‘Imperialism and the American Negro: Resolution of the American Negro Labor Congress’ from The Daily Worker. Vol. 2 No. 261. November 14, 1925.

THE following resolution on the question of imperialism was one of the resolutions passed at the American Negro Labor Congress, which held its sessions recently in Chicago, in which the congress analyzes the urge of the imperialist powers to dominate the darker races and shows that the enslavement of the darker races can only be combatted by organized action and for that purpose the congress declares itself in favor of the convening of a world race congress at which the question of combatting imperialism will be the main issue:

“Imperialism is the enslavement of the entire world by capitalist nations or groups of capitalist nations, bringing under their oppressive rule the 1,100,000,000 darker colored peoples in Asia, Africa, the Philippines, Mexico, Haiti, Porto Rico, Central and North America.

Imperialist Domination.

“From the colonies and semi-colonial regions, the imperialist nations secure immense supplies of raw materials produced at a lower labor cost by reason of the inferior social, economic and political status forced upon the darker-skinned peoples.

“In these regions also the imperialist nations find markets for the output of their factories.

“Here also they conscript recruits for the armies with which the imperialist nations wage war on one another, on Soviet Russia, on the colonial peoples themselves and on the working class.

Debauch Labor Aristocracy.

“By force, bribery and debauchery, the imperialist powers maintain division among the darker-skinned peoples, and the proceeds of the robbery practised upon them, are able in turn to bribe and debauch certain upper sections of the working class in the imperialist nations.

“Without the profits from the conquest and sweating of the darker- skinned peoples, the great imperialist nations cannot maintain themselves.

Life and Death Struggle.

“For these reasons the complete liberation of all the darker-skinned peoples of Africa, Asia, America and South America from the rule of world imperialism is of life and death importance to the whole working and farming classes–colored and white–in the imperialist nations, their colonies and spheres of influence.

“We call attention of the American Negro masses to the recent announcement of the entry of American imperialism on an immense scale in the $100,000,000 Liberian project of the Firestone Rubber company, into the African continent–hitherto the exclusive field of Great Britain, France, Belgium and Holland–and in an imperialist industry monopolized by Great Britain.

“We declare that this new rivalry arising over the question as to whether British or American imperialism shall have the power to oppress and rob millions of our race, means an added menace of imperialist war in which our race, unless awake to its danger, will be conscripted by both sets of imperialists and slaughtered by the millions.

Break Chains of Bondage.

“But there is encouraging evidence that our race, and the natives of India, China, Egypt and Morocco, are moving to break their chains of bloody bondage.

“In China, beginning with a strike. of textile workers in Shanghai, the liberation movement has swept to the farthest corners of the nation, based itself upon the workers and farmers, developed a definitely anti-imperialist and a firm working class character.

“All of the Chinese masses are uniting against the imperialist robbers of America, Great Britain, Japan and France.

“In China, only Soviet Russia appears as a friend and ally of the Chinese people.

Look to Soviet Union.

“Only in the Soviet union have the darker peoples attained to full social, economic and political equality. But the workers’ and peasants’ government’ of Soviet Russia, because it hails as equals and because it aids all the op pressed darker races in their struggles for freedom from imperialism’s yoke, is attacked on all sides by the imperialists, while the darker races of Africa, India, China and elsewhere are learning to look upon Soviet Russia as their best friend and ally.

“By the fury of the attacks we are enabled to understand the importance to the imperialist governments of the continued enslavement of the dark-skinned colonial and semi-colonial peoples.

“In India, where British imperialism has perpetrated the most horrible atrocities upon the masses, where mass murders like those at Amritsar are the order of the day, where, workers and farmers, unable to pay the extortionate taxes, are slaughtered with machine guns and airplane bombs, where the workers slave 12 and 14 hours per day for a wage of $10 to $12 per month, and where more than 800 out of every thousand children in Bombay die before they are one year old, 150,000 textile workers are now on strike altho defeated in 1924.

“In Egypt, a strong national liberation movement exists altho its leaders have been murdered and the masses drowned in blood time and time again.

Moroccan Struggle.

“In Morocco, the combined efforts of France and Spain, aided by an American airplane squadron, have been unable to crush the heroic Riffs and to end their struggle for national liberation.

“In the Philippines can be seen the beginnings of a national liberation movement whose advance guard has been murdered and imprisoned by the Wall Street dictatorship headed by the militarist, General Leonard Wood.

“In Haiti, the American marines have suppressed every semblance of political liberty and more than 3,000 Haitians have paid with their lives for continuing the struggle for freedom.

“In Panama, American troops have broken the strike of tenants, jailing and shooting workers.

“In Mexico, the Calles government thru the intrigue of imperialists and their tools, including some misleaders, of American and Mexican labor, has been brought under the thumb of Wall Street.

“In Brazil, American army officers train the national army and ferment war between Brazil and Argentine.

“General Pershing imposes the will of American imperialism upon Chile and Peru.

“All thru South America the millions of Wall Street debauch the native governments while the natural resources pass into the hands of Wall Street’s agents backed by gunboats and marines.

Cruelest Mockery of Freedom.

“In the United States, the Negro masses are given the cruelest mockery of freedom. Their social status is that of a colonial people. In the southern states our race is subjected to lynching, accompanied by bestial tortures, victimized by vicious peonage and contract labor systems, denied the franchise, segregated, deprived of anything but the most meager educational opportunities, discriminated against and oppressed in every conceivable manner.

“In the north we are denied entrance to many unions, murdered in race-wars fomented by real estate agencies and capitalist enterprises bent upon fanning race hatred and further dividing the Negro and white workers, discriminating against the Negro workers in wages and conditions of labor.

“Our grievances and our cause are those of our race brothers in Africa and the darker-skinned peoples in the colonies of world imperialism.

“Our oppression, our cause and our enemies are the same as those of hundreds of millions of workers and farmers in Asia and Africa.

“This congress declares for unity of the masses of our race in America with the masses of Africa and Asia.

“In the world struggle against imperialism, we, Negro workers are to occupy an important place.

Gained Valuable Experience.

“Cursed tho we are with intolerable oppression, we have, thru our struggles, with the rulers of the most advanced capitalist country in the world, gained valuable experience in the fields of industry, politics and organization, experience that has been denied members of our race in most other lands. In the light of the lessons we have learned from the terrible struggle we have been forced to wage, it is not too much to say that from our ranks will come the leadership of our race in its fight for liberation from imperialist oppression.

“It is with the full knowledge of our responsibilities to our race that we hail the rising liberation movements in Africa and Asia, that we welcome the long-delayed recognition of the necessity for solidarity of all oppressed, black, white and brown, as shown by the French workers in support of the Riffian struggle, the sympathetic attitude of the British workers to the Chinese and Indian independence movements, the growing unity of the working class and colonial peoples against their common enemy.

United Effort Needed.

“The white workers cannot free themselves without the aid of us dark-skinned people, and we cannot liberate ourselves unless they join with us in an assault of the world fortress of imperialism.

“We hail the workers’ and farmers’ government of Soviet Russia as the first to bring into being full social, political and economic equality for all peoples, white and dark-skinned. We call upon the members of our race to recognize this signal accomplishment of the first workers’ and peasants’ government as the sign manual of what the future holds for the toiling masses of the whole world when the workers and farmers follow its example and imperialism has been driven from the face of the earth.

“As a first step in connecting the struggles of our race in America with its world-wide struggle against imperialism, this congress of Negro workers and farmers instructs the national executive committee to convene a world congress of our race

World Race Congress.

“It further instructs the American Negro delegates to this world congress to lay the foundation for a world organization of the workers and farmers of our race and to make this organization a leader and fighter in the liberation movements of all the darker-skinned peoples in the colonies of imperialism everywhere.

“Welcome Soviet Russia–the friend and ally of the oppressed of all races!

“Welcome to all who join with us in the fight for emancipation from imperialist slavery!”

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