The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-07-12

q " IL IL IlOM al u Law sui ~
deeply to be deplored."
These same journals have not
had one word to say against the
wholesale attacks on white and Ne
gro workers, the murders on the
picket lines in the coal and orc
strikes, the invasions of working
class homes, and the arrests with
out warrants, which have occurred
during the past two months.
Why do the Birmingham papers
suddenly shed crocodile tears over
the arrest of an intellectual? They
are not actuated by any genuine
interest in the constitutional rights
which are daily violated by the
police Of their city. The Birming-
ham papers are directly controlled
by the steel and coal barons who
grind fortunes out of the white and
Negro masses of the South. These
Bourbon captains of Southern in
dustry want to continue their ruth
less suppression of the workers; they
want to keep the facts from being
known; they want at all cost to
avoid publicity.
Growing Fascist Trend
My case is not important in it
self. 1t is a minor furry in the
great struggle of the Southern
workers against the slave system
The essential point about my case.
the thing that gives it meaning and
significance, is its connection with
the growth of Fascism and Hitler
ism in the South.
The editorials in the Southern
press clearly indicate the nervous
fear of further exposure; here are
a few samples: THE affair be-
fore it runs its course is likely to
give rise to much publicity of q
sort which Birmingham does not
relish" birmingham News. do
our police think it their duty to
arrest everybody who makes an I'M
founded statement?" Birmingham
Post). The Birmingham Age
Herald admits that "the issue is
no longer solely one of truth or
falsity. but touches upon the whole
question of freedom of opinion and
freedom of the press and soon
throughout the land we shall see
Nominations against Alabama cen
sorship,' Alabama Hitlerism. And
this all of us must endure because
cur authorities make the capital
mistake of doing the very thing
which lends itself to such misin-
depreciation"
The Montgomery Advertiser re-
veals the fact that I am the author
of 'They Shall Not Die" 7 hope
John Wexley is as pleased about
this belated revelation as I am.
The Advertiser goes on to deplore
the fact that "the Birmingham
police are making Alabama the
laughing stock of the nation. And
we are sorry too because we do not
believe that Mr. Lawson's offense
is criminal under the Constitution,
and we believe his arrest, besides
being indiscreet, is Illegal"
These remarks indicate that the
more aStute defenders of Southern
ruling class tactics are very much
on the defensive. They know that
If the whole truth of what's going
on in the South is widely publicised,
it will shock all honest liberal opin-
ion in the United States.
Wholesale Suppression of Rights
The delegation which went with
me to Georgia and Alabama found
that wholesale suppression of free
speech and civil rights went beyond
any believable bounds in both
states.
The sentence against Herndon is
one OF the most remarkable con-
victions in American labor history.
Workers have often been framed
and convicted on false charges. But
the Reverend Hudson did not
bother to frame Herndon or to con-
coct false testimony against him.
The mere fact that he had led
peaceful unemployed demonstration
and that he possessed some books
and pamphlets of which Hudson
diSapproved was enough to carry
through a sentence of eighteen to
twenty years on the chain gang.
believe this case has practically
no parallel outside Of Hitler's Ger
many. Hudson's point of view and
manner. his hysterical neurosis
about reds" his hatred of en-
lightened opinion, his confessed de-
sire to wipe out by force everyone
who disagrees with him. make him
perfect imitation of Nazi official.
In Alabama, Police Captain Null
Inns. and Detective Cole and fIozer
of the Red Squad, are little less
bloodthirsty in manner, and
little less openly fascist, than the
Reverend Hudson, but they are
playing the same game of red
batting; and they are backed by
the same criminal gangster ele-
merts in the Khan and allied or
CARNATIONS. A Negro worker in
Birmingham told me that the
police regard Negroes home as
"tust the same as an open street
-. they go In one door and out
the other without so much as by
your leave and if they feel
like it they do little shooting on
the way"
Angelo Herndon, and the Scots
boro boys, and thousands of other
white and Negro workers, are the
victims Of mob rule and lawless
oppression. This reign of terror is
organized and promoted by the
political rulers Of the South. It's
purpose is to keep the Negro in
slavery, to prevent the union of
black and white workers in the
fight for better conditions.
I frankly hope that my own ar
rest and trial will have exactly the
effect which is feared by the
Southern press-thst it will focus
attention on tho rea1 +o,tr -