‘The Negro Masses and Communism’ by George Padmore from the Daily Worker. Vol 6 No. 26. April 17, 1929.

The problem of the Negro in America is not an isolated one. Negroes all over the world are confronted with the same conditions, they merely differ in degrees according to the social and political conditions under which they live. In the United States we find twelve million Negroes living under the most brutal and reactionary capitalist system in the world.

In Africa, the West Indies and other colonial regions over a hundred and fifty million Negroes are kept in the most servile condition deprived of all forms of social, political and economic opportunities.

In this way, the capitalist imperialists through their “czar-like” colonial governors are able to extract millions of dollars annually from these slaves, who are transported to the home countries to maintain the palatial homes and the parasitic caste-system of the oppressors.

In view of this, Negroes in America must come to realize that their struggle is organically linked up with the struggle of their black brothers in far distant lands. And they together must develop an international spirit of solidarity and comradeship with the other oppressed peoples–Chinese, Indians, Latin- Americans, etc., as well as the workers in the countries of the imperialist class. Only in this way will the oppressed and exploited sections of the human race be able to win their freedom.

The question immediately arises, how and who can lead these people to victory in their fight against the exploiters and robbers? The only answer is to be found in the program of Marxism-Leninism under the leadership of the stalwart banner of the Communist International.

The one unfortunate thing is that the Negro masses know little about the Comintern and its sections, but in proportion as these workers learn of what the C. I. stands for, to that extent shall we prepare the masses for the final overthrow of wage slavery. It is therefore our revolutionary duty to carry the message of Communism to these oppressed millions.

This leads to another question. How best can this be done? The reply lies in our ability to propagandize and organize this great mass of potentially revolutionary black fighters. Our class enemies know this only too well and will therefore place every obstacle in our way, including the most vicious forms of terrorism in order to keep the masses away from the red banner of liberation.

Role of Party.

In America, our Party has made a splendid beginning in carrying on work among the Negro industrial workers, but up to now little or nothing has been attempted among the agricultural laborers, who form the bulk of the black workers. During the presidential campaign our program, standing four-square in its demands for full social and political equality for Negroes, was not only advocated in the North, but openly proclaimed throughout the South. Party speakers addressed large and enthusiastic audiences of black and white workers in states below the Mason-Dixon line. This was a great achievement and shows the heroic and revolutionary spirit of our Party leadership.

This is merely the beginning. Soon the Southern bourbons and lynchocrats will feel the power of proletarian awakening. Only the Communists can advocate a program of 100 per cent equality and freedom between races, for Communism is the weapon of the working class and knows no color line. It is the bitter and relentless foe of racial, religious and national prejudices, which the ruling class use as forces to divide and weaken the ranks of the workers, thereby maintaining the present social order.

Divide and Rule Policy.

Negroes as well as white workers must learn to realize this cunning device of “divide and rule” which the imperialists promote through their capitalistic controlled agencies–the church, movies, press, schools and fascist organizations, (American Legion, K.K.K., etc.) In America this is one of the most effective ways of ruling the workers.

The labor movement stinks with race prejudice. The A. F. of L. and its lackeys–Green, Woll and John L. Lewis, and other bureaucrats are the most open opponents of white chauvinism to be found anywhere in the civilized world. By condoning such a state of affairs, organized labor in the Right-wing unions keeps the Negro workers out of its ranks, thereby leaving him to the mercy of the bosses to be used as scabs or cheap labor reserve. With the organization of new industrial unions under the leadership of militant workers and agitation within the old craft unions for admission and equal rights for Negroes, a new day is ahead for the black proletariat.

This policy of “divide and rule” is not peculiar to the U.S. Wherever imperialism prevails the same methods of fostering prejudices are in operation. For instance: In India the Anglo-Indian government through its officials and missionaries encourage religious strife between the Hindus and Mohammedans and in this way prevent the unity of the workers and peasants. For as long as the Indian masses are divided the oppressors (British and native) will be able to subjugate and rule them. In the West Indies and South Africa the British overlords have instituted a caste system which they themselves have brought into being as a sort of buffer-class between them (the imperialists) and the broad masses of blacks and East Indians. These mulattoes are given preferential treatment economically and socially as a reward for doing the dirty work of their foreign masters. They befuddle the masses and betray every effort that they make for improved conditions.

The same policy is pursued by other imperialist classes–American, French, etc. Because of this situation the Anglo-American sections of the Comintern must pay more attention to the colonial areas dominated by British and American imperialism. The Parties must begin! to penetrate these colonies and give leadership to the peoples who are daily showing signs of revolt. This can best be done by training colonial cadres for work among their own people.

Bankruptcy of Negro Bourgeoisie.

In the U.S. the colored bourgeoisie is a reactionary class and cannot lead the black masses in their struggle for freedom. For over three hundred years the Negro workers have been the “hewers of wood and drawers of water” for the white overlords, but today an additional burden has fallen on their backs. “The colored bourgeoisie have joined hands with their white brothers to continue the unmerciful exploitation of the black masses. This upper strata of race parasites have become a well-crystallized class since the war.

Before the war most Negro workers were attached to the land in the southern states, but with war time acceleration of industry they migrated to the North and took their place within the ranks of the industrial proletariat. The segregated ghetto life into which they were forced lent itself favorably to the development of a black class of businessmen. This petty bourgeois element lost no opportunity of exploiting the growing racial consciousness which swept over all oppressed minorities after the war. By appealing to the similarity of color between the rich Negroes and the poor ones, the businessmen were able to turn race consciousness into dollars and cents. Merchants, insurance brokers, bankers and real estate sharks grew up, as it were, overnight. They robbed the black workers as effectively as the white exploiters. What the latter failed to extract out of their labor power, the former seized out in high rents and exorbitant prices for commodities. The Negro masses cannot hope to solve their problems by turning to the petty bourgeoisie of their race for leadership.

The same applies to the intellectuals. From this group spring the chief political lackeys and “Uncle Toms” of the white American rulers. To them are assigned all the filthy tasks to keep the masses in a helpless condition. One of the best illustrations of this was during the last presidential campaign. The two old parties-republican and democrats–bought up all the so-called Negro leaders editors, preachers, teachers. These traitors sold the helpless Negro workers out to the highest bidder. Theirs was an open and brazen expression of depravity. The workers must wake up and take the leadership into their own hands, for only the working class can emancipate itself.

New Leadership Needed.

The creation of a working class Negro leadership is the most needed factor in the liberation movement today. After this is done, it will be necessary to look for allies to help them in their struggle against the capitalists-white and black. Where are these allies to be found? America, among the class-conscious white workers together with the millions of over worked and mistreated Mexicans, Latin-American and Asiatic and other foreign born workers who like the Negroes toil to produce the wealth for the Wall Street bandits. When this day comes, which is not far off, the Rockefellers, Fords, Mellons, DuPonts, Hoovers and their kind will be driven from the thrones of the mighty in just the same way as the Russian capitalists were routed by the Russian workers and peasants in 1917.

Revolutionary Inspiration.

The Revolution of 1917 was the first signal of the international working class. The Negroes and white workers must learn their lessons in revolutionary tactics from this victory, and look upon the Soviet Union ruled by the working class as the greatest hope and inspiration for them in struggle to attain. The Soviet Union is the fatherland of the international working class and the oppressed peoples of the world. They must rally to its defense against the plots and schemes of the international imperialists. This can best be done by joining the Communist Party of America, the leader in the defense of the first workers state.

Negro workers in America and the colonies awake! Organize, agitate, fight under the leadership of the Communist International, the vanguard of the workers of the world and oppressed and enslaved colonial millions. In this way we shall all march forward to the conquest of power and the establishment of an international Soviet system of workers, farmers and soldiers.

The Daily Worker began in 1924 and was published in New York City by the Communist Party US and its predecessor organizations. Among the most long-lasting and important left publications in US history, it had a circulation of 35,000 at its peak. The Daily Worker came from The Ohio Socialist, published by the Left Wing-dominated Socialist Party of Ohio in Cleveland from 1917 to November 1919, when it became became The Toiler, paper of the Communist Labor Party. In December 1921 the above-ground Workers Party of America merged the Toiler with the paper Workers Council to found The Worker, which became The Daily Worker beginning January 13, 1924.

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