of workers.
The Answer of the Workers.
The sentiment of the workers was already seen
the night of the murders when 10000 gathered
spontaneously in mass meeting. Night after
night Party speakers on this same spot addressed
between 5000 to 1000 workers. On Friday, when
the bodies were finally secured and placed in
state thousands of workers poured through the
hall to pay their tribute to our dead fighters.
On Saturday August 8, the day of the funeral,
thousands of workers had already gathered at
noon and fully two hours before the funeral pa
rade was to start, workers were lined I'D with