Bronx Socialist Sunday School children bring their message to the people in a parade and picnic at Claremont Park.

‘350 Socialist Children Take Part in ‘June Walk’’ from New York Call. Vol. 3 no. 158. June 7, 1910.

Transparencies Borne With Interesting Socialist Slogans Upon Them. Children Had Dandy Time, Too.

More than 350 Socialist children took part in the “June walk” Saturday afternoon. They marched from Socialist Sunday school headquarters at Claremont Casino, at Wendover and Park avenue, to Claremont Park.

The parade was headed by a brass band. The features of the “walk” were transparencies borne by the children. The following are some of the inscriptions which appeared on the transparencies:

“A Rebel Is No Coward,” “Each for All and All for Each,” “The World Is My Country,” “Five Million Child Slaves in the Land of the Free,” “We Want Play, Not Work,” Labor Creates All Wealth, Who Gets It,” “We Want Room to Grow,” “A Wrong to One Is a Wrong to All,” “Workers of the World Unite.”

The banners were read by thousands of people. The children wore red sashes and red and white caps.

The Bronx Sunday school banner led the march, followed by two girls representing liberty and peace. “Liberty” was dressed in a red flowing gown with palm leaf in her hand. “Peace” wore a white gown and carried a transparency, “Let Us Have Peace.”

The procession was very impressive.

The children paraded around the square to the tune of the Marseillaise and provoked a great deal of comment from onlookers.

When they arrived in the park they were divided into groups of fifteen on the green. Each group was in charge of a woman and cake, lemonade, ice cream other refreshments were distributed. The best of harmony prevailed among all the children and they had a good time.

After the lunch the teachers superintended the games and joined in the general frolic.

Special credit for the admirable turnout of the children is due to I. Kasorsky, of the Workmen’s Circle of the Bronx, Branch 24, and the Sunday school committee of the same organization. Also to Elsa Himsberger. principal of the school.

These “June walks” are effective methods of teaching the children solidarity, democracy and class consciousness, and they will doubtless be continued from year to year.

The New York Call was the first English-language Socialist daily paper in New York City and the second in the US after the Chicago Daily Socialist. The paper was the center of the Socialist Party and under the influence of Morris Hillquit, Charles Ervin, Julius Gerber, and William Butscher. The paper was opposed to World War One, and, unsurprising given the era’s fluidity, ambivalent on the Russian Revolution even after the expulsion of the SP’s Left Wing. The paper is an invaluable resource for information on the city’s workers movement and history and one of the most important papers in the history of US socialism. The paper ran from 1908 until 1923.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/the-new-york-call/1910/100607-newyorkcall-v03n158.pdf