The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-07-19
Fascist Knights Ride Frisco Streets

Vtf1E Dlack knight Oh IdSclSm
L rode the streets of San
Francisco Tuesday night.
That he rode in a high-pow-
cred automobile, carried a re-
volver and a sawed-off base
ball bat and called himself a
"Vigilante" does not change
the situation much.
He wrecked labor centers, beat
militant leaders and attempted to
smash the spearhead of the general
strike. Italian workers who wit
messed the destruction of workers
headquarters and co-operatiEes in
Milan, Turin, Rome, and a score
of other Italian cities in 1921, will
tell you that the actions Of the San
Francisco "VigiIantes" wer e
strangely similar. The boss class is
international in.its lustful vengeance
when even the tiniest fraction of its
profits are endangered.
More details will undoubtedly
filter through, but sufficient infor-
nation is at hand to draw a
fair picture of the situation and
draw some conclusions of tmpor-
lance for the entire American labor
movement.
American Fascism
What the Frisco workers got
Tuesday was a taste of American
fascism. nothing less. We say this
advisedly.
The classic lineup of fascism was
there: the great employers, their
legal forces, the police, the federal
forces, General Johnson and the
National Guards, and, last but not
least, the extra-legal forces, the
''Vigilantes,' who were used as the
shock troops of the trike-breaking,
understanding collection.
Methods typical of this stage of
the development of fascism in this
country we're used. The "Vigilantes"
were sent ahead to smash the cen
tiers of militant leadership and in
spiration-the headquarters of the
Communist Party, the Western
Worker official organ of the Cali
fornia district of the Communist
Party, the militant Marine Workers
Industrial Union, and other mill
tant labor centers. If the "Vigi-
lantes" failed, the police could al
ways step in and arrest the mill
tant workers for defending them
selves, tactic used in the famous
Everett, Washington. battle. If they
succeeded in smashing the center
and this is apparently what hap
pened-the police could come and
mop up'-as they did. At any
rate, the authorities could always
disclaim responsibility for the &C.
ton, especially in view of the fact
that the public is obviously behind
the strike and there is no mass basis
for these fascist attacks.
n IldHHcu hltdCk
Every report coming out Of San
Francisco proves that the me-
chanics of what happened was APP
proximately the following:
The shipowners and the Indus
trial Association, their backs to the
wall, seeing that the strikers, who
more and more were accepting
militant rank and file and Com
munist leadership, organized plan
by which they hoped to isolate the
militants from the rest of the
strike, thus beheading the strike
and leaving the door open for the
pre- arranged sell-out with Van
deleu:, Kidwell. and the other re-
dictionaries in the strike committee.
The first step in the plan was to
organize a tremendous lynch cam
paign in the press against the
Reds" burying the issues of the
strike. Along with this went the
howl to the heavens about the lack
of food for the women and chill
dren."
The second step was the coast
wise radio speech of Governor Mer-
RAM against "subversive elements, :"
followed by General Hugh John
sons pogrom address at Berkeley
College.
The mobilization of federal forces
including Senator Wagner and
Johnson, was an integral part of
this plan.
The third step was the organiza-
ton of the Committee of 500 and
the recruitment of hundreds of
upper-class citizens" as deputies.
The fourth step was cooked up in
Washington-the raising of the de-
portation threat, particularly