The drive against the foreign-born; then, as now, a vehicle of anti-worker reaction. The defense of the foreign-born; then, as now, a duty of self-defense for our movement.

‘Defend the Foreign Born’ by Karl Reeve from The Daily Worker. Vol. 6 No. 29. April 9, 1929.

Tendencies toward the concentration of the functions of the United States government in the hands of the president have already been clearly manifested since the installation of Herbert Hoover and his millionaire cabinet. The basis is being laid for the doing away with the mask of false democracy which is now irksome because of war preparations and the world rivalry for international markets. The Hoover government is taking all measures to facilitate the transfer from the form of false bourgeois democracy to open dictatorship.

More “Efficient” Courts.

This preparation is emphasized in Hoover’s inaugural address, which shows that the naked and open rule of the imperialists is being made a reality. Hoover declares that both the civil and criminal laws must be modified and that all of the deadwood must be cut away from the judicial system in order to insure rapid, severe action against law-breakers.

Hoover declares his intention “to re-establish the vigor and effectiveness of law enforcement.” He speaks of “the entire federal machinery of justice, the redistribution of its functions, the simplification of its procedure, the provision of additional special tribunals, the better selection of juries, and the more effective organization of our agencies of investigation and prosecution that justice may be sure and that it may be swift.”

Fascist Methods.

The call for special tribunals, for the betterment of agencies of investigation and prosecution has a familiar ring and we may find similar statements by Mussolini and the Balkan dictators, where fascism has been established by these very methods. Hoover’s message is nothing more nor less than the opening call for the preparation of a fascist government.

Now in the period of war preparations, the democratic forms which cloak this oppression of the workers and mask the rule of the capitalists with “democratic” trimmings are becoming a nuisance, an impediment to capitalist dictatorship, and are to be thrown overboard.

This preparation for the increase in the efficiency of capitalist justice, for the outlawing of all working class organizations, permeates all of the present activities of the government. One of the points of attack on the working class is to be seen in the drive against the foreign-born workers. New restriction of immigration and deportation laws have already been passed by the session of congress recently adjourned and the special session to be called this month, will consider further measures against the foreign-born. Senator Blease is advocating the “voluntary” registration of aliens as a preparation for espionage against foreign-born. The Johnson bill advocated extension of the grounds for deportation and removal of the time limit within which aliens can be deported for illegal entry. The deportation bill already passed provides a jail sentence, making it a criminal offense, to enter the United States illegally. Davis on “Selective” Immigration. Secretary of Labor Davis in his report, advocates “an entirely new code” of immigration, which includes “selective immigration.” Davis points out “that already immigration officers are at work in foreign countries weeding out undesirable aliens.”

He advocates, “a 100 per cent selective policy, subjected to the inspection system abroad, so that in all respects, immigration to the United States would be of the highest type available.” He demands that “discretionary powers should be given to the administrative officer,” he recommends, what has now become a law, that “a penalty should be attached in addition to deportation” for those entering the United States illegally.

He calls for the further restriction of immigrants from Mexico and Canada and for a revision of the deportation laws “to make them more adequately meet the needs of the government.” He declares, “the practice of the service is to take into custody for deportation all aliens of the criminal, immoral and anarchistic classes whose illegal presence is indicated.” He calls upon all employers to demand an immigration certificate from foreign-born workers. He declares that some large employers of labor already demand such certificates, and concludes, “the extension of this helpful practice is being urged by the department in the hope that employers of foreign-born labor generally will assist the government in the enforcement of the immigration law, through refusal to give employment to persons who have entered illegally” and he says his plan “involves the enrollment of aliens under the direction of naturalization officers.”

Purposes of New Measures.

While Secretary of Labor Davis clearly indicates the measures demanded by the government against the foreign-born, some of which have already become law, the “Honorable” Robe Carl White, assistant secretary of labor, is more frank in divulging the purposes of these laws. This honorable gentleman declares that the registration of the foreign-born “would enable our government to locate and deport the undesirable aliens–the anarchist, the red, the criminal, and immoral. Among these there are thousands who must be regarded as moral lepers, for they have come here for evil purposes. They are destructionists, and thousands of them are playing their nefarious game within our gates, planning and laboring for the destruction of other governments, and hoping ultimately to destroy this great republic of ours. The need for an enrollment law is immediate.” As a further reason for registration and restriction of immigration, the honorable gentleman asks the oratorical question, “Do you know that we have in this country an organization calling itself the American Young Workers Communist League, and that it is teaching small children disregard and hatred for our form of government?”

Against Radical Workers.

These statements were made in a speech delivered but a few weeks ago in Yale University, and the assistant secretary of labor goes into great detail to show that the native born white American is of a higher standard and “we must be cautious as to the quality and quantity of immigrants whom we permit to enter.” He advocates sharper immigration laws because “the parlor pink, the ultra radical, the Bolshevik, the Communist, were products of foreign soil and for years confined to foreign soil…because they are hostile to our principles and national philosophy, we owe it as a duty to our country to keep them out…we are too prosperous and contented to listen to the wild social theories of other lands.”

It becomes plain that the measures advocated by Secretary of Labor Davis, a further restriction of immigration, the registration of foreign-born workers, the selection of immigrants in their own countries, the increasing of the powers of the secretary of labor to administer the laws, more severe deportation laws, etc., are advocated to be used against the foreign-born because they have a revolutionary tradition, because they are more class-conscious, because they are enlisted in basic industries. It becomes clear that these measures are being passed by congress and are being prepared by Hoover and his cabinet as an attack on the working class, as an attempt to split and divide the workers, and to persecute, deport and imprison one of the most militant, advanced and important sections of the working class, and attempt to shatter the unity of the working class. Thus, the government, throwing away all democratic subterfuges, is changing our laws during a period of war preparation in order to be able more easily to exploit workers and in order to keep them in subjection, and try to prevent them from protesting against the plunging of the United States into imperialist war.

Spies Expose Dictator.

Let me quote from a capitalist information service, the Whaley-Eaton Services, which are “offered to a select clientele and are available to persons of discrimination,” and have “the support and confidence of representative business men in all parts of the union.” In a report entitled, “The New Epoch Under Hoover,” this service points out that one of the most significant changes inaugurated with Hoover is this tendency toward dictatorship. It says, “He was a dictator in his relief work in Europe and he was almost a dictator in the food administration at home.”

The report then refers to the U.S. senate and declares that one of Hoover’s tasks will be to subjugate the senate to his dictatorship, “what a knock-down this senate will get if it undertakes through sheer obstinacy to oppose the constructive programs of Mr. Hoover.” The report continues, “Mr. Hoover does not have to be a dictator in the sense that Mussolini is a dictator; the test is coming just as certainly as the tide or rain and it will be fine thing if it comes early in his administration at the approaching special session.”

The workers must awaken to the seriousness of the situation. They must answer the attacks on the foreign-born workers, they must fight against the preparation for a fascist dictatorship, which is but a part of the preparation for the imperialist war.

The International Labor Defense is now conducting a campaign in defense of the foreign-born workers, and is defending John Topalscanyi against deportation charges. Topalscanyi has just had his citizenship papers revoked by the federal court in Pittsburgh, and is facing deportation because of his membership in the Communist Party.

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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