The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-01-13
ANNOUNCE Ga PER
CENT OF HARLEM
WORKERS.JOBLESS
Only Tells Half Depth
Of Misery of Negro
Families in N. Y.

NEW YORK. Joblessness. starva-
! ton and misery have hit Harlem's
workers harder than all the other
workers of New York
Eighty per cent of the heads of
| families in Harlem have no steady
work. Sixty-four per cent of the men
in Harlem are iObless.
Behind these dry figures, given out
few days ago by the New York
Urban League, there is revealed a
depth of misery and suffering that
is unequalled in any other section of
the city.
We must know, first, that these
figures are, without doubt, far too
low. The Urban League, one of the
organizations heartily approved by
the white ruling class, has always
tried to shed a rosy light on the mis-
cry of the Negro workers.
Eighty per contour out of every
five heads Of families without work.
Four out of every five men, women
and children in Misunderstanding
Depths of Misery
The New York Urban League, the
American Red Cross, the Emergency
Unemployment Relief Committee, are
reported to be handling more than
1000 applications daily. This fact
does not even begin to reveal the
depth Of misery Of the Harlem work
ers. AL Of these organizations regu-
larly turn applicants away, on any
excuse or none. They are single
they are married but without chill
dren-they haven't lived long enough
in the community. Now still other
barriers are being raised: lack of
church membership, affiliation with
the Unemployed Council, and so on.
For every thousand applications
that these organizations HANDLE" we
may be sure that there are other
thousands of workers who apply but
cannot be handled" or who are too
discouraged even to apply.
From January to November the
Urban League reports, four to five
hundred jobless came to the Offices
Of the League daily seeking help. In
November, the number suddenly
doubled. (The new applicants, APP
parently, had little faith in the idea
| that Roosevelt's election would put
bread in their mouths and roof
| over their heads. This was at the
very time when the prophets said
that the turn had already begun.)
The Urban League reports that
there are not many evictions taking
place in Harlem, that landlords have
been 'lenient." The Unemployed
Council Of Harlem can vouch that
this is a lie Evictions are almost a
daily occurrence in Harlem.
Doubling Up"
only by doubling up" reports the
Urban League, "can a great proper
ton of the Harlem population sub
sist"
What does this doubling up"
mean? The wages of Harlem work.
| ers are the lowest of any worker in
the city-when they have work. At
the same time, the rents they must
pay are higher than workers any,
where alse pay for the same accomo-
! dalton. That is because the Harlem
workers are forced by the system of
| jim Crowism to live in a segregated
area, where blood-sucking landlords
| can gouge from them more rent than
/ from white workers for similar apart
ments. Therefore many Harlem fam
lilies can meet this higher rent out
of lower income only by taking LODI
gers, or by doubling up, two or three
or even more families together.
That has always been the situa-
ton in Harlem But the crisis has
intensified it a hundred fold How
| is a iobless family to meet rent Of
$50, $40 and $50 a nnonth--for the
most miserable apartment The only
hope is by further overcrowding. We
know what this means in the way
of sanitation and health.
Why is the situation in Harlem
worse than in any other section of
the city? While workers are being
cut off everywhere, the Negro work
ers in every trade are the hardest
hit. On the docks, in the needle
| VI GACps AZ bAlC ldlllOllCD, GliC 1NCBlO
workers are losing ground first and
fastest.
Discrimination
The relief agencies openly discri-
inmate against Negroes. The Glib
son committee gave out instructions,
some time back, that appropriations
for Negroes and foreign-born were to
be cut down. Smaller amounts of re-
lief, larger number of applicants
turned away, intense abuse at the re-
lief stations-that is what the I'M
employed of Harlem are up against
Only the most intense activity of
the Negro and white masses, under
the leadership of the Communist
Party and the Unemployed Council,
can help the Negroes of Harlem
through what will unquestionably be
the most bitter winter Of the crisis.
Help picket the nearest rent strike
| Holm uton eVictipDCt Won t11ioht he