The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1932-04-22

I
grand jury of the county's big
gest business-men-the same type
of men who had led the lynching.
After three days of secret sessions
which it spent listening to the
Testimony" of over 120 hand
picked witnesses, the jury return
ed a report that it could "find no
one remotely connected with the
lynching." The brazenness of the
, whitewash is the more apparent
when we remember that the crowd
that lynched Williams was un-
masked, that it made no effort at
concealment, that its leaders walk
ed to the very door of the hospit-
al where this worker lay dying
and there talked at length with
hospital officials, that it rubbed
eIbws with the local chief of police
and other local and county Diff
GERS.
An Indictment against the
lynchers of Negroes, by a coron-
ers jury or other official body, is
very rare occurrence. When it
does occur, it seldom results in
the infliction of even the mildest
penalty.
Boss Courts are Lynch Courts
This same court machinery is
also the means of the legal lynch
ing of Negroes and White work.
ers, as in the now famous case of
the nine Scottsboro boys-a case
which has ripped the mask of i'm
Partially from the courts and re-
vealed them as open and brazen
accomplices of the lynchers.
That under the rule of the boss
es, so-called anti-lynching bill
along the lines of the Dyer bill is
a dead letter against the lynchers
of Negroes, is proved by the re-
cent events in Greenbrier County.
West Virginia where two Negro
workers were openly lynched on
January 10. West Virginia some
years ago passed the Capehart
"anti-lynching" bill which, like the
Dyer bill, provides for the pay
ment of sum of money to the
families of the victims of lynch
ing. A suit was filed by the ad-
ministrators of the estates of the
two Negro workers for $4,000
each, against the Greenbrier coun-
ty court. The court simply refus-
ed to pay the amount of money
provided by law. The prosecuting
attorney of the county instructed
the court not to pay. The court
stated that it had also received
advice from the Taxpayers Asso-
citation against paying the $4,000
to the families of the victims. And
that was that
Club In Hands of the Bosses
But whereas against the lynch
ers of Negroes, the Dyer anti
lynching bill, if made into law,
would become a dead letter - a
gainst the Negro workers and the
share choppers, and against the
White and Negro workers fight
ing to better their condition. the
Dyer bill would provide a heavy
club for the White bosses.
The Dyer bill provides for the
dispersal of "mobs". and a "mob"
according to the Dyer bill is "an
assemblage of three or more per
sons acting in concert without au-
thority of law"
Under the rule of the bosses
whose will is carried out by all no.
lice, courts and other organs of
the state, "mob" will be formed
whenever workers GO on strike.
picket, demonstrate in defense of
their rights. It is noteworthy that
the state anti-lynching law of Vir-
GINA has been used only once
to break up the picket line of the
striking textile workers in Dan
vile.
To the bosses courts and the
bosses police, meetings in defense
of the Scottsboro boys, or meet
ings of Negro share troopers to
demand food or an accounting
firm the landlords would be
"mobs", to be dispersed under the
provisions of the Dyer bill. By
means of this same bill workers
who take part in such meetings
could be the more easily framed
by the courts.
Today, when the workers of
both races are organizing for a !
fight against starvation, are strik-
ing together for decent wages.
are demanding unemployment in
surance, are raising thunderous
voices Of protest against the vi
cious frameup of the Scottsboro
boys and other instances of ma
tional oppression of the Negroes
today a bill which could be used
against workers who organize
and assemble would be an invalu-
able aid to the bosses and lynch
ers.
How Revolutionary Workers Can
Fight Lynchings
The Dyer bill is thus a weapon
for, not against, the lynching of |
What course shall the
revolutionary workers take to pre-
vent lynchings?