Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-05-08
By MARY JORDAN


Of articles exposing fascism. The
subject Of next weeks article will
be the Anti Communist League.
The leadership of the Communist
| Party in Seattle in it's struggles fol-
workers rights; to end exploitation
and hunger, is being attacked in
the vicious Hearst press paper, the
Seattle Post -Intelligencer. by the
brutally fascist American Vigilantes,
1884 version of the Ku Klux Khan,
The Vigilantes openly state that
they intend to take the same action
against militant workers as the
xxx did against Negroes.
Who are the American Vigilantes?
Who are their leaders? What are
their activities? What is their atti-
tude toward the working class and
workers problems in the crisis?
There are 1000 American Vigil
antes in Washington, according to
the P.-I., who are dedicated to
showing that "Americanism is not
dead" The purpose of this article
is to reveal how the Vigilantes are
going about their noble duties
to show these towards and DULLES
in their true light as terrorizers
and attackers of unarmed, unem-
ployed and youth-a youth newly
awakened to the danger of i'm
perialist war.
Leadership Of the VigiIantes
Until ne was thrown in Jail for
stealing county funds in connection
with furnishing wood for the I'M
employed, one of the leaders of the
Vigilantes was Colonel Hayes. At
the persent time the leader is First
Lieutenant Harold j. Baum, prom
inent in the Reserve Officers Asso-
citation. There are, of course, many
leglonnaires in the organization, the
chief requirements for membership
of which are heartless brutality and
narrow stupidity. The rank and file
members are mainly petty racket
GERS, cheap sports, political hang
ers on and gulible members of the
middle class.
Local Organization
The American Vigilantes have
been fostered by local politicians
who find them helpful in admins
tering the club rule of the capital
lists while posing as the friends of
the working class. The campaign
| headquarters of Stevenson, Fits
and Misener were used as recruit
ing headquarters for the American
| Vigilantes. During Stevenson's con-
nection with the commissary set up
the Avs trained at night in the
Rainier Valley commissary and 9TH
er places. The Avs have been used
in place of police at relief depots tc
meet workers demonstrations in
order to save political face. o. X
Bodia, formerly a deputy in Ban
hicks office and now a Stevenson
appointee, has come out openly al
a member of the Vigilantes. on
man boosted recently that all h,
had to do was show his AV mem
bership card and he would be re
leased Immediately from arrest. 4
member of the Naval Reserve De
partment in the Federal building il
a deputy sheriff and vigilante anC
when the occasion arises the Am
crican Vigilantes will join with tn,
forces of capitalist law" to keel
the workers of Seattle enslaved.
VieiIante Activities
| In late February, 1888, the job
less and hungry of the state made
a weary trip to Olympia to present
| their demands to the state legislat'
ure for adequate food and unem'
| ployment insurance. There wer'
women and children in the hunger
march-not one person was armed
They were met on the outskirts o.
Olympia by a mass of police and
armed American Vigilantes, the lat
ter wearing bands on their arm
with the letters AV on them. TIL,
Vigilantes had been recruited op
emily by American Legionnaires il
Olympia, Tacoma, Shelton and Cen
tralia, with red scare" stories
When one member was asked VIII
he was there he replied, why, did
MT the sheriff in Seattle take so
machine guns away from the march
ers?" The unemployed were direct
ed to Priest Point Park and thel
camp was surrounded by Vigilante
many of whom were drunk. Thi
was the first mass public appear
ance of Vigilantes in Washington
). In the Imperial Valley in Calf
ornia organizers have been workin
to better miserable conditions {