The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-03-02
Mississippi Farmers Talk
of Revolution

whole lives.
we narrowly escapsd seaoas
trouble" the officials admit. fea-
eral relief came just-ir1 tiire. Tho,
temper rof these farmers Esas rising,
They held taZ-psgezs' meetings ana
when these did not 40 say good
there was considerable tax OF get
ting tElalr sllntzgpns. 10 save 5hair
.farHls ana 10 get foq1 lob s4SI9ss-Yes
and sheir families Lp2se mSn we've
desperate" Here With the naive nun
cred PEI cent -4rneEicaps che air is
tense with farmers Nao LAX o.
revolution" - 80 ---e-4-
THEY do not inoW. just what
4 revolution is. as viii pc shown by
convsrsat ions j had with i2eenendent
farmers and choppers, Al may kn9P
is that their lot always vas hal al30
since the depression, has grown IN
bearaaly worse. Until ths Iederal
government began to .pouIl money IN
here as everywhere else, they cid not
know where their next sack Of noin
was coming from or where tney
would get clothes for themselves ana
their families. This long suffering
uncertainty was aggravated by read
ing newspaper stories ct tniilon9lfes
and their vast wealth, Of millionaire
who did net pay income tsEsS OF
nillienaires Rho, seemed to be york
ing hand in glove with The biggest
politicians. a deep rooted oespera
ton was rising which lacked only
"a .sDsrlC 10 set IL of. This sense Of
desperation has been calmed only
slightly by government relief for
these who most needed rel4eftg9 the
least as subsequent articles about
this area will show. ,~-~--~s-
Intense Bitterness
This bitterness against ulfiiionaires
and politicians is one OF the most
pronounced sentiments here. You
ind it everywhere--among the snail
landowner, The cash renting farmer,
the share eropper, the small town
business man,
Lincoln County is typical Of Mis-
sissippi except for the Delta region
which has particularly rich aIa -fer-
tile sell. Alolzg the Mississippi Delta
are the huge plantations, "a rgeFX- few
owned by wealthy individuals. The
majority are owned by. corporations
which portion out the acres among
~hare troopers or hire day .Isber.
They prefer troopers, for these have
their families and stay on tie land
even though they are cheated sollt-
,rsgeouslv. This is the AREA @here
the proportion Of fNegroeSato whites
are about Two. andedn soae places,
three to enc, with the Negroes pre-
Dominating .s
Resentment Against Government
The rest Of TIE state consists
chiefly OF small farm owners as in
this county, men who own anywhere
from 20 to 40 and IN some Instances,
100 acres. The first thing we ind,
among the independent farmer and
the cropper, is q deep resentment
against the federal government The
only exceptions now are those .who
have government relief work jobs
which pays them more than they
earned working for farmers. The re-
nainder are living on government
charity Local Charity contributions
have been scarcely enough TO mem
ton. err
Poverty has reached such depths
here not only among croppers5 but
among many small Independent
farmers that anything seems prefer
able to present conditions. 1t was
during this period that the first loud
talk OF revolution" started They
have no faith in the promises CT
politicians and officials. local, state
or national. TieY have a sdesps ana
feyent belief that the politician
whom they themselves elect, func-
tons solely for the benefit Of the
rich.
THE question naturally arises why
L they keep re-electing. them I
have asked that question Of many
farmers who were particularly in
censed against the politicians. The
gist Of. their replies is that there is
no one else to vote for except Repub-
leans, and these are generally dis
liked and the name of Hoover is
nositivelv hated. To this F9fsT be
added the important fact that not
everyone gets a chance even to vote
and these especially look uuen the
politicians with distrust. THE Ne
gro, Of course, is disfEancIlisad here
as everywhere in the South and the
Door white, might just as well be
black so far as his vote is. concerned.
He. too, is disfranchissd sbaesiise he
is poor. If he does not have money
to pay. the poll tax he cannot vote.
Since most CHOPPERS and their falni-
les live on allowances ranging from
SO to $2f for the months OF March
to August inclusive, and end the sea
son in debt they simply cannot raise
the couple CT dollars necessary to paw
the poll tax and thus have the Drive
lege Of registering their protest with
the ballet. $50. g s.see
ITO BE. Continued sssss
M E n L S I.