The Omaha guide., 1945-11-03
Released by Calvin's News Service

That the management Of Constitution Hall in
Washington is bigoted is self-evident. Its refusal
to permit the appearance there of Marian Anderson
in 1899, and its more recent discrimination against
the talented Hazel Scott, were offenses none but
bigOtS would be guilty of. Yet, when this is said,
not all is said. The policy which guides the man
agement is laid down by the very distant Daughters
OF the American Revolution, an organization motor
iously anti-liberal anti-intelligent and anti-labor,
not to say anti-fOreign, anti-Semitic and anti-NegrO
AS the late William Allen White pungently observ-
ed: "The OAR. has. .yanked the KuKluXKlan out
Of its own COW pastures and set it down In the
breakfast room Of respectability.'
The DAAR represents the female plutocratlc
viewpoint, and the more one examines this view
point, the more one is inclined to agree that, if not
more deadly, the female of the reactiOnary species
is equally deadly with the male. eIts literature
gives startling evidence Of the daughters y fear
and hatred of democracy and contempt for the
working class. In the 193435 handbook, "Nation-
al Defense through Patriotic Education, the OAR
after launching a savage attack on Socialism, re
corded the following terse and wistful description
of Fascism: !.
4. Spiritual interpretations essentially an eth
zeal concept.
so. Right of private property-Charter of La
bor-InterventiOn only when private initiative is
lacking.
70. Social responsibility-Class Distinction
Recognizes natural inequalities.
Il. State Supreme.
-"5. Opposition met by humiliation"
Doubtless. the more recent OAR. publications
are more cautiously phrased, but the fact that, In
1885, the OAR? believed Fascism to be an ''ethical
concept" spiritually betrays a state OF mind far
more sinister than mere bigotry. e
1t has ever been the fate of ruling classes that,
when their tenure as rulers is threatened, the blind
est, most bigoted and most ferocious elements a..
mong them dominate their class policies. 1t hap
pened when the imperihl power of the Romans be-
gan to crumble. Tt happened again when the sur
Gifted feudal class Of the Middle Ages felt their sys-
TEN quake under the repeated blows OF the rising
bourgeoisie. Indeed, in our own time we have seen
the rise to power of the most dissOlute and barbar-.
Gus capitalist elements in the Fascist nations as the
giant Labor showed signs of awakening.
The OAR is one of many groups in America rep
r~esenting the least enlightened and most ferocious
element of our own ruling class. It's policies, as
typified by the exclusion of Negro artists from Con-
~stitution Hall, may be futile and fatuOus. But, as
the fear-ridden, reactionary mind sees it, they are
vital policies if the prejudices and superstitions
which tend to keep the working class divided are to
be pefpetuated. To such a mind, the superstition
Of race inferiority is a pillar Of modern society and
an essential prop for class privilege.
The Marian AndersOns and Hazel SCOTS are hv-
ing rebukes to puryeyors Of the race inferiority su-.
perstition. Hence, the OARS mean and contempt
ible policy of denying the mthe use of Constitution
Hall.
Decent men and women from coast to coast are
hotly and righteously indignant over the grossly
discriminatory action of dthe halls management.
This is a wholesome reaction. 1t reveals that a