The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-01-21
SLAVE LAW USED
IN HERND0N CASE
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Negro Worker!
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONM

nhUtVeE Sldu excite an IN
surrection or revolt of slaves, or
attempt by writing, speaking or
otherwise to excite an insurrec-
ton or revolt of slaves, is to be
punished with death" said the
cid Georgia slave-law. Whoever
shall circulate -. any printed or
written paper for the purpose of
exciting instruction, revolt, con-
Spiracy or resistance on the part
of slaves, Negro or free persons
of color In this state shall be
guilty of high miSdemeanor
which is punishable by DEATH
The Georgia law defined insuIrec-
ton as resistance to lawful author
ity OF master or state" The law
against melting to instruction was
directed against any anti-slayery
propaganda, and served the purpose
of keeping the slaves in subsection.
The law of the state was the great
est power of the masters. Disobedi-
ence to the master became insurrec-
ton to the masters state.
Adjust Law to New Needs.
The principle laid down in this
law is the principle of unconditional
subsection of working masses to the
ruling class. The ruling class OF
Georgia officially recognized this.
That is why, in 1866. in the post
slavery days, it decided to continue
the law on the statute books. 1t
merely modernized it. 1t took out
the words master" and slave" 1t
recognized officially the abolition OF
! chattel slavery, at the same time
recognizing wage slavery and the ma
tional oppression OF the Negro
people. 1t changed the application
of the law from the chattel slave to
the wage slave and especially to the
doubly- exploited Negroes.
The abolition of chattel slavery did
not interfere with the continued
| identity of master and state. The
ruling powers of Georgia could well
| afford to drop the word master"
from the law. This change gave the
law a more democratic appearance,
and yet it changed nothing; the mas
tiers of slavery days remained the
hleloLClS III Vic dlGtI Qdyo.
For the workers, Negro and white,
in the United States, and especially
in the South, are slaves. And added
| to the oppression of the white work
ers, the Negro workers are ground
down by system Of national oppres-
sion, by which they are segregated
jim Crowed, thrown on the chain
gangs, lynched.
Conditions in South.
In the South the condition of the
| jobless, is worst of all Take Georgia
everywhere unemployment, every
/ where abandoned farms. There is
scarcely a handful of farm owners
left in the whole state. The farms
have been taken over by bankers and
big plantation owners in payment OF
debt; or they have simply been
abandoned by Negro and white farm
ers who could not scratch the barest
| living from the soil. On the planta-
tons Of Georgia today, everseers with
guns stand over the Negro share
! troopers and tenant-farmerS, driving
them to work like convictS.
llC lNNSlo dlld WlllpC 1dl Va
Georgia have been terrorized into
submitting to theft by the landlords
| and bankers, even beyond the limits
legalized by the system of share
cropping and the crop-lien laws OF
the South. In Monroe County, some
Negro farmers got through the banks,
government loans amounting to sew
eral thousand dollars. These checks
were brazenly confiscated by the
| bankers and rich farmers of the ter
ritory.
More Robbery.
The Farm Board bought thousands
of sacks of flour and shipped it tc
the big plantation owners and mort
gage bankers. These, IN turn, sold
it at high prices to the poor farm
ers and Negro share-croppers, al
though the flour was plainly marked
Not to be sold"
Supporting this whole system OF
starvation and terror, is the chain
gang and the lynch rope-those two
props of the rulership of the white
landowners, factory-owners and the
bankers in the South.
In Atlanta, the capital of Georgia,
unemployment has thrown thousands
on thousands out on the streets to
starve. Last summer, relief stations
| giving a few crumbs to $4,000 work.
ers in Atlanta, closed down alto
gether. Shortly before that, the fax
ers of the Community Chest had col
lected over 100000, in great part
from the workers. But now they
claimed they were without funds to
continue even the miserable relief OF
the charity bureaus.
The most militant workers, Negro
and white, had formed an Unem-
| ployed Council. This Unemployed
| Council now issued 10000 leaflets
exposing the fakery of the Commits
sioners and calling for a demonstra-
ton. On June 80, 1882, Negro and
white workers of Atlanta gathered
before the county courthouse, and de-
manded the immediate re-opening OF
all relief stations and immediate re-
lief for the unemployed.
Forced to Vote Relief.
The next morning the County
Commissioners, in fear, held meet
ing and voted $4,000 to be used as
relief for the unemployed.
| The white rulers rocked about for
some means to smash the growing
militancy of the workers, to crush
/ the growing unity Of Negro and
white. They found the old slave
code of 1861. They would use it to
kill the organizers of the workers
Said Assistant Solicitor John H.
Hudson of the state of Georgia: "As
fast as the Communists come here,
L .l.- L.. ,o1l