The Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1931-1952, 1937-01-29
lcontlnuad from Paga one

dictionary program Of the Repub-
lican Party and the demands of
the Negro people President Roo
sevelt performed like a man on a
tight rope, swaying from one side
to the other And following the
election, Roosevelt, unless he is
| checked, will lean as far away
from the issues Of the Negro peo-
pie as possible. Although Negroes
fought for their demands (Which
everybody knows cannot be fully
realized through the Democratic
Party and helped to pile up a
landslide against reaction, it would
be a mistake to think that Roose-
welt was given a blank check. The
Negro was cautious, and fearful
of Roosevelt's allegiance to the re-
dictionary politicians of the South.
The Negroes vote was of no
small consideration; they were
wooed by both sides. They faced
complicated situation; a collaps-
ing two-party system, the hide
bound traditions of Republicanism
an dthe emergence of new po-
litical movement which has alrea-
dy taken organized form in many
sections OF the country. One must
not underestimate these factors.
In the past the interests of the
various financial groups were eff
fectively obscured within the two
party structure and the Negro was
trapped into supporting his worst
enemies. The situation was made
more tragic because of the leader
ship Of the old line Negro politi-
clans who understood nothing a.
bout the capitalist divisions within
the limits of the two-party system,
and cared nothing about the pos
sible forces that had common in
terests with the Negro.
One example will make this We
ny clear. During the election cam
paign. Perry Howard, Negro Re-
publican leader. delivered an adj
dress at Omaha, Neb., in which he
declared: The preponderance of
intelligence is in the Republican
| Party. Capital is in the Repub-
| lican Party. The Democratic Par
| ty is the poor mans parry The
blind cannot lead the blind"
It would be going too far to
honor Mr.. Towards attack by call
ing it Islander against the great
working class. nor is it merely de-
magogy; it is pure ignorance; it
was a complete sell-out. He re
ceived 5000 per week plus expens-
es during the campaign"
Breaking T4oo-Paty System
| But the two-party system didn't
prove an insurmountable obstacle
to the colored voter n1936. What
was the character of the two-party
system? Earl Browder, presiden-
tial candidate of the Communist
Party, has described it with great
clearness:
For generations the two-par-
| ty system of American capital
ism was based upon regional
ism that roughly corresponded
to basic economic groups These
were the industrial banking
North, the cotton-tobacco South,
the wheat-dairy-live stock-min-
ing West. The party struggle
was largely between the bour-
geoisie of these three regions
for their special interests. They
brought forward such issues in
addition as were considered ne
cessary to undermine the mass
following of the rival group, or
to whip up their own supporters
to greater enthusiasm. With
Republicans as the party of
Northern capitalism, and Demo-
Ctdlo that VI Tic SpCC1dl dS IdI-
ianism of the South, the basic
problem of their conflict was al
ways which of them would win
the allegiance of the West This
regionalism was accentuated by
the federal system of govern
mental structure, with its 48
sovereign states"
The Negro people broke through
this superstructure They made a
decisive swing away from the Re-
publican Party; in some parts of
the South they voted on the Demo-
cratic ticket; they acted generally
on the basis of a system of issues
and in certain places took direct
part in the movement for a Farm
er Labor Party.
How was the colored voter APP
Seattle Fire Department, recog-
nized her as the most efficient
safety chairman of the State of
Washington. Besides her activi-
ties in the PIT. A., Mrs. Gibson
is interested in child welfare and