The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-12-14
FORCED LABOR ON A MISSISSIPPI
RIVER LEVEE PROJECT
BY CYRIL BRIGGS

CONDITIONS of slavery and forced labor so
" brazenly open as to force themselves upon
the reluctant attention OF the A. F. of J.. fascist
leadership have been uncovered In the Mississippi
River levee project, United States government
undertaking. The brutal conditions imposed
upon Negro and white workers on this govern
ment flood control job are described in a report
to William Green as slavery in its most hide
ouS FORM"
Green, anxious as ever to cover up the crimes
of the bosses and their government against the
working class, has not released the report for
publication. The capitalist press admits, how
ever, that the report charges that gross brutal
ity, including floggings and beatings with pistol
butts, prevails in the labor camps along the
levee. Negro workers, as usual, receive the full
venom of the slave drivers hate and are singled
out for the most savage and revolving torture
and persecution. The inhuman 12-hour day is
the regular working day on this government
project. And often the men are forced to work
Is hours day at the most neart-rending toll,
with no pay for overtime. The unskied labor
ers are paid the starvation wage of rs cents a
day. The skilled workers fare a little better
with So day; $3.50 and s12 week; these are
the magnificent rewards for a week of life-rend-
ing toll in capitalist America! Nor do most of
the workers actually receive these rewards"
Commissary trading is obligatory. Charges for
food are exorbitant. Arbitrary reductions for
supplies are made from the wages of the men,
A United Press dispatch from Gulfport admits:
From the pay of laborers, arbitrary reduc-
tons of $3.50 man for weeks commissary
supplies are made whether the supplies are
drawn not, well tent rental of 81 a
week and cook hire of so cents week. the
report said"
The labOrer who draws only Sd
work is in debt at the end of the week. More
than 1000 Negro and white workers are said to
be affected
Further admissions of the brutal treatment of
these workers are contained in an Associated
Press dispatch:
News that Federation of Labor investiga-
tor was going to report conditions of in
credible brutality and use of lash and pistol
on Negro laborers held in virtual peonage by
contractors on the big government flood con-
troll job set in motion War Department in
vestigation.",
Green has buried the report, but some OF its
findings have found their way into print The
A. F. of L., with its usual tender solicitude for
the protection of the Wall Street dictatorship,
has already exonerated the government The re-
port places the blame on the general contrac-
tors. And now the War Department will pro-
coed in a fake investigation to whitewash the
contractors. In the end, it will be proved at
least TO the satisfaction of the fat-beIed bosses
and A. f. Of L. leaders, that the workers them
selves are responsible for the frightful condi-
tons on this government flood control job.
At the same time that the A. r. of L. was
forced into this half-hearted and reluctant in
vestigation, the full facts of which Green has
buried in his office files peonage conditions were
also being exposed in New York state Laborers
on state construction jobs are reported forced to
Give like poems and were treated like coolies"
Buffalo boss newspaper admits that the work.
ers are paid under the prevailing labor scale, are
forced 10 live in unsanitary shaclls, made 10 pay
high prices for room and board and were
tempted to expend their wages on liquor and
gambling"
Peonage conditions, widespread in the South
are not confined to that section. Whether in
New York or In Mississippi, capitalism is en-
gagged In brutal oppression and enslavement OF
the toing masses. For the cruelty exploited
white and Negro workers there Is only one way
out OF capitalist robbery and oppression OF the
workers, and that way is by the revolutionary
overthrow of the vicious capitalist system and
the establishment OF workers and farmers gov
ernmcnts in every country.
Join the Unemployed Councils
~~L D.,:11 D1-rI- IA -.