MR. PRESIDENT- ~ FREE EARL BROWDER New York CITIZENS' COMMITTEE TO FREE EARL BROWDER 1942 This pamphlet was prepared tor the Citizens' Committee to Free Earl Browder by Sasha Small. Published by CITIZENS' COMMI'ITEE TO FREE EARL BROWDER, 1133 Broadway, Room. 1525, New York City. ~20' CONTENTS Earl Browder 5 "America" 7 How Did They Get There? 9 Why Did They Come? 11 What Did They Do? The Trade Union Panel The Negro Panel The Professional Panel The Clergy Panel The Youth Panel The People Speak THE NATIONAL FREE BROWDER CONGRESS IN SESSION, MARCH 28, 1942, AT MANHATTAN CENTER, NEW YORK CITY EARL BROWDER NA cell in the Federal Penitentiary at Atlanta there sits a Iman-a man from Kansas. Steeled, selfless, gentle, wise -a true so~ of the greatness that is America. His forefathers were among thos~ who came to carve that greatness out of a wilderness, to build a new life and a new freedom-men and women ready to fight and die in defense of that freedom. The first Browders settled in Virginia in the early 1600'S. There were Browders in the ranks of liberty's champions in the Revolutionary War of 1776, under Andrew Jackson in 1812, in Union ranks during the Civil War fighting to keep this nation one united government of the people, by the people and for the people. Later Browders joined the trek westward and moved into Kentucky. There is a town named Browder in "Kentucky. And one of the pioneering Browders, William, Sr., drove a covered wagon further toward the sunset-into Kansas, where as a homesteader and a country school teacher he toiled to make a living for his children. It was at Wichita, Kansas, on May 20, 1891, that Earl Browder was born-the Browder who, as his ancestors did before him, was to carry forward the great American tradition of democracy and freedom into the ranks of the laboring people. The story every schoolboy knows of the childhood and early youth of Abe Lincoln of Illinois is the pattern of the child­ hood and early youth of Earl Browder. Self-taught, schooled in life and its grim realities, driven on by that same great American love for the people, that same great will to pre­ serve and extend democracy that is our proudest heritage. 5 Today this man from Kansas sits in a prison cell-for more than a year now. During this year all that he predicted, all that he warned against, with prophetic clarity since 1931, has come to pass for our country. The beast of fascism which Earl Browder fought with a steadfastness that has won for him the title of one of America's greatest anti-fascists-is reaching out its bloody claws for our homes, our lives, our sacred honor. Consistently Earl Browder worked for unity against fas­ cism, for the unity that is being welded today with the life­ blood of our boys at Corregidor, the Red Army, the Chinese guerrillas, the British in Lib.ya and Australia. Earl Browder would work for unity and victory today. From his prison cell, on December 7, 1941, he wrote offering his services to our government and its war effort. The great American people whom Browder loves so well, who love justice, whose belief in civil liberties is stronger than ever in the past, who have always rallied to victims of injustice and done battle in their behalf unti1 victory was won-these in ever greater numbers are rising to demand his freedom. Over three million Americans have already gone on record urging President Roosevelt to restore Browder's freedom and 3,264,863 sent their 1,458 representatives to New York City on March 28-29 to meet in a National Free Browder Con­ gress to further th~ campaign on his behalf. 6 "AMERICA" OBODY who was anybody stayed at home-and you N know who we are-America:' the most magnificent voice in all the land rang out into every corner of the great Con­ gress. Delegate Coal Miner from ,,yest Virginia looked over at his neighbor Delegate Pile Driver from California with a smile that echoed the beauty of the singing of Paul Robeson, finishing his song-"America." America-the country of Dorie Miller and Thomas Jeffer­ son; of John Brown and Frederick Douglass and the boys on Bataan Peninsula; the land of blazing steel furnaces and Colin Kelly and Tom Paine and little Negro churches in Louisiana where the minister and the congregation pray for justice and their rights; the country of Cleo ,,yright and the C.I.O. and A.F. of L. voluntarily foregoing strikes till the war is over; the country where women and girls are taking the place of their men at machines to smash the Axis; the coun­ try of General MacArthur and Earl Browder. It sent its representatives to meet in a great congress with a single aim-to deliberate on ways and means to secure the freedom of a single great American-Earl Russell Browder. They came carrying the mandate to put themselves on record for justice, fair play, for the freedom of a great anti-fascist ... and to find out what more they could do toward achieving that end. Everybody knows the congress was not an end in itself. The scope of the historic Browder Congress is contained in the. credentials report. Now, credentials reports can be cold statistics or they can be the sum total of days and weeks 7 and months of effort spent in_ gathering the expression of the will of ever growing sections of our population. They can tell the story of a national movement centering about a case that has become a matter of national interest and public debate. They tell the story of a fight which, once begun, does not stop till victory is won: You can say 570 C.I.O. members from 232 local unions and 37 cep.tral bodies in 24 states and 154 A.F. of L. members from 72 local unions, 769 in all, representing 2,074,015, "at­ tended." Or you can see in those figures the picture of row upon row of seats filled with earnest work-lined faces, graying heads nodding their ilpproval at a point well made by the speaker; young eyes reflecting the strength that comes from feeling more and more of your fellows joining with you; courage rubbing shoulders with more courage and determina­ tion. They came by plane and bus and railroad. They had only a limited time away from work on Uncle Sam's produc­ tion lines, time filled by fellow workers r~ady to strain every energy so that not a minute is lost in the making of planes and guns and tanks to smash the Axis. It was the flesh and bone of America, the men and women who are keeping them rolling, flying, sailing, for democracy, brought together from great distances by a single aim and standing like a great giant behind the figures: 1,458 dele­ gates; representing 3,264,863 men and women. 8 HOW DID THEY GET THERE? ONTAINED within the very statistical record of the dele­ C gations is the story of how they came to be present at the National Congress to Free Earl Browder. The Citizens' Committee to Free Earl Browder launched its national drive in September, 1941, when Earl Browder had served six months of his exces'sively harsh prison sentence. The drive concentrated on the gathering of petitions signed by individ­ ual Americans, the writing of statements directly to President Roosevelt, the passage of resolutions in trade unions and other progressive organizations urging executive clemency. This stage of the campaign was climaxed by the presentation to Attorney General Biddle on December 19 of the wishes of one and a half million Americans. Their mandate was de­ livered by Congressman Vito Marcantonio, Louis 't\Teinstock, Administrative Secretary of the Citizens' Committee and Wil­ liam Albertson, its Trade Union Secretary. But Christmas came and went and still Earl Browder re­ mained behind the walls of Atlanta Penitentiary. The cam­ paign was intensified-more statements, more resolutions.' But still Earl Browder remained behind the walls of Atlanta Penitentiary. The mountains of resolutions grew higher. The piles of statements from America's leading educators, scien­ tists, figures in public life grew more and more impressive, reaching deeper into every section of the population. On February 21, a Call for the National Free Browder Congress was issued under the joint sponsorship of 134 in­ dividuals, among them: Tom Mooney, Prof. Ellsworth Hunt­ ington, Yale University and former President of Association 9 \ · of American Geographers; Prof. Roland H. Bainton, Yale Divinity School; Charles Jensen, Legislative Director, Brother­ hood of Locomotive Firemen and Engineers, State of Washing­ ton; Dr. W. E. B. Dubois, Atlanta University; Hon. Emma Taylor, Hon. Richard Murphy, Hon. Chart Pitt, Hon. E. L. Pettus, Washington State Representatives; Hon. N. P. Atkin­ son, Washington State Senator; Dr. Albert C. Dieffenbach, Clergyman and Editor; Hon. Hulan E. Jack, New York State Representative; Hon. Vito Marcantonio, New York Congress­ man; Thomas Molloy, President Connecticut Industrial Union Council; br. Albert Guerard, Stanford University and many others. The date was set for March 28-one year and three days after Browder began his harsh imprisonment. The place­ New York City. By this time, developing out of America's inherent sense of fair play, there were established, in many parts of the country, Neighborhood Free Browder Committees, Profes­ sional Free Browder Committees, Trade Union Free Brow­ der Committees, set up by citizens anxious to see justice done.