The C.P.U.S.A. greets the newspaper, El Martillo (The Hammer), of the newly formed Communist Party of Venezuela.

‘We Greet “El Martillo”’ from The Daily Worker. Vol. 9 No. 143. June 16, 1932.

THE Daily Worker greets the appearance of the first issue of “El Martillo” (the Hammer), the official organ of our brother Communist Party of Venezuela.

For many years, the workers and peasants of Venezuela have suffered under the iron heel of the Gomez dictatorship, serving the interests of imperialism. The terror in Venezuela is More cruel and ruthless than in any of the Latin American countries. Despite this terror, the workers and peasants of Venezuela are carrying on a heroic struggle against imperialism and against the native exploiters. In Caracas a short time ago they conducted a successful street carmen’s strike. Despite the jailing, torture and murder of the leaders of the Communist Party and of hundreds of other workers, the Party is growing, training new leaders, and preparing new struggles.

The revolutionary workers’ and peasants’ movement in Latin America is expanding, engaging in strikes and unemployed demonstrations and in many towns and villages even in armed uprisings of peasants. The Chilean Naval Revolt of last year; the present strike movement in Argentina in which peasants are fighting side by side with the workers; the strike of the smelter workers in Monterey, Mexico; the present workers’, peasants’ and students’ movement in Chile against the fascist Junta are only a few indications of the rising tide of revolutionary struggle.

American imperialism is trying to harness its native puppet governments in its colonies and semi-colonies for more open support of its war program. “El Martillo” can play a decisive role in mobilizing the masses against imperialist war and for the defense of the Soviet Union, for stopping the shipment of oil to the imperialist war-makers, for the fight against the ruthless offensive of the Gomez dictatorship and for the liberation of the toiling masses of Venezuela and to all of Latin America. We pledge “El Martillo” our comradely support in this most important task and especially because it appears under conditions of utter illegality.

The appearance of “El Martillo” should rouse the American revolutionary workers to more active and sustained support of the heroic struggles conducted by the Venezuelan workers and peasants. This duty falls especially on the Communist Party and revolutionary mass organizations in the Philadelphia District who have voluntarily “adopted” the revolutionary movement of Venezuela.

Our actions must prove that we recognize our Bolshevik duty toward the workers and peasants in Venezuela, led by the Communist Party of that country, for whose robbery and oppression under the bayonet rule of the murderous Gomez, American imperialism is responsible.

American imperialism will be held by us to strict accounting as the unity of Negro and white workers, of the workers of the United States and the Latin American masses is cemented in revolutionary struggles for defeat of imperialism’s war program and its final overthrow!

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. National and City (New York and environs) editions exist.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1932/v09-n143-jun-16-1932-DW-LOC.pdf