The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-09-18
Only Participation in
Struggles Can Wipe
Out Chauvinism
white chauvinisrn as a healthy and
potentially revolutionary quality.
Divert Resentment to Struggle

white chauviniSrn as a healthy and
potentially revolutionary quality.
Divert Resentment to Struggle
We must utilize this 'touchiness"
and "over -alertness" on the part of
the Negroes, and divert it into chan
nels OF struggle against the oppres-
sors, and if you please, white chau-
vinism in the ranks OF the labor
movement, even if it be writer Of
a column Of a revolutionary paper
1t is precisely the above statement
which leads Comrade Gold to say:
The best way is to be casual and
matter OF fact" Oh, no Not at all!
This is what the Socialist Party and
renegadeS from Communism say.
Treat the Negroes as you treat the
workers generally. By the Communist
Party making the Negro question a
special question, they contend, the
Party is guilty of segregation and
separationist tendencies. The best
way is not to be casual and matter
of-fact," but in all of our writings,
in our speeches, in the demands
which We work out, to place special
emphasis On the needs of the Ne
groeS and to give a conscious and
bold expression to these needs and
desires. To blur over this problem, is
to fail to see the Negro question as
a special question.
If the object Of this sentence was
to inStill a sense of equality on the
part of the whites towards the Ne
groes, of avoiding paternal (which
is nothing less than inverted chau-
vinism) attitude, etc. then this will
be done only when we will treat the
Negroes not in a casual and mat
ter-of-fact" style, but when we will
lully grasp the meaning of the alert
ness which the Negroes possess and
make serious attempt on our part
Il mean we, white workers, including
the writer of "KKK'D to consciously
and persistently root out and exter-
inmate all tendencies of white chau-
vinism which we inevitably possess
because we live in a white chauvinist
world: and thus prove TO the Negroes
that we understand their reactions
and suspicious towards us, and that
we will assist them in directing this
suspicion and hate not towards their
fellow-slaves in white skin. but to-
wards those who Cypress them and
US.
A Question to Michael Gold
Dent you see, Comrade Gold, that
this loneliness and over alertness, :"
if treated in the casual and matter
of-fact" manner, will not help to
break down the suspicion towards us
but on the contrary, if it is treated
as natural result of centuries of
oppression of the white bourgeoisie,
can be made into a powerful weapon
CT struggle not only of the Negroes,
but Of the working class generally,
because the Negroes then become the
active allies of the struggling white
proletariat?
Comrade Gold then says: "If you
have any race feelings in you, elinli-
nate it, study it, fight it. Then when
you are cured, be casual and hu-
man." Yes, we must study all of our
inner race superiority tendencies, we
must fight them and aim sincerely to
eliminate them. But this, in my opin-
ion, can be done only to the extent
that we actually mingle and struggle
with the Negroes for Negro rights,
only to the extent that we under
stand the Importance Of the problem
of struggling for Negro rights as part
of the general struggle of the prole-
tariat. We cannot separate our little
self and precious individual from
this. Therefore, I think, it would
have been better had you said: IF
you have any race feelings in you,
you can best kill them by participant
ing in the struggle for the rights of
the oppressed peoples. Develop an
alertness towards those who express
chauvinism in one way or another.
Jump at the throat of those who dis
criminate against Negroes. BECOME
A FIGHTER FOR NEGRO RIGHTS"
Actual Participation Necessary
Then you would have avoided the
mistake Of separating the curing of
white chauvinism from the struggle,
and could have saved yourself the
unpleasant breath when you said:
Then when you are cured be casual
and human" We will be human"
when we prove our readiness to fight
for Negro rights and not when we
think we have cured ourselves of
white chauvinism.
Let me conclude with a word of
comment on your last sentence which
reads: Better to have persecution,
frank and bitter, something that can
be fought in the open" Undoubtedly
open chauvinism can be fought bet
ter than covert. But this does not
mean that we always have a guaran-
tee of being able to fight against
persecution because it is frank and
bitter" The persecution of the Ne
groes in the South is brazenly open.
No apologies are made about the
hundreds of Negroes lynched in the
South, nor are apologies made for TIE
very frank and bitter" discrimina-
ton and Jim Crowism directed to-
wards the Negroes in the South. Does
that indicate that the struggle in the
South against these forms of per-
secution easier than in the North.
don't think so! do not think that
we should wish for frank and Bit
ter" persecution in the columns of
the Daily Worker, we should instead
Use these columns as a means of rail-
lying all sources at our disposal, OF
both white and Negro masses Of