The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-07-28
Real Path to Liberation
Is Way Shown By
Soviet Union

rights, for the right of self-deter-
mination in the Black Belt of the
United States, and go back to the
homeland in Africa" say the lead
ers Of these movements. Every
lyncher, every s1ave-driver, every
K1ansman will be pleased with this
propaganda. 1t makes the task of
oppression of the Negro masses so
much the easier.
Are We Communists then opposed
to seizing advantage of a weakness
in the enemy's ranks, in order to
push forward the struggle for the
liberation of the oppressed? On the
contrary. We say that the Negro
masses must use every weakness in
the camp of the oppressors, every
difficulty Of American imperialism,
such as would accrue from a war,
to strike a blow for their freedom.
To paraphrase the words of the
Irish revolutionists, who said Eng
lands difficulties are Irelands op-
portunities," we may say with equal
truth that American Imperialism
difficulties are the Negroes oppor-
tunities." Through the riffs in the
armor of the American ruling-class,
we must send shafts that will bring
nearer the day Of our freedom.
A Look at History
But how to use these difficulties
to the advantage of the Negro
people-that is the question. Have
the Negro people, have the darker
races Of the world, anything to gain
by the support of one imperialist
power against another? We may
look to history for an answer. Dur
ing the world war, did not Allied
imperialism, stretching out greedy
hands towards Africa, champion"
revolts in the German colonies in
collision with sections Of the
African chiefs2 With what results?
The masses, who thought they were
fighting for freedom, found that
they had exchanged the shackles of
German imperialism for those of
French, British, Belgian and Italian
imperialism. The German colonies
in Africa were simply transferred
from one set Of slave-masters to an
other.
When the people of Cuba and the
Philippines were groaning under the
lash of Spanish Imperialism, the ris-
ing Yankee inperialists interviewed
under humanitarian slogans: Res
cue the Cubans from the tyranny
of Spain" Sections of native land
owners and manufacturers formed
an alliance with the American i'm
perialists. The masses of Cuba and
the Philippines were liberated from
the yoke of Spain, only to fall
under the tyranny of Wall Street
imperialism.
Yes, the Negro people must use
every difficulty of the American
slave-drivers and their government
to strike a blow for real freedom.
An imperialist war, such as war
between America and Japan, must
be turned into war for the liberia
ton of the Negro people. We say:
No Back to Africa. This would be
only a reactionary caricature of
real freedom. We say: a fight right
here in the United States for the
destruction of the vicious planta-
ton system in the South, for win
ming the land, for realizing the
right of self determination for the
Negro people in the Black Belt, for
establishing complete equality for
Negroes throughout the country.
These rights of the Negro people
can only be won on the basis of
revolutionary program, through es-
tablishing a fighting alliance of the
Negro masses with the white work
ing class, under the leadership Of
the Communist Party in revolution
airy struggle for the overthrow of
the common oppressor, American
imperialism.
Unity of the Worlds Oppressed
Against the slogan Unity of the
Darker Races under the Aegis of
Japan" we call for the unity of
all the oppressed the colonial
slaves, the downtrodden peoples of
Africa and Asia, the prosecuted
American Negroes, the white wage
slaves and exploited farmers of the
imperialist nations of Europe and
America. Unite under the leader
ship of the world Communist Party,
the Communist International, for
the revolutionary overthrow of
world imperialism. For freedom
of the oppressed Negroes and
darker peoples in the colonies and
in the Americas! For the complete
and unconditional independence of
the African and West Indian
coloniesl For equal rights and the
right of self-determination for the
oppressed Negro national minorities
in South and Central America and
in Cuba! For the independence of
China and all Asiatic countries
from the yoke of foreign imperial
isml For the right of self determi-
nation for the Negroes in the Black
Belt of the United States Such
must be our program.
The path to the liberation Of the
Negro people in America lies along
the same road trodden by the work
ing class and the farming masses
and the formerly oppressed nations
Of the Soviet Union. This and this
alone is the way out
In championing the unity of the