In 1925, Cleveland had a small, but well-organized and politically active Chinese community centered on Ontario Street and Rockwell Avenue. Participating in the Revolution at home, the city had a Kuomintang chapter and even hosted Sun Yat-sen in 1911. Long a city with a strong working class left, in 1925 Cleveland’s large Communist Party was engaged with that community, both in defense of rights here and in solidarity with the Revolution in China. In October of that year, claiming a crack-down on gang warfare, the police arrested nearly every single member, over 800 people, children included, of the community. With reports from the raids is an article on a mass rally in support of Black and Chinese liberation held in the city two months previous.

‘Ohio ‘Hands Off China!’ Meeting Attracts 1,500.’ July 11, 1925.

Negroes and Chinese Attack Imperialism

CLEVELAND, Ohio, July 9. Anti-imperialist week was brought to a close here on Sunday, July 5, by a monster demonstration on the public square. Fifteen hundred workers of all nationalities listened for hours to the anti-imperialist speeches made by members of the Workers (Communist) Party, the Young Workers’ League, and the Kuo Min Tang.

Over a thousand voices cheered when the appeal of the All-America Anti-Imperialist League, calling for united action of all labor organizations demanding: “Hands off China,” was read.

Soviet Union Greatest Friend.

Comrade James Hamilton, local organizer of the Workers Party, opened the meeting with a speech on the conditions in China and the effect of imperialist policies upon the working class. He called upon the workers of every race to join the Workers (Communist) Party which is the only fighter against the capitalist system which enslaves all workers regardless of race or nationality. He showed that in the struggle of the Chinese workers and students against the imperialist robbers, Soviet Russia was their greatest friend and helper.

Cheer Chinese Speaker.

The secretary of the Cleveland branch of the Kuo Min Tang, Brother Hong, then mounted the rostrum. He was greeted with thunderous applause in recognition of the valiant struggle now being waged by the Kuo Min Tang in China. Brother Hong told of the brutal manner in which the Chinese workers were treated by the foreign imperialists who have entrenched themselves in China by military force.

He was heartily cheered when he asked: “What would you American workers do if you had to work 14 and 16 hours a day for low wages in a mill where your overseer was free to beat you, and if you were accountable not to American courts but to the courts set up by a foreign consul? You would fight, wouldn’t you? Well, that is what the Chinese workers and students are doing. They are fighting o free themselves from the rule of the capitalists and to get China for the Chinese.” Brother Hong expressed the appreciation of his organization of the work being done by the Workers Party and the Communists of the world to help China in her struggle for liberation from the imperialistic rule of France, Japan and Great Britain.

Youth First Victims.

The position of the young workers under imperialistic capitalism was then exposed by Comrade Carl Weissberg, local organizer of the Young Workers’ League. He showed that under imperialism wages and working conditions are lowered thru the competition of colonial workers and that the young worker is the first victim of the poorer conditions. He also pointed out that unless the American workers fight against imperialism they will be permitting the establishment of a great military machine which the American bosses will employ to beat the workers at home into submission to the capitalist system.

Comrade Weissberg explained that the young workers would be the first victims of the inevitable imperialist war, and called upon all workers to unite into an international fight against all imperialist maneuvers, of the capitalist class; and he called upon all young workers who were ready to fight against the capitalist system which led to imperialistic wars, to join the Young Workers’ League.

Negroes Fight Imperialism.

Comrade Martin Gordon, of the Young Workers’ League, spoke on the relation of imperialism to the position of the Negro workers. He told of the fight being made by the Communists in France for the withdrawal of troops from Morocco. He showed that the Communists were fighting with the workers of all countries for their freedom from the yoke of capitalism, and he called upon all Negro organizations to heed the call of the All-America Anti-Imperialist League, and to join in the fight against the oppression of colonial and semi-colonial peoples by the capitalist class.

Sell DAILY WORKER.

The sham of July 4. “Independence Day” was thoroughly exposed by Comrade John W. Marshall of New York. who showed how the imperialists are trying to mobilize the workers for military training in order to have them ready to shoot down the workers of other countries when they would rise up against the super-exploitation by foreign capitalists.

The Sunday meeting was the best that Cleveland has seen for a long time. A large number of Chinese workers and many members of the Kuo Min Tang took part in the demonstration. At least a hundred Negro workers enthusiastically took part in this protest against imperialism. When the police forbid the sale of the DAILY WORKER, the crowd showed its spirit by buying every copy of a large bundle of papers at a nearby corner. Many workers contributed to anti-imperialist work by paying fifty cents or a dollar for their papers.

Many valuable contacts have been made at this meeting with workers of all nationalities, and these will be used by the Workers Party and the Young Workers’ League in the united front campaign which they are making for Hands off China.

‘Kuomintang Party in Cleveland Greets Convention.’ August 29, 1925.

Chinese Send Greetings.

CLEVELAND, Ohio, Aug. 27.To the Workers Party National Convention:

We appreciate most sincerely your righteous purpose. We believe your aim is for humanity. The Chinese may forgive, but they can never forget those brutalities and exploitations which caused by the capitalists and imperialists.

Our workmen wanted fair treatment. Our nation wanted cancellation of those unfair treaties which jeopardize her growth.

Realizing that our common great enemy, imperialism, will not grant such demands unless–thru your cooperation–we can together defeat imperialist designs.

Therefore, we earnestly appeal before you to solve these problems in the light of the awakened moral conscience of the world. Hoping the convention will lighten the burden of the toiling masses, allow us to congratulate your achievements and success. (Signed) Kuomintang Party, Cleveland Branch.

‘Brutal Raid by Police Rouses Strong Protest.’ October 1, 1925.

Cleveland, O., Workers Condemn Action

CLEVELAND, Ohio, Sept. 29. A raid in which 800 Chinese workers, students, and merchants were arrested and thrown into jail has caused great excitement in Cleveland. Following a tong killing, the police heads raided the homes of as many Chinese as they could find, loaded them into patrol wagons and then dumped them into dirty cells. None of those arrested were guilty of the crime committed and had to be released.

“Chinese were herded into cells like cattle. For two days my husband had nothing to eat. When I asked permission to bring him food I was told to stay at home and mind my own business.” relates one of the wives whose husband was arrested and thrown into jail because he was Chinese.

Mistreat Women.

“One woman that was in the same cell with me, was thrown into the cell with two children clinging to her skirts. One child was six years old and the other two. The woman expects another child soon. Doctors say they do not know what the effects of this brutal treatment will have on her health,” related one of the women that were taken out of their home and thrown into a cell that was so crowded that they had to remain standing in the cell all night.

Solving a Murder!

Hundreds of doors were smashed. Windows were broken. Heads were clubbed. Eight hundred Chinese kept incommunicado for days. This is the way the police solve an unsolved murder in Cleveland–when it involves Chinese workers.

There were over 20 murders that were committed during the year that the police has made no effort to solve.

‘Many Societies Protest Brutal Police Raids.’ October 22, 1925.

Denounce Raids Upon Cleveland Chinese

CLEVELAND, Ohio, Oct. 20. The unwarranted raid of the Cleveland police department on the Chinese colony has roused protests from many organization over the high-handed methods used by the police in the arrest of 600 innocent Chinese workers, students and merchants because of an unsolved murder of one Chinese tongman.

“Finding Guilty Culprit.”

The tong killing which resulted in the raids to find the “guilty culprit” was but one of over 100 unsolved murders that have taken place in Cleve- land since the first of the year. The method used to find the “guilty culprit” among the Chinese was not resorted to in the other unsolved murders.

“Cleaning Up City.”

Safety Director Barry, when roundly criticized for his damnable action, claimed that it was an attempt to clean up the city’s dirtiest section. The different societies of Cleveland could not be convinced that it was necessary to raid, arrest 600 Chinese, hold them in prison incommunicado for days crowded into cells so that they must stand still all the time that they were in there, in order to make Cleveland a cleaner city.

Race Segregation.

Cleveland is noted for its attempt to keep the darker races in a segregated district which has been allowed to deteriorate. The streets and houses have few repairs. Neither the landlords nor the city administration pays much attention to complaints from residents in these districts.

Even the reactionary Cleveland Bar Association was horrified at the high handed methods of the police and demands that the city of Cleveland apologize to the Chinese consul in Washington, D.C., and destroy the Bertillon measurements and the fingerprints which the police subjected every Chinese to that fell into their grip.

Pregnant Women Terrorized.

The raid was organized in such a manner that every house in the district was broken into and everyone found in the house arrested and brought to the filthy Cleveland jail. A number of women who were pregnant have been sent to hospitals after their incarceration in the crowded cells where they could not sit down, and the hospital doctors claim that life-long injury has been done these women and that the children that will be born will be marked or life because of the terrible experience which their mothers have passed thru.

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.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1925/1925-ny/v02b-n154-NY-jul-11-1925-DW-LOC.pdf

PDF of issue 2: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1925/1925-ny/v02b-n197-NYE-aug-29-1925-DW-LOC.pdf

PDF of issue 3: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1925/1925-ny/v02b-n223-no-holes-NYE-oct-01-n222-Chi-sep-30-1925-DW-mfilm.pdf

PDF of issue 4: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1925/1925-ny/v02b-n241-NYE-oct-22-1925-DW-LOC.pdf