Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-07-23

PLAYING considerable ability
for unobtrusive political IN
trigue.
MADE SECRETARY
In 1880, James Ford was
appointed 10 the post of
secretary general of the In
ternational Comm ttee Of
Negro Workers. with head
quarters in Hamburg, selected
because of its excellent ship
ping connections with the
West Indies and the shores OF
Africa. Ford's office was
located in the building OF the
Hamburg International Club.
He was supplied with secret
quarters. monthly subsidy
from Moscow, and a young
assistant. who, incidentally
was also member of the
GPU. Negro agents from the
MOSCOW school we're dispatched
10 Britain. Jamaica, the
tinted States, and TO South
Africa.
James Fords organization
referred TO in short as the
Neg rkomitee - flourished.
Countless manifestoes, brooch
ures and a monthly magazine,
the Negro Worker came off
the Communist Party presses
in Hamburg, and found Their
81 way 10 all parts Of the world
inhabited by Negroes.
Since the contents Of the
Negro Worker" were very
inflammatory, the greater por-
ton of each edition had 10 he
struggled 10 its destinations
by the maritime couriers of
my Apparat. All agitation
and organization efforts OF
the Negerkomitee were di-
rected toward melting the
colonialS 10 strikes and re-
bellion, particularly in the
British possessions.
But the least active in these
Vaccinations was James Ford
himself. He was too much of
an intellectual 10 be a revolu-
uonary "activist."
END COMES
The end came suddenly. A
large batch of copies OF the
Negro Worker" had been
struggled 10 Durham and
Capetown. There was much
unrest and some violence
among the lockers in South
African ports. T he British
secret service traced the
seditious Negro Worker to
Hamburg.
The Colonial office in Lon
don lodged a protest with the
German government. accusing
it of sheltering instigators Of
uprisings in the British
Empire. A police raid on our
Hamburg headquarters
the result. James Ford rushed
out of the building jumped on
a bicycle, and attempted 10
speed away 10 safety. The at
tempt was futile.
In q north German town
like Hamburg. no Negro could
make himself more con-
Spicuous than by racing of on
A bicycle with policemen IN
pursuit. In Comintern service.
10 become conspicuous means
to become useless for con-
spirative work. Ford was
Summarily relieved of his in
ternauonal functions.
But LoSovsky saved Ford.
Ford packed his bags and
vanished. Another colleague,
one George Padmore. arrived
from Moscow 10 take charge
of the Negro committee After
short period of exile in
Moscow, Ford returned 10
America where the Com
munist press hailed him as
the great Negro leader
OF an altogether different
stripe from Ford was his
fellow countryman. George
Mink. also destined 10 be-
come special favorite of the
kremlin-in other and%fnore
perilous fields. He appeared.
in Germany in the latter part
of 1881, when | met him in
the ante chamber of Dimitrov'S
establishment, the Fuehrer
Verlag. in Berlin.
He was an unusual type Of
man, voting. dapper. with
slightly Jewish features and
full of watchful. cynical AFRO
gance. He was rather short,
but strongly built. His mouth
was small and cruel, his teeth
irregular, and his eyes, Of a
greenish-brown color, had a
faint wild animal CLINT.
Yet 10 an unCritical eye
Mink appeared as a monde
script mediocrity. On the Oc-
caSion of our meeting, he re-
ceived a considerable sum OF
money - several thousand
dellars - in American cur
rency for waterfront activities
in the United States. The
money was paid 10 him by
Fritz Heckert, Reichstag
deputy and treasurer Of the
Western Secretariat of the
Comintern.
GANGSTER FROM NEW YORI