'For these rights I will fight.. The JProgressive Party candidate for Vice-Presi­ dent tells why she is in the election battle. ‘Could I retire when I saw slavery had been abolished but not destroyed . that fascism had been wiped out in World War II only to take root in my own country?’ she says. By MRS. CHARLOTTA BASS Two Negroes were the first Americans Progressive Party Candidate for Vice decorated for bravery in France in President of the United States World War I—their brothers came home to be lynched in Georgia, stoned and T AM a Negro woman. shot and beaten in a dozen Northern Some of my people came here cities. before the Mayflower. We fought to make the world safe This is my country. for democracy—only to find we were And 1 am more concerned with making Africa safe for exploitation. what is happening to my people in my Twenty-five years later we fought an­ country than I am in pouring out money other war. to rebuild a decadent Europe, or to re- You know of Dorie Miller who came !>ress the colonial people in preparation out of his galley to fight while white or a new war. officers slept at Pearl Harbor. I want no new wars for myself, for And I think of Robert Brooks, another my people, or for any people. “first Negro,” and of my own nephew. We have lived through two wars and But their brothers came home after MRS. CHARLOTTA BASS seen their promises turn to bitter ashes. this war to end fascism only to be lynch- ed for trying to vote in a Democratic and white, for native and foreign born, primary, dynamited from their homes in to live and work together for tne same Florida, in Cicero, in California, de­ ends—as equals. prived of their jobs in Detroit. Together we built a platform, stone Less than 7 years after the end of that by stone, of peace and freedom and Building The Worker war) yôù and I are paying taxes to re- progress and equality for all people. buoi Germany for another war and to Now I thought I could retire. support oppression of the colored peo­ But how could I retire—and where ples of the earth who reach out for inde­ could I retire—as long as I saw what (This is a new column on news of the Freedom of the Press organizations pendence as this nation did in 1776. Frederick Douglass saw, and felt what throughout the country. Material you want included should be sent to this column Yes. it is our government that sup- he did—“the need to stand up, lor the of 1'he‘wbrtte», E. T2tK St:., N^w iCrVo, i?ew aoWrrKKicii.“’To oj>i-n in/ ¿nouTT^ur China, helpst the Dutch repress In­ the dumb, to remember those in bonds GREATER BOSTON Freedom THE ASSOCIATION on Manhat­ donesia, props'up Churchill’s rule in the as bound with me?” Could I retire when Middle East, helps to starve out the vil­ I saw that slavery had been abolished of the Press Association has tan’s Lower East Side hired a hall and A ran a forum on the subject close to the lagers of Malaya who will not betray but not destroyed, that democracy had been set up on a permanent basis, hearts of the people of the communitv the# brothers. been won in World War I, but not for and is now plugging aWay at —the Soviet proposals on Germany and In South Africa, a Malan—who is my people—that fascism had been wiped spreading The Worker and Daily the State Department’s attitude toward openly called a Nazi by his own people— out in World War II, only to take root them. perpetuates segregation of 10 million in my own country where it blossomed Worker circulation. It is also reaching colored people by force and violence. out to the ten other cities in the state Alan Max, managing editor, and Paul and bloomed and sent forth its fruits to Yet the representatives of my govern­ which have readers of The Worker in Novick, editor of the Morning Freiheit, poison the land my people had fought to substantial numbers, in order to get them were the participants. Yuri Suhl, Jew­ ment at the United Nations refuse to let preserve? ish novelist whose work, “One Foot in an African tribesman tell his story to the I think of my own nephew, John Kin­ organized, too. world. The Greater Boston Association was America,” is about life on the East cloth, who gave up a brilliant career, established at a conference in mid-April Side, was chairman. Suhl spoke of the For 40 vears I have been a working helped organize the first mixed regiment editor and publisher of the oldest Negro of white and Negro troops, and then attended by 35 readers. Most were from Freedom of the Press Association, its newspaper in the West. went ahead of them to die in the Battle Boston, but there were also readers from purpose and program. Some 80 people attended. During those 40 years I stood on a of the Bulge. I think often of John who New Bedford, Gloucester and Provi­ watch tower, watching the tide of racial was to take over my beloved paper, of dence, R. I. The forum, first of its kind by the East Side group, was organized through hatred and bigotry against my people John who died that those for whom he The conference heard Abner W. Berry, and against all people who believe the fought might enjoy the freedom and lib­ Negro Affairs Editor of The Worker, dis­ a letter sent to subscribers in the area, Constitution is not a yellowing piece of erty for which he lay down his life. cus the part played by the paper in the and through distribution of a leaflet, as well as through some visiting of parchment in a glass case but a working Where could one live and breathe in campaign for Negro rights, peace and instrument for greater freedom. dignity in these states—where did mv jobs. readers by a few active workers of the group. I have fought not only for my people. people enjoy the rights for which their The conference adopted the following I have fought and will continue to sons and nephews died? program: Suhl announced to those present that the association had scheduled a social fight unceasingly for the rights and priv­ In the South—there was Rosa Lee • Increase The Worker bundle order ileges of all people who are oppressed Ingram and her two boys. Amy Mallard, to 30 by the end of the year. and cultural evening for readers of the paper and their friends and guests for and who are denied their just share of the Martinsville Seven, the reproach of • Shoot for ten subs a week for the the world’s goods their labor produces. Willie McGee and hundreds whose rest of the year throughout the state. May 5. Readers will have a better chance to get acquainted with each Often in the 30 years I spent in the deaths cried out—and millions who could • Revisit The Worker subscribers for Republican Party I was as bewildered not cry out. Terror did not abide in the subs to the Daily Worker. other, and plan further association ac­ tivities. and as hopeless for the future as the chil­ South alone—there was Cicero; and a • Issue leaflet reprints of suitable edi­ • dren of Israel when they marched few miles from where I live, they torials and articles from The Worker in through the Jordan and failed to en­ stoned my people at Peekskill while the selected areas, to be followed by can­ TWO WEEKS AGO, we reported vision the other side. governor of this great state defended the vassing. here that 16,509 subs had been obtain­ TELLS OF mob. Here in Brooklyn—case after case • Sell the paper at various meetings ed for The Worker from the start of of police brutality' goes unpunished. And and at shop gates. the circulation campaign until April 4, WILLKIE CAMPAIGN • in California where I published the and 2.280 for the Daily Worker-. From I remember 1940, when I came to Eagle for 40 years, the Florida dynami­ IT WAS not a large group that gath­ April 4 to 18, we received an additional Chicago to become western director for ters, those who blew the Moores into ered in a private home in the Rocka­ 380 Worker and 116 Daily Worker the Willkie campaign, Wendell Willkie eternity have moved in. They destroyed way area of Queens a week ago under subs. This gives a combined total of stood for one world. the Bailey home, threatened the people the auspices of the Rockaway Freedom 19,285 subs, still nearly 3,000 short of But when I reported to Republican in that community and are burning of the Press Association. But it was an our 22,000 goal. headquarters in Chicago, I found two crosses in Negro and Jewish commu­ interesting on" It showed how these Illinois set thé pace for the two weeks worlds—upstairs was a world for white nities in Los Angeles. local groups of readers can get to­ with 96 Worker and 11 Daily Worker Republicans and down below Was the gether. come to know each other, and subs. New Yorkers turned in 69 subs world for Negro Republicans. OLD PARTIES work together in promoting the paper.