The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-05-19

Winning COntTUl Ol NdbtEAAuAAS IC-
Eef Marguerite Young, staff
writer of the Daily Worker, out
lines the beginning of the struggle
to uprcot all traces Of Negro dis
elimination and chauviniStic at
tscks upon the Negro workers
wit!.in and outside their ranks.
Bv MARGUERITE YOUNG
ALONG with the seamen's
"A fight for control of relief
and Jobs 3 true and valiant
proletarian revolutionary
struggle developed con the
beach in Baltimore.
On the picket line they joined
hands with the employed and built
united front between Negro and
white seamen and longshoremen in
the midst of strikes, under the noses
Of exposed and sngered American
Federation of Labor officials, for
political as we'll as immediate eco
nornic demands.
Most significant, they translated
their anti-war sentiment into action,
setting up committees against war
and fascism on ships, taking this
issue to the workers in munitions
shops, continually raising slogans
against seamen's shipping arms, in
short, leading a real beginning to-
ward roofing the broadcast united
front against war and fascism in
the basic marine, steel and NUM-
tons industries.
what would you do today If an
imperialist war began?" asked
leaflet issued by the Waterfront
Unemployment Council on April %,
''If the enemy was marching into
Baltimore, would you take up arms?
Are we opposed to all wars? How
can Lenin'S slogan. Turn Imperial
list War Into Civil War be con-
cretely applied on ships and docks?"
The leaflet advertised, open Forum
on War-All Out!"
The seamen responded several
hundred strong, Man by man, the
rank and file rose in the discussion,
contributed or asked a question
A hundred or more of those who
Joined the Communist Party and
the Y.CL. during several months,
undertook an education campaign.
They organized a school, holding
regular classes in nearby waterfront
shacks. One of the teachers was
young white seaman, another
Leonard Patterson, Negro Vel.
leader. TIE Vel. unit decided to
undertake the leadership of practi-
col anti-war work. They brought
ether Young seamen forward-until
thu youth were the most active
f"rce5 on the waterfront Five Young
Nero seamen became esnecially ac-
tive three On ships and one IS q
ships delegate. On April 6, the an
river1s"v Of the United States en-
terinr tire World War. they led
three major activities. They organ
lied another committee of seamen.
other vel. and League Against
NToT members of Baltimore and held
e ocea-eir rleating lust Outside the
gotes Of Z big war-chamicals plant
ct Curtis P2y. several miles from
the Sear1en's Project. This was the
first open meeting held there, it saw
a mazSing of about 200 Of the wcrk-
ers of this vast chemical gas center;
thirty of them Joined the League.
They went aboard ships in the
harbor and organized Committees
Against War and Fascism in the
crews of five separate ships sailing
out of Baltimore. They are already
receiving reports of work done hy
these groups at SEA. Marine work.
ers drawn into the vel. on the
waterfront are scattered on twenty
Gre ships.
we can say" remarked Patter
SON that the sentiment OF. the vast
majority of the thousands of sea-
men We reached is that they abso-
lutely will not ship munitions in
imperialist war"
Long before the seamen gained
control of relief, the rank and file
were linking their immediate prob
lens with those of all the working
class. A record kept by one of them
describes the hunger march to
washington on December S, 1892
Practically every seaman on the
beach in Baltimore went to Wash
1ngton and added his voice to those
OF thousands of other workers there
for Unemployment Insurance. The
sight of the armed forces of Hoover
and capitalism did rs much to radi-
callze the seamen as well as the
other workers, as much as anything
else"
When thousands gathered in the
National Convention Against I'm
employment, last February, Balti-
more seamen Joined en- masse. They
marched to federal relief officials
with a convention delegation and
delivered a resolution declaring that
10000 seamen "on the beach" in the
United States, like other workers
must have protection through the
enactment of the Workers Unem-
ployInert Insurance Bill CHR. 75oa)
Waen the shipowners' code came up
for hearing before MIRA. officials.
the employed and UNEMPLOYED Jour-
reved en- masse from Baltimore to
Washington, to add their rank and
flle denunciations of it to those of
MW.1.U. leaders.
The seamen threw their energies
Into the struggles Of the emploved
with heroic spirit and discipline
Two, William Howe. 24-vear-o1d
White seaman, and Frank PEOPLES
young Negro seaman, organized
tn strikes on ships in support of