Taking fifteen arrests, Chicago’s Young Communists are determined to hold a memorial for Cuban revolutionary Julio Mella, murdered by agents of imperialism, at that city’s Federal Building.

‘Chicago Youth Defy Police, Hold Mella Memorial’ from Daily Worker. Vol. 5 No. 328. January 21, 1929.

HIT MURDER OF MELLA AT RALLY AT U.S. BUILDING

500 Demand Release of Porter; Score War Danger Police Attack the Meet; Fifteen Young Workers Are Arrested

CHICAGO, Jan. 20. Taking possession of the steps of the federal building and repelling all efforts of federal officers to oust them, 500 young workers demonstrated yesterday in honor of Lenin Day, demanding the “immediate and unconditional release of John Porter,” “no imperialist wars” and “defense of the Soviet Union.”

The demonstration, carried out in the loop district, in the heart of Chicago’s crowded business section, also vigorously denounced Wall Street’s murder of Julio Mella, Cuban Communist. The Young Workers (Communist) League arranged the demonstration, which was preceded by a parade.

Despite a brutal attack by the Chicago police, and federal marshals from inside the building, the crowd of young workers held its own for an hour, more and more workers attending. Banners carrying the above slogans were carried up and down Adams St. in front of the building.

Against Imperialism.

Speeches were made by Fred Herzberg of the Young Workers (Communist) League, and by others, until speaking was made impossible by the repeated charges of mounted police. The speakers pointed out the connection between the U.S. financiers, who own the Cuban government, and its sending of two assassins to kill the Cuban Communist leader, Julio Antonio Mella, in Mexico City a few days ago. They pointed to the U.S. army as the agent of the mill owners, in its role of persecutor of John Porter, youthful strike leader in New Bedford, who was arrested and rushed to military prison for taking part in the textile knew from Senor Jose Magrinat that the two agents had arrived. That is all which he has to say and, this read, he confirmed the declaration as his in all its parts, not signing it by reason of the grave state in which he was found.

Modotti Confirms.

“Present; Tina Modotti, as requestioned according to the legal form, says her name is as is here written, widow, photographer, originally from Venice, Italy and declares:

“That at 9 o’clock, accompanied by Julio Antonio Mella, through the streets, when he told her that he had an appointment with Jose Magrinat in a case on the corner of Bolivar and Salvador Sts., proposing to her that meanwhile she send a cablegram and await him at the cable office. That at some minutes past 9 o’clock, Senor Mella arrived, and accompanying her, walked to Balderas Street, then by Morelos Ave. and entered Abraham Gonzalez St. That at turning into this street, she heard two shots, and that Senor Mella started to run and then fell as he crossed the street.”

That she noted that the attack was made from behind them and so close that she perceived the smell of powder. That before all this, Senor Mella had said to her that Magrinat, during the interview, had told him that some killers had arrived from Havana expressly to assassinate him. That in the moments that Senor Mella was wounded, he said: “Machado has sent them to kill,” and added these words: “I die for the revolution!”

“That this is all she has to declare, and that this being read, she confirmed it as her declaration in all its parts, signing it as noted.”

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/1929/1929-ny/v05-n328-NY-jan-21-1929-DW-LOC.pdf