davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-10-24
By ALEXANDER TRACHTENBERG

At the time of the. Left Wing split
from the S. P, Debs was in prison.
Only partial information could
reach him regarding the political
controversy in the party which pre-
coded this split. While Debs was
bound by many ties to the Socialist
Party, he did not fully agree with
it's leadership. During the 1919
convention the remaining Left Wing
elements succeeded under pressure
of the split in forcing a resolution
which would insure Debs the norni-
nation for the presidency at the
1920 convention, where the question
of candidates was to be dealt with.
The leaders did not wish to have
Debs, who was then in prison, nom
mated as a candidate. They feared
that the size of the vote might be,
affected and did not want to flaunt
before the country presidential
candidate who was in prison. When
he was finally nominated in 1920
and committee consisting of
Steadman, Oneal and others was
sent to visit him in prison to notify
him officially of the nomination, he
surprised the committee with a
devastating criticism of the party
Regarding the platform adopted
at the convention which nominated
him, he said: 81 wish I might say
that it had my unqualified APP
prevail" modifying it by saying
that platforms are not so impor-
tant, as I'VE can breathe the
breath of revolution into any
platform" He emphasized, how
ever, that Socialist platforms are
not made to catch votes" and that
tive are in politics not to get votes
but to develop power to emancipate
the working class" Emphasis
mine.-A. IT, 1t was also signifi-
cant that on that occasion he ex-
pressed regret "that the convention
did not see its way clear to affiliate
with the Third International with
out qualifications ,Debs, there
fore, allied himself with the third
of the delegates of the 1920 Con-
vention which favored the accept
ance of the twenty-one points of
admission to the Communist In
ternational and was opposed to
Hillquit's fake proposal for affilia-
ton with reservations. To the
s. P. leaders who were present he
addressed himself point blank with
the following rebuke: There is
tendency in the party to become a
party Of politicians, instead of a
party Of the workers" Emphasis
mine.-A. To
DEMOVED from the outside world
IN by his incarceration, Debs, per-
haps, could not see sufficiently that
this was no longer a tendency, but
fact. The process of degenera-
ton, beginning with the struggle
against the Left Wing, was fast
being completed and Debs, having
recognized that the S. p. was be-
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-10-24
DEBS FAILS TO DRAW
PROPER CONCLUSIONS

Debs made the mistake which
many others have made. At the
beginning of the Third Interna-
tional some revolutionary leaders
emphasized unity at ali cost"
more than the unity of principle.
About the time we get in shape
to do something" Debs wrote then,
I'VE have to split up and waste our
energy in factional strife. We
preach unity everlastingly, but we
ourselves keep splitting apart"
Debs failed to understand that
what was then taking place was
the separation of the wheat from
the chaff, the freeing of the revo-
from the very politicians which he
himself saw win the party leader
ship. The ''facGional strife" which
he deprecated was nothing but the
hammering out of clear-cut poll
icy based on revolutionary Marx
ism which the party had polluted
with all sorts of reformist nos
trums. The'class struggle was car
ried from the shops right into the
party and the division which fol-
lowed was based on class lines.
Later history proved that to the
hilt.
Unlike Lenin on an international
scale, Karl Liebknecht and Rosa
Luxembourg in Germany, and Ruth
enberg in this country, who not
only criticized the reformist leaders
but fought them and organized
against them, Debs remained only
the critic. When he was released
from prison he allowed the same
leaders whom he held responsible
for running the party, to use him
as a shield TO cover their alliances
with the trade union bureaucracy
and capitalist politicians. Begin
ming under his craftsmanship the
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-10-24

GEORGIA Niger, by John L. {
Spivak. Brewer, Warren &c Put
nam, New York. PAL pages. 20
extra pages of photographs. Price,
$3.50.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-10-24

leaders have completed the trans
formation of the Socialist Party
into a party of social fascism. so
that now 1t fits snugly into the
capitalist state machine.
In 1905 Debs wrote on the place
of the class struggle in the program
of the labor movement, to say Moth
ing, Of Socialist Party: I'VE in
sist that there is class struggle;
that the working class must rec
ognige it; that they must organize
economically and politically upon
the basis Of that struggle; and
that when they do SO organize they
will then have the, power to tree
themselves and put an end to that
struggle forever"
HAVING already lost every other
IL vestige Of Socialism or SEM
blance to a working class party,
the S. P. has deleted from its men,
bership application blank the clause
dealing with adherence to the prin-
ciple Of the class struggle. The
class-conscious workers know that
the s. P. has not thereby removed
itself from participation in ]. the
class struggle. 1t is simply fight
ing on the other side, the side of
the bosses. To enable 1t to parade
as party, 1t needs members. Since
the workers are learning more and
more Of its true character, the s.
P. now offers itself as political
haven to all and sundry liberals,
tradeSunion bureaucrats, small and
big business men and deserters
from the class struggle Of all hues,
including renegades from Con1mu-
nism.
Debs saw this degeneration COM
ing. 1t was, therefore, his historic
mistake not to break with the
morbund organization and join
the party Of the proletarian class
struggle-the Communist Party. :.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-10-24
Letters from
Our Readers
Philadelphia, Pa.

Comrades:
When cars and trucks were first
put on the streets and roads OF MIL
lions of horses were sent to the
fertilizer plants. When the workers
built machinery to replace their
labor the bosses sent the workers to
the flop houses, breadlines, jails,
and the army and navy. Now the
bosses are planning to use them as
cannon fodder in war against the
Soviet Union, where the workers
drove the bosses out, and where now
ths machinery is blessing to the
workers instead of a curse.
The machines now idle can dc
more than the work of the millions
of unemployed so that even If all
the machines started to work again
there would still be millions OF
unemployed. Therefore there is
only one way out for the workers
and that is. under the leadership
of the Communist Party, to chase
the bosses out as they did in the
Soviet Union.-T. NJ.
Editors Note: While this COM
rade is correct in saying that
capitalism has created millions OF
unemployed workers who can
never be employed again so long
as capitalism survives, he exag-
gerates when he says that no one
of the 100000 unemployed
would get his job back if capital
ism should ever get back to its
pre-crisis era. Recent official
figures show that should the
country return ~ the production
levels of 1929, about AZ per cent
Of the workers who are now
unemployed would be given Jobs.
That means about s,00O,00 work.
crs would sin he left TO starvc,
which is q damning enough i'm
dictIncnt Of capitalism. "a
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-10-24
MURDER AND SLAVERY
For PROFIT

Georgia Niger is a CHASTITY
account of the conditions under
which Negroes work, but it is also
something of an Interpretation Of
those conditions. With unobtrusive
skill the author has given the class
background and meaning of this
orgy OF torture. 1t is not mutila-
ton and murder through perver-
sion-it is murder and slavery for
profit. The white landlords own the
plantations and control the state.
Instead of paying wages to the vast
mass of Negro. proletarians and te-
nants, they use the courts to pro-
vide them with slaves. The book
tells of a Saturday evening in town,
with the planter there ordering his
servile sheriff to pick him out
some good healthy field hands.
When darkness falls, the slave
catchers go to work, "arresting"
whatever Negro looks good to them.
The next morning the Negro faces
one of two alternatives: months in
Jail waiting trial, and then months
on the chain gang, or signing UP
to work for a plantation owner,
who pays off the Negroes nominal
fine: from SIS to $25.
Once on the plantation, if he
takes that course, he sinks deeper
and deeper into debt according to
the books his master keeps. The
law provides that if he tries to
leave his job while in debt, he can
be arrested for swindling his mas
ter and brought back. The plant
alton is a prison, with armed
guards, with its own laws, with the
white planter flogging to death or
simply shooting out of hand any
who displease him, and with no
one to say he shall not kill his
slaves; doesn't he own the courts
too?
I showed this book to Negro
member of the Daily Worker staff,
who is very well informed as to
the conditions and struggles of the
Negroes in the South. Here are
his notes on it, the things that
struck him most forcibly:
"...ExPosES conditions more ter
Lrible than chattel slavery =.
similarity between slave plantations
and peon plantations. big planta-
ton house of the owner, with Negro
domestic servants who receive a
shade better treatment than the
enslaved Negroes in the fields, and
constitute the handkerchief heads,
spies and armed guards of the
bosses. Armed guards also drawn
from the poor white class as in
slavery days. Slave barracks re-
placed by peon shacks quite as
miserable and in fact worse.
BUY NEGROES
FOR IS TO SIS
"This system more ruthless far
than chattel slavery. :. then the
slave owners had to pay subStan-
tial sums, sometimes running into
the thousands, for the slaves. Now,
Negroes can be bought for SIS or
$25 at most, by paying the fines i'm
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-10-24
EXPOSED
WRALEN FORGERIES

Spivak gives no program for re-
volt: in fact, he has a theory that
he does best by reporting well, and
stopping there. He has reported
we'll on other occasions; he hap
pens to be the man who blazoned
forth in the capitalist press his
discovery of the printing shop on
the East Side in New York where
the notorious Whalen forgeries
were manufactured.
But we, as Communists, can not
stop there. We can use this mat
erial, and to it we can add our
program of organization and strug-
gle, of building the united front
of Negro and white toilers for full
equality for the Negro and self
determination in the Black Belt"
In the Black Belt is the part OF
Georgia on which the book is
based.
We cannot, Of course, accept
Spivak's constant use of the word
Niger" but no one who reads
this book can get the impression
that Spivak uses it in unfriendly
fashion to the Negroes. Here again
he is reporting, and the word is
picked up and used in a tone OF
casual defiance-like ''Wobbly" in
the militant days of the I.W.W.
Spivak has his definite, self-im-
posed limitations, but within those
limits, what piece of work he
has done! AS clean-cut as an
etching, and the acid still drips
from the steel!
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-10-24

to Georgia. 1t was casually mem
toned in newspaper accounts that
the rest of the South is about the
same, Tennessee, Alabama. Ar
kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and
Virginia add to sweatbox and rack,
flogging." Maillefert was white
boy, so his death brought his muir
derers to court; one was freed and
the other convicted, not of murder,
but manslaughter, with the posi-
bility of acquittal at second trial.
If the victim had been a Negro.
no investigation would have followed
his killing.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-10-24

posed by an obliging court, after
an obliging sheriff has rounded
them up on various charges upon
the request of the planters seeking
hands. have no conjunction III
numbering S. and SIS Negroes ~.
they can easily be replaced, and
brutal discipline is thus main
tanned.
"Rcle of religion and preachers,
and their control by the bosses.
"Spiyaks material and other
available material give unanswer-
able proof of the actual existence
of slavery in the American Congo
in the year 1882"
GEORGIA. NIGER is an eye
v witness story Of conditions, an
excellent piece of exposure liter
allure" 1t gives no program for
changing the conditions; it does
not tell of any simmering revolt.
The author Travelled among the
camps and plantations with cred
entails from the Prison Commits
sion of Georgia, and probably would
not have found the average rebel
lious Negro confiding in him. There
is no explanation of Camp Hill.
The spree ding Choppers Union Or
ganization is not mentioned, prob
ably because it is more in Ala"ama
than in Georgia 50 far.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-10-24

Georgia Niger" Exposes Enslavement of the
Negroes; Boss Press SnbbresSes Facts

GEORGIA Niger, by John L.
Spivak. Brewer, Warren & Put
nam, New York. PAL pages. q
extra pages of photographs. Price
$3.50.
BY VERN SMITH
AT LAST a book that tears the
n hypocritical mask off southern
white ruling class civilization and
exposes the entire system of chain
gang torture and legalized slavery
under which thousands of Negroes
in the Black Belt are living. "Geor-
gia Niger" written as fiction, but
based on fact, turns mercilesS
spotlight on conditions that equal
the worst barbarisms in history,
conditions that are an integral part
of the same lynch-terror that is
trying to burn the Scottsboro boys
in the electric chair.
Ordinarily this book would have
been viciously. attacked by the capi-
talist press, which carefully sup-
presses the facts about the American
Congo. But there are the photo
graphs, the official documents, the
letters from prisoners that are in
cluded in the book, and these are
unanswerable proof that in the
United States today workers and
farmers, especially Negroes, are
being forced into peonage under
conditions that are worse than
those of the chattel slaves before
the Civil War. The American gov
eminent, which has led the attack
on the Soviet Union with its
forced labor" lies, conceals the ex-
istence of the most vicious system
of forced labor within its own terri
tory. This system exists with the
full knowledge and support of capt.
talist politicians of both major
parties, of the capitalist press and
church. 1t is American "democ-y
racy" in full bloom.
UrEORGIA Niger" is no mere
u sensational thriller; it is fact
of the most terrible kind. Torture
after torture, men chained in little
cages reeking with vile odors and
wearing fantastic iron spikes on
their ankles, men working under the
lash on county roads, linked to-
gether, flogged to within an inch
of their lives for merely looking
their protest at the treatment, men
kidnapped in the public streets of
vol IN
The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1932-05-12
Franklin and Redwood Falls.

Franklin and Redwood Falls.
A son was born to Mr.. and Mrs.
Fay Castle Monday, May 8.
Mr.. and Mrs. Vern Shoemaker and
daughters motored to Willmar Satur-
day where they visited Mrs. Shoe
makers mother.
w. C. Mann and son, Everett, mot
ored to Bottineau, South Dakota, last
week in the interests of his farm
there.
Mrs. Eric Mantzke and Mrs. John
Prodehl were callers here last Thurs
day.
Mr.. and Mrs. Wesley Sommers
spent Sunday at the home of her par
ents near Olivia.
Mr.. and Mrs. Carl Anderson and
son spent Sunday with relatives at
Montevideo.
Mr.. and Mrs. Erwin Draeger were
callers at the Alvin Becker home Sun
day.
Mr.. and Mrs. William Hosken and
family spent the weekend at the Otto
Kreft home near Vesta during the alb
sence of Mr.. and Mrs. Kreft who went
The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1932-05-12
No. Redwood p. T. A.
Meets Friday Evening

North Redwood, May 10-The P. I.
A. will hold their last meeting for
this term at the school house Friday
evening, May Is. Plan to attend.
Rev. Joneson will be the speaker and
other good numbers are being pre-
pared.
Mrs. Lloyd Stelter of Minneapolis
spent Sunday with her mother, Mrs.
Martha Lindeman.
A farewell party was given at the
school house Saturday night for Mr..
and Mrs. Paul Otto and daughter,
Frances, who left Sunday for Carlos
where they will make their future
home where Mr.. Otto is employed.
The time was spent socially. A pro-
gram of musical numbers was given.
A gift of money was presented the
family as token of appreciation for
what they had done for this commune
ty.
A large crowd attended the orator
ical contest given at the Middle Creek
church Sunday night sponsored by
the w. M. S. of that place.
Miss Ruth aGffney spent several
DAYS last week at the home of her
aunt, Mrs. Alvin Becker, who has
been confined to her bed with an at
tack Of pneumonia.
Mr.. and Mrs. R. C. Scheunert were
business visitors at Rush City last
Friday.
Mr.. and Mrs. C. F. Johnson OF
Waverly, South Dakota, visited reia-
tives here Sunday.
Lorenz Ziegler spent Sunday at the
home of his parents at Franklin.
Mr.. and Mrs. Ed. Corcoran and
family spent Sunday at the K. T.
Hutchinson home.
Mr.. and Mrs. Rud Worsech and
Mrs. Mary Hosken were Sunday
guests of Mr.. and Mrs. U. H. Llpp.
Mr.. and Mrs. Dan Zimmerman and
family of Sanborn visited Sunday al
the home of Fred Haeske.
Mr.. and Mrs. R. C. Scheunert were
business visitors at New Ulm ias'
week Tuesday.
Mrs. John thinner was hostess te
the Flora Lutheran Ladies Aid at hel
home last Friday afternoon when
large crowd attended.
Mr.. and Mrs. w. j. Hutchinson
spent last week with relatives al
The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1932-05-12

to Minneapolis to see Mrs. Kreft's
father who is patient in the hospital
there.
Optomistic Report on
GrasshOpper Dangers

nj. L. Partin, extension entomolog-
list, was in Cottonwood county recent
", and with the county agent, visited
farms in the western and south cent
raj part of the county where grass
hoppers were quite destructive last
year.
They were unable to find even
normal amount of grasshopper eggs.
Mr.. Parten was of the opinion that
the rains in September killed the hop
pers in that section, and that farmers
have nothing to fear from the South
Dakota or northern Minnesota grass
hoppers migrating to this part of the
state. He stated further that in gen.
eral the chances of hoppers doing
damage in this part of the state this
year are rather remote. However,
they might do comfortable damage in
places.
The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1932-05-12
Walnut Grove Sew and
So Club Met Thursday


Walnut Grove, May 10-The Sew
and So club met at the home of Mrs.
Fred Prail Thursday afternoon with
Mrs. K. ]. Mcdonald as assistant
hostess.
Rev. and Mrs. j. C. Peters visited
with his mother at Mountain Lake
Monday.
Mrs. Myrtle Cantine gave party
for Mrs. Joseph Nelson Tuesday af-
ternoon.
The members of the M. E. church
have been making Improvements on
the church boulevard the past week.
Mrs. E. E. Nichols entertained the
Congregational Ladies Aid Thursday
with Mrs. Leland Tyler, assistant
hostess.
Albert Kaas visited his brother at
the Slayton hospital Tuesday evening.
Miss Anna Johnson entertained the
members of the St. Olaf Township
Ladies Aid Thursday afternoon.
Mr.. and Mrs. George Anderson re-
turned home from the Twin clues
Wednesday afternoon.
A son was born to Mr.. and Mrs.
John DeSmith Sunday evening, May
1, at the Clinic hospital in Tracy.
Mrs. M. j. Virgins entertained the
Altar Society of the Catholic church
Wednesday afternoon.
The Ladies Aid of the M. Z. churcn
met at the home of Mrs. E. Z. Con-
verse last Wednesday afternoon.
Miss Luella Tonneson Of Glenwood
who has been visiting at the home OF
her aunt, Mrs. Nellie Lidenberg, re-
turned to her home Monday.
Elma Anderson and friend, Harold
Mork, who visited at the home OF
Victor Anderson returned to Minnea-
polls Tuesday.
A daughter was born to Mr.. and
Mrs. v. E. Keith at the Clinic hospital
Wednesday, May 4.
Mrs. Caroline Schmiesing, Miss
Sena Schmiesing and Miss Caroline
Schmiesing left Monday for their
home in Cincinnati, Ohio, after visit
ing at the George, H. L. and Harrison
Schmiesing homes in Johnsonvllle
township.
Mrs. F. W. Schaurer has been on
the sick list the past week.
Bert Erredge of Pipestone was a
caller in town Wednesday.
Mrs. o. J. Tollerud was taken to the
Clinic hospital at Tracy last Thurs
day where she submitted to an opera
ton.
The new filter at the Walnut Grove
Cooperative creamery has been com.
pleted and is now in use. O. W.
Continued on page nine)
The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1932-05-12

Frederick went to Mankato Saturday
to spend the weekend at the home OF
Mr.. and Mrs. Footner, parents OF
Mrs. Lamp. ;,
Mr.. and Mrs. M. j. Bertrang and
SON Jack spent Mothers day with
Mrs. M. Murphy, mother of Mrs. Ber-
trang at GAINESVILLE.
Miss Othelia Paape who is engaged
in stenographic work in Minneapolis
spent Sunday with her parents, Mr..
and Mrs. Carl Paape. Mr.. and MRS.
Blaine Mckay Of Redwood Falls and
Mrs. Otto Paape of Nicollet were out
of town guests and the Will Bonn
family and L. C. Ward family were
included in the Mothers day party at
the Paape home.
Old time friends of the Frank Des-
sci family, former resident near here,
were sorry to learn of the death OF
Frank Dessel at his home in Visalla,
California. Funeral services were
held from the family home Wednes-
day.
Mrs. F. E. Croker and her mother,
Mrs. Mary Anderson, Mrs. E. H. Al
brecht and Mrs. H. O. Johnston went
to Redwood Falls .1onday afternoon
of last week to spend the afternoon
with Mrs. J. H. Hillig. They brought
lunch baskets with them and a de-
lightful picnic supper was prepared
at one of the summer cabins on
Ramsey heights. :.
Mothers day was observed in all
the churches. At the Methodist church
Rev. Fothoff paid fitting tribute to
a good mother. A male quartet FUR
nished excellent music and MISS
Frances Zaske gave a solo. The
church was decorated in potted plants
and cut flowers.
Irwin Root has leased the bungalow
of Mr.. Steinhaus near the depot and
will move from the John Gluth resi-
dence the first of June. Clarence
Becker will move from the Steinhaus
bungalow into the apartments over
the Cobb produce.
Mr.. and Mrs. J. Anderson and
daughter Myrtle of Minneapolis were
calling on friends Monday. They
came from Sleepy Eye where they
were guests of Mrs. Sasse, mother OF
Mrs. Anderson.
Mrs. John Rucker who was a pat
lent at the Union hospital at New
Ulm following an operation for ap
pendicitis, returned to her home OF
Monday.
j. C. Gilland was elected delegatt
Continued on page tena