The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-08-24
$4,000 at Sacco>Vanxetti Memorial
Pledge to Free Herndon and 9 Boys
Stormy Ovation Given
Hero-Hathaway Is
Principal Speaker
Bv CYRIL BRIGGS

NEW YORA.-ln grim c0mmem-
Grafton of the legal murder of Sacco
and Vanzetti seven years ago, and
s. revolutionary determination that
Angelo Herndon and the Scottsboro
boys shall not suffer the same fate,
$4,000 persons in a spirited demon
stration at Bronx Coliseum We'd
nesoay night gave tumultous wei
come to Angelo Herndon, hero Of
the Atlanta, Ga, slave code trial,
sentenced to Is to 20 years on the
chain gang for organizing white
and Negro workers together. The
principal speaker on the occasion
was Clarence Hathaway, editor of
the Daily Worker.
Adult and young workers and in
tellectualS, Negro and white, they
pledged themselves to an unremit-
ting fight, under the leadership of
the International Labor Defense, to
rescue Herndon and the Scottsboro
boys from the clutches of that same
ruling class which callously snuffed
out the lives of Sacco and Van
zetti, fighters for the working-class
and for the past three years have
used every device and legal chican-
cry in a monStrous attempt to rush
the innocent Scottsboro boys to the
electric chair.
Stormy Welcome to Herndon
A stormy scene ensued as Hern-
don was brought into the hall on
the shoulders of several white and
Negro workers, with the whole
audience climbing onto the seats,
roaring the International and lust
lily cheering and applauding the
American Dimitroff, who courage
ously defied the lynch courts of the
South.
Herndon's arrival was preceded
by enthusiastic demonstrations as
1000 Negro and white workers who
earlier in the evening paraded
through the streets of the Bronx,
marched into the hall with sea OF
banners and slogans greeting Hern-
don, demanding his complete free
dom and the release of the Scots
boro boys, Tom Mooney, Ernst
Thaelman and all victims of the
decaying capitalist system and its
fascist terror. Members of the
Prospect Workers Club carried
giant banner, reading Revolution
airy Greetings. We Welcome You
Angelo Herndon." Another banner,
which also received tremendous ap-
plause, read, Against Imperialist
War. For the Defense of the Soviet
Union and the Chinese Soviets."
Presented by Bob Minor
Herndon, presented by Robert
Minor, a representative of the Cen
trail Committee OF the Communist
Party, told of the bestial torture to
which he was subjected in Jail in
an attempt to break his spirit and
to drive him insane, of the digging
up of an old slave law, passed
against the uprisings of the slaves,
to indict him in the move to crush
the revolutionary movement in
Georgia.
The growing unity of Southern
Negro and white workers had
thrown fear into the ruling class,
he said. The demonstration he led
of unemployed white and Negro
workers had forced the city of At
lanta to appropriate $4,000 for re-
lief. In revenge, the lynch rulers in
dicted him and demanded his
death. During his trial, the pros
ecution openly admitted that not
only Angelo Herndon was on trial,
but the revolutionary working class.
I'm South to Stay"
A frail, slim figure, Herndon
quietly hurled anew his defiance at
the Georgia ruling class. THE Com
munists are in the South to stay"
he said. They will organize and
unite the Negro and white workers
in joint struggle against their COM
mon oppreSsors, for the overthrow
of the brutal rule of the capitalists
and rich landlords, for class and
national liberation, for the creation
OF Soviet America. The Southern
lynchers are finding that the Negro
masses are no longer isolated
Angelo Herndon is not alone, but
with millions of workers, white and
black, against fascist reaction"
He described the Georgia chain
gang as a death trap for militant
Negro and white workers, and de-
clared only the mass fight had
rescued him from torture and
death. But even tonight, speaking
to you here, am not yet free" he
said. only your determination t.