The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-02-24
Feb. "a tn Mooney,
ScottSboro Liberia
ton Day!
Ry J. LOUIS ENGpAHL.


been set aside by the International Labor De-
tense as a worldwide day Of protest demanding
the unconditional liberation of Mooney, the
Scottsboro boys and all the class war prisoners.
The whole campaign leading up to this inter
national day of protest will raise the new dam
gers that threaten Tom Mooney while at the
same time continuing the exposure of the vicious
frame-up that sought to put him to death, that
today seeks the lives of the Scottsboro boys in
Alabama, and the striking coal miners in Ken
lucky.
Danger Faces Mooney!
To many it may seem strange now to raise the
cry that Tom Mooney is in danger. Especially
in these days when the great effort of boss class
propagandists may meet with some success In
creating the illusion that the tide has turned for
Mooney-that Mooney faces a better day,
Mooney had been charged with murder, con-
Ncted and on the road to the gallows. His life
saved, he has been thrown into prison for life.
What further danger2
To be sure the prison regime hungers for his
life Diseases lurking In penitentsrtes- especial
" San Quentin-eVer raise the threat OF death.
The killing burden of heavy prison toll heaped
upon MONEYS shoulders bends him daily closer
to earth. This is the living death behind the
steel and stone of capitalist class justice.
There are other dangers. Police stations, isik,
prisons are in these days overcrowded. So in
are restless. disconnected. So are the prisoners
Of San Quentin. Here, as elsewhere the most
vicious repression Is organized against them.
Thus, for instance, the so-called holiday sea-
SON at San Quentin marked by the brutal
murder by prison gurads of the young Negro
worker, Hugh Adams The armed guards needed
little provocaton, they themselves created one,
to begin mercieSS attack on young Adams al
he was leaving mess hall with the great many
Of other prisoners Monday December 28tht.
He resisted. The beating increased and guns
began to blaze Adams fell dead, pierced with
many bullets while eight other prisoners, also
fell wounded, some critically bringing the total
casualties. in San Quentin Prison for the two.
week period to one dead and Is wounded
This condition surely creates g. danger for
Mooney. 1t might have been he, rather than
young Adams who was murdered provoca.
ton at any time might include Mooney Thus
did the German ruling class accomplish the MUIR
der Of Karl Iiebknecht and Rosa Luxembourg
The assasSins of Adams were rewarded with a
weeks vacation with pay The murderers OF
Liebknecht and Luxembourg we're "honored" by
the social-democratic republic. Rich reward
awaits the slayer of Mooney, although the Call
ifornia ruling class knows for itself this is q
dangerous solution for itself of the Mooney issue.
But these are not the main dangers for Tom
Mooney in the sixteenth year of his imprisona
ment. February a. 1882 marks the fifteenth
anniversary Of the death sentence imposed on
Mooney following the more than five weeks
trial. January to February g. 1917, that ter
minated with verdict of guilty of murder in
the first degree
History Repeats Itself.
During those Is years history has often re-
peated itself. President Wilson heard the thlIn4
der of the Russian workers under the leadership
OF Lenin at the gates of the Wall Street govern
ments embassy in Leningrad dhen Petrograd)
and demanded the communication of MONEYS
death sentence to life imprisonment An echo
of this action came recently in the well-staged
mission of mercy" headed by Mayor jimmy
Walker, Of New York City-the voice of fear
OF the ruling class before the jobleSs menace
today. President Wilson, in the midst of the
world war was desperate for his class Governor
Rolph today is desperate for his class and his
probable action constitutes the grave danger to
Tom Mooney.
Governor Rolph will not pardon Tom Mooney,
admitting that Mooney has all the time been in
nocent OF the crimes charged against him, con-
Tossing to the frame up, the perjured evidence,
the bought and intimidated witnesses admitting
the class character of this savage persecution.
The great danger to Tom Mooney, and to the
whole working class, rests in the fact that
Rolph's decision may commute the life imprs-
release that will carry with it the stigma
Of guilt, still claiming that Mooney is guilty OF
the crime for which nearly Is years imprison-
ment is now considered sufficient penalty. Gov
ernor Rolph can put such conditions that will
deny Mooney the right to continue his working
class activities. This would be release forcing
Mooney to carry the heavy chains of imprison--
ment through the highways and byways outside
the prison wall, yet prisoner still.
Against this danger the working class must
mass its demand for the immediate and uncon-
dtional release of Tom Mooney, the Scottsboro
boys, the Kentucky miners and all the class
war prisoners, at huge demonstrations February
twenty-fourth
The ruling class seeks TO separate the Mooney
thus remove obstacle to the more intensive
prosecutions of labor everywhere This must not
be permitted The Mooney issue must be drawn
sharply into the forefront of all phases of the
struggle against the growing terror-Scottsboro,
Kentucky, Pennsylvania Imperial Valley depor-
tations, criminal syndicalist laws Thus will be
assured the mass pressure that will force labors
enemies to free Mooney Immediately and uncon-
ditionally. February twenty fourth must be a
high point in preparing for the sixty-firat an
niversary of the Paris Communist, March 18th,
which must become Scottsboro- Mooney-K Ken
lucky Day OF struggle against lynching, against
deportation, against the boss class reaction!
that some mills have paid per cent on stocks
and some per cent, and some more And these