The daily worker., 1933-10-12

ana Otner JOBS and IN rehe1, darlei
sunday, Oct. 81 to be "the hungriest
yection in Greater New York" In Har
than may be found in any other
neighborhood of the city" Of it's
total Negro population of over 800 900
only 10000. are at present employ
ed. With unemployment has come
the attending evils-infant mortal
ity, disease, undernourishment - the
same evils that poverty brings to
white people, but in greater degree"
What are the reasons for these ad-
missions by the capitalist press which
habitually hide the misery and op-
preston of the Negro People? The
answer is: the political awakening of
the Negro masses, the growing in
fiuence of the Communist Party in
Harlem and the increasing radicali-
zation Of the Negro masses, respond
ing to the correct leadership and pro-
gram of the Communist Party of
. ruthless struggle against all forms of
discrimination. The Herald Tribune
fearfully admits the growth of Com
munist influence in Harlem:
SC. the Communists have met a
considerable degree of success.
Educated and uneducated Negroes
alike are becoming more vocal in
their demands for professional, and
in many cases, social equality"
Fills Bosses With Dread
1t is this that fills the Herald
Tribune and its masters, and their
Negro tools, with fear. They see the
telling Negro masses and many mem
bers Of the professional classes res
s9onding to the revolutionary program
of the Communist Party. They see
huge crowds attending the Com
muniet election rallies, cheering
James w Ford, Communist leader in
Harlem and candidate for alderman
in the Dist distric3 Robert Minor,
veteran Communist fighter for the
rights of the Negro People and can
didate for mayor; William Patterson,
national leader in the Scottsboro f1ght
and candidate for alderman in the
10Th district; William Fitzgerald
Herman McKewain and other Negro
ard white Communist banner-bear-
ers. They see the masses Of Harlem
condemned by the capitalist system
to unemployment, poverty, jim-crow
relief rallying around the Commu-
mist demands for the right Of Negroes
to any Job in any trade, industry and
profession, for equal pay, for unem-
ployment relief and social insurance
to be paid by the bosses and their
government without discrimination,
for an end to the police terror and
poliee-inspired lynch Indictment in
the Herald-Tribune and other cap
italist gutter sheets, for an open trial
and punishment of the Tammany
officials guilty OF the murder of
James Matthews and the suspicious
deaths of other Negro prisoners on
Welfare Island. And the sight of the
increasing militancy Of the Negro
masses fills them with undisguised
dread:
'TThere is little doubt that Har-
lem is beginning to look upon it
self and becoming ready to fight
for the things that are withheld
fron It,"
Tries To Cover Up Misery
While admitting the heavy toll Of
the crisis on the population Of Har-
lem, in increased unemployment,
poverty, disease and the death rate,
the Herald Tribune deliberately dis
torts figures in an attempt to hide
as much as possible the terrific misery
imposed by capitalism upon the Ne
gro people. While the Health De-
partment figures reveal a death rate
of 1875 per 1000 in Harlem, as against
the general death rate for greater
New York of II per 1000, the Herald
Tribune substitutes the unit of 100000
for 1000, putting the Harlem death
rate at 1875 per 100000. Similarly it
puts the Negro population Of Harlem
at 250,o00 in order to juggle the per-
centage figures on unemployment,
giving the totally unemployed at 80
per cent of the population. Even
bourgeois agencies admit that 80 per
cent of the heads of families are un-
employed, while Of single workers 85
per cent are out Of work. OF those
employed, at least is per cent are on
paw blAilC--d IdGJ llOb lliCilblOllCQ NY
the Herald Tribune, which also ig-
nores the starvation wages paid to
those employed, especially to the
domestic workers.
The ravages OF disease on the i'm
poverished, undernourished Harlem
population is similarly concealed, al
though the Herald-Tribune is forced
to record the over-crowded conditions
of the Harlem Hospital, the Single
municipal institution which serves
the whole district. And there, in a
building equipped to accommodate 325
inmates, 405 beds, filled at all times,
are placed in aisles and corridors.
Similarly, in the out-patient depart
ment, where 10000 visits year would
be about normal, 100000 patients
came for free treatment last year"
But not mention of the brutal
treatment, of the experiments on Ne
gro patients by inexperienced white
internes, of the suspicious deaths Of
scores Of Negroes, or of the militant
struggles of Harlem workers lead by
the Communist Party, againsE these
horrible conditions. The Herald
Tribune likewise ignores the wave of
protests by Harlemites against the
suppression by the NA.A.C,P leaders,
in Difference to Tammany. of the re
port Oh the Harlem Hospital.
The fears expressed by the Herald
Tribune of the rising militancy Of
the Negro masses are not unground-
ed. The toiling masses of Harlem
will show their determination to fight
against discrimination and oppres-