A fascinating paper could be written about the Cleveland C.P. and its relations with that city’s Chinese community in the 1920s. In 1925, when this anti-imperialist 4th of July took pace, 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, Cleveland’s large Communist Party was engaged with that community, both in defense of rights here and in solidarity with the Revolution in China and defense of the community against deportations and police intimidation.

’Ohio ‘Hands Off China!’ Meeting Attracts 1500’ from The Daily Worker. Vol. 2 No. 154. 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 to 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 at 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.

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