The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-06-13

IoUIGu Oub III u6J6uUlOl camp
widely known that q. company
a shot on the range because
the company preceding them
had staged a minor but effec-
tive mutiny!
[ was in the company fol-
lowing and knew some of the boys
who took part in the strike. I'd
watched them line up for chow in
the mess hall of the detention
camp. That chow was pretty bad.
Some of the newcomers found it
hard to eat, and heard the usual
counsel: Better like it, sailor;
you're going to get lots of it," In
other words, these men were willing
to take a lot without complaining.
The company went off to rifle
range singing:
You're In the Navy now;
You've got to eat their chow. -
AUR company, which was TO have
" been the next TO go 10 Virginia
Beach, got on with its work, under
the questionable direction of @.
p, Q. Ccl1ief petty officer, whose
temper was oftentimes saturated
IN alcohol. We were fast learning
what It meant to be in the U. S.
Navy.
The G. P. O's idea of straighten-
ing out the line in company for
nation was to come down the
ranks, shcing his sabre along the
line of noses-just in'case any stuck
out too far. Another day he had
us AK bayonets, double time across
the drill field, and shouted orders
so fast that they couldn't possibly
have been followed, even by trained
cadets. Two faces were injured in
that melee, one by the point of
bayonet, the other by the butt of a
gun. We were pretty sore and
talked a lot about it, but couldn't
determine on any plan of action
Besides, we we're out of the camp
shortly and the new Q. P. o. wasn't
bad at all, just an enlisted man like
ourselves. The former G. P. o. had
forgotten his origin.
In the new unit we were intro
duced to the subleties of bayonet
drill and taught how to shoot rifles,
We had the rifles and went through
all the motions, but without bullets.
What the hell! Why weren't we on
the range? Pretty soon the boys
from the company preceding ours
returned from Virginia Beach,
flushed with victory. The rifle
range had been condemned by the
Bureau of Navigation!
low did this happen? Was it
III un-American, as the bosses like
to tell us militancy invariably is?
It was not. This is the story.
Late in May or early in June,
1920, the company went to the rifle
range prepared for rotten condi-
tions. They had learned that such
conditions we're the rule and not
the exception in the training sta
tons of the navy. There didn't seem
much to do about them. You were
In and you couldn't get out. To
fight the lousy conditions was to
flirt with court martial. The COM
pany knew that. Nevertheless, con-
ditions at Virginia Beach were so
bay that they couldn't stand for it.
Some overstayed leave for the sake
of a decent meal and living quar-
tiers that we're habitable. They
were thrown in the brig. The men
grlmbled among themselves about
the food, about the louse-ridden
barracks, precisely as the enlisted
men grumbled on the ship Potem-
kin. They didn't map out a revolt.
They wanted to strike, strike against
the rotten chow, against the living
conditions! They wanted to wrest
from the officialdom of the navy
decent living conditions for them
selves and for their fellow sailors.
There wasn't time to organize, to
figure out the best way to strike.
What happened was that some of
dlc lIlC1 S<fNCn 1lOhl IIlhC
range. There was quick and
spontaneous uprising. No one was
killed. No one was badly hurt. But
where was the morale of our
navy" The sailors of that COM
pany could have told you where it
was, and would have added that
that was just where it belonged.
Half the company was under ar
rest, the militants thrown into the
brig, but what did that matterP
The strike had been a success. The
Virginia Beach rifle range was con-
demned. The next company TO go
to rifle range would find the grub
edible, the barracks livable.
How is the range now? Aren't
there sailors in the fleet who can
give the Shipmates' Voice first
hand stories of conditions at Hamp-
tor Roads and other training sta
tions?
The gobs from the fleet anchored
off the shores of New York will be
given rousing welcome by the
capitalist class, the class which ex-
~ f,ra fl,nro ,-,1..