The Omaha guide., 1945-11-03

-'NSO 1919 AA00A AAASo JOAAOo oO VII
its beginning. The Elder Lines are a subsidiary OF
Elder Dempster and Co., Ltd, which has a virtual
monopoly on all shipping to and from the West
African colonies. -
Two days after the strike began the Daily Comet
reorted that "armed soldiers with rifles were yes
terday reorted to be guarding the railway locomo-
tive yard at Ebute Meta. But all was quiet and
there we're no disturbances, as no workers appeared
on the scene On June 26 the Comet reOrted that
the miners In the gOvernment-OWned coal mines at
Enugu had joined the strike and a government com
munique admitted that the general strike was
spreading Throughout the provinces. AS a matter
Of fact, military personnel were forced to dig gray
eS in the cemeteries as even the grave diggers were
on strike.
Workers employed by numerous private enter
prises later joined in sympathy strikes and in other
cases gave support by refusing to serve as strike
breakers. Over 100000 workers were on strike be-
fore it ended.
First, the Government threatened to withhold
the wages of all strikers for the month Of June and
to cancel all their pensions, g~ratuities and contract
ual rights. When this intimidation failed, four
railroad union leaders were arrested on trumped-
up charges of participating in an illegal strike.
They were later released. Next, to lure the strik-
ers back to work, the Government issued a promise
that there would be no victimization of workers If
they returned Immediately. But the workers held
steady.
The Governor then publicly accused the strikers
of sabotaging the transport and communications
systems, derailing a train at Oshodi, and cutting
telephone lines connecting Lagos with the interior
Of the country. Ten strike leaders were arrested
on these frame-up charges.
The reply to these provOcations was given at a
huge mass arlly in Lagos where thousands of work
ers swore on their tribal oath 'by our mother Afri-
ca and the departed spirits of our ancestors not to
return to work until their demands were granted.
Their five demands were: pay the strikers for the
period during which they have been on strike;
guarantee their pensions and other rights; no VIC
limitation Of strikers; immediate release of the ar
rested strike leaders,; grant the original demande for
a 2/6 minimum wage.
The militancy of the workers was further demon
strated when Bankole, president Of the NTUC, adj
vised the strikers to return to work. This false
leader was Immediately repudiated and expelled
from office. He was replaced by "A. 0. Imoude,
former president of the Railway Workers Union,
who had been released from four years detention
and exile Oh June 2. Imoude had been imprisoned
on grounds that his labor activities i~nterfered with
the progress of the war. On his release he return
ed to Lagos riding on a white horse where ne was
received like a cOnquering hero and publicly ac-
claimed by thousands of workers.
The anti-imperialist movement pressed the bat
tie on still another front. In protest against the
reenactment of the rigid press censorship and sup
preston Of free opinion, the African Pilot and the
Daily Comet, the two leading Nigerian daily papers
appeared with their editorial pages blank. These
two papers were later suppressed because they
criticized those union leaders who advocated that
the strikers return to work. The European comm
unity threatened to lynch the editor, Azikiwe.
Azikiwe cabled to labor, Negro and progressive
organizations in the United States and Great Brit
ain for aid on his behalf. In response to his APP
peal cablegrams of rotest were sent to the British
Colonial Office and the Governor of Nigeria by
James R. Cannon, national secretary of the Social
ist Workers Party, Walter White for the NAACP,
and R. J. Thomas president Of the CIO. United
Automobile Workers.
In defense of the actions Of Governor Richards,
the Colonial Office in London issued a statement
that the Secretary Of State for Colonies lis salts
fled that the measures taken by the Nigerian gov
eminent to combat the rise in the cost Of living are
the best possible under the circumstances. Any
increase in the cost of living allowance would not
only be operated to the detriment of the wage
earners themselves, but would result in the deter
ioratiOn of the general economic situation
While the British Government was trying to
break the strike, significant demonstrations Of sol
idarity were held in England. In London over
1000 Africans and other colonial seamen, war plant
workers and students held a mass rally in supper
Of Nigerian labor and collected about $4,000 to aid
in feeding the wives and children of the strikers.
Sixty kilograms were sent to world trade union or
CARNATIONS and unions in America, India and the
West Indies by the Pan-African Federation seek
ing support for the Nigerian workers. A similar
mass meeting held in Manchester collected over
$500 for the strike relief fund. r-reE