The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-09-15

sorS and the columns appeared in the
labor press with only the headline
about the Minor case, followed by
long, wide space where the censor
had cut out the type.
Released After Month
After month Minor was released.
Secretary of War, Newton T. Baker,
making a public statement that Minor
was guilty but that the lack of cor
roborating witness for one stage of
the case necessary for a trial in
volving the death penalty had caused
the release.
1t is notable that the Socialist Party
in the United States, through its re-
personalities in the State Assembly at
Albany, were just at that time voting
in favor of the Liberty Arch on
Union Square commemorating the in
vasion of the Union of Socialist Soviet
Republics.
Upon his release Minor returned
to America, plunged into nationwide
speaking tours demanding the with
drawal Of troops from the Soviet
Union and the release of Mooney and
Billings. A few weeks after his ar
rival, he joined the Communist Party,
which was at that time outlawed by
the Government as an illegal" Party.
Minor engaged in all of the work
of the Party leading positions from
1920 to the present time, during most
of this period being member of the
Central Committee.
In 1929 the Socialist Party law
yer, Charles Solomon, obtained an
injunction to prevent the members
Of the Food Workers Industrial
Union from picketing in a strike.
Under this injunction, Steve Ka-
fowls, a worker, was murdered by
a policeman. In leading a mass pro-
test against the murder, Minor was
dubbed to insensibility in City Hall
Square.
The same Charles Solomon is
now the Socialist Party candidate
against Minor.
The Jobless Struggles of 1880
On March 9Th, 1890, the great I'M
employment demonstrations through
out the Unites States involved 1885,
900 workers in struggle for unem-
ployment relief. In New York City
the great demonstration at Union
Square led by William z. Foster,
Robert Minor and Israel Arnter and
Harry Raymond, was def1ed by the
police in its effort to march to the
City Hall. A bloody struggle with the
police occurred, after which Foster,
Minor, Anter and Raymond were
sentenced to three-year terms in the
New York County penitentiary.
In Welfare Island Prison there was
a so-called race riot" Minors par
tisanship for the Negroes caused fric-
ton with the authorities Later an
expose of conditions in the prison
by the International Labor Defense
caused the authorities to demand Of
Minor that the Daily Worker should
cease criticism. Minor was i'll in bed
in the hospital with appendicitis at
the time. Upon his refusal to ask the
Daily Worker to ''lay off," Minor was
suddenly seized by the authorities
and taken to Ryker's Island Prison
dreaded place where conditions of
prison life are worst. There Minor,
dangerously Ill with appendicitis, was
forced to work on the dock gang. He
collapsed. This very nearly ended
his life. Alarmed by the popular
protest against the brutal action
which amounted practically to the
murder of Minor, the Tammany au-
thorities tried to get him to submit
to an operation in prison, which he
refused.
After six months of Imprisonment
he was taken out In an ambulance in
supposedly dying condition and OPP
Grated on in private hospital. For
two years Minors health was wrecked.
Whenever strong enough he would
turn to his work for the Party.
The Scottsboro case came on. Minor
plunged in as head of the Negro
Department Of the Communist Party
to organize mass defense for the
Scottsboro Boys, together with the
National Labor Defense, the revolu-
tionary unions, etc. This was his
first big job after leaving prison.
During the midst of the case, while
Minor was in Tennessee, he was ar
rested and Jailed again at Chatta-
nooga, together with four other lead
ers of the Party, but was quickly re-
leased. The Party sent him to Eu-
rope to recuperate.
Candidate for Mayor
Minors second big job after his
release from New York County Peni-
Tertiary is to lead the Party's struggle
in the New York City elections of
next November 7, 1888, as the Com
munist candidate for Mayor.
But the Communist way Of being a
candidate is to Join In and lead the
struggles of the workers, and again
Minor is in the tolls of the law, lead
ing picket line in defiance of an in
junction against the Furniture Work
ers Industrial Union in Brooklyn.
Minor was arrested on September 7
and charged with criminal violation
of the injunction against picketing.
The Communist candidate for
Mayor goes to trial this very morning.
THE END