The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-07-13

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to weaken the imperialist war prep
arations.
The control of the Canal, its func-
tioning or destruction, its use by one
power or another, mean much to the
armed preponderance of one or the
other power. With the Canal closed,
the naval power. of the United States
would be cut in half. The Canal is
indispensable for Wall Street for
transportation of troops, munitions
and food from the east coast, where
the most important plants are To-
Gated to the west coast, Hawaii, the
Philippines and Siberia.
British and United States imper-
ialism are struggling freely for mo-
nopolistic control of the raw ma
terials, markets and transportation
routes of South and Central America.
The main fight is between these two
bandit powers; but each day Japa-
nese imperialism, with an eye to pos
sible war with the United States,
makes further efforts to edge in and
secure sources of raw material and
points of support. In addition, &C
tive preparations are going on under
the pressure Of United States i'm
perialism TO prepare the countries
of the Caribbean for war against the
Soviet Union.
Looking ct the map, one is struck
by the strategic location of British
colonies-Jamaica, Cayman Islands,
British Honduras, Trinidad-as po-
sitions of attack against the Canal
The United States imperialists are
not asleep to this danger. They have
prepared Guantanamo Bay, the Isle
of Pines and many other points in
the Caribbean, as well as the in
creasing Notifications of the Canal
itself.
No matter how strong the Canals
protection seems, attack from within
also is feared. Recently great spy
scare has been raised in Panama
against Japan. The imperialist news
paper Panama American" said on
April 81, 1888, in boxed front-page
editorial: IF someone does not soon
arise officially and demand to know
what in hell are SO many Japanese,
without visible means of support or
apparent reason or legitimate occu-
patton, doing on the Isthmus of Pa
mama, then the Panama American
will not only ask but will answer it
as well. Fishermen? Bah! Shirt
makers? Pooh! BARRIERS? Like hell
they are!" This was followed by an
even more violent editorial April 26,
when this paper charged that Jap
anese BARRIERS were working in u. S.
army posts in order to obtain mil
itary information from the soldiers
they shaved The very next day the
Port Captain, Searching for dyna-
mite, raided three buildings occu-
pied by Japanese fishermen.
But this is only small part of it.
In order to assure the Canals safety
not only against its imperialist rivals
but also against the oppressed colo
NAL masses living around it, the
toiling population of Panama, the
United States government this year
appointed for the first time an "ad-
wiser" to the government of Pana-
ma, selecting for the post an air
corps officerl Thus, Panama is con-
sidered part of the defense area Of
the Canal.
Moreover, in October of 1882 U. s.
Army cavalry broke up the demon
stration of Panamanian tenant strik-
ers, and on April 81, 1888 U. S.
troops took part in parade in honor
of firemen killed in an explosion
nineteen years ago. This had added
significance since it was only four
days before May l. when a big de-
monstration of workers was to take
place.
At the same time in Panama, in
face of rising wave of revolution
airy struggles exemplified by the te-
nants' strike, the San Bias Indian
struggles and the Las Tomas agricul-
tural worers strike, there has been
organized a reactionary strong-arm
corps called the Accion Communal.
This organization, supported by the