Early U.S. solidarity with the Cuban Revolution as picketers descend on Wall St. in 1925 to support of Julio A. Mella, then in prison for leading sugar workers and on hunger strike. Mella would be assassinated in Mexico City in 1929.

‘Workers Picket American Sugar Trust Offices’ by Rose Baron from The Daily Worker. Vol. 2 No. 294. December 24, 1925.

N.Y. Labor Demands Release of Mella

NEW YORK, Dec. 22. Over one hundred and fifty workers picketed the American Sugar Refining company main offices at 117 Wall St. at noon today, demanding the release of Antonio Mella, Imprisoned by the Cuban government at the request of the American sugar Interests thru its tool, Ambassador Crowder.

Thousands of workers were attracted to the scene by the signs that were carried by the pickets. The district became congested as the workers milled around the pickets to be able to better read the demands on the American sugar trust for the release of the Cuban labor leader who dared to organise the oolonos against the sugar trust exploitation.

The following slogans were carried by the pickets:

Defend the Persecuted Cuban Workers.
Down with American Imperialism.
American Imperialism Makes a Prison of Cuba.
The Sugar Trust Keeps the Cuban Workers Enslaved.
Wall Street is Strangling the Cuban Labor Movement.
The Anti-Imperialist League Demands the Liberty of the Workers’ Champions.
If Mella Dies, on Wall Street Lies the Guilt.
Hail Julio Mella, Cuba’s Anti-Imperialist Leader.
The Anti-Imperialist League Demands Freedom for Porto Rico, the Philippines and the Virgin Islands.
The Monroe Doctrine Protects Latin-America from European Aggression. But What Protects Latin-America from Wall Street?
Machado is Wall Street’s Lackey; Crowder Its Dictator.
Free Mella, Defender of Cuba’s Sugar Workers.
Wall Street is Killing Julio A. Mella.
American Imperialism Is Cuba’s Jailer.
The Cuban and American Workers have the Same Enemies.
Mella Shall Not Be Murdered.
Free Mella, the Workers’ Champion.
The Workers of America Demand Mella’s Freedom.
Break the Prison Bars That Hold the Workers’ Champions.
International Labor Defense Is the Workers’ Shield.
Mella Shall Not Die.
Workers of the World Unite.
An Injury to One Worker is an Injury to All.
American Workers Demand Freedom for Mella and the Other Imprisoned Workers.
The Blood of Workers’ Champions Shall Not Be Shed.
If Mella Dies the Workers Will Lay the Blame at the Door of American Imperialism.
Mella and 12 Other Cuban Workers are in Jail on Framed-up Charges.
The Defense of Labor’s Prisoners Is the Defense of Labor’s Vanguard.
The Sugar Trust Dictates to Cuba.
The Sugar Interests Enslave Cuban Workers.
Mella is Imprisoned by Agents of the American Sugar Refining Company.
The Cuban Workers are Victimized by Wall Street’s Greed.
Down With the American Sugar Refining Company. It Enslaves Cuba’s Toilers.

The mass picketing, which took place in the financial heart not only of America but of the world, was organized by the All-America Anti-Imperialist League, American section and the International Labor Defense, New York section.

Telegrams were sent to Washington, D.C., protesting the jailing of Antonio Mella and demanding his immediate release. The following telegram was sent to President Calvin Coolidge and the Secretary of State Kellogg:

“The International Labor Defense, New York section, in name of forty thousand organized workers and affiliated organizations, protests against imprisonment of Mella and twelve other Cuban workers in jail on frame-up charges. Mella has been on hunger strike for fourteen days and is now in a dying condition. If he dies Cuban workers as well as their fellow workers in America will lay the blame at the door of American Imperialism.  Rose Baron, Secretary.”

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.

Access to PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1925/1925-ny/v02b-n294-NYE-dec-24-1925-DW-LOC.pdf