the negroes in a soviet america

8/3/2019 The Negroes in a Soviet America

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booklet by offset from asimilar reprint made fromthe original, in 1945, by TheNational Economic Council.

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AMERICAN OPINIONBelmont, Massachusetts 02178


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F O R EW O R DTHE world is caught in the depths of a great crisis. Massesof people live on the brink of starvation. Discontent and un-rest are more widespread than ever before. Changes are takingplace in society and in ,government. Intensive preparations forwar and movements towards fascism are developing quickly.These are times of great changes and of quick transformations.

The old ideas, upon which generations of people have beenraised, are crumbling because life no longer justifies them. Newideas take their place. People in all walks of life are seeking newsolutions, an effective way out of present conditions.

What is the relation of the Negroes in the United States tothis rapidly changing world? They are now living through oneof the most trying times in their history. What is the way out?This question presents itself more sharply to the Negro massesthan to any other section of the population.

It is our purpose in this pamphlet to answer this question.We believe we express the minimum desires of the Negro

masses when we say that they want at least:1. A decent and secure livelihood;2. The rights of human beings;3. An equal, honorable and respected status in all public

and social life.Capitalism has not been able to provide these needs, and is

less and less able to do so. There are those who say that by re-forming capitalism it can be made to fill the needs of the masses.We will show why this is impossible.

There is only one real, effective way out for the masses. It isnot an easy one. But no basic change in society is easy. This wayleads to a Soviet America. This is the only realistic vision offreedom possible today. It must be achieved, it can be achieved,

How? We will first show the basis of Negro slavery in theUnited States today. We will then show how all events are pushingtowards another revolution in the United Stutes and what rolethe Negro people will play in this revolution. We will then tryto describe the tremendous vista of freedom and advance possiblein a Soviet America.

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TH E N EG RO ES.In a

S OV I ET A M ER IC A

b yJames W . Ford

andJames S. A llen

PUBLISHED BY WORKERS LIBRARY PUBLISHERSP. O. BOX 1"8, STA. D, NEW YORK CITY, JUNE, 193.5


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The Negroes in a Soviet AmericaBy JAMES W. FORD and JAMES S. ALLENI. THE NEGRO IN CAPITALIST AMERICA

BOOKERT. Washington once said: "No race that has anythingto contribute to the markets of the world is long in anydegree ostracized." He thought that capitalism would permit theNegro to develop business and manufacturing, and increase hillownership of land. In this way, he believed, the Negro couldachieve an important economic place in the capitalist world. Hiswhole philosophy was based upon this belief. "Agitation forsocial equality," he said, "would be extreme folly." Let eachNegro train himself in industrial pursuits or in business, hewa place for himself in capitalist America, and only then will hebe treated with respect, was his advice.

But what has this wisdom led to?Economic "Progress"

Let us first consider the question of landownership. Duringthe Civil War and immediately after, the Negroes thought thatthey would obtain the land-"forty acres and a mule." Butnothing of the kind happened. Only very slowly and with muchdifficulty was it possible for some to purchase land. By 1910only one-fourth of all Negro farmers owned some land, usuallyvery little, the poorest and most heavily mortgaged.

But for the last 25 years, capitalism has been taking eventhis land away from Negro farmers. In 1930 there were 40,000less Negro farm owners than in 1910. In ten years, between 1920and 1930, Negroes lost almost 2,000,000 acres of land. Howmuch they have lost in the last five years, no one knows. But itis certain that land is being taken away now from Negro ownersby banks, insurance companies, large landowners and othercreditors, much more rapidly than before.

On the other hand, the most brutal form of slavery in thecountry has been growing rapidly. The Negroes are the prin-cipal victims of this slavery. It is share-cropping and planta-

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tion tenancy. Everyone knows that when chattel slavery wasabolished the plantations remained. Most of the Negroes be-came share-croppers and tenants on these plantations, They wereactually prisoners, almost chattel slaves. Almost three-quartersof a century has passed since Emancipation. Has capitalism doneanything to- a-bolish this new=alavery?

On the contrary! The plantation country to this day is likea prison, a veritable hell to which 5,000,000 Negroes have beenconsigned without any prospect of immediate escape. In fact,the slavery has even increased. In the cotton plantation areaof the South, twenty-five years ago, 80 per cent of all the Negrofarmers were croppers and tenants. But in 1930 their numberhad grown to almost 84 per cent,

There are those who say that President Roosevelt and the"New Deal" are changing this situation. But it is clear to everyNegro in the plantation country that Roosevelt has been helpingonly the big planters. His policies have resulted in increased slavery.

When the crisis broke out in this country the large land-owners in the South found themselves in a quandary. Many of thebanks and credit merchants failed and those who remained re-fused to extend credit. Many of the small landowners, who livedfrom hand to mouth, were wiped out. From the beginning of thecrisis to March, 1933, over a half-million forced sales and fore-closures took place in the Southern states.

Roosevelt came to the rescue of the large landowners bypumping tremendous funds into the South, most of which wentto the modern slave-master - the plantation owner, In ninemonths alone the Farm Credit Administration advanced about$300,000,000 directly to the planters. In this way, Roosevelthelped to bolster up the plantation, on which millions of Negroesare enslaved. The Federal Government took over many of thedebts from private banks and insurance companies and is nowthe biggest holder of mortgages in the South. This means thatit now has a direct hand in maintaining the plantation slavery,that it is part owner, together with the big planter, of a vastprison country.

The second step taken by Roosevelt was to increase the profitsof the large landowners and the commission merchants by re-ducing acreage in the South. In 1933, while millions of peoplewere in need of clothing, we were faced with the astounding4


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picture of ripe cotton being plowed under by poorly clothed farmworkers. The croppers and tenants never saw the money whichthey were supposed to receive from the Government for this actof destruction. The plantation masters, the credit merchants,the bunkers, got the government checks. Thi- is what a !!overnment farm agent in Mississippi said:

"You know, the government in WashiJlj!tull caused 1110 ' a littletrouble here. By mistake they mailed some of the checks madeout to 'nigger' cruppers. They probably didn't know what theywere doing when they did it. Imagine giving a check to a 'nigger'cropper! Of course, I turned these checks over to the landlordsanyhow. They'll have to get the croppers to endorse them beforethey take them to the hank. But that won't be hard."Acreage was cur again in 19:-34 under the Bankhead Bill. Itis being cut again in 19J5 as a result of a "democratic" election

in which the plantation owners forced the Negro croppers andtenants to vote for red uction,

This is not only a decimation of crops; it is also a decimationo hundreds of thousands of human beings. Whole tenant fam-ilies are being SPilt "down the road" by the planters, or are beingpermitted to eke out a miserable existence in their cabins doingforced labor for the government or the planter in return for somecrumbs called relief. These landless and workless farm familiesare being "kept on hand" to be forced to work at plowing, chop.ping or cotton picking at starvation wages. Wages on most plan.tations are now between 25 and 5U cents a day.

Roosevelt's policies have had the effect of increasing theslavery of millions of Negro toilers in the South. Cotton, theneed of millions of unclothed, a necessity of mankind, has beenturned into the mark of Negro slavery by capitalism.

The Promise of the CityIt seemed to many people, especially during the World Warand the years immediately following, that city life and industry

would offer a means of escape from slavery 011 the land.The city and its industry had been practically forbidden ter-

ritory for Negroes up to the W orld War. In the first place, theplantation masters and government agencies of the Black Beltkept the Negroes chained to the land and would not permit themto leave. Even when industry began to develop in the South, thefactory gates remained closed to Negro workers. Hope was5


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dimmed when the textile industry, which grew so rapidly in theSouth, made it clear that it would not hire Negroes. The placeof the Negro, it was said, was on the plantation; their slavelabor WII8 needed there. Even to this day, the textile mills do nothave any Negro workers at the machines.But during the World War a great shortage of labor existedin industry. Then only did the capitalists make an energetic driveto obtain Negro labor.Who does not remember the great hope of the exodus? Itwas compared to the Emancipation Act. The South was the landof the Pharaohs, the North "the Land of Promise". The Red Sea ofcapitalism was opening up to permit the Negroes to pass. Butthe exodus was already petering out in 1923. Employers hadmore labor than they needed. The Red Sea again flowed backinto its normal course.Almost twenty years have gone by since the mass migrationstarted. Years before, Negroes, in smaller numbers, had beenengaged in industrial pursuits. Yet it is a well-known fact thatNegro workers have not been permitted to advance to the higher-paying jobs. They have been forced to the lowest status of allindustrial workers, to the unskilled, heavy-laboring jobs. Today,

no more than 10 per cent of all the Negro workers have heldskilled or semi-skilled jobs. It is not because they cannot beskilled workers. Many of them are. It was a common occurrencein the South, even before the present crisis, to find graduates ofTuskegee Institute, highly trained mechanics and teachers, working as bell-boys in the hotels. But capitalism has not given thesame opportunities to the Negroes for advancement and train-ing as it had given to white workers. The white workers, it istrue, are wage-slavea under capitalism. They must sell theirlabor to an employer in order to live. They, also, are exploited.But it is clear to everybody that the Negro wage-worker is exploitedeven more. He is held back to the lowest level of the wage-work-ers, he ispushed back by capitalism every time he advances.Under President Roosevelt's "New Deal" this state of affairshas been officially recognized and given a legal status. The In -dWltrial Codes have placed the official stamp of the FederalGovernment upon the double standard. The differential wageeetablished by these Codes said in effect that the wages of Negroworkers must remain lower than those of white workers. One

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example will show how this works. The Code for the lumber in-dustry placed the minimum wage for the North at 421/2 centsan hour, and for the South, where most of the Iumber workersare Negroes, at 24 cents an hour.

Now capitalism is trying to evict the Negro work~ m-dustry for good. Today there is an army of at least 15,000,000unemployed in the United .States. Among the Negro workers un-employment is many times greater than among white workers. Thenumber of Negroes in families on relief increased from 2,117,000in October, 1933, to 3,500,000 in January, 1935. In many placeseven jobs which were always held by Negroes are being given towhite workers at the same or even lower wages.

Nor has the Negro fared any better in the professions. Hereagain capitalism has held back with a heavy hand all efforts atadvancement. In the whole country there are only 6,781 Negrophysicians, lawyers and dentists. They also have been victims ofsegregation and discrimination, suffering from inadequate Iacil-ities in the way of training and practice, and excluded from whiteinstitutions. Many of them are starving today. For a populationof 12,000,000 Negroes there are only 50,000 Negro teachers,most of whom are not permitted to teach in white schools. Theyearly salary of most of these teachers does not exceed $300.

Push ahead in business, was another advice of Booker T.Washington. One is even met with this advice on all sides today.But even the development of a large Negro middle class hasproven to be impossible under capitalism. In the whole countrytoday, there are only about 25,000 retail stores operated byNegro proprietors. Most of these are small, overnight, "peddler"affairs. Why? Not because the Negro is not capable, but becausebig business has the monopoly of commerce and trade. Segrega-tion forces the Negro retailer to sell only in Negro neighborhoods.He has a poor clientele. He has no chance against the chainstore. Today, many small business men are being wiped out.

A small, well-to-do class, however, has developed among theNegro people. The Negroes also have a millionaire or two. Butthis class has developed only at the expense of the rest of theNegro community. It gathers for itself a goodly share of theprofits arising from the exploitation of the Negro masses. It istrue that capitalism has not permitted the existence of any largeNegro-owned industrial enterprises. The white ruling class is

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the direct exploiter of the Negro masses on the plantations and inindustry. But the Negro upper class has found another way toexploit the Negro masses.

It makes its profits ], y takil1;.( urlvuntugc of s"1~rr.gatillll andthe i.leus of '\Ulite superio rity "! If one examines a list-'lf_J_hewealthiest N(~~l'O(,she will find that many of them have madethei r fortunes by speculating ill real estate in the segregated sec-tions of large cities and by extructing extremely high n-nts fromtheir Ne~rJ1 "'nallt" f Walt Terry, the Nf'gro mi l linuairc ; JohnE. Nail, Oscar Def'riest, etc.). Others have built up their wealthin till! cosmetic business by commercializing tflf' idea uf "whileheauty" (Madame C. J. Walker, ;\Irs. Annic M. Turnhee, AnthonyOverton, etc.I. Still others have made their wealth in the ill-surance and banking business. closely connected with real estatespeculation and landlordism (Anthony Overton, C. C. Spaulding,etc.}. A number of Negro physicians and ministers have accum-ulated small Iortum-s, not in their practice but in real estate,These people live 1111 the body of the segregated Negro com-munity. They are ill favor of segregation and oppose all effortslu wipe out 5e~n&atioll. for it would mean destrnj ing the basis oftheir wealth.

It is clear, then, that r-upitalism has hindered the economicprogress of the Negro people. With the exception of the smalllayer of parasites, the Negro people are retarded, held down,pushed down to the lowest level. This is economic pI'O~J:DSSdur-inl! rs years of capitalist freedom!

The "Stigma of Race""That thing over there !'These were the words with which Thomus Knight, Jr., chiefprosecutor in the Sr-ottsboro Case, referred II I Hevwood Patterson

during the second trial at Decatur, Alabama.These words express the contemptuous and insulting attitude

towards Negroes which capitalism breathes. "Keep the Negroin his place"-this is the watchword of the modern slave driver.Social ostracism, persecution, segregati Oil, insult have taken theplace of the slaveowner's paternalism and of Simon Legree's whip.

The facts of Jim-Crowism, lynching, discrimination are sogenerally known and are so deeply branded ill the heart of theNegro masses that we need not go into detail here. Suffice it to

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say that the rulers of this country, especially and most openly inthe South, have made the Negro a social outcast, have treatedhim not like a human being but like cattle. They have gone tothe greatest pains to brand the Negroes with the mark of non-humans. On street cars, trains, in railroad stations and placesof amusement, on drinking fountains, the ruling class of theSouth has broadcast to the world: "Only whites here-onlyNegroes there!" In the North they do not use signs, but thatis the only difference.

There are written laws and there are unwritten laws. Thethree most important written laws with regard to Negroes arethe 13th, Hth and 15th Amendments to the Constitution ofthe United States. These are supposed to guarantee to .everyNegro the full rights of citizenship and equality under the law.But these are only decorations on the Constitution. Negroes arenot permitted to serve on juries in the South. A Negro voter in theSouth is either an object of a lynching party or a highly privilegedcharacter. Although such practices are supposed to be unconstitu-tional, has the Federal government, since the period immediatelyafter the Civil War, ever done anything about it? These writtenlaws are not enforced. But the written laws in 15 states segregat-ing Negroes on public conveyances are very strictly enforced.

There is one unwritten law which is also very severely en-forced. That is the law that lynchers of Negroes are not to bepunished.

What is the reason for this very severe persecution of theNegro masses? It is not to be found in any "natural hatred"of whites for Negroes. These acts of hatred and of persecutionare caused by capitalism.

First: The ruling class must use severe measures of oppressionand persecution in order to keep the Negro peon on the planta-tion, in order to maintain that special slavery of the South. Thecapitalists also make use of the same measures to force theNegro to take the lowest place in industry.

Second: The whole idea of the "superiority of the white race"and the practices of Jim-Crow are used to effect a severe separa-tion of the white masses from the Negroes. Race prejudice grewout of the old chattel slave system. Then the slaveowners wereafraid of a union of the oppressed "poor whites" with the Negroslaves. Capitalism has taken over this prejudice and uses it for

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the same purpose. This will be clear when one compares theoppression of the Negroes and of the Filipinos by American im-perialism. The Filipinos are also an oppressed people. Yetthere is not as much prejudice in the United States against Fili-pinos as against Negroes. The reason is that about 5,000 milesof ocean prevent the Filipino masses from carrying on daily..struggles in immediate contact with the American masses. On theother hand, the whites and Negroes come into daily and constantcontact in the United States, often exploited by the same bossor planter and engaging in common struggles for their dailyneeds. The ruling class has therefore used extreme and severemethods to keep them apart.Let us now consider bri('Ay education and health.

The public school system is supposed to be open to all. Weshould remember that the Negroes were principally responsiblefor starting a system of free public education in the South im-mediately after the Civil War. The first superintendents of thepublic school system in many Southern states were Negroes.

Today, the Negro is the outcast of the public school system.One million Negro children of school age are not in school atall. More than a third of the Negro pupils never get beyondthe first grade and three-fourths never advance beyond thefourth. In many sections of the plantation country schools areopen only for two or three months during the year.

More than half the population of Mississippi is Negro. Yetthe state spends only 85.45 a year for the education of the Negrochild as compared with 845.34 for a white pupil. In one countyin Alabama it was $.'17 per white child ami $1.5l per Negro.

Today, many of the Negro schools have been closed downfor lack of funds. Capitalism is sacrificing the education of mil-lions of children.

The high disease and death rates among the Negro peoplereveal the severity of capitalist exploitation. In Milwaukee, forinstance, the death rate from tuberculosis among Negroes waseight times as great as among whites; in Harlem three times asgreat as compared with New York City as a whole. Deaths fromheart disease are twice as great among Negroes as among whites.In Manhattan, where the Negroes constitute only 12 per cent ofthe total population, almost one-fourth of all infant deathsoccurred among Negroes.

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This high death and disease rate is due to the hard exploita-tion of Negroes, to lack of hospitals and of care, to the crowdingof the segregated sections,

In view of these appalling facts, knowing all the bitter de-tails of our daily existence, is there any reason why we shouldpermit capitalism to continue?

The Reformers and the "Race Criers"There are still those who would have the Negro masses be-

lieve that capitalism can do better than it has in the past Thesepeople range from out-and-out reactionaries to those who coverreactionary policies with radical drapings. Let us see what theyhave to say as to the way out.

The Bootstrap LiftersThere are still many followers of Booker T. Washington to-day whowould have us lift ourselves up by our bootstraps, when

many of us do not even have boots.But we have already seen, from 75 years of experience, that

capitalism haa permitted only very few to rise-at the expenseof the rest of the people. Today, when the crisis is denying mil-lions even the barest necessities of life, only a quack or an out-and-out reactionary can give such counsel.

But this kind of agitation is still very strong. Pick up almostany Negro newspaper, listen to many of the "race leaders" andyou will be advised to help build Negro business. This willsolve all our problems, we are told. The executive secretary ofthe National Negro Business League tells us: "Business pointsthe way to a breakdown of the barriers and handicaps whichretard Negro progress." He, and many others, call upon theNegro masses to patronize Negro business, as the most effectivemeans to protect themselves against persecution.

How futile, how bankrupt is this advice! Everywhere thecapitalists are cutting down production, have closed factories,reduced crops_The big monopolies and trusts are getting greatercontrol of manufacturing and of the market. Small businessmeneverywhere are going bankrupt. Even the largest Negro banksand insurance companies, the pride of the followers of Washing-ton, have crashed: the two largest Negro banks, the Binga Stateand the Douglass National; the "Capstone of Negw business"-the National Benefit Life Insurance Company of Washington.11


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and others. The P. & H. Taxi Corporation of Harlem. employing750 workers, saw its last days during the crisis.The capitalist road of advance is now out of the question.

The Negro upper class uses this argument in an attempt to winthe Negro market. It has nothing in common with the real in-tNe-sts-of-the-Ne-gro-masses.

The Ballot and the D rawing RoomIn contrast to Booker T. Washington and his followers there

arose the group of middle-class reformers. They were not andare not today entirely opposed to Washington's philosophy. Wehave in mind especially the founders and present-day leaders ofsuch organizations as the National Association for the Advance-ment of Colored People and the Urban League.

We say they are not entirely opposed to Washington andthe Tuskegee idea for they only objected to Washington's counselthat it would be extreme folly to agitate for social equality.They, however, accepted the basic part of the bootstrap lifters'program; they accepted capitalism. On the basis of capitalism,it seems to them, it is still possible to make economic headway.

The N.A.A.C.P. began on a wave of resentment and angeragainst Booker T. Washington's betrayal of the fight for equality.Because, like Washington, the N.A.A.C.P. accepted capitalism, itreceived the suppert of members of the white ruling class whobelieved in reform. The basic idea of the reformers is that it ispossible to change capitalism for the better, that within the limitsof the present system, by peaceful and gradual methods, it willbe possible to do away with the oppression of the Negro people.But actual events have shown these people to be completelywrong. Conditions are actually growing much worse under cap-italism. The extreme exploitation of the Negro workers andfarmers is not being done away with; on the contrary, it is b!'ill?increased. Acts of violence against Negroes ha v e multiplied.The methods of the N.A.A.C.P. have proved to b e treacherous.The leaders of the organization are afraid to arouse mass move-ments. They prefer to meet representatives of the ruling class inthe drawing room and make compromises with them. Two recentcases show this plainly.

In the Crawford case, where the Negro defendant was chargedwith the murder of a white farm family in Virginia, the N.A.A.C.P. made an agreement with the prosecution as a result of

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which Crawford was sent to prison for [ife, It turned out thatDean Houston of Howard University. who acted as defense law-yer for the N.A.A.C.P . did not even try to prove the innocence ofCrawford, although there was plenty of evidence to show this.The case was carried on quietly, no mass protest was permitted,the sentence was not even appealed.

From the very beginning of the famous Scottsboro Case theN.A.A.C.P. attempted to wrest the case from the hands of themass defense movement. They waged a bitter struggle againstthe International Labor Defense and the Communists. Why? Be-cause they were afraid of the mass movement which had beenaroused. They wanted to have quiet sessions with the Alabamalynchers, fix up the case behind the scenes, This would havemeant sacrificing the lives of some of the nine Scottsboro boysand prison terms for the rest. The I.L.D., however, fought theAlabama lynch courts and mobs, made the case known aroundthe world, roused millions of people. They fought not only forthe lizes of the boys but also for the right of Negroes to serveon juries in the South and other rights of Negroes. As a resultof this method of fighting, the lives of the boys have beensnatched from the electric chair four times.

One of the principal lessons to be gained from the fight forthe Scottsboro boys is this: It is possible to obtain oertain vic-tories from the ruling class, but not by cringing, Uncle Tom orJudas methods. The only way such victories can be obtained isby rousing and organizing the masses, by refusing to accept sops.

The reformers have still another idea. They have a greatreverence for the ballot, they think it can produce wonders. Theleaders of the Socialist Party still cling to this old fairy-tale.The workers. they say, can elect themselves into power and thenpeacefully bring about a change in capitalism. But what if thecapitalists refuse to abdicate? Thev reply: "We'll see then."

The miracle of the ballot! If the ballot can do all they sayit can how are the Negroes going to use it when 4,000,000 Ne-groes, eligible to vote, are disfranchised? Whpn two out of threeNegro eligible voters are not even permitted into a voting booth?

We say that Negroes must have this right to vote, as well asthe other rights of citizenship. We must fight for these rights.We say that the workers and the oppressed masses should usethe ballot, the right of free speech and assembly, to elect their13


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own representatives, and create their own organizations. We fightagainst every effort to take these rights away.But at the same time we emphasize that capitalism cannot

be done away with by the ballot. We believe in using electionsand our rep-resentatives in elected bodies to raIl the ~p~against capitalism. As long as capitalism permits the rights ofcitizenship, the working class should use these rights againstthe capitalists. But anyone who tells you to depend upon theballot and civil riehts for your (]rfen!'t' is betraying you. For, ashas happened in Gf'rmany, in Italy and in Austria, the capitaliststake these rights away, forbid the right of free press, free assem-blage, free speech and the vote. And what then? Does not theruling class in the United States more and more deny the rightsof citizenship to workers, have they not ahyays denied these rightsto Negroes?

The "Race Criers": Black PatriotismDr. W. E. B. DuBois, former editor of The Crisis who recently

departed from the N.A.A.C.P., is today the clearest and foremostexponent of Black Patriotism and race solidarity. We will exam-ine his arguments one by one, for they are the most completeand best arguments for this point of view. We will then showhow dangerous such ideas are to the struggle for Negro freedom.First argument: The Negro upper class, says Dr. Dubois, isnot an exploiter of Negro labor.We have already shown that this is not true. It is correctthat there are very few Negro manufacturers or large landownerswho hire labor and exploit Negro workers directly. But thereis a Negro upper class which lives by means of segregation, Itis in the interest of this class to defend segregation, or the verybasis of Negro business would be wiped out. On the other hand,segregation is the worst feature of the oppression of the Negromasses. It is in the best interests of these masses to wipe outsegregation. The interests of the masses and of the Negro upperclass clash. In order to obtain real equality, which means doingaway with segregation, it is necessary to fight not only againstthe white ruling class but against the Negro upper class as well.

Furthermore. it is clear that the interests of the Negro upperclass are the same as those of the white ruling class. Bothclasses wish to maintain segregation, and with it, the basis ofSegro oppression. This unity of interest is shown clearly in

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action. On many occasions we have seen the so-called "respectableleaders of the race" openly cooperating with the ruling class.Second argument: The members of the Negro upper class,says Dr. DuBois, "bear the brunt of color prejudice because theyexpress in word and work the aspirations of all black folk foremancipation." He goes on to claim the Negro upper class asthe leader of the Negro people towards a new future.

We know that a class which lives from crumbs off the tableof American big business, of the Rockefellers and the Fords, whichaccepts capitalism as the basis for its own existence, can notlead a strenuous and militant struggle for Negro liberation. ButDuBois tries to dress this cringy warrior in shining armor, forhe fears another class. He fears the working class.

The workers as a class are the only consistently revolutionaryclass in present-day society. If properly organized and led, theycan stop the wheels of industry. They are like an army: bigindustry has thrown the workers together, in large disciplinedmasses. They organize in unions to fight for better conditions.To win better conditions they must fight against the capitalists.This struggle develops into a struggle against capitalism itself.The workers are the only class with the power to overthrowcapitalism and build a new society. They lead the rest of theexploited population to this goal.

It has been one of the most inspiring facts of recent historyin the United States, that the white workers have begun to over-come white prejudices and lead in the struggle for Negro rights.This is in part due to the economic crisis. As they have losttheir jobs, as their conditions have grown steadily worse, theyhave seen the necessity of uniting with their fellow black workersagainst the employers. But it is also because of the fight of theCommunists against prejudice and for working class solidarityand Negro rights. In the last six years, since 1929, the followinghighly significant events have occurred:

A share-croppers' union, under Communist leadership, hasbeen organized in Alabama and other Southern states, with amembership, at the time of writing, of close to 10,000 members.This is the first time that such a large and fighting union ofshare-croppers has been able to exist. to lead struggles against theplantation masters and to continue to grow.

The Communist Party has been organizing white and Negro15


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workers in the South. As a result, the feeling for solidarity hasgrown even in the American Federation of Labor Unions in theSouth, as, for instance, in the United Mine Workers of Americain the Birmingham region.- Under the-leadership of the Communists, a mighty strugglefor Negro rights is being waged in the South. The outstandingexample of this is the Scottsboro Case.In the North, largely as a result of Communist policy and

agitation, larger and larger numbers of Negro workers are part-icipating in the labor movement. There is a growing solidarityof white and Negro workers in the fight for unemployment in-surance and relief and in the struggles of the trade unions.This movement of solidarity and of unity has also been joinedby Negro intellectuals, teachers, doctors and other professionals,who have left the reformers and understood the need of a revo-lutionary struggle against capitalism.Dr. DuBois expresses the fear of the Negro upper class forthis movement. He is in favor of "race" solidarity and opposesthe solidarity of white and Negro labor, which he tries to prevent.Third argument: He uses an old weapon of the white rulingclass. He tries to turn the anger and resentment of the Negromasses not against the white capitalists and the Negro UncleToms, but against the white workers. The exploitation of theNegro workers, in Dr. DuBois' own words, "comes not from theblack capitalistic class but from the white capitalists and eqoollyfrom the white proletariat". He goes even further .. charging thewhite workers with causing the "lowest and most fatal degree"of the suffering of Negro labor.The prejudice of the white workers, according to Dr. DuBois,is inborn and cannot be changed. The white workers cannot betrusted. They are the enemies of the Negro masses. To believeDr. DuBois means to give up all hope of liberation.It cannot be denied that race prejudice exists among large

sections of the white workers. On many occasions, white workershave participated in acts of discrimination against Negroes. But,any sensible person will ask, what is the carue of this prejudice?Is it instinctive and unchangeable?We have already seen that race prejudice arises like a stenchfrom the plantation system and from capitalist exploitation. Wehave seen that capitalism has fostered this prejudice in order to


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maintain the oppression of the l'if'IlTO masses and prevent theunity of the white worker" with tlu-m, But we havr- also seen thatthis prej udice begins to fanf' into the background a~ the "hilt,workers unite with the Negroes in a struggle to obtain their need!'.

We should also ask: Who are the real carriers of prejudicein the labor movement? AmI we must answer: That section ofthe labor movement whic h inr- lude -, tIlt' more skilled, the better.off sections of the workers who have ber-n misled by the falseand temporary "prosperity" and by til!' top II',ulrrship of theAmerican Federation of Labor. This section of the workers hadbeen Iulled to sleep by the dream of perpr-t 1 I C 1 I well-being andthe treacherous promise" of peace made b~ William Green, Mat-thew WnlL and their cohorts.

But prejudice depends so much upon the conditions underwhich we live, that even this section of the workers influenced bythe Grpf'n crowd is also chanuing its attitude towards the Negroworker!'. The reason for this is that these "aristocrats of lahor"are losing their privileged pos it ion because of the economiccrisis. \lal1\' skilled worker" haw hf'f'n thrown out of employ.ment, their wagl's haw been reduced. their general conditionsare worst'. They, too, urr: }wing f(IITt'd to fi~ht in orrler to live,They begin to realize' that tlH' gn'at mass of unorgnnized workers,including the '{'grot's, must be organized into the unions in orderto defend themselves against the attacks of the employers. Proof(I f this is the great wave of trude union organization ann strikeswhich began to sweep the country in 19:n.

The Southern workers, wh forlll lilt' most backward sectionof the Anu-r iean workinu ('1:."". ha\t~ bf'I'1I for geIlcl"atioll~ mostper-istenth inculcated with ran' pH'judi!'!'. Now, in the COU1":'I'ofa growing wave of strll;!1-!I" a,!!ain,,1 tlu-i rexplo iters they are d e - v e l -oping- solitl.rrity with Ih!' Nq,ro \\ III'kl'l":;. \Ion' than anyone else,we rcal izt- the dillif'uh\ IIf 11\ l'l"f '10 III ill),!: prr-judirr- amo"l~ theseworkers. Thr-v han' 111 '1 ' 11 f,'d it ,.illt't, illfan('~. But til!' fight forbread and lift' is ~tr'J111-!er th.m Jll'tjllflit't'. Lt'I us ill ustrnte thi,.:.

In an industrial c itv IIf th e South there wus a group of abouta dozen whitt- workers. most of thr-m unemploved molders, whohecarm- illtl'l''stl'l} ill Ill('" Communist I'urtv. The,' would meet. .once a \\ .... k 10 di-cuss lite situut iou with a Communist organizer.From thr-ir "\\"11 hitter experir-nce thl'\ knew and agrccd that itwas nf"'I';;;;ar~ 10 organizl' togr'1hf'r \Iith the \tgro workers in

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the same unions. For during the great railway shopmen's strikein 1922 their union had been smashed by the employers simplybecause the union had refused admittance to the molder's helpers,who were l\cgrot's. When the strike broke cut, many of the Negroworkers saw no reason for helping the white workers who had-refused-t


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The white workers were a little taken aback. They thoughtit was driving things a little too far, although they could notdeny the logic of this argument. When in the local electioncampaign the Communist Party ran a Negro worker as candidatefor Mayor, these white molders refused to meet with the Corn-munist organizer. But their attitude changed quickly enough.Shortly after, the city cut down on relief. The UnemploymentCouncil and the Communist Party called for a demonstration ofprotest. Fully five thousand workers, both whites and Negroes,

responded. But the police broke up the demonstration imme-diately, beating up one of the speakers and arresting three. Theworkers were incensed. Large numbers came to the UnemploymentCouncil hal] which could seat no more than 100 persons. On thelong wooden benches were seated white and Negro workers sideby side, talking excitedly about their experiences, and cursingin common terms the police and the city administration. Andtalking just as excitedly with a group of Negro workers weresome of these white molders whom it had been so hard to con-vince. The actual facts of life, their common experiences withthe Negro workers, had brought them together.This is the way working class solidarity is built. Prejudicemay remam, but it becomes less important, is superseded by the

needs of the daily struggle. The white workers will overcome thehindrance of prejudice, because they must do so in order to live.Now, Dr. DuBois, in rousing the enmity of the Negroes againstthe white workers, as do other upholders of "race solidarity",helps to prevent this unity. He takes advantage of the distrustof whites which has been imbedded in the hearts of the Negroesby long years of oppression. He fans and builds this distrust.The conclusion: And what is the solution proposed by Dr.DuBois?"The only thing that we not only can, but must do, is volun-tarily and insistently to organize our economic and social power,no matter how much segregation is involved."Now if this is not an outspoken defense and support of seg-regation, we do not know what is. Negro salva . ..;-~l is to come-through segregation, the watchword of the parasites among theNegro people!We have not much to add about the new Garveyites, aboutthe movement led by the "Black Hitler" Sufi, the exponents of19


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the 49th State and other similar race movements. They are allbased on the same ideas expressed so well by Dr. DuBois. Whe-ther it be a return to Africa or the creation of a 49th state forNegroes or some other such Utopian, unrealizeable schemes,these provide no way out for the Negro masses. These plansassume support and cooperation of the white ruling class. Theydistract the Negro masses from effective struggle against Amer-ican imperialism. They lead deeper into the dangerous net ofrace segregation, which satisfies only the present interests of theNegro upper class and the ruling class of the country.

These movements towards race segregation have recently hada new lease. on life. They have grown as a result of the crisiswhich has ruined many Negro middle class people, who are des-perately seeking a way out. The increased persecution and terroragainst the Negroes has fanned this movement. Many participatebecause they honestly believe that this is the way out.

Among the new movements of this character are those whichaim to obtain "jobs for Negroes". Among these are the Costinimovement in Baltimore. the Negro Alliance in Washington, D.C.,and the Sufi movement in Harlem. These movements confinetheir activities to individual establishments ill the Negro com-munities. So small and few are these business houses, that it isclear that they could only provide a limited number of jobs forNegro workers and would in no way help solve the problem ofmass unemployment. These movements, then, have the effectof hindering the struggle for unemployment insurance for allworkers and for adequate relief. They shunt this struggle intoa closed alley.

But just as dangerous to the real interests of the Negro massesis the effect of this movement in strengthening separation of thewhite and Negro workers. For the leaders advocate the replace-ment of white workers employed in Negro neighborhoods. Inthis way they direct the resentment of the Negro workers notagainst the ruling c1a:ss but against the white workers. Instead weshould direct all our efforts towards the organization of the Negroworkers together with the white, the opening of the doors of allunions to Negroes, equal opportunities for jobs in while as wellas in Negro neighborhoods, and to obtaining adequate insurancefor the unemployed from the Federal Government.

Another movement especially dangerous at this time is the20


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Pacific Movement of the Eastern World, which has as its mainslogan: "United Front of Darker Races L'nder Leadership ofJapan." The agents of the Japanese ruling class have organizedand sponsored this movement in the L'nited States. Their purposeis to try to create difficulties for the ruling class of America illcase of a war between Japan and the United States. Such a waris now very possihle-a war between two brigands for the spoilsand riches of the East. But the Japanese ruling class is no morea friend of the Ncgro than is the rul ing cIass of the Vn ited States.The Japanese capitalists have not hesitated to subdue and ruleKorea with an iron hand although the Koreans are a coloredpeople. They have made all haste to grab Manchuria and othersections of Northern China. They carryon a relentless waragainst the Chinese people. They are now intriguing even inAfrica and an' penetrating the Philippine Islands with the purpose of seizing territory there also. At the same tim!', the Japane-e ruling class is carrying on the most ruthless kind of ter-ror against. he toiling masses of Japan, suppressing trade uuionsand peasants' organizations, smashing strikes. etc,

In this struggle between the Japanese and American rulingclass for the division of the East and for the right to exploitadditional masses of toilers, we side with neither, We wish forthe defeat both of the Japanese and of the American ruling class.We wish to see then. both overthrown; capitalism in Jdpan as wellas in the United States destroyed. Our task is to fight againstAmerican imperialism, ju-t as the task of the Japanese workers isto struggle against Japanese imperialism.

J ananese capitalism is now one of the principal enemies ofthe Soviet Union. It is seizing additional territory in NorthChina in ord r to be better prepared for a war against the So-viet Union. Japanese statesmen freely admit this .. Japanesetroops are concervrated on the Soviet borders.

The Soviet Li.ion is different from all the other countriesin the world. There capitalism has already been overthrown,the workers and farmers rule; machines. factories, banks, r a il-roads and land are in the hands of the toilers. Colored peoplesof all races live in the territory of the Soviet Union. TheseJHoples enjoy the fullest equalitv and Ireerlom. Any act or ex-pression of race prejudice is cons i rl e n -d a crime. These factshave IWI'n fully confirmed by sud. people as Paul Hobeson and

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other prominent Negroes who have either visited or who live andwork in the Soviet Cnion. Robinson. a Negro mechanic, is amember of the Moscow Soviet, the chief governmental body of thecapital of the Soviet Union. The Soviet government has renouncedall the special pr ivilcges formerly held by the Tsar in China.Persia, Turkey and other Eastern countries.

And yet the agent!" of jupanese capitalism are spreading thelie that the Soviet Union is one of those "white nations" whichseeks to dominate the colored peoples of the world!

From Dr. DuBois through the new editions of Carvev andthe intrigues of J apan!'"e cupitalists there runs a common streak:race loyalty, race solidarity, race patriotism! Will these solvethe problem of the Negro people ? For a reply one need onlyask: Has segregation sol ved this problem? Is it not true thatsegregation is the problem, the ver~' thing which has to be wipedout? And these saviors propos!' to heap still more and evermore segregation upon us!

The Threat of Fascismolit' of th- If'ddinp; fallci,..t journals in r.erm~lIy says:" 1 1 1 each Nq~r(). even iII one of the kindest disposition is

the l au-n t b ruu - and thr- primitive man who can be tanu-d neitherby ceuturies of ,..Ian?ry nor by an external varn ish of civil iza-tion. All as-irni lation, a II education is bound to fail on accountof the racial inborn feature" of the blood. One can thereforeunderstand why in the Southern states [of America 1 sheer necvs-sity compels the white race to act in an abhorrent, and perhup-even cruel mnnncr again~t the Negroes. And, of course, most ofthe Npgroes that are lynched do not merit any regr er."

Spoken like a Kleagle of the K u Klux Klan! This expressesthe thre-at of fascism to the Negro should it come to the UnitedStates. The country would be 011(' domain of the super.K.K.K.The Negro would be the chid victim of fascist persecutionand murder. Lynching would become the national sport of thefascist mercenaries. Al r eady the budding fascist organizations inthis country have written the dczrudation of the Negro into thei Ipro~r


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by capitalism, the capitalists turn to the road Il f fascism, It isthe last line of trenches for capitalism befure the onrush of therevolutionary army. When fascism comes into power, as we seein the fascist countries of Europe, the last liberties are takenaway from the masses. The trade unions and all independentorganizations of the masses are smashed; only government orcompany unions and fascist organizations are permitted. Anopen dictatorship of the capitalists rules the country. One callwell imagine what the lot of the Negro people would be undersuch a dictatorship.

Under President Hoosevelt, the road is being paved for f as-cism. With the help of the N.R.A. labor boards, the attempt isbeing made to force the workers into company unions, to abro-gate the right to strike, or to place the unions entirely undergovernment control. More and more power has been concentratedinto the hands of the President who turns more directly to thehigh financial moguls of Wall Street for his orders. There arerapid preparations for war and increased propaganda of na-tionalism and patriotism.

But the President and his aides carry out these policies undercover of many phrases and promises about helping the people.The people are radical-rniuded ; Roosevelt, therefore, uses someradical phrases. This also is a method of the fascists, who havemade demagogy a supreme art. He talks about "chasing themoney-changers from the temple", but aids big business.

But there are others with their ears close to the ground whogo even further than Roosevelt in the use of anti-capitalist Ian-guagf'. These are the budding fascist leaders, like Father Cough-lin, William R. Hearst and Huey Long. Father Coughlin andHuev Long are clever men who talk about the inequalities andinjustices of capitalism and because of this get a ready responsefrom many people who do not yet understand how to do awaywith these injustices. Hearst throughout his whole life has beena vicious enemy of the workers and a loyal defender of capitalism.He realizes that the Coughlin and Long methods are today thehest way uf trying to prolong the life of capitalism. He there-fore supports them and offers them the services of his chain ofunti-Iabor newspapers. But it was with language such as thesemen use that Hitler built his fascist storm troops in Germany.Hitler obtained his funds from the biggest industrialists and finan-

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ciers of Germany, just as certain big hankers in the L'nitedStates are today beginning to support budding fascists in theLnited States. Hitler also talked about limiting fortunes, doingaway with unemployment, re-dividing wealth. etc. But 'these onlyremained empty promises after he came into power.

That Huey Long, a representative of the plantation masters 01the South, that Father Coughlin, linked to Wall Street through theCommittee for the Nation, that Hearst, the king of anti-labor andanti-Negro propagandists, should have to talk against outstandingevils of capitalism in order to save it shows one i.nportant thing.Capitalism is on the brink of destruction. People nu longer be-lieve in it. The turning point in history has come.

The masses of Negro people certainly have no desire to seethe present system of society in the United States continue. Ithas meant more suffering and slavery for them than for anyother section of the population. What are the important changeswhich have to be made? How can they be made?

II. TH E NEGRO AND REVOLUTIONTwo Revolutions in O ne

The problem of Negro liberation has two aspects. The firstis the question of equality, Here we ask: what must be doneto remove the basis of the special persecution and oppression ofthe Negro people, to wipe out lynching, segregation, social ostra-cism as well as extra-exploitation on the land and in industry?

The second is common to all workers and exploited, whetherthey be white or Negro. Here we ask: what must be done to wipeout wage-slavery, unemployment, poverty, crises and war?

These questions are not entirely separate. but are connectedwith each other. We shall first consider each separately andthen show how the solution for the first Hows into the solutionfor the second.

The Rebellion of an Oppressed N ationThe special oppression of the Negro people in the UnitedStates is due to the firmly rooted remainders of chattel slavery.

Everyone knows that while chattel slavery was abolished asa result of the Civil War, freedom-such a!' even the white work-ers have under capitalism-did not take its place. Elements ofthe old chattel slave system remain 10 this very day.

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These remainders of chattel slavery can be divided into theeconomic and the social, The most important economic remain-den; of slavery are the plantation system and share-cropping illthe South, which we have already described. But the existenceof these in the South not only enslaves the Negroes in the BlackBelt, but drags do x :1 the :\egro population throughout the COUII-try. It also affects the white population in the South. There an'many white share-croppers whose conditions are only little betterthan those of the Negroes. They will not be freed from the left-overs of the chattel-slave system unless the Negroes are liberated.

The most important social heritage of the chattel-slave sys-tem is the idea of "white superiority" and race prejudice. Theseideas were not wiped out because chattel slavery was not entirelywiped out. Alexander Stephens, the vice-president of the Con-federacy, said that the cornerstone of the South rested "upon thisgreat physical, philosophical a nd moral truth that the Negrois not equal to the white man, that slavery-subordination tothe superior race-s-is his natural and normal condition." Thatremains the philosophy of the ruling class of the South today.

To fully realize how much of chattel slavery still remainsin the South one has only to know that the largest mass of Negroesstill live in the territory of the old slave plantations. The plan-tations have remained and have imprisoned a large portion ofthe Negro population. 0 1 1 this territory-the Black Belt-theNegroes are in the majority of the population. Yet preciselyhere is the center of the enslavement of the Negro people.

As long as the plantations and share-t.r opping remain, it willbe impossible for !\egroes to obtain equality. For in order torise above the plantation level, it Is first necessary to remove theplantation and divide the land among the tillers of the soil.

This can only be done by the organized power of the massesof exploi ted share-croppers and farmers on the Iand. Such a com-plete tran ..Iorrnation, howe, er, wi II not come overnight and can

d be successful only as the result of organization. preparation andproper leadership. The rapid growth of the Share-CroppersUnion of Alabama and of the Tenants' Union of Arkansas showsthat the situation is ripe for rapid organization.

This land revolution will also be joined by the hundreds ofthousands of white share-croppers and poor farmers who havesuffered from the plantation and credit system. They, too, will

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see the neeessity of throwing the large landowners off their backs,escaping from the ~ranny of the credit masters and the USUI"t'fS,and of giving land to the landless.

Seventy. five year8 ago, the North went to war ill order todestroy the power of the slaveowners. That. too, was a revolu-tion. But it was not finished. Our task is to finish it.

But the revolution will not stop with the seizure of the land.That will just be the beginning of a complete, really basic changein the homeland of lynch terror. For just consider where thisland revolution will take place: precisely in the plantationcountry, where the .I\tgroes are today the most oppressed sectionof the population and where they form the majority of the popu-lation. Let us imagine such a revolution taking place ill theMississippi River Delta. Here there are huge plantations. In somecounties the Negroes are as high as 90 and 95 per cent of thetotal population; throughout this area they are not less than6U per cent. With the power of the plantation owners destroyed,a new kind of government will be set up by the farmers and the\\ orkers in this territory. For the first time Negroes and op-pressed "poor" whites will really enjoy democracy. The Negroeswill play the leading role both in the land revolution and in theIII~W revolutionary governments.

The same will occur throughout the plantation area-fromsoutheastern Vi rgillia, down through the Carolina" .and centralCeorgia, acros- Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, reaching eveninto Arkansas and parts of Tennessee and Texas. Now will be1ha opportunitv to really establish the basis of Negro freedom,This land, on which the ~egroes have been enslaved for generation8, can then Le made into a free land. It can be proclaimedas a new country, in which the land has been freed from the ex-ploiters, where the majority--the Negro people-rule with thecooperation of the white masses in the territory.

The white masses (In the land will support this new government for it will mean that their right to land is also recognized,that for the first time they, too, will have the benefits of freepublic school education, freedom from usury,' etc. The old Southwill no long!'" remain. The ~l'groes will come into their own.

The real test of freedom for the Negro people in the BlackBelt lies in thei r right to self-determination. Unless they canchose freely for themselves what the relationship of this new

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government will be to the United States as a whole, they will notbe free. If the capitalists are still in power in Washington wecan rest assured that they will oppose and try to crush the re-bellion of the Negro people. The Negro people need powerfulallies to carry through and to defend this revolution for free-dom. They will have such an ally in the working class, theleading force in the strugg lr-s of all oppressed sections of thepopulation of the United States against capitalist exploitation.

\Ve must now consider tlu- revolution which will take plarethroughout the country.

T he P ro le tarian R ev olu tionCapitalism is giving birth to revolution, The United States

was freated as the result I I I ' a n-volut ion against British domina-tion. It strengthened itself as the result of H revolution against theslaveowners in 1361. Now capitalism is decaying. It can 110longer supply the needs of life to those who produce. It is anoutworn system. It must give way to a new system of society.A complete transformation must take place, which can comenul \' as the r esul t of a social revol uti on.

What basic change must be produced in order to do awaywith wage-sl aver y, unemployment, war'? Capital ism is basedupon the private ownership of machines, factories, railroads, landand H I I other means of production. The means of production arein the hands of a small class, the capitalists. The h'Teatest prin-ciples of capitalism are private property and profit. ~IiJlionsof workers produce tozether the necessities of life. But thesenecessities become the property of those who own the machines,the land. etc., while the workers do not have the money withwhich to buy them. Cr ises occur, masses of people suffer. Col-onies arc seized by the capitalist powers in a race for profitsand booty. Capitalism gives hirth to war.

Only 0111' thing call do away with the basis for thr- existence ofcapitalism: the expropriation of the capitalists. Take the meansof production away from them, place them" in the hands of theworkers who will produce, not for profit, but for the needs ofsociety. The working class is in a position to bring this changeabout. It alone, by its own organized elf orts and supported bythe rest of the oppressed population, can really and truly change,transform the system under which we live. This change is in-evitable. The workers are driven towards it bv capitalism itself.

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But an attempt to bring about such a basic change would im-mediately meet the opposition of the capitalists and their Statepower. This State po-wer consists not only of the bodies of gov-ernment, but of the army, the police, the courts. In order toexpropriate the capitalists the workers first need to discard theexisting government mar-h iner y and to institute a working classi!0\"emmellt. Such a revolution was successf ully carried throughin Russia in 1917, under the leadership of the Communist Party.

This is the basic change. Such a revolution frees the workersfrom wage-slavery and from oppression by the capitalists. Theworker" are in power. The workers' government suppresses everyeffort of the cupital i-.s to restore the old system, Under this newworkers' government. which guarantees the widest democracy forthe masses, the builJin~ of socialism begins. Onl y then is itpossible to have social planning to fill the needs of all themasses. to abolish unemployment, to abolish war for profit.

But in order to accomplish the revol ution and to defend itthe workers need the support of the other exploited sections ofthe population. While the workers are in a position to organizeand lead such a revo lut ion, they cannot carry it through by them-selves. They have allies in the population. These allies are:

1 . The mass of poor and small farmers, who are oppressedby big business the trusts, the monopolies and the bankers; alsothe middle cl ass in the cities, such as the technicians, the pro-fessionals, small businessmen, etc., who are suffering from cap-ital ism and who han' f'\ ervthing to p;ain under socialism.

2. The oppressed \f'~ro pe-ople.:t The oppressed ptoples of the American colonies-thePhilippine Is l ands, Cuba, etc, and of South and Central Americawho are under the domination of the capitalist" of the r.s.

Among the most important allies oj the working class is theNegro people in the United States. This fact determines the re-lation between tilt' two aspects of Iht' rev oluiion which is devel-opln~ ill this count rv,

The Combination of Two RevolutionsThe revolution for LlIId and freedom in the South and the

proletarian revol ut ion in tilt' countrv as a whole will develophand ,in hand. Ear-h will lend -tn-nzth and support to the other.The working cla;;;,..- -both white


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How does it come about that the whitt" workers not only will,but must lend their support to the struggle for Negro liberation?

First of all, because the workers will not be able to over-throw capitalism unless they have the help of the Negro people.This is why we say that it is inevitable that the white workers,even the Southern white workers, fight for Negro freedom andsupport the struggle of the Negro people. They will do so})ecause it is necessary for their own victory.

The Southern white workers especially will support the Ne-groes in their struggle. For in the South the power of the land-lords and capitalists is threatened most of all in the Black Belt.Here the class struggle is very sharp. This is the weakest frontof capitalism. Just imagine what consternation will seize holdof the ruling class of the country when the struggle in the plan-tation country reaches the stage of revolution! The revolutionwhich breaks out here might indeed be the spark for the prole-tarian revolution throughout the country. The white workerswill understand that the struggle of the Negro people for free-dom weakens the power of their own oppressors, the capitalists.

Between the proletarian revolution and the revolution ofthe Negro people for land and freedom there is a living link.This is the working class. It is among the workers that solidarityfirst develops and is the strongest. In the cities and towns of theSouth and in the big industrial centers of the North this solidar-ity between white and Negro labor is forged. Here reposes theleadership of the two aspects of the revol ution.

But there also must be present a conscious organized groupof workers, which realizes the necessity of revolution and whichleads the masses in their daily struggles towards this end. Thisis the role of the Communist Party. Communists do not onlytalk about the future revolution, but are active fighters for thedaily interests of the masses. In unions and other working classorganizations, in strikes, in demonstrations, in elections, weCommunists endeavor, while playing a leading part in the strug-gles of the masses, to convince them of the correct, revolutionaryway out. And one of our principal lines of activity has alwaysbeen to develop now the solidarity of the white workers andNegro masses, to build this alliance in our daily life and strug-gles, to assure the combination of the two aspects of the Amer-ican revolution.

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In building this class solidarity there is a division of labor,but with a common aim, between the white and Negro workers.The white workers must realize that the main responsibility forestablishing working class unity rests upon their shoulders. Theymust lead the fight against race prejudice in the ranks of thewhite masses. They must remember that for centuries the Negropeople have been oppressed by white nations. Among the Negromasses there is a deep distrust of all whites. The plantation sys-tern and capitalism have created this distrust and it cannot bedone away with merely in words. Race prejudice pollutes theair in this country. After having been excluded from a numberof labor unions, having been ostracized by many sections ofwhites, there is no reason for Negroes to believe in words only.They can only be convinced by action. If they see larger num-ber of white workers actually fighting for Negro rights, fightingagainst race prejudice, insisting upon equal treatment in all placesfor Negroes, then they will have cause to rely upon the whiteworkers as their ally. This is the only way this distrust can beovercome. This is why the Communists, especially the whiteCommunists, vigilantly guard their Party against the influenceof race prejudice. No white worker is deserving of the nameof Communist unless he constantly carries on a struggle againstevery manifestation of race prejudice among the workers.The Negro workers, in order to achieve working class solida r-ity, have the chief task of fighting against "black patriotism"and "race solidarity". They must constantly fight against theideas of such people as Dr. DuBois for, as we have seen, theystrengthen the Negro's distrust of the white workers. No Negrohas the right to call himself a Communist unless he fights con-stantly against the Negro "race" leaders, unless he is alwaysexposing the role of those who call for separation between whiteand Negro, unless he is constantly explaining the unity of in-terests of the Negro masses and of the working class. The NegroCommunist is first and foremost the exponent of the proletarianrevolution, for he realizes that this alone will guarantee not onlyfreedom for the Negro but also emancipation of all toilers.

How Will the Question of Self-Determination B e Settled?The Communists fight for the right of the Black Belt ter-ritory to self-determination. This means not only that the Negropeople shall no longer be oppressed but shall come into their

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rightf ul position as the maj ority of the population in the BlackBelt. It means e uallv the right of the Black Belt re ublic freelyto determine its relations to t e lnited States.

One cannot tell in advance under what circumstances thequestion of the right of self-determination for the l\egro peoplein the Black Belt will arise for definite solution. There aretwo distinct possibilities.

First: The revolution in the plantation country might maturesooner than the proletarian revolution in the country a". a whole,This is a possibility because of the fact that capitalism is weakestin the South and the enslaved Negro masses on the land are arevolutionary force of great power. It is certain, however, thatthe revolution in the plantation country cannot come to a headand press for victory unless capitalism throughout the country isin difficulties, already being threatened seriously b~ the risingworking-class movement. In this situation the rebellion of theNegro people would give new strength to and hasten the prole-tarian revolution. The working class, led by the CommunistParty, would come to the aid of the masses in the South to pre-vent the capital ist ruling cluss of the North from suppressing therevolution in the Black Belt. Under these circumstances the Com-munists in the Black Belt would favor, and would do everythingin their power to win the laboring people of the Black Belt tofavor complete iudepen deuc- from the capit -l ist-ruled republicof the North. For complete independence of the Black Belt re-gion would then mean greater freedom for the Negroes and aserious weakening of the power of capitalism in the country asa whole. All Communists would defend the right of the Negropeople to make their choice.Second: The proletarian revolution may overthrow capitalismand establish a Soviet Government for the country as a wholebefore the revolution comes to a head in the Black Belt, How-ever it must be kept in mind that the two phases of the revolu-tion will n01 develop separately. Thus, while the workers areleading the onslaught against capitalism, the revolutionary seizureof the plantation land aud large-scale farms may at the sametime he proceeding in the South. But once the workers come topowt'r ill the United States the revolution for land and freedomwill be hastened and completed. One of the first steps of thecentral ~ov iet government will be to grant the right of self-determinatIOn to the Negro people in the Black Belt.

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This would mean that the :\e~ro people ill the Black Belt willhave t he right to choose for themselves Let \\1'('11 federat ion withor separation from thi- Inited State!" as a whole. The SovietPower, the workers and their government. will guarantee thisright: First, because there will be no reason for the forcibleannexation of the Negro Republic. With the overthrow of capital.ism, the basis 0f a II ex pi oitation will hav e been eliminated,thereby also the hasis for thr- exploitation and oppression of the:\egro people. Second. the free union of Iwoples on the basis ofequality is possible only through free choice arrived at by till'majority of the people. The very fact that the victorious work ill;!class and its Soviet government would guarantee complete illlriunlimited freedom of choice would in itself he a guaranlt't' offreedom ill the full sense of the word. Under such circumstaur--sthe Negro Commulli!"ts would urgf' and fight for federation withthe Soviet republic of the United States, for this course wouldbe to the best interests of the Negro people and all workers. T i lthe event, howe-ver, that the choice is against federation-theCommunist Party and the Soviet gove-rnment would respect t i l t >w i l l of the Negro people.

ln staLillg our posit ion on this question. WI' arr- )!uide(1 1I0tonly by th theoretical princi pies of thr- r.()mmuni~t Party butalso hy the actual f'x,",,'rie[l(:C of the Hussiun Hevolution. Hen:a numher of dl',e1opw'nts in the solution of the question of self-t1df'rmillation Ol'C II 1 '1 1 simultuueousl y. The Great Hussians.whose rulinu ('Ia~s OPIJJ'I',I the other I'pol'l(';: within the TsarisrElllpin" l:olllpri;:(t1 unlv ,lhout ,15 per cent of the population ofthf' old Iiussi, Doth durinjr the first revolution ill :\1areh, 1917.when the Tsar was overthrown, and durin;,! the ~("olld r r- vo l u -t ion of l\fI\'(mL(r. PH 7. whr-n till' power of the f'apitalis,," allellamlownr-rs was d(>;:tro~wd and the Sm'id Gowl'flment I'!"Llhli~IIf'(1.,thl' workers had tl1l' support of thf' 1",,,;:/IIlt;: not onlv ill rr-nt ru lHussin hut also in 'a number (If outhilli! ff'gioll'" when- thr- "I"pr"~~f'd nat ional 111'01'1,. I ivr-r]. But till' 1'1'\ oluti on did 1rotd"\'plop rvr-n lv '\'t1'\ whr-rr-, 1 'nder tlll'''l' circumstancr-s, how " < I "the ~uf'~tioll of ;:l'lfr1dprmilllltion ~dtl"d'(

The first ar-t of tit, So\'id Cov('rrtrn('lIt w"" to i;;~UI' a dtlTtt,!!rnntin)! the right of ;:,Ifdl'lerrnillatiol1 to all tl u - nation" .. f tilt'rUrmN Hussi.m empire and full "qllal ri;.d1t" wi t hin t h r - 1-"011-r " 1 1 "Sovi(,t H"llIrJ.lie;:. II I tho"e !'t ';!IIIII;: which \1'('1'1' 1I0t o""lIpi,d h y

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troops of the foreign powers and where the workers and peasantshad succeeded in establishing autonomous Socialist Soviet gov-ernments, these Soviet governments at once federated themselvesto the central Russian Soviet Republic. Only as the revolutiondeveloped in the other regions and as the counter-revolutionaryintervention armies were defeated, were Soviet governments estab-lished there. Although the working class of central Russia gavedirect aid to the struggle of the peoples of the outlying regionsagainst the intervention armies and the counter-revolutionists,none of these regions was forced to federate with the other SovietRepublics. To this very day, the constitution of the Soviet Unionpermits the right of self-determination to all the nations atpresent in the Union.There were also other developments. In some regions thepeople were still under the influence of reactionary leaden whowere supported by foreign powers. Either the proletarian revo-lution was suppressed or the proletariat was not yet strong enoughnor independent enough from the bourgeois leaders to carrythrough the revolution to victory. Such a case was Finland, whichat one time was a part of the Russian Empire. Towards the endof the World War Finland came under the domination of theGerman Army, with whose aid the Finnish ruling class suppressedthe proletarian revolution and established an independent re-public under the domination of the capitalists. Did the SovietGovernment try to force Finland into the Union of Soviet Re-publics? On the contrary, Lenin, as the chairman of the Councilof People's Commissars of the Soviet Republic, himself per-sonally acknowledged to a representative of the Finnish Republicthe right of that country to secede and gave him official sanctionto do so.

"I very well remember the scene at the Smolny," said Leninlater, "when it fell to my lot to grant the charter to Svinkhovod,the representative of the Finnish bourgeoisie who had played thepart of hangman. He amiably shook my hand and we paid eachother compliments. How unpleasant that was! But it had to b edone because at that time the bourgeoisie falsely persuaded thepeople, the toiling masses, to believe that the MOicovites werechauvinists and that the Great Russians wanted to crush the Finns."And if the Soviet Government had not granted the Finns theright to secede and attempted to keep them by force, this wouldhave meant annexation. The Finnish masses would have lookedupon the Soviet Government as a foreign oppressor, no better than33 -


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Tsarisrn, Today, the Finns are under the hard and brutal reac-tionary dictatorship of the Finnish bourgeoisie, but there will beno doubt that once they have overthrown this bourgeoisie therewill be no hesitation to federate with the Soviet Union.The Soviet Government and the Communist Party recognizedthe rights of all. the nations which had formerly been oppressedby Tsardom. The Soviet Union is composed of more than 100different nations and national minorities. The oppression of thesenations is now impossible because the masses of that nation whichformerly oppressed them have overthrown the bourgeoisie and thelandlords and are building socialism. These numerous nationslive in complete harmony with each other. They have receiveddirect aid from the Great Russians in building their industry,improving their agriculture and achieving complete economicequality with the other peoples of the Soviet Union.The proletarian revolution first wiped out the basis of na-tional oppression. Then it began rapidly to lay the basis ofequality. For many of these formerly oppressed peoples hadbeen retarded and held back by Tsardom. It was necessary tocarry through the development of industry and agriculture inthe regions where the formerly oppressed nations lived, at evena quicker pace than in Central Russia. We have witnessed herethe most rapid development of peoples that all of history canshow. Nomadic peop ies were lifted out of their backwardness,almost overnight deveJoped into an industrial and modern agri-cultural people without h~ving to go through the stage of capital-ism. Cultural development is equally swift. The basis for in-equality is rapidly disappearing even inmost backward areas.The Soviet Union has proved the correctness of the Com-munist program. If in the former "prison of nations", wherethe question of national liberation and of national prejudices isvery much more complicated than in the United States, suchsignal success has been achieved, can there be any doubt ahoutthe realization of equal and even greater success here?

The Revolutionary WeyWe have seen that only a basic change can guarantee to theNegro the possibility for a decent livelihood, the rights of humanbeings and an equal, honorable and respected status in all pub-lic and social life. The ruling class will not permit such a change.

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The masses of exploited must therefore organize in order tomake use of their right to revolution.

Revolution is not a matter of our own choosing. It is forcedupon us by capitalism itself, which degrades us, grinds us downinto the dust, makes life unbearable. As long as exploitationand oppression have existed there have been revolutions.

The revolutionary way has always been the way of humanprogress. Capitalism came into being as the result of a revolu-tion against feudalism and the nobility in Europe. Socialismcame into being in Russia as the result of a revolution againstcapitalism. Revolution has marked the birth and progress of theUnited States. Now another revolution is neces...ary to removea decaying system and make way for further progress. But theproletarian revolution differs from all the other revolutions ofhistory, All previous revolutions resulted in a new exploitingclass coming into power and suppressing the majority of thepeople. The proletarian revolution results in the majority cominginto power, suppressing the exploiting minority and removing thebasis of all exploitation and oppression. Only then it; the pos-sibility created for doing away with all classes, Society, organ-ized in a new social and economic lOY8tem-the Socialist system-e-( :


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tionary and living example firing the aspirations of the Negropeople for freedom. In more recent times, can we forget theheroic struggle of the Elaine, Arkansas (1919), Camp Hill andHeeltown, Alabama (1931 and 1933) share-croppers against theplantation masters? Or the thousands of Negro workers whohave fought shoulder to shoulder with the white workers in strikesand on picket lines? And in other parts of the world: the glor-ious tradition of the Haitian Revolution, of the Maroons of Ja-maica, of the victorious rebels of Dutch Guinea, Scottsborodemonstrations in Cuba and Africa?

During the Civil War, and immediately after, the Negromasses fought bravely. They were defeated-for they had noallies. The Northern ruling class betrayed them. But today theyhave a powerful, thoroughly dependable ally, the working class.Together they can create a new world.

III. TH E NEGRO IN SO VIET AM ERIC AWhat will our revolution create? What will the new world

be like? What will b e the place of the Negro people in thisnew society?

We do not need to be prophets. On the basis of our presentpossibilities and of the new paths already laid bare in the SovietUnion, it is possible to at least outline the main features of thenew society. These are not empty visions, drawn out of the thinair. We know the causes of our present condition. We knowhow to remove them. We can foresee with certainty the minimumof what can be done once capitalism is replaced by socialism.

This knowledge should fire us with great zeal in our presenttask of organization and struggle. For we know with certaintywhat we are striving for.

The Soviet United StatesThe peoples of the Soviet Union had to overcome great dif-

ficul ties in the building of Socialism. The country was a back-ward one, the working class was relatively small and untrained.New industries had to be built. The peasants had to learn modernmethods in agriculture.

The Soviet United States, on the other hand, will have re-ceived a tremendous heritage of large-scale industries, of themost modern and up-to-date technique. It will have at its dis-

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posal the largest industries of the world. In most parts of thecountry the farmers will already have been trained in modemmethods of agriculture. There is a skilled working class trainedin the ways of highly developed technique. Railroads thread thewhole country. Great wealth has already been created.

In addition, the country is rich in natural resources, such asland, coal, ore, oil, water power, lumber, etc., which can beturned into sources of undreamt of prosperity for the population.

Once this wealth is no longer private property and has be-come the property of the Soviet republic, it can be used, not forthe purpose of exploiting human beings, but to fulfil all theneeds of the people.

Today there is no work for millions, who as a result do nothave the means to live. Under a Soviet America our industrycan be put to work at full blast, turning out a tremendous amountof the necessities of life. Almost overnight human want can bemade to disappear. But not only this. Long hours of work, in-human speed-up, the hard labor of children and of old peoplewill no longer be necessary. Amidst the great abundance of the.country. it will be possible to cut down on the length of the work-ing day, establish a more healthy pace of work, and yet producemore than is sufficient to meet the needs of society and to createnew capital for further growth and expansion. The opportunitiesfor education and culture will be boundless.

All this must b e kept in mind when considering how theNegroes will fare in a Soviet America.

In the first place all hindrances, barriers, discriminationswill be removed. All the opportunities created by a Soviet Amer-ica will be shared by the Negroes as well as the whites. Industry,agriculture, public and social service will be open to them onthe same basis as to all other citizens of the Soviet Republic.

But this would not be sufficient. Capitalism has left a heri-tage which has to be obliterated if the possibility of real equalityis to exist. Capitalism has retarded and held back the advanceof the Negro people with the result that its workers have nothad the same opportunity as the white workers to become skilled;Negroes have not been permitted to become highly trained tech-nicians and experts; discrimination has barred the Negroes fromequal opportunities in the line of education, science, the pro-fessions, managerial knowledge, etc. Soviet America would there-

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fore be faced with the need of obliterating this inequality whichit will have inherited from capitalism.The fundamental policy of a Soviet Government with regardto the Negro generally would therefore be to create even relativelygreater opportunities for advance and progress for the Negro thanfor the white. Special emphasis would be placed upon trainingmore Negro skilled workers, upon technical and other forms ofeducation, upon inducing larger numbers to take up engineering,science, etc. The technical schools, colleges and universities, mostof which are today either out of the reach of or closed to Negroes,would be placed at the disposal of Negroes even to a proportion.ately greater degree than of the rest of the population. This isthe only way that special privileges for the whites can be doneaway with. A Soviet Government must confer greater benefitsupon the Negroes than upon the whites, for the Negroes havestarted with.less. This is the real test of equality. This is the onlyway that the basis for real equality can be established.

Any act of discrimination or of prejudice against a Negrowill become a crime under the revolutionary law. The basis ofrace prejudice and oppression will no longer exist because capitalilDl will no longer exist. But it would be entirely Utopianto believe that the day after the revolution all prej udice willdisappear. Capitalism will leave some of it behind like a stench,just like it will leave behind other capitalist ideas and preju-dices. But these will be systematically fought by the SovietGovernment and the Communist Party until they are extinguished.Then it will no longer be a question of wiping out the basis forsuch prejudices, but of merely obliterating the remnants. Social-Ism will remake man. To the first generation of new SovietAmericans race prejudice and discrimination will appear likea horrible disease of a past age.

In affairs of State, in the political activities of the country,in management, in all phases of public life, with the removal ofall discriminations, the Negro will be playing a prominent part,just as Georgians, Tadjiks, Ukrainians, etc., are today among theleaders of the Soviet Union and its Communist Party.The horrors of segregated, over-crowded ghettoes will dis-appear. All residential sections of the city will be opened tothe Negro. There will be no segregated areas. If Negroes wishto remain in Harlem, for instance, they will be perfectly free to88


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do so, to beautify it, to build it up. But if they wish to live inother sections of the city, better located, closer to places of work,or for other reasons, they will also be free to do so. In fact,the living in close contact and the mixing of peoples of all na-tions and of all races will be encouraged, for this will hasten thedestruction of all furms uf separatism passed down as a heri-tage from capitalism, will tend to freely amalgamate all peoples.

Thus, in a general way, we see the tremendous possibilitiesfor the Negro in a Soviet America. No privileges for the whiteswhich the Negroes do not at the same time have, full equalrights-this is the minimum to be expected from a Soviet America.But today some eight million Negroes-twothirds of theNegro people-live in and around the pi antation area, in themost backward section of the country. The basic work will haveto be done here. Here the real economic basis for equality, the-ocial and political realization of equality, is to he guaranteed.

The Soviet Negro RepublicWe assume here that the new Negro Republic created as a

result of the revolution for land and freedom is a Soviet Republicand that this Hepublic has settled the question of self-determina-tion in favor of federation with the Soviet United States. Undersuch conditions, we will try to picture in its main features thetransformation which can and wi II take place in this territory.

The actual extent of this new Hepublic would in all prob-ahility be approximately the prr-sr-nt are

the negroes in a soviet america

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