General Secretary of the League of Struggle for Negro Right A.W. Berry calls on comrades to participate in celebrations honoring the life and fight of Frederick Douglass.

‘Renew Fighting Traditions on Douglas Day!’ by A.W. Berry from Negro Liberator. Vol. 3 No. 30. February 1, 1935.

February 12th marks the anniversary of Frederick Douglas, outstanding fighter for Negro liberation the pre-Civil War period. At the age of fifteen Douglas pledged himself to the struggle then conducted by the hated abolitionists; he reasoned that the white masters’ hatred or the word “abolitionist” pointed to something beneficial to the enslaved Negroes.

After the Civil War Douglas continued his work for Negro rights, participating in the Equal Rights Movement. His whole life is a refutation of the handkerchief-head, belly-crawling, me-too-boss tactics of the leaders of Negro reformism.

The Negro leaders and white liberals who are this year calling for Lincoln-Douglas meetings to “honor” this hero of Negro liberation “forget” that during the presidential elections of 1859 Douglas and the Abolitionists broke with and denounced Lincoln for his desertion of Negro freedom. (Lincoln had stated in the campaign that his main plank was the “saving of the Union” and not Negro freedom.)

Those who seek to link the name of Douglas with the open lily-white policies of the Republican Party are degrading the militant tradition of the Abolitionists. They are calling on the Negroes and their white allies to be happy under the present forms of oppression.

Harriet Tubman, active Negro woman abolitionist, called the “Negro Moses”, has characterized these “happy” Negroes as those “dat’s got de spunk killed in ’em…happy caze dey’s such low down trash de cain’t fight no mo’.” This label fits the present-day George Schuylers, Walter Whites, Robert Vanns, Motons, but not Fred Douglas!

Only the League of Struggle for Negro Rights and its supporting organizations can continue the revolutionary traditions of the Negro people and make the campaign for Douglas Day a struggle for Negro Rights. The fight for the freedom of the Scottsboro boys and Angelo Herndon; for the passage of the Bill of Civil Rights and Suppression, of Lynching; for full equality for Negroes everywhere and self-determination for the Black Belt these issues today carry with them the uncompromising fight for liberation carried on by the Abolitionists and Fred Douglas.

Branches should send speakers and letters to organizations, telling them of the celebrations and calling on them to participate.

For full equal rights! For freedom of the Scottsboro boys and Angelo. Herndon! Against the denial of civil rights and jim-crow practices. For mass violation of jim-crow laws! Against the textbook-newspaper-movie, ruling class slanders and distortions of Negro history! For a fighting alliance of Negro people and white toilers! For an uncompromising revolutionary fight for Negro Liberation in the manner of the Abolitionists and Frederick Douglas!

The week of February 12th, in celebration of Douglas, should ring with the present-day slogans of Negro Liberation. Every city, town, neighborhood and organization should be reached in this campaign. Save the militant traditions of the Abolitionists from the snare-net of reformism!

The national office of the L.S.N.R. is preparing the Bill of Civil Rights in folder form, comparing our bill with the other “anti-lynch” bills sponsored by reformist organizations. These can be obtained for fifty cents a hundred from the national office, cash in advance, for use in the campaign. Branch- es are urged to rush their orders.

The next issue of the LIBER- ATOR will be a special Douglas. Day issue, in which leading National Council members will write special articles. All branches, affiliated organizations and members, should immediately send in greetings for this issue. (A greeting coupon appears elsewhere in this issue.) A special minimum rate of $1.00 must be paid for all greetings.

If there is sufficient response, the Douglas Dry issue will be 12 pages. Send in greetings at once! Prepare for a mass distribution I of the LIBERATOR, especially in Negro lodges, fraternal organizations, churches, and other organizations!

The Liberator was the paper of the League of Struggle for Negro Rights, largely edited by Benjamin Davis and begun in 1930. In 1932, its name changed to the Harlem Liberator, an again to the Negro Liberator before its run ended in 1935. The editorial board included William Patterson, James W Ford, Robert Minor, and Harry Haywood. Printed, mostly, every two weeks, The Liberator is an important record not only of radical Black politics in the early 1930s, but the ‘Harlem Renaissance’ as well. The successor to the American Negro Labor Congress, The League of Struggle for Negro Rights was organized by the Communist Party in 1930 with B.D. Amis was the LSNR’s first General Secretary, followed by Harry Haywood. Langston Hughes became its President in 1934. With the end of the Third Period and the beginning of the Popular Front, the League was closed and the CP focused on the National Negro Congress by 1935. The League supported the ‘Self-Determination for the Black Belt’ position of the Communist Party of the period and peaked at around 8000 members, with its strongest centers in Chicago and Harlem. The League was also an affiliate of the International Workers Order.

PDF of full issue: https://dds.crl.edu/item/57591