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diff --git a/old/69835-0.txt b/old/69835-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index f124f73..0000000 --- a/old/69835-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1952 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Negro and the nation, by Hubert H. -Harrison - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Negro and the nation - -Author: Hubert H. Harrison - -Release Date: January 19, 2023 [eBook #69835] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Neal Caren. This file was derived from images generously - made available by the Library of Congress through the - HathiTrust. - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEGRO AND THE -NATION *** - - - - - - THE NEGRO - AND - THE NATION - - BY - HUBERT H. HARRISON - - Cosmo-Advocate Publishing Co. - 2305 Seventh Avenue - New York - - - - - PREFACE - -This little book is made up of articles contributed several years ago -to radical newspapers and magazines like The Call, The Truth-Seeker, -Zukunft, and The International Socialist Review. They are re-published -in this form, partly to preserve a portion of the author's early work, -but mainly because they help to throw into strong relief the present -situation of the Negro in present day America, and to show how that -situation re-acts upon the mind of the Negro. That is the great need -of the Negro at this time. - -Some time in the near future I hope to write a little book on the New -Negro which will set forth the aims and ideals of the new Manhood -Movement among American Negroes rich has grown out of the -international crusade "for democracy—for the right of those who submit -to authority to have A VOICE in their own government"— as President -Wilson so sincerely puts it. - -Because I wish this little book to have as large a circulation as -possible among Negroes and white people, I have preferred publication -at a popular price to the doubtful advantage of having a prominent -publisher's name at the foot of the title-page. The present edition -consists of five thousand copies. When it is sold off a second edition -will be issued. - -HUBERT H. HARRISON New York, August, 1917. - - - - - THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN - -NOTE: This article and the next were contributed to the International -Socialist Review in 1912 while the author was a member of the -Socialist Party. He has since left it (but has joined no other party) -partly because, holding as he does by the American doctrine of "Race -First," he wished to put himself in a position to wont among his -people along lines of his own choosing. - - -Providence, according to Mr. Kipling, has been pleased to place upon -the white man's shoulders the tremendous burden of regulating the -affairs of men of all other colors, who, for the purpose of his -argument, are backward and undeveloped—"half devil and half child." -When one considers that of the sixteen hundred million people living -upon this earth, more than twelve hundred million are colored, this -seems a truly staggering burden. - -But it does not seem to have occurred to the proponents of this -pleasant doctrine that the shoe may be upon the other foot so far as -the other twelve hundred million are concerned. It is easy to maintain -an =ex parte= argument, and as long as we do not ask the other side to -state their case our own arguments will appear not only convincing but -conclusive. But in the court of common sense this method is not -generally allowed, and a case is not considered closed until =both= -parties have been heard from. - -I have no doubt but that the colored peoples of the world will have a -word or two to say in their own defense. In this article I propose to -put the case of the black man in America, not by any elaborate -arguments, but by the presentation of certain facts which will -probably speak for themselves. - -I am not speaking here of the evidences of Negro advancement, nor even -making a plea for justice. I wish merely to draw attention to certain -pitiful facts. This is all that is necessary—at present. For I believe -that those facts will furnish such a damning indictment of the Negro's -American over-lord as must open the eyes of the world. The sum total -of these facts and of what they suggest constitute a portion of the -black man's burden in America. Not all of it, to be sure, but quite -enough to make one understand what the Negro problem is. For the sake -of clarity I shall arrange them in four groups: political, economic, -educational and social. - - -I—Political. - -In a republic all the adult male natives are citizens. If in a given -community some are citizens and others subjects, then your community -is not a republic. It may call itself so. But that is another matter. -Now, the essence of citizenship is the exercise of political rights; -the right to a voice in government, to say what shall be done with -your taxes, and the right to express your own needs. If you are denied -these rights you are not a citizen. Well, in sixteen southern states -there are over eight million Negroes in this anomalous position. Of -course, many good people contend that they may be unfit to exercise -the right of suffrage. If that is so, then who is fit to exercise it -for them? This argument covers a fundamental fallacy in our prevailing -conception of the function of the ballot. We think that it is a -privilege to be conferred for "fitness." But it isn't. It is an -instrument by which the people of a community express their will, -their wants and their needs. And all those are entitled to use it who -have wants, needs and desires that are worth consideration by society. -If they are not worth considering, then be brutally frank about it; -say so, and establish a protectorate over them. But have done with the -silly cant of "fitness." People vote to express their wants. Of -course, they will make mistakes. They are not gods. But they have a -right to make their own mistakes—the Negroes. All other Americans -have. That is why they had Ruef in San Francisco, and still have -Murphy in New York. - -But the American republic says, in effect, that eight million -Americans shall be political serfs. Now, this might be effected with -decency by putting it into the national constitution. But it isn't -there. The national constitution has two provisions expressly -penalizing this very thing. Yet the government—the President, -Congress, the Supreme Court—wink at it. This is not what we call -political decency. But, just the same, it is done. How is it done? By -fraud and force. Tillman of South Carolina has told in the United -States Senate how the ballot was taken from Negroes by shooting -them—that is, by murder. But murder is not necessary now. In certain -southern states in order to vote a man must have had a grandfather who -voted before Negroes were freed. In others, he must be able to -interpret and understand any clause in the Constitution, and a white -registration official decides whether he does understand. And the -colored men of states like Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, -Mississippi and Louisiana who meet such tests as those states provide -are disfranchised by the "white primary" system. According to this -system only those who vote at the primaries can vote at the general -elections. But the South Carolina law provides that: "At this election -only white voters … and such Negroes as voted the Democratic ticket in -1876 and have voted the Democratic ticket continuously since … may -vote." Of course, they know that none of them voted that ticket in -1876 or have done so continuously since. In Georgia the law says that: -"All white electors who have duly registered … irrespective of past -political affiliations are hereby declared qualified and are invited -to participate in said primary election." - -Under the new suffrage law of Mr. Booker T. Washington's state of -Alabama. Montgomery county, which has 53,000 Negroes, disfranchises -all but one hundred of them. In 1908 the Democrats of West Virginia -declared in their platform that the United States Constitution should -be so amended so as to disfranchise all the Negroes of the country. In -December, 1910, the lower house of the Texas legislature, by a vote of -51 to 34, instructed its federal Senators and Congressmen to work for -the repeal of the two amendments to the national constitution which -confer the right of suffrage upon Negroes. But the funniest proposal -in that direction came from Georgia, where J. J. Slade proposed an -amendment to the state constitution to the effect that colored men -should be allowed to vote only if two =chaste= white women would swear -that they would trust them in the dark. But, however it has been -effected, whether by force or fraud, by methods wise or otherwise, the -great bulk of the Negroes of America are political pariahs to-day. -When it is remembered that they once had the right of suffrage, that -it was given them, not upon any principle of abstract right, but as a -means of protection from the organized ill-will of their white -neighbors, that that ill-will is now more effectively organized and in -possession of all the powers of the state,—it can be seen at a glance -that this spells subjection certain and complete. - - -II—Economic - -Political rights are the only sure protection and guarantee of -economic rights. Every fool knows this. And yet, here in America -to-day we have people who tell Negroes that they ought not to agitate -for the ballot so long as they still have a chance to get work in the -south. And Negro leaders, hired by white capitalists who want cheap -labor-power, still continue to mislead both their own and other -people. The following facts will demonstrate the economic insecurity -of the Negro in the South. - -Up to a few years ago systematic peonage was wide-spread in the South. -Now, peonage is slavery unsanctioned by law. In its essence it is more -degrading than mere chattel slavery. Any one who doubts this may look -to modern Mexico for proofs. This peonage in the South had reduced -many black men to slavery. And it isn't stamped out yet. It was on -January 3, 1911, that the Supreme Court, in the case of Alonzo Bailey, -declared unconstitutional the Alabama peonage law, which had been -upheld by the state Supreme Bench. About the same time W. S. Harlan, a -nephew of the late Justice Harlan of the United States Supreme Court, -and manager of a great lumber and turpentine trust, doing business in -Florida and Alabama, was sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment -and fined $5,000 for peonage. He has since been pardoned and had his -fine remitted by President Taft. - -One of the forms of this second slavery is the proprietary system, -according to which the Negro laborer or tenant farmer must get his -supply at the proprietor's store—and he gets it on credit. The -accounts are cooked so that the Negro is always in debt to the modern -slave-holder. Some of them spend a life-time working out an original -debt of five or ten dollars. - -But peonage isn't all. The professional southerner is always declaring -that whatever else the south may not do for the Negro it supplies him -with work. It does—when he works for some one else. When he works for -himself it is very often different. For instance, there was the -Georgia Railroad strike of May, 1909. The Negro firemen were getting -from fifty cents to a dollar a day less than the white firemen, they -had to do menial work, and could not be promoted to be engineers. They -could be promoted, however, to the best runs by the rule of seniority. -But the white firemen, who had fixed the economic status of the black -firemen, objected to even this. They went on strike and published a -ukase to the people of the state in which they said: "The white people -of this state refuse to accept social equality." - -On the eighth of March, 1911, the firemen of the Cincinnati, New -Orleans & Texas Pacific Railroad did the same thing. In the attacks -made on the trains by them and their sympathizers many Negro firemen -were killed. Occurrences of this sort are increasing in frequency and -they have a certain tragic significance. It means that the Negro, -stripped of the ballot's protection, holds the right to earn his bread -at the mere sufferance of the whites. It means that no black man shall -hold a job that any white man wants. And that, not in the South alone. -There is the case of the Pavers' Union of New York City. The colored -pavers, during the panic of 1907, got behind in their dues. The usual -period granted expired on Friday. On Monday they sent in their dues in -full to the national organization. The treasurer refused to receive -the dues and at once got out an injunction against them. This -injunction estopped them from appealing to the National Executive -Committee or to the national convention. They are still fighting the -case. - -In January 1911 the several walking delegates of the Painters' -Plumbers', Masons,' Carpenters', Steam Fitters', Plasterers' and -Tinsmiths' Unions compelled the Thompson & Starrett Construction Co., -the second largest firm of contractors in New York, to get rid of the -colored cold painters who were engaged on the annex to Stearns' -department store. They would not admit them to membership in the -union; they merely declared that colored men would not be allowed to -do this work. And these are the same men who denounce Negro -strike-breakers. They want them out of the unions and also want them -to fight for the unions. Presumably they would have them eating -air-balls in the meanwhile. - -In February 1911 the New York Cab Company was dropping its Negro cab -drivers, because, it said, its patrons demanded it. In November 1911 -the white chauffeurs of New York were trying to terrorize the colored -chauffeurs by a system of sabotage in the garage, because they, too, -believed that these jobs were white men's jobs. - -It is but a short step from the denial of the right to work to the -denial of the right to own. In fact, the two are often linked -together, as in the next ease. In the latter part of 1910, land -speculators in Hominy Okla., sold some land for cotton farms to -Negroes. The Negroes paid for this land, took possession, and were -getting along splendidly when—"the local whites protested." -"Night-riders (i. e., Ku Klux) around Hominy, several days before, -served notice that all Negroes must leave the town at once, and to -emphasize the warning they exploded dynamite in the neighborhood of -Negro houses." So the Negroes fled, fearing for their lives. At -Baxterville, Miss., the same thing happened in March 1912. In November -1910, a colored man named Matthew Anderson in Kansas City was having a -fine $5,000 house built. But the jealousy of the white neighbors -prevented its completion. It was blown up by dynamite when it had been -almost finished. In Warrenton, Ga., notice was sent to three colored -men and one widow, who had prospered greatly in business, to the -effect that they must leave immediately because the white people of -Warrenton "were not a-goin' to stand for rich niggers." One of them -has been forced to sell out his business at a loss. Another never -answers a knock and never leaves his house by the front door. All -through these things Mr. Washington told his race that if it would -work hard, get property and be useful to a community it would not need -to strive for a share in the government! - - -III—Educational. - -EDUCATION is the name which we give to that process of equipment and -training which, in our day, society gives the individual to prepare -him for fighting the battle of life. We do not confer it as a -privilege, but it is given on behalf of society for society's own -protection from the perils of ignorance and incompetence. It is a -privilege to which ever member of society is entitled. For without -some equipment of this sort the individual is but half a man, -handicapped in the endeavor to make a living. Here in America, we -subscribe to the dangerous doctrine that twelve million of the people -should receive the minimum of education. And in order to reconcile -ourselves to this doctrine, we deck it in the garments of wisdom. -Because of the serf idea in American life, we say that the Negro shall -have a serf's equipment and no more. It is the same idea that the -aristocracy of Europe evolved when the workers demanded that their -children should be trained better than they themselves had been. -"Why", said the masters, "if we give your children schooling they will -be educated out of their station in life. What should the son of a -carpenter need to know of Euclid or Virgil? He should learn his -father's vocation that he may be well equipped to serve in that -station of life into which it has pleased God to call him. We need -more plowmen than priests, more servants than savants." - -In our own land, when Negroes demand education, we say, "Why, surely, -give them industrial education. Your race has a great opportunity—to -make itself useful. It needs trained craftsmen and workers and, -perhaps, a few parsons. Teach your sons and daughters to work. That is -enough." And we dexterously select leaders for them who will -administer the soothing syrup of this old idea with deftness and -dispatch. The General Education Board which disburses millions of -dollars annually in the South for education has, so far, given to -forty-one Negro schools the sum of $464,015. Only in two instances has -any money been given to a real college. Practically all of it went to -the labor-caste schools. Why? Because the dark degradation of the -Negro must be lightened by no ray of learning. That would never do. We -need them as "hewers of wood and drawers of water." And in the -meanwhile, this is what the richest country on earth offers to -ruthlessly exploited people as a training for life: - -Before the Twelfth Annual Conference for Education in the South (1910) -Mr. Charles L. Coon, superintendent of schools in North Carolina, read -a paper on Negro Education in the South. His investigation extended -over eleven states: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, -Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and -Tennessee. In these states the Negroes make up 40.1 per cent of the -population, but receive only 14.8 per cent of the school fund. He -showed that even if the school fund as disbursed were apportioned to -each race according to taxes paid the colored people of Virginia -should receive $507,305 instead of the $482,228 which they now -receive; in North Carolina they should get $429,127 instead of -$402,658, and in Georgia $647,852 instead of $506,170. So that these -three states expend for Negro education $93,278 less than what the -Negroes themselves pay for—and that sum is contributed by Negroes to -the white children of the state! - -But, as a matter of fact, in no modern country is education made to -depend upon the tax-paying power of the parents. If that were so, the -children of 40,000,000 American proletarians would live and die -without schooling. So that the case is really much worse than it -seems. - -South Carolina spent in 1910 $10.34 for the education of each white -child and $1.70 for the =education= of each colored child. In Lawrence -county the state gave to each colored child 97 cents worth of -education that year; in Lexington county, 90 cents; in Bamberg, 89 -cents; in Saluda, 68 cents, and in Calhoun, 58 cents worth. The -smallest sum spent on a white child for education that year was $4.03. -In Georgia it was quite as bad. One county of this state owned 19 of -the 27 school houses for Negroes. The valuation of the entire 19 was -$2,500; that is, $131.58 for each school house for Negroes! =The -annual cost of the education of a Negro child in six counties of this -civilized state was 39 cents.= Meanwhile the whites of Baltimore were -protesting against the building of a new Negro school! In Louisiana -the report of the Department of Education shows that the average -monthly salary of white male teachers is $75.29, while that of colored -male teachers is $34.25. The average monthly salary of white female -teachers is $50.80 and that of the colored female teachers is $28.67. -The average length of the annual school term for white children is -eight months and a quarter; for colored children, four months and a -half. - -In Wilcox County, Alabama, where there are 2,000 white children and -10,758 colored children, $32,660.48 is devoted to education. Of this -amount the 10,758 colored children receive one-fourth—$6,532.09, or -sixty cents each per annum—while the 2,000 white children receive the -remaining four-fifths—$26,128.13, or about $13 each per annum. -Mr. Booker Washington, who lives in this state sends his own children -to the best colleges and to Europe while advising the rest of his -people to "make your condition known to the white people of the -state." Now, if education—of any sort—is a training for life, is it -not evident here that black children are being robbed of their chance -in life? Why? Is it to be supposed that their fathers are so stupid as -to allow this if they could vote their own needs? Yet Mr. Washington -decries the agitation for the ballot as unwise and never loses an -opportunity of sneering at these who see something of value in it. But -to continue The number of white children of school age in Alabama is -364,266; the number of colored children of school age is 311,552. But -the teachers of the white children receive in salaries $2,404,062.54, -while the teachers of the colored children receive $202,251.13. The -value of all schoolhouses, sites and furniture for white children is -$6,503,019.57; for colored children, $273,147.50. - -In South Carolina there are 316,007 Negro children of school age and -201,868 white children; but the state spends on its Negro children -$368,802, and on its white children $1,684,976. Thus does America keep -knowledge from Negroes. She is afraid of the educated black man. Of -such are the people who taunt Negroes with ignorance. - - -IV—Social. - -When a group has been reduced to serfdom, political and economic, its -social status become fixed by that fact. And so we find that in "the -home of the free and the land of the brave" Negroes must not ride in -the same cars in a train as white people. On street-cars, certain -sections are set apart for them. They may not eat in public places -where white people eat nor drink at the same bar. They may not go to -the same church (although they are foolish enough to worship the same -god) as white people; they may not die in the same hospital nor be -buried in the same grave-yard. So far as we know, the segregation ends -here. - -But why is segregation necessary? Because white Americans are afraid -that their inherent superiority may not, after all, be so very evident -either to the Negro or to other people. They, therefore, find it -necessary to enact it into law. So we had the first Ghetto legislation -in an American nation last year, in Baltimore. Hard on the heels of -this followed legislative proposals along the same line in Richmond -Va., Kansas City, Mo., St. Louis, Mo., and Birmingham, Ala. In -Memphis, Tenn., Negroes pay taxes for public parks which they are not -allowed to enter. A year ago they petitioned for a Negro park and were -about to get it when 500 white citizens protested against it. That -settled it with the park. - -But discrimination goes even further and declares that Negroes shall -not possess even their lives if any white persons should want them. -And so we have the institution called the lynching-bee. The -professional southerner seems to love a lie dearly and continues to -assert that Negroes are lynched for rape committed upon white women. -Why not? It is perfectly American. If you want to kill a dog, call it -mad; if you want to silence a man, call him an Anarchist, and if you -want to kill a black man, call him a rapist. But let us see what the -facts actually are. - -In the two decades from 1884 to 1904 there were 2,875 lynchings in the -United States. Of these 87 per cent, or 2,499 occurred in the South. -The national total was grouped as follows: - - 1. For alleged and attempted criminal assault, i. e., rape... 564 - 2. For assault and murder and for complicity................. 138 - 3. For murder............................................... 1,277 - 4. For theft, burglary and robbery.......................... 326 - 5. For arson................................................. 106 - 6. For race-prejudice (?).................................... 94 - 7. For unknown reasons....................................... 134 - 8. For simple assault........................................ 18 - 9. For insulting whites...................................... 18 - 10. For making threats......................................... 16 - -The causes for the remainder were: slander, miscegenation, informing, -drunkenness, fraud, voodooism, violation of contract, resisting -arrest, elopement, train wrecking, poisoning stock, refusing to give -evidence, testifying against whites, political animosity, disobedience -of quarantine regulations, passing counterfeit money, introducing -smallpox, concealing criminals, cutting levees, kidnapping, gambling, -riots, seduction, incest, and forcing a child to steal. - -Yes, there are courts in the South; but not for black people—not when -the mob chooses to relieve civilization of the onus of law and order. -At Honeapath, S. C, a Negro was lynched in November 1911, charged, of -course, with "the usual crime." The charge had not been proven, or -investigated; but the man was lynched. The howling mob which did him -to death was composed of "prominent citizens" who had made up -automobile parties to ride to the affair. Among those present was the -=dis=-honorable Joshua Ashley, a member of the state legislature. He -and his friends cut off the man's fingers as souvenirs and were proud -of their work. Why shouldn't they? You see, it helps to keep "niggers" -in their place. And then, besides, isn't this a white man's country? -Gov. Blease of South Carolina was also proud of the event and said -that instead of stopping the horrible work of the mob he would have -resigned his office to lead it. In Okemeah, Oklahoma, last June, a band -of white beasts raped a Negro woman and then lynched her and her -fourteen-year-old son Nothing has been done to them. And it is not -that the facts are unknown. At Durant, Okla., and elsewhere, the -savages have posed around their victim to have their pictures taken. -One man, from Alabama sent to the Rev. John Haynes Holmes, of -Brooklyn, N.Y., a post-card (by =mail=) bearing a photograph of such a -group. "This is the way we treat them down here," he writes, and, -after promising to put Mr. Holmes' name on his mailing list declares -that they will have one, at least, each month. - -In Washington, Ga., Charles S. Holinshead, a wealthy white planter, -raped the wife of T.B. Walker, a decent, respectable Negro. As his -wife returned to him dishevelled and bleeding from the outrage -perpetrated on her, Walker went to Holinshead's store and shot him -dead. For this he was tried and condemned and, while the judge was -pronouncing sentence, Holinshead's brother shot Walker in the -court-room. They held his head up while the judge finished the -sentence, Then he was taken out and lynched—not executed Nothing was -done to the other Holinshead. - -The New York =Evening Post=, on October 23rd said in an editorial that -"there has hardly been a single authenticated case in a decade of the -Negroes rising against the whites, despite the growing feeling, among -them that there should be some retaliation since no tribunal will -punish lynchers or enforce the law." I am glad that the =Post= noticed -this. I had begun to notice it myself. When President Roosevelt -discussed lynching some years ago, he severely reprobated =the Negro= -for their tendency to shield their "criminals" and ordered them to go -out and help hunt them down. So was insult added to injury. - -But, putting my own opinion aside, here are the facts as I have seen -them. In the face of these facts, the phrase, "the white man's -burden," sounds like a horrid mockery. - - - - - SOCIALISM AND THE NEGRO - - -1. Economic Status Of The Negro - -The ten million Negroes of America form a group that is more -essentially proletarian than any other American group. In the first -place the ancestors of this group were brought here with the very -definite understanding that they were to be ruthlessly exploited. And -they were not allowed any choice in the matter. Since they were -brought here as chattels their social status was fixed by that fact. -In every case that we know of where a group has lived by exploiting -another group, it has despised that group which it has put under -subjection. And the degree of contempt has always been in direct -proportion to the degree of exploitation. - -Inasmuch then, as the Negro was at one period the most thoroughly -exploited of the American proletariat, he was the most thoroughly -despised. That group which exploited and despised him, being the most -powerful section of the ruling class, was able to diffuse its own -necessary contempt of the Negro first among the other sections of the -ruling class, and afterwards among all other classes of Americans. For -the ruling class has always determined what the social ideals and -moral ideas of society should be; and this explains how race prejudice -was disseminated until all Americans are supposed to be saturated with -it. Race prejudice, then, is the fruit of economic subjection and a -fixed inferior economic status. It is the reflex of a social caste -system. That caste system in America today is what we roughly refer to -as the Race Problem, and it is thus seen that the Negro problem is -essentially an economic problem with its roots in slavery past and -present. - -Notwithstanding the fact that it is usually kept out of public -discussion, the bread-and-butter side of this problem is easily the -most important. The Negro worker gets less for his work—thanks to -exclusion from the craft unions—than any other worker; he works longer -hours as a rule and under worse conditions than any other worker, and -his rent in any large city is much higher than that which the white -worker pays for the same tenement. In short, the exploitation of the -Negro worker is keener than that of any group of white workers in -America. Now, the mission of the Socialist Party is to free the -working class from exploitation, and since the Negro is the most -ruthlessly exploited working class group in America, the duty of the -party to champion his cause is as clear as day. This is the crucial -test of Socialism's sincerity and therein lies the value of this point -of view—Socialism and the Negro. - - -2. The Need of Socialist Propaganda. - -So far, no particular effort has been made to carry the message of -Socialism to these people. All the rest of the poor have had the -gospel preached to them, for the party has carried on special -propaganda work among the Poles, Slovaks, Finns, Hungarians and -Lithuanians. Here are ten million Americans, all proletarians, hanging -on the ragged edge of the impending class conflict. Left to themselves -they may become as great a menace to our advancing army as is the army -of the unemployed, and for precisely the same reason: they can be used -against us, as the craft unions have begun to find out. Surely we -should make some effort to enlist them under our banner that they may -swell our ranks and help to make us invincible. And we must do this -for the same reason that is impelling organized labor to adopt an -all-inclusive policy; because the other policy results in the -artificial breeding of scabs. On grounds of common sense and -enlightened self-interest it would be well for the Socialist party to -begin to organize the Negroes of America in reference to the class -struggle. The capitalists of America are not waiting. Already they -have subsidized Negro leaders, Negro editors, preachers and -politicians to build up in the breasts of the black people those -sentiments which will make them subservient to their will. For they -recognize the value (to them) of cheap labor power and they know that -if they can succeed in keeping one section of the working class down -they can use that section to keep other sections down too. - - -3. The Negro's Attitude Toward Socialism. - -If the Socialist propaganda among Negroes is to be effectively carried -on, the members and leaders of the party must first understand the -Negro's attitude toward Socialism. That attitude finds its first -expression in ignorance. The mass of the Negro people in America are -ignorant of what Socialism means. For this they are not much to blame. -Behind the veil of the color line none of the great world-movements -for social betterment have been able to penetrate. Since it is not -yet the easiest task to get the white American worker—with all his -superior intellect—to see Socialism, it is but natural to expect that -these darker workers to whom America denies knowledge should still be -in ignorance as to its aims and objects. - -Besides, the Negroes of America—those of them who think—are suspicious -of Socialism as of everything that comes from the white people of -America. They have seen that every movement offer the extension of -democracy here has broken down as soon as it reached the color line. -Political democracy declared that "all men are created equal," meant -only all white men. The Christian church found that the brotherhood of -man did not include God's bastard children. The public school system -proclaimed that the school house was the backbone of democracy—"for -white people only," and the civil service says that Negroes must keep -their place—at the bottom. So that they can hardly be blamed for -looking askance at any new gospel of freedom. Freedom to them has been -like one of - - "those juggling fiends. - That palter with us in a double sense; - That keep the word of promise to our ear, - And break it to our hope." - -In this connection, some explanation of the former political -solidarity of those Negroes who were voters may be of service. Up to -six years ago the one great obstacle to the political progress of the -colored people was their sheep-like allegiance to the Republican -party. They were taught to believe that God had raised up a peculiar -race of men called Republicans who had loved the slaves so tenderly -that they had taken guns in their hands and rushed on the ranks of the -southern slaveholders to free the slaves; that this race of men was -still in existence, marching under the banner of the Republican party -and showing their great love for Negroes by appointing from six to -sixteen near-Negroes to soft political snaps. Today that great -political superstition is falling to pieces before the advance of -intelligence among Negroes. They begin to realize that they were sold -out by the Republican party in 1876; that in the last twenty-five -years lynchings have increased, disfranchisement has spread all over -the south and "jim-crow" cars run even into the national capital—with -the continuing consent of a Republican congress, a Republican Supreme -Court and Republican presidents. - -Ever since the Brownsville affair, but more clearly since Taft -declared and put in force the policy of pushing out the few near-Negro -officeholders, the rank and file have come to see that the Republican -party is a great big sham. Many went over to the Democratic party -because, as the =Amsterdam News= puts it, "they had nowhere else to -go." Twenty years ago the colored men who joined that party were -ostracized as scalawags and crooks—which they probably were. But -today, the defection to the Democrats of such men as Bishop Waiters, -Wood, Carr and Langston—whose uncle was a colored Republican -congressman from Virginia—has made the colored democracy respectable -and given quite a tone to political heterodoxy. All this loosens the -bonds of their allegiance and breaks the bigotry of the last forty -years. But of this change in their political view-point the white -world knows nothing. The two leading Negro newspapers are subsidized -by the same political pirates who hold the title-deeds to the handful -of hirelings holding office in the name of the Negro race. One of -these papers is an organ of Mr. Washington, the other pretends to be -independent—that is, it must be "bought" on the installment plan, and -both of them are in New York. - -Despite this "conspiracy of silence" the Negroes are waking up; are -beginning to think for themselves; to look with more favor on "new -doctrines." And herein lies the open opportunity of the Socialist -party. If the work of spreading Socialist propaganda is taken to them -now, their ignorance of it can be enlightened and their suspicions -removed. - - -The Duty of The Socialist Party. - -I think that we might embrace the opportunity of taking the matter up -at the coming national convention. The time is ripe for taking a stand -against the extensive disfranchisement of the Negro in violation of -the plain provisions of the national constitution. In view of the fact -that the last three amendments to the constitution contain the clause, -"Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate -legislation," the party will not be guilty of proposing anything worse -than asking the government to enforce its own "law and order." If the -Negroes, or any other section of the working class in America, is to -be deprived of the ballot, how can they participate with us in the -class struggle? How can we pretend to be a political party if we fail -to see the significance of this fact? - -Besides, the recent dirty diatribes against the Negro in a Texas -paper, which is still on our national list of Socialist papers; the -experiences of Mrs. Theresa Malkiel in Tennessee where she was -prevented by certain people from addressing a meeting of Negroes on -the subject of Socialism, and certain other exhibitions of the thing -called southernism, constitute the challenge of caste. Can we ignore -this challenge? I think not. We could hardly afford to have the taint -of "trimming" on the garments of the Socialist party. It is -dangerous—doubly dangerous now, when the temper of the times is -against such "trimming." Besides it would be futile. If it is not met -now it must be met later when it shall have grown stronger. Now, when -we can cope with it, we have the issue squarely presented: Southernism -or Socialism—which? Is it to be the white half of the working class -against the black half, or all the working class? Can we hope to -triumph over capitalism with one-half of the working class against us? -Let us settle these questions now—for settled they must be. - - -The Negro and Political Socialism. - -The power of the voting proletariat can be made to express itself -through the ballot. To do this they must have a political organization -of their own to give form to their will. The direct object of such an -organization is to help them to secure control of the powers of -government by electing members of the working class to office and so -secure legislation in the interests of the working class until such -time as the workers may, by being in overwhelming control of the -government, be able "to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new -government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing -its power in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect -their safety and happiness"—in short, to work for the abolition of -capitalism, by legislation—if that be permitted. And in all this, the -Negro, who feels most fiercely the deep damnation of the capitalist -system, can help. - - -The Negro and Industrial Socialism. - -But even the voteless proletarian can in a measure help toward the -final abolition of the capitalist system. For they too have labor -power—which they can be taught to withhold. They can do this by -organizing themselves at the point of production. By means of such -organization they can work to shorten the hours of labor, to raise -wages, to secure an ever-increasing share of the product of their -toil. They can enact and enforce laws for the protection of labor and -they can do this at the point of production, as was done by the -Western Federation of Miners in the matter of the eight-hour law, -which they established without the aid of the legislatures or the -courts. All this involves a progressive control of the tools of -production and a progressive expropriation of the capitalist class. -And in all this the Negro can help. So far, they are unorganized on -the industrial field, but industrial unionism beckons to them as to -others, and the consequent program of the Socialist party for the -Negro in the south can be based upon this fact. - - - - - THE REAL NEGRO PROBLEM - -The African slave-trade was born of the desire of certain Europeans to -acquire wealth without working. It was to fill the need for a cheap -labor supply in developing new territory that Negro slaves were first -brought to the western world by the Spanish, Dutch, and English during -the 16th and 17th centuries. Contact of white with black was thus -established on the basis of the economic subjection of the one to the -other. This subjection extended to every sphere of life, physical, -mental and social. Out of this contact there arose certain definite -relations and consequent problems of adjustment. It is the sum of -these relations which we (rightly or wrongly) describe as the Negro -Problem. - -Unfortunately, the spell of mere words is still very strong, and when -people speak of the Negro Problem they carry over into the discussion -a certain mental attitude derived from the original meaning of the -word, Problem. In arithmetic, a sum to be worked out; in chemistry, to -find by experiment a certain re-agent; in geography, to chart a -puzzling current—all these are problems in the primary sense, and all -these involve the idea of solution by him who approaches them. That is -to say, they can be solved =by thinking=. And those who think loosely -call up this idea of solution by thinking whenever they see the word -"problem". So we have been pestered with this, that, and the other -"solution" of the Negro problem. Therefore, it is well to bear in mind -that a race problem is always the sum of the relations between two or -more races in a state of friction. - -Because when we understand this we are in a fair way to find that -these relations are not to be explained on the basis of the thinking -or feeling of either party. They must be interpreted in terms of human -relations and in the order in which human relations are established: -(1) economic, (2) social, (3) political and (4) civic. So understood, -a knowledge of the historical conditions under which these relations -developed is seen to be of the greatest value in understanding the -problem. For this is all that our intellects can do in the case of a -racial problem—to help us to understand. The actual work of adjustment -must be fought out or worked out; becomes, that is to say, a struggle -to be settled by the contending races with forces more complex than -the purely intellectual ones of argument and proof. Let us first -consider, then, the conditions under which the relations between the -black and white races were established in America. - -During the period of colonization the land of America was granted by -European kings to certain gentlemen who had no intention of working -with the hands. Nevertheless working with the hands was the only -method of extracting that wealth which was the object of their -ownership, it was necessary, then, to obtain a supply of those persons -who could do this work for them; and to insure this, it was imperative -that these persons should not own land themselves: they must be a -permanently landless class; since it was unthinkable then as now that -one should work the land of others for a part of the fruits if he -could work his own land for all of the fruits. So there was begun in -America the process of establishing such a class. Confining ourselves -to the territory which became the United States, we may say that the -first attempt was made to enslave the Indians, and when this failed to -work, white people were imported from Europe as chattel slaves. All -through the colonial period this importation continued with its -consequent effects on the social and political life of the colonies. -Most people will be surprised to learn that the first Fugitive Slave -Law was framed, not in the south, but in the north, and was made not -for black but for white laborers. This was the Massachusetts act of -1630 "Respecting Masters, Servants and Laborers". A reading of this -one act would destroy all those pretty illusions about "our fathers -and Freedom" which we get from the official fairy tales—I mean the -school histories. - -Side by side with the economic subjection of white men there grew up -the economic subjection of black men, and for the same reason. These -were of alien blood—and cheaper. Therefore, the African slave trade -outgrew the European slave trade, although the latter continued, in a -lessening degree, down to the third or fourth decade of the 19th -century. Negroes were brought here to work, to be exploited; and they -were allowed no illusions as to the reason for their being here. Those -white men who owned the land brought them here to extract the wealth -which was in the land. The white aristocrat did not buy black slaves -because he had a special hatred or contempt for anything black, nor -because he believed that Negroes were inferior to white people. On the -contrary he bought them precisely because, as working cattle, they -were superior to whites. - -Being of alien blood, these black people were =outside= of the social -and political system to which they were introduced and, quite -naturally, beyond the range of such sympathies as helped to soften the -hard brutalities of the system. They were, from the beginning, more -ruthlessly exploited than the white workers. Thus they had their place -made for them—at the bottom. - -Now it is a social law—not yet proclaimed by our college -sociologists—that whenever a certain social arrangement is beneficial -to any class in a society, that class soon develops the psychology of -its own advantage and creates insensibly the ethics which will justify -that social arrangement. Men to whom the vicarious labor of slaves -meant culture and refinement, wealth, leisure and education, naturally -came—without any self-deception, to see that slavery was =right=. As -Professor Loria points out, there is an economic basis to moral -transformations in any society which is built on vicarious production. - -We turn now to the resulting conditions of the slaves. They were at -the bottom, the most brutally exploited and, therefore, the most -despised section of the laboring class. For it is a consequent of the -law stated above that those who are exploited must needs be despised -by those who exploit them. This mental attitude of the superior class -(which makes the laws of that society in which it is dominant) will -naturally find its expression in those actions by which they establish -their relations to the inferior class. And whenever anyone is to be -kicked it is usually the man farthest down who gets it, because he is -most contiguous to the foot. So the Negro having been given a place at -the bottom in the economic life of the nation, came to occupy -naturally the place at the bottom in the nation's thinking. I say, the -nation's advisedly; because the dominant ideas of any society which is -already divided into classes are as a rule the ideas preservative of -the existing arrangements. But since those arrangements include a -class on top, the dominant ideas will generally coincide with the -interest of that class. The ethics of its own advantage, then, will be -diffused by that class throughout that society—will be, if need arise -imposed upon the other classes, since every ruling class has always -controlled the public instruments for the diffusion of ideas. - -In this way the slave-holding section of the dominant class in America -first diffused its own necessary contempt for the Negro among the -other sections of the ruling class, and the ideas of this class as a -whole became through the agency of press, pulpit and platform, the -ideas of "the American People" on the Negro. - -In further application of the materialistic method to this subject, it -is curious and interesting to note how the southern attitude toward -the Negro changed with the changing industrial system. When the -wasteful agricultural methods of chattel slavery had exhausted the -soil of the south and no new land loomed up on the horizon of the -system, slavery began to decay. The planters of that section settled -down into the patriarchal type of family relations with their slaves, -who were then simply a means of keeping the master's hands free from -the contamination of work and not a means of ever-increasing profits. -Slavery was then in a fair way to die of its own weight. But with the -invention of Whitney's cotton-gin, which enabled one man to do the -work of three hundred, cotton came to the front as the chief -agricultural staple in America. The black slave became a source of -increasing revenue as a fertilizer of capital. The idyllic relations -of the preceding forty years came to a sudden end. Increased profits -demanded increased exploitation and the ethics of advantage dictated -the despising of the Negro. - -De Bow's Review, the great organ of southern opinion, appeared, and in -serious scientific articles maintained the proposition that the Negro -was not a man but a beast. About that time (and conformably to that -opinion) the practice was begun of spelling the word, Negro, with a -small "n"—a practice still current in America, even in the socialist -press. - -In the meanwhile, the system of industrial production known as the -machine system developed in the north. The factory proletariat whose -condition determined that of the other northern workers could -fertilize capital more rapidly and cheaply than the slaves. This form -of production (and its products) came into competition with the slave -system and the tremendous conflict reflected itself upon the political -field as a struggle for the restriction of slavery within its original -bounds. The Louisiana Purchase, the annexation of Texas, the Missouri -Compromise, the Dred Scot Decision, the Kansas-Nebraska Bill,—all -these were political episodes in the competition between the two main -sections of the dominant class; and in the conflict each used the -army, the navy, the executive, the courts and the legislature to -strengthen its own position. - -When the business interests of the north had definitely captured the -powers of government in the general election of 1860, the southerners -seceded because they knew too well what governmental power was -generally used for. They wanted a government which would be the -political reflex of their own economic dominance. One can see now why -the northern statesmen like Lincoln insisted that the preservation of -the Union was the paramount issue and not the freedom of slaves. -Indeed, Lincoln punished those officers of the army who in the early -days of the war dared to act upon that assumption. And not all the -arguments of Greeley, Conway and Governor Andrews could make any -change in his attitude. Not until he saw that it was expedient "as a -war measure" did he issue the "Emancipation Proclamation" which -brought 187,000 Negro soldiers into the northern army. - -Emancipation gave to the Negroes a new economic status—the status of -free wage-laborers, competing with other wage-laborers for work. They -who had worked to create wealth for others were now turned loose -without wealth or land to shift for themselves in a world already -hostile to them. The mental attitude of the white south had been -shaped by three centuries of slavery and was hard to get rid of. It -was difficult for them to think of black labor under any form but that -of slavery and they naturally turned to compulsion as the proper mode -of obtaining work from their former slaves. This attitude was well -expressed in the Black Codes of the southern states during the fall -and winter of 1865–66. As soon as the end of the hostilities gave them -a free hand at home they began to give legislative expression to the -new conditions. They framed new constitutions and new laws. "But it -was seen that the Negro had no privilege of voting in the first -instance, and it was not to be expected that the right would be -accorded him under the new state constitutions; no guarantee that -justice should be done him was exacted. These new constitutions were -formed, the legislatures met, laws were made, senators and -representatives to Congress were chosen; but the Negro was not only -not admitted to any participation in the government, but the new -legislatures shocked the northern sense of justice by the cruel and -revengeful laws which they enacted. The barbarity of the most odious -slave-code was, under various disguises, applied to the Negro in his -new condition of freedom". Even before the resentment of the national -legislature had taken form, the Ku-Klux Klan, the Knights of the White -Camelias, the Society of the Pale Faces, and other bands of organized -representatives of culture had begun to do their bloody work of -terrorizing Negroes into economic and social subjection. And all this -before any steps had been taken to extend the suffrage to Negroes. - -When the northerners investigated these conditions they met with such -fierce and unreasoning hostility on the part of the south that they -found it necessary to arm the Negro with the ballot in his own -defense. And yet, professional southerners like Tom Dixon, Tom Watson, -Ben Tillman Vardaman and Blease pretend to their ignorant or forgetful -countrymen that the present attitude of the south was caused in the -first instance by a reaction against "Negro domination", social and -political which the north had forced upon it. - -The subsequent developments can not be explained by those amiable -enthusiasts who see in the "freedom" of Negroes an act of genuine -humanitarianism on the part of the north. For, after northern -business-men had secured the government—and their thousands of miles -of railroad-grants—they promptly dropped the mask of humanitarian -hypocrisy, and left the Negroes to shift for themselves. During the -disputed count of the votes in the Hayes-Tilden electoral contest in -1877 a deal was arranged by which the northerners agreed to withdraw -the army which protected the Negroes, newly-granted franchise in the -south, on condition that the southerners should concede the election -to Hayes. The new industrial order wanted above all things to retain -control of the government which it had captured during the war, and -upon the altar of this necessity it sacrificed the Negro in the south, -just as Lincoln had done in the early days of the war. From that time -the suppression of the Negro vote, the growth of "Jim Crow" -legislation, lynching and segregation have continued with the -continuing consent of Republican congressman, presidents and supreme -courts. And through it all, Negro "leaders" like Mr. Washington have -found it very much worth their while to administer anodynes both to -the Negro and the Nation, to reconcile the one to a bastard democracy -and the other to a mutilated manhood. - -It would be well to trace here the nature of the economic changes -which have given certain new and malignant features to the relations -between black and white in America. The effect upon the free laborers -of the sudden influx of black competitors in the labor-market; the -consequent attitude of the labor-unions; the political and social -reflex of all this, with the vestiges of the old, re-developing under -the new conditions—all these are parts of the problem. But space will -not permit, and these considerations will be taken up in a second -paper. Yet I may indicate here the gist of my conclusions by quoting -the words of a well-known Southerner, the Rev. Quincy Ewing. "The race -problem—is not that the Negro is what he is in relation to the white -man—the white man's inferior—but this, rather: How to keep him what he -is in relation to the white man; how to prevent his ever achieving or -becoming that which would justify the belief on his part, or on the -part of other people, that he and the white man stand on common human -ground." - -The economic necessities of a system of vicarious production led to -the creation of a racial labor-caste; the social adjustment consequent -upon this and upon its development created a social sentiment inimical -to this class, and its continuance requires a continuance of this -sentiment in our society; this is the pivotal fact. And the -unavoidable conclusion is, that when this system of vicarious -production disappears, the problem which is its consequence will -disappear also—and not till then, in spite of all the culture, -individual or collective, which that class may achieve. - - - - - ON A CERTAIN CONSERVATISM IN NEGROES - -It would be a difficult task to name one line of intellectual endeavor -among white men in America, in which the American Negro has not taken -his part. Yet it is a striking fact that the racial attitude has been -dominantly conservative. Radicalism does not yet register to any -noticeable extent the contributions of our race in this country. In -theological criticism, religious dissent, social and political -heresies such as Single Tax, Socialism, Anarchism—in most of the -movements arising from the reconstruction made necessary by the great -body of that new knowledge which the last two centuries gave us—the -Negro in America has taken no part. And today our sociologists and -economists still restrict themselves to the compilation of tables of -statistics in proof of Negro progress. Our scholars are still -expressing the intellectual viewpoints of the eighteenth century. The -glimmer of a change is perceptible only in some of the younger men -like Locke of Howard University and James C. Waters. - -It is easy to account for this. Christian America created the color -line; and all the great currents of critical opinion, from the -eighteenth century to our time, have found the great barrier -impassible and well-nigh impervious. Behind the color line one has to -think perpetually of the color line, and most of those who grow up -behind it can think of nothing else. Even when one essays to think of -other things, that thinking is tinged with the shades of the -surrounding atmosphere. - -Besides, when we consider what Negro education is to-day when we -remember that in certain southern counties the munificent sum of 58 -cents is spent for the annual education of a Negro child; that the -"great leader" of his race decries "higher" education for them; that -Negro boys who get as far as "college" must first surmount tremendous -special obstacles—we will cease to wonder at the dearth of thinkers -who are radical on other than racial matters. - -Yet, it should seem that Negroes, of all Americans, would be found in -the Freethought fold, since they have suffered more than any other -class of Americans from the dubious blessings of Christianity. It has -been well said that the two great instruments for the propagation of -race prejudice in America are the Associated Press and the Christian -Church. This is quite true. Historically, it was the name of religion -that cloaked the beginnings of slavery on the soil of America, and -buttressed its continuance. The church saw to it that the religion -taught to slaves should stress the servile virtues of subservience and -content, and these things have bitten deeply into the souls of black -folk. True, the treasured music of these darker millions preserves, -here and there, the note of stifled rebellion; but this was in spite -of religion—not because of it. Besides, such of their "sorrow-songs" -as have this note in them were brutally banned by their masters, and -driven to the purlieus of the plantation, there to be sung in secret, -And all through the dark days of slavery, it was the Bible that -constituted the divine sanction of this "peculiar institution." -"Cursed be Canaan," "Servants obey your masters" and similar texts -were the best that the slaveholders' Bible could give of consolation -to the brothers in black, while, for the rest, teaching them to read -was made a crime so that whatever of social dynamite there might be in -certain parts of the book, might not come near their minds. - -Lowell, in his "Biglow Papers," has given a caustic but correct -summary of the Christian slave-holders' theology in regard to the -slavery of black working-people: - - "All things wuz gin to man for's use, his sarvice an' demean - delight? - An' don't the Greek an' Hebrew words that mean a man mean white? - Ain't it belittlin' the good book in all its proudes' features - To think ‘t wuz wrote for black an' brown an' 'lasses-colored - creatures, - Thet couldn' read it ef they would—nor ain't by lor allowed to, - But ought to take wut we think suits their naturs, an' be proud - to? - * * * * - Where'd their soles go ter, I'd like to know, ef we should let 'em - ketch - Freeknowledgism an' Fourierism an' Speritoolism an' sech?" - -When the fight for the abolition of slavery was on, the Christian -church, not content with quoting scripture, gagged the mouths of such -of their adherents as dared to protest against the accursed thing, -penalized their open advocacy of abolition, and opposed all the men -like Garrison, Lovejoy, Phillips and John Brown, who fought on behalf -of the Negro slave. The detailed instances and proofs are given in the -last chapter of "A Short History of the Inquisition," wherein the work -shows the relation of the church and slavery. - -Yet the church among the Negroes today exerts a more powerful -influence than anything else in the sphere of ideas. Nietzsche's -contention that the ethics of Christianity are the slave's ethics -would seem to be justified in this instance. Show me a population that -is deeply religious, and I will show you a servile population, content -with whips and chains, contumely and the gibbet, content to eat the -bread of sorrow and drink the waters of affliction. - -The present condition of the Negroes of America is a touching bit of -testimony to the truth of this assertion. Here in America the spirit -of the Negro has been transformed by three centuries of subjection, -physical and mental, so that they have even glorified the fact of -subjection and subservience. How many Negro speakers have I not heard -vaunting the fact that when in the dark days of the South the Northern -armies had the Southern aristocracy by the throat, there was no Negro -uprising to make their masters pay for the systematic raping of Negro -women and the inhuman cruelties perpetrated on Negro men. And yet the -sole reason for this "forbearance" is to be found in the fact that -their spirits had been completely crushed by the system of slavery. -And to accomplish this, Christianity—the Christianity of their -masters—was the most effective instrument. - -A recent writer, Mr. E. B. Putnam-Weale, in his book, "The Conflict of -Color," has quite naively disclosed the fact that white people are -well aware of this aspect of Christianity and use it for their own -ends. Mr. Putnam-Weale makes no pretense of believing in the Christian -myth himself, but he wants it taught to the Negroes; and comparing it -with Islam, he finds it a more efficient instrument of racial -subjugation. The Mohammedan, he finds, preaches the equality of all -true believers—and lives up to it. The white Christian preaches the -brotherhood of man, but wants "niggers" to sit in the rear pews, to -ride in "Jim Crow" cars, and generally to "keep in their place." He -presents this aspect of the case under the caption of "The Black -Samson and the White Delilah," and, with less fear than an angel, -frankly advises the white Lords of Empire not so much to civilize as -to christianize Africa, so that Deliah's work may be well done. - -Here in America her work has been well done; and I fear that many -years must pass before the leaders of thought among my people in this -country contribute many representatives to the cause of Freethought. -Just now, there are a few Negro Agnostics in New York and Boston, but -these are generally found to be West Indians from the French, Spanish, -and English islands. The Cuban and Porto Rican cigar-makers are -notorious Infidels, due to their acquaintance with the bigotry, -ignorance and immorality of the Catholic priesthood in their native -islands. Here and there one finds a Negro-American who is reputed to -have Agnostic tendencies; but these are seldom, if ever, openly -avowed. I can hardly find it in my heart to blame them, for I know the -tremendous weight of the social proscription which it is possible to -bring to bear upon those who dare defy the idols of our tribe. For -those who live by the people must needs be careful of the people's -gods; and - - "An up-to-date statesmen has to be on his guard, - If he must have beliefs not to b'lieve 'em too hard." - -Myself, I am inclined to believe that freedom of thought must come -from freedom of circumstance; and so long as our "leaders" are -dependent on the favor of our masses for their livelihood, just so -long will they express the thought of the masses, which of itself may -be a good thing or a bad according to the circumstances of the -particular case Still there is a terrible truth in Kipling's modern -version of Job's sarcastic bit of criticism: - - "No doubt but ye are the people—your throne is above the King's, - Whoso speaks in your presence must say acceptable things; - Bowing the head in worship, bending the knee in fear— - Bringing the word well-smoothen—such as a King should hear." - -And until this rising generation of Negroes can shake off the trammels -of such time-serving leaders as Mr. Washington, and attain the level -of that "higher education" against which he solidly sets his "face; -until they, too, shall have entered into the intellectual heritage of -the last two hundred years, there can be little hope of a change in -this respect. - - - - - WHAT SOCIALISM MEANS TO US - -In the good old days "when cotton was king", chattel-slavery was a -flourishing institution. Not only the people who profited by the -system, but most others—even those who were the sufferers—thought that -this was really a "law of nature", that it couldn't be otherwise. -Nevertheless, chattel slavery has gone. But while it lasted this was -its essence: Certain human beings were compelled to labor and the -wealth which their labor produced went, not to them, but to certain -other human beings who did not labor at all but lolled in luxury on -the labor of their slaves. - -To-day, fellow-sufferers, they tell us that we are free. But are we? -If you will think for a moment you will see that we are not free at -all. We have simply changed one form of slavery for another. Then it -was chattel-slavery, now it is wage-slavery. For that which was the -essence of chattel-slavery is the essence of wage slavery. It is only -a difference in form. The chattel-slave was compelled to work by -physical force; the wage-slave is compelled to work by starvation. The -product of the chattel-slave's labor was taken by his master; the -product of the wage-slave's labor is taken by the employer. - -The United States Government has made a study of the wealth producing -power of the wage-slaves, and has shown that the average worker -=produces= $2,451 a year. The government has also made a study of -wages in the U.S. which shows that the average worker gets $437 a -year. This means that the average employer takes away from the average -wage-slave $2,014 a year. In the good old days the master took away -the wealth produced by the slave in the simplest form; today he takes -it away in the form of profits. But in one respect the wage-slave is -worse off than the chattel slave. Under chattel slavery the master -owned the man and the land; he had to feed and clothe the man. Under -wage-slavery the man feeds and clothes himself. Under chattel slavery -it was to the interest of the owner to give the slave work and to keep -him from starving to death. Under wage-slavery, if the man goes out of -work the employer doesn't care; that is no loss to him; and if the man -dies there are millions of others eager to take his place, because, as -I said before, they must either work for him or starve. There is one -very striking parallel between the two cases. To-day there are many -people who say that this system is divinely appointed—is a law of -nature—just as they said the same thing of chattel slavery. Well, -there are millions of workers who say that it is wrong. - -Under chattel-slavery black workers were robbed; under wage-slavery -all the workers are robbed. The Socialist Party says that this robbing -shall cease; that no worker black or white shall be exploited for -profit. And it says, further, that there is one sure and certain way -of putting an end to the system and that is by working for the success -of Socialism. - -But, before I tell you just how Socialism proposes to do this, let me -say a word about the Civil War which put an end to chattel-slavery. -Now, I know that certain people have taught you to believe that the -Civil War was fought to free the slaves. But it isn't true, at all, -and only very ignorant people hold that opinion nowadays. If you will -read the Emancipation Proclamation carefully you will see that it -wasn't for love of the slave that the slaves were freed. You will see -that this was done, "as a fit and necessary war-measure for -suppressing said rebellion." If you will read Lincoln's letter to -Horrace Greeley (August 22nd 1862) you will find this sentence: "My -paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union and is not -either to save or destroy slavery." Now I will tell you briefly how -"this struggle" came about. I know that my explanation is not the one -which you have been taught. But, no matter; it happens to be true. -This was the way of it: In the South there had grown up one system of -exploiting the laborer. That was chattel-slavery. The money-Kings of -that section whom we will call capitalists, for short, were naturally -fond of their own system. In the North the capitalists had another -system of which they were equally., fond. That was wage-slavery. The -Southern capitalists found that it was necessary to extend their -system; so we had the Mexican War, and they got Texas. Then, as fast -as new territory was opened they would rush to occupy it with their -system and so shut out the Northern system. Of course, the Northern -capitalists would try to get their system into the new territory also; -so we had the long struggle over Kansas and Nebraska. These two -systems were then in open competition and it came to be seen that one -or the her had to give in; that both of them couldn't exist in the -same country; that "a house divided against itself cannot stand"; that -"this nation cannot exist half-slave and half-free." Then people began -to talk of "the impending crisis"; of "the irrepressible conflict." -Then, when Lincoln was elected in 1859, the southern capitalists saw -that their system was doomed. They wished to preserve it; so they -seceded and tried to make of themselves a separate nation in which -their system of robbing the worker should be the only one. But the -Northern capitalists said, "Nix! Our system shall be the only system." -So they went to war "to save the Union"—for their system of robbing -the workers. And that's the gist of the whole story. - -"But", you will say, "didn't they go to war on account of John Brown -and Wendell Phillips and William Lloyd Garrison and Charles Sumner?" -Not on your life, they didn't. If you will read the newspapers of that -time you will see that they tried to lynch Garrison in Boston; they -ostracized Wendell Phillips; they sneered at Sumner and damned John -Brown. Why, nice, good, Christian people told them they were -crazy—just as some of them tell Socialists now—and the anti-slavery -orators couldn't get the use of a church in New York either for love -or for money. No, indeed. These men were grand old heroes—but no war -was fought on their account. The older system of chattel-slavery -simply broke down to make way for the present system of wage-slavery, -which pays better. Pays the capitalist, I mean. - -Under the old system the capitalist owned the man; today he own the -tools with which the man must work. These tools are the factories, the -mines, and the machines. The system that owns them owns you and me and -all the rest of us, black, white, brown, red, and yellow. We can't -live unless we have access to these tools, and our masters, the -capitalists, see to it that we are separated from what we make by -using these things, except so much as is necessary to keep us alive -that we may be able to make more—for them. This little bit is called -wages. They wouldn't give us even that if they thought that we could -live without it. In the good old days the chattel-slave would be -fastened with a chain if they thought that he might escape. Today no -chain is necessary to bind us to the tools. We are as free as air. Of -course. We are free to starve. And that chain of -the-fear-of-starvation binds us to the tools owned by the capitalist -as firmly as any iron chain ever did. And this system doesn't care -whether the slaves who are bound in this new way are white or black. -To the capitalist system all workers are equal—in so far as they have -a stomach. - -Now the one great fact for the Negro in America today is Race -Prejudice. The great labor problem with which all working-people are -faced is made harder for black working-people by the addition of a -race problem. I want to show you how one grows out of the other and -how, at bottom, they are both the same thing. In other words, I want -you to see the economic reason for race-prejudice. - -In the first place, do you know that the most rabid, Negro-hating, -southern aristocrat has not the slightest objection to sleeping in the -same house with a Negro—if that Negro sleeps there as his servant? He -doesn't care if his food is prepared by a Negro cook and handled by a -Negro waiter before it gets to him; he will eat it. But if a Negro -comes into the same public restaurant to buy and eat food, then, Oh -my!, he gets all het up about it. But why? What's the difference? I -will tell you. The aristocrat wants the black man to feel that he is -on a lower level. When he is on that level he is "in his place". When -he is "in his place" he is liked. But he must not be allowed to do -anything to make him forget that he is on this lower level; he must be -kept "in his place", which means the place which the aristocrat wants -him to keep. You see, the black man carries the memory of slavery with -him. Everybody knows that the slaves were the exploited working-class -of the South. That put them in a class by themselves, down at the -bottom, downtrodden, despised, "inferior." - -Do you begin to see now that Race Prejudice is only another name for -Caste Prejudice? If our people had never been slaves; had never been -exploited workers, and so, at the bottom of the ladder, there would be -no prejudice against them now. In every case where there has been a -downtrodden class of workers at the bottom, that class has been -despised by the class that lived by their labor. Do you doubt it? Then -look at the facts. If you had picked up a daily paper in New York in -1848 you would have found at the end of many an advertisement for -butler, coachman, lady's maid, clerk or book-keeper these words: "No -Irish need apply." There was a race-prejudice against the Irish then, -because most of the manual unskilled laborers were Irish. They were at -the bottom, exploited and despised. But they have changed things -since. Beginning in the seventies when Jewish laborers began to come -here from Russia, Austria and Germany, and lasting even to our own -day, there has been race-prejudice against the Jews. And today when -the Italian has taken the place which the Irish laborer vacated—at the -bottom —he, too, comes in for his share of this prejudice. In every -one of these cases it was the condition of the people—at the bottom as -despised, exploited, wage-slaves—that was responsible for the -race-prejudice. And it is just so in the black man's case, with this -difference: that his color marks what he once was, and even though he -should wear a dress suit every evening and own an automobile or a farm -he can always be picked out and reminded. - -Now, under the present system, exploiting the wage-slave is -respectable. I have already shown you that wherever the worker is -exploited he is despised. So you will see that despising the -wage-slave is quite fashionable. You may recall the name of the great -capitalist who said, "the public be damned." He was only a little more -outspoken than the rest of his class. As long as the present system -continues, the workers will be despised; as long as the workers are -despised, the black men will be despised, robbed and murdered, because -they are least able to defend themselves. Now ask yourself whether you -haven't a very special interest in changing the present system. - -Of course, you will ask: "But haven't white working people -race-prejudice too?" Sure, they have. Do you know why? - -It pays the capitalist to keep the workers divided. So he creates and -keeps alive these prejudices. He gets them to believe that their -interests are different. Then he uses one half of them to club the -other half with. In Russia when the workingmen demand reform the -capitalists sic them on the Jews. In America they sic them on the -Negroes. That makes them forget their own condition: as long as they -can be made to look down upon another class. "But, then", you will -say, the average wage-slave must be a chump." Sure, he is. That's what -the capitalist counts on. And Socialism is working to educate the -workers to see this and to unite them in doing away with the present -system. - -Socialism stands for the emancipation of the wage-slaves. Are you a -wage-slave? Do you want to be emancipated? Then join hands with the -Socialists. Hear what they have to say. Read some of their literature. -Get a Socialist leaflet, a pamphlet, or, better still, a book. You -will be convinced of two things: that Socialism is right, and that it -is inevitable. It is right because any order of things in which those -who work have least while those who work them have most, is wrong. It -is inevitable because a system under which the wealth produced by the -labor of human hands amounts to more than two hundred and twenty -billions a year while many millions live on the verge of starvation, -is bound to break down. Therefore, if you wish to join with the other -class—conscious, intelligent wage-earners—in putting an end to such a -system; if you want to better living conditions for black men as well -as for white men; to make this woful world of ours a little better for -your children and your children's children, study Socialism—and think -and work your way out. - -Twelve years ago Mark Hanna, the Big Boss of the Republican Party, -made a statement which you would do well to consider. After he had -made McKinley president, he noticed something that you may not have -noticed yourself. He saw that there was no essential difference -between the Republican party and the Democratic party. He knew that -the same big Wall Street companies supplied the campaign funds for -each of them. He knew that the same money power was buying out the men -whom you elected, whether you elected Republicans or Democrats. He saw -that very soon you and I and the rest of us, black as well as white, -would come to see it too. And he opened his mouth and spake these -words: "The next great political battle in this country will be -fought, not between the Republican and the Democratic parties, but -between the Republican party and Socialism." I will tell you later -what that implies. But just now, what I should like you to see is -this: that Senator Hanna realized that Socialism was a serious issue. -He couldn't afford to pooh-pooh it. Neither can any sensible person. -The Socialist party is the third in point of numbers. It is important. -What do you know of this party? Have you ever read its platform? Read -it once, just for the sake of fair play—just to show that you are not -afraid to give it a hearing—and you will realize why Mark Hanna paid -it such a tribute of respect. Don't be a baby any longer and listen to -the stale lies which other people tell you about Socialism. Read the -Socialist platform and you will understand why some politicians have -to tell lies about it just the same as they have to tell lies about -you. They lie about it because they don't want you to know what it -really is, just as they lie about you because they don't want people -to know what you really are. Every year they feed you with the same -soft mush around election time to help them to ride into power on your -votes; then after election they give you Brownsville and lynching -bees. Do you wonder that General Clarkson, a grandson of the great -abolitionist, when he gave up his job as collector of the Port of New -York, said that he was sick of the way in which the Republican party -was selling you out? The Republican party is always engaged in selling -you out—or in selling out the working people of this country. Do you -doubt it? Then ask yourselves why is it that a Republican Congress has -never said a word or done anything about the disfranchisement of -nearly three million Negro voters in the South? Read the Fourteenth -and Fifteenth Amendments to the U. S. Constitution and you will see -that the Republican party has always had the power to stop it. But -just now I want to get you interested in the one party that strikes at -the very root of your trouble and that of every workingman in the -country—white and black alike. I want you to see what is the attitude -of the Socialist Party toward the American Negro. And for that reason -I am introducing to you the following declarations of the attitude -made by Eugene V. Debs, the Socialist candidate for President, and by -other members of the party. Compare its straight-forward, -uncompromising utterances with what the other two parties have said -and done; then look yourself in the face and say whether it is worth -you while to sell your birthright and your future freedom—yes, and -that of your children and your children's children—for a mess of -political pottage. - - - - - THE NEGRO AND THE NEWSPAPERS - -It is not an easy task to plead in the courts of the oppressor against -oppression and wrong. It is not easy to get the judgement of the white -men of the world against the white man's injustice to the black. But -nevertheless the attempt must be made and made again until the seared -conscience of the civilized world's hall throbs with righteous -indignation at such outrage. "To sin by silence when we should protest -makes cowards out of men. The human race has climbed on protest. Had -no voice been raised against injustice, ignorance and lust, the -Inquisition yet would serve the law and guillotines decide our least -disputes. The few who dare must speak and speak again to right the -wrongs of many." - -The urgent need of speaking out is shown by the following -communication from Mr. J. Ellis Barker of London in an interview given -to a correspondent of =The New York Age= and published in that paper -on December 29th 1910. - -"We people in Europe," says Mr. Barker, "do not understand the race -problem, and we do not know the colored people, for the simple reason -that there are not any colored people in Europe. In London, where I -live, there are only a few hundred colored students whom one does not -meet. Before I came to the United States my prejudice against the -colored people was as great as that of any Southern planter. My -prejudice against your race, as I believe the prejudice of most white -people, was due rather to ignorance than to ill-will. I had been told -in the books and papers published in Europe that the colored people -were a race of barbarians and savages. I had been told that the -colored people were a worthless set of people, dressed in rags, -working a day or two during the week, and loafing during the rest of -the time. I was told that the colored people were idle, diseased and -vicious. So I imagined that all of them lived in slums and alleys and -that the aristocracy of the race consisted of the waiters and railway -porters. - -I had been told that the colored people only played at science; that -their doctors and lawyers were charlatans. I had been told that the -people of a mixed race were even worse than pure Negroes; that the -mulattoes had lost the primitive virtues of the Negroes and had -acquired all of the vices of the whites. A chance encounter with a -cultured man of color induced me to look into the race problem and I -was perfectly amazed when I discovered how greatly the colored people -have been libelled and traduced. I have spent a considerable amount of -time with colored people and have met many who are highly cultivated. -I have found that among your race you have excellent lawyers, and some -of the foremost physicians and surgeons. I have been over a large -number of your elementary and higher grade schools and colleges and -over Howard University, and I have admired the earnest and resolute -determination with which your children try to improve their minds and -to raise themselves. In your night schools I have found old men and -women, former slaves, who are anxious to learn writing and reading. I -have been to the homes of many colored people and I have found them -cosy, comfortable, elegant, and peopled by happy and harmonious -families. I have come to the conclusion that the race is oppressed and -persecuted and very largely because it is not known." - -But it is not in Europe alone that these baneful effects of calumny -appear. Here in America, and even in the south where the bulk of the -Negroes live in the midst of a people who resentfully declare that -they should be left to deal with the Negro because they alone know -him—even there the notion of the Negro, fostered by the press and -other agencies of public opinion is as wide of the truth as it can be. -To illustrate: - -In the March number of Van Norden's Magazine in 1907 there appeared a -symposium on The Negro Question. It was composed of expressions of -opinion from twelve intelligent southerners, and was followed by an -article by Mr. Booker T. Washington. The humor of the think lay in -this, that these men were Southern college presidents and heads of -banks, had lived all their lives among Negroes, and were, by their own -words, proved to be either woefully or willfully ignorant of what the -Negro had done and was doing. The mordant irony of fate decreed that -Mr. Washington should be the one to present the facts that changed -their seeming sapience to Falstaffian farce. The president of -Randolph-Macon Woman's College, Va. set forth that the Negro will not -work regularly, that he needs but three dollars a week and, therefore, -works but three days to get it and "quits work to spend it." The -president of Howard College, Alabama declared that, "My deliberate -opinion is that the days of the Negro as a fair, honest laborer are -numbered, and are few at that. He is becoming daily more shiftless, -more unreliable, more restless, less inclined to work steadily." The -president of the University of South Carolina and the president of the -North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts re-echoed the -same doleful dictum while the president of the First National Bank of -Birmingham, Ala. and the president of the Bank of Lexington, N.C. -declared that it was a mistake to grant the rights of citizenship to -the Negro and that education was a curse to him. The president of -Guilford College repeated the "lazy, shiftless" argument while the -president of Randolph-Macon College, Va. said, "Reduce their wages so -that they shall have to work all the time to make a living and they -will become better workmen or disappear in the struggle for -existence," repeating in substance, the argument of his -brother-president of the Woman's college. - -Mr. Washington's article did not show any sign that it had been -written as a reply of any sort. But it did show among other things, -that the census of 1900 proved that the Negro people =owned= in the -very states of these college presidents, "23,383 square miles of -territory, an area nearly as large as that of Holland and Belgium -combined"; that this represented only a quarter of the farms worked by -them; that, "after a searching investigation, I have not been able to -find that a single graduate of Tuskegee, Hampton or any of the Negro -colleges can now be found in the prisons of the South;" that in a -single county of Virginia-Gloucester Co.—Negroes were paying taxes on -land valued at 88 million dollars and on buildings assessed at 80 -millions, and all this on the soil where they had been slaves forty -years before. - -Is not this eloquent of the value of American opinion on the American -Negro as given in the American press? And the question suggested is, -whether such statements are published in ignorance or ill-will? In -either case it is equally damnatory. - -In December 1907 Professor R. R. Wright, Jr., an eminent Negro -sociologist, published in McGirt's Magazine an article on "The -Newspapers and the Negro", showing how the Negro is being "done" by -headlines and other newspaper devices. The Horizon, at that time the -most brilliant Negro periodical, dealt with the subject in its issue -for April 1908. Under the caption, "The Color Line in the Press -Dispatches", it quoted approvingly these words of a Socialist -paper—The Appeal to Reason—"The hand that fakes the Associated Press -is the hand that rules the world." European readers who are acquainted -with the occasional diversions of Reuter's Hong Kong and Shanghai -correspondents will appreciate the point. - -The Horizon was constrained to refer to the matter again in its August -issue. In both instances specific cases were cited and proof given. -Since that time the need of some formal protest has been growing in -the minds of all those thinking Negroes who are not compelled to -"crook the pregnant hinges of the Knee"; and it has grown largely -because the practices complained of have grown to alarming -proportions. - -The newspapers of this country have many crimes to answer for. They -feature our criminals in bold head lines: our substantial men when -noticed at all are relegated to the agate type division. Their -methods, whether they obtain through set purpose or through -carelessness, constantly appeal to the putrid passion of race hatred. -They cause rapine to break loose by nurturing rancor. They help create -untold sorrow. They are week-kneed and apologizing when the hour is -bloody. - -But how can such a protest be effectively put? Though Truth come hot -on the heels of Falsehood it could not quite undo its devil's work. -And the detractors of the weak and helpless are well aware of this. - -But Truth in the Negro's case is not even unleashed. Truth, in fact, -is chained up and well guarded, and it is this terrible task of -setting Truth free that the Negro must essay in the very teeth of the -American press. It is not an easy task to voice an adequate protest, -for it needs the widest publicity. And since prejudice will oppose, it -needs prestige also. Any such effort must feel itself feeble, and yet -it must be made. - - - - - Transcriber's Note: Apparent typographical errors have been - changed. 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