The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-12-17

he Courageous Fight the Militant Hunger Mahers Points

For us. the mass of the marchers,
the day was over. Still, when we
heard that a meeting was in prog
ress right in front of the church,
many Of us stepped out to listen
and to support the speakers. We
learned that the police had dis
persed the meeting scheduled to
take place at Chestnut and Adams,
and that this was our second at
tempt to address the local people.
We saw police everywhere.
Squads of police. Uniforms all
around. Trucks with mounted ma
chine guns. Policemen armed with
sawed-off shotguns. They we're
forming groups and lines in front
of the church, trying to separate
the mass of Wilmingtonians gath
cred in front of the church.
AND this is the scene before the
n battle started. Police in various
corners of the street. Police in
front Of the church on the oppo-
site sidewalk. Police in the mid
die of the street thanking the
crowd. Our speaker, at the head
Of the stairs leading from the
church to the sidewalk. Around our
speaker several dozen hunger
marchers, while the majority re-
Inainsd inside the building unaware
of what was going on outside The
police were obviously in an ugly
temper, but who cared. We had
carried out the first part of our
program. We were determined to
carry out the second part as to an
opon-air meeting. Our activities
were to serve for the local work
ers as an example of how organ
ization, and determination could
break police bans.
The battle started with the po-
lice beginning to mount the stairs.
Policemen began to push our
speakers. Some attempted
to make arrests. The march
ers Of f e r d resistance.
Police clubs were raised, but
strong hands seized police arms,
fists met fists. The bluecoats be-
came enraged. They didn't ex-
pect that. They began to push
us back from the porch into the
church. The marcherS entered
the hall but refused to let the
police in. They locked the door
and pushed against it in a big
compact mass. The police were
locked out.
In the kitchen below a few dozen
women gathered. There is a door
leading from the kitchen TO the
street. The police tried to break
that door, But the women built
barricade of tables and chairs. The
policemen brought hatchets to
break the door. In the meantime
the electric light went out in the
kitchen. When the bluecoats finally
forced their way into the kit
chen, they were met by chair
legs, welded apply. A battle en-
sued, with the women fighting even
better than the men. 1.-THE Wom-
en- fought like tigers" said the Will
mington Press the following morn
ing.
THE main hall was beseiged for
L awhile with the police unable to
get in. Then, tear gas bombs were
thrown from outside into the hall.
Many exploded. Some were snatch
ed by our comrades and thrown
back through the window before
they exploded. The big hall was
filled with gas. The marchers
coughed. Their eyes smarted. First
they tried to lay down on the floor
where the gas was not as heavy.
Some comrades broke all the win
dows to let air in. Others were
throwing parts of the chairs into
the police force outside. Finally a
comrade suggested that all leave
the hall through a side window
opening into the street. The COM
rades, about 200, mostly women,
soon found themselves in the street
and here the mass battle only
began.
PRCLETARIAN RESISTANCE
The marchers must be given due
credit. They showed an example
of powerful prolstarian resistance.
They did not attack but they did
not take attacks passively. They
did not provoke, but they did not
allow themselves to be provoked.
A policeman drew a gun. The mo-
ment was tense. He was in white
rage. One Of the women comrades
began to talk to him. She did not
say anything soothing. She just
said, you are a coward. A man
with a gun against unarIned people.
You better put your gun away and
step up; let's see how you can