Arizona sun., 1947-07-18
Fight Assl!
DEMOCRACY EXTF
ATRECENT NAACF
By Abner w. BERRY

Inc OOIH COllAC1C 1CAANN VI
the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People
which ended recently in Washing
ton was the largest and most sig
nificant in the organizations his
tory.
For five days IT'S delegates, rep
resenting 100000 members, worked
in the humid heat of summertime
Washington developing a program
for Negro rights and full democra-
CIV in America. And as they worked
to further democracy in America
they took steps to introduce a wider
inner-organizatio democracy as
we'll.
One delegate, speaking on the
rights of the national conference
as opposed to the national board of
directors, declared: "We are fight
ing for democracy in our country
and for a voice in the affairs OF
government, then why can't we
practice democracy in our own or
ganization ?" This was new voice
representative of the newly recruit
ed membership.
Texas and Virginia sent one
third of the total delegation and
other Southern States were we'll
represented.
RULES LIBERALIZED
From the opening nights meet
ing when the conference heard the
boards annual report read by DR..
Louis T. Wright, there was not a
lull in developments. The delegates
fought for, and won, greater repre-
sentation on conference commit
tees; they liberalized the rules so
as to allow for freer debate, and
headed off all attempts at red-bait-
ing.
Each days sessions were fully at
tended and the five mass meetings
one each night-overflowed the
Wesley AME Zion Church auditor
ium. There was no let up in the
heat, but neither was there let
down for the delegates.
The two most sought after 1ec-
lures were those of Mrs. Helen Ga
hagan Douglas (D-Cal) and DR.. w.
E. E. Du Bois. Mrs. Douglas spoke
an eloquent denunciation of the
S0th Congress, which she said "had
worked five months and turned the
clock back one hour in Washington
and had turned the country back a
generation"
Her plea for political action by
everyone was cheered, although the
boards report had cautioned the
association to retain a non-partisan
policy.
DR.. Du BoiS was not a scheduled
speaker but surprised the delegates
Thursday by stepping to the ros-
trum during a lull and delivering
the outstanding speech of the whole
conference.
The noted scholar, founder of
the NAACP, and who is affection
ately called "the grand old man"
by many of the board members,
dramatically challenged those who
defend the permanence of private
enterprise capitalism.
Poverty and racial hatred, he de-
clared, were being attacked by So
cialiSm. Peace without -colonialism
and poverty was the aim of the
United Nations, he asserted, and in
saying so no one should be mislead
or frightened by the privately own
ed press in its red-baiting, attacks
on Russia and the cry of "Com-
muniSt."
DISPUTED SENTENCE
When the conference heard the
reports of committees, and was
ready to put in its final approval
on the program to be adopted, a
lively and heated discussion ensued.
Some delegates took exception to
one sentence in the statement of
policy which read in part: &c. F..
the association rejects the attempts
of any organized clique, political
party or religious group to seize
control of the branches or national
office for the purpose of undermin-
ing the program to which the asso-
citation is dedicated"
Mrs. Juanita jackson Mitchell. a
former NAACP official who des-
cribed herself as Lincoln Repu b.
Continued on Page S.