The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-28
BY SADIE DOROsHKIN

IN THE absence Of any form Of
l social insurance in the U. S., the
fraternal movement in this country
has developed to a very great ex-
tent. Membership in fraternaI or
CARNATIONS mounts UP to many mil
lions. The vast majority Of these
are workers and farmers. Besides
the econimic interest the member
has in the fraterna1 lodge, it also
serves as a social center. The Or
binary worker, farmer or clerk who
on his job is known as Bill, John,
or Henry, in the lodge gets the title
Of Sir Knight, Exalted Ruler, Grand
Sachem, etc. He puts on his re-
gala, is greeted by his brothers with
his exalted title and goes through his
rituals which give him a feeling OF
eXaltation. In this manner he is
artifcially made to forget the wor-
ries about his daily struggle for a
living, his problem of getting food,
shelter clothing and other necessi-
ties for his wife and children. The
desires and aims OF workers for
economic security, mutual aid,
brotherly love, and democracy are
drowned in the halo of mysticism,
and secrecy insteed Of these aims
and desires leading him into the
channels Of struggle for better con-
ditions. Thus the fraternal organ
izations in this country play a def
initely reactionary role. The work
ers are made to believe that by
living UP to the principles of their
lodge, universal brotherhood will be
achieved. So great a hold have
these lodges on the psychology of
these workers, that they become i'm
portant instruments in moulding
the political, religious, and moral
views in the interests of the bour-
geoisie, which leads these organiza-
tions.
The above holds true even to a
greater extent to the Negro frater-
nal movement in the U. S. In pro-
portion to their population the re-
Spouse of the Negroes to fraternal
organizations is considerably greater
than that of the whites. OF a pop
ulation of about thirteen million
Negroes, from three to four million
men and women are organized into
fraternal lodges. The reason for
this great response of the Negroes
to fraternal life is, first of all, their
exreme poverty, which create a
greater need for mutual aid; then
their social ostracism forcing them
into closer social contact with each
other, thus creating also an outlet
for their suppressed national express
sion. For instance, one of the ia
vorite expressions in the rituals of
the Negro fraternals is Ethiopia
shall stretch forth her hand,
meaning that the Negro people will
come into their own some day. The
biblical expression "the first shall b
last and the last shall be first" used
in these rituals is another express
sion giving vent to the national as
pirations which, instead of being di-
rected into struggles for the real
achievement of their national free
dom, are directed into channels
harmless to the bourgeousie.
The Negro occupies the lowest
rung on the social and economic
ladder. Forced into the most segre-
gated and crowded ghetto, under
the most unhealthy conditions, the
sick and death rate among the
Negro masses is unusually high. In
addition to this their inability to
provide for the needs that arise in
case of sickness or accident and
from death makes the Negroes
react readily to the illusions spread
by the agents and advertisers of the
insurance companies. Taking adj
vantage of this situation, the big
bourgeois insurance companies ex-
plot the Negroes in the most
shameless manner by charging them
higher rates for premiums than the
whites. Their excuse for this Grim
inal robbery is that the Negroes
die faster than the whites. We
know that the death rate of any
workers living in congested, unSan-
itary houses with lack of bathing
and heating facilities will be high
Claiming that the Negroes have a
higher sick and death rate because
of physical inferiority, is a meth
cd of furthering the bourgeois poi
son race inferiority of the Negroes
What is the role of the Interna-
tional Workers Order in the fra
ternal movement among the Negro
toilers and what are its tasks as a
proletarian fraternal organization9
The need for mutual aid among
workers springs out of their preca-
rious economic condition. They
have nothing but wages to depend
upon; the cutting off of wages
means the cutting off Of life itself.
There is the constant fear of the
insecure future which may bring
privation and want to oneself and
ones family. AS workers organ
ization, the aims of the Two. are
to fight for the elimination of the
very conditions bringing about the
need for mutual aid, the conditions
of low wages, rotten working con-
ditins, miserable living conditions
the sole dependence on wages for a
livelihood, with no other economic
security, such as social and unern-
ployment insurance. The Interna-