Download Contents - Pathfinder Press

Fighting Racism in World War II
Copyright © 1980 by Pathfinder Press
Contents
Dates and events
A note on authors and pen names
Introduction
Part 1: From September 1939 to December 1941
Why Negroes should oppose the war
Boston ‘Eel’ is benched
The ‘Pittsburgh Courier’ on the war
‘Poor little Finland’
Ethiopia 1935, Finland 1939
Not one red cent
The antilynching bill
Resistance to the Klan
Jim Crow textbooks in Mississippi
Judge upholds segregation in Harlem
Tennessee lynch leaders named
The new draft law
Military policy and the Negroes
Fifteen sailors in the brig
Their crime: writing a letter
Demand end to navy repression
Ousted for daring to protest
Police terror in Philadelphia
Hiring policy, early 1941
Local 683 apologizes
Urban League on job bias
Conscientious objection or militant struggle?
Ford, the UAW, and black workers
Ford’s ‘strike insurance’ . . .
. . . And how it failed
FRWo.indb 5
11
16
17
35
52
53
60
66
68
71
73
74
75
77
78
84
88
90
91
93
94
96
97
99
103
9/16/2009 11:36:24 AM
Fighting Racism in World War II
Copyright © 1980 by Pathfinder Press
Randolph’s apologetics for British imperialism
Who helps Hitler?
Runaround in Nashville
Black troops and the fall of France
Views from the South
‘Inconceivable,’ says the general
Bilbo’s bill and the Garveyites
William Pickens, NAACP leader
He defends southern congressmen
He takes a government job
Two bills on discrimination
Sidney Hillman writes a letter
Clash at Fort Jackson
Army breaks aviation strike
The March on Washington
Building the march
Answering the ‘Courier’s’ attack
Pressure from the White House
The march is cancelled
‘Second Emancipation Proclamation’?
First effects of executive order
The Nazi invasion of the USSR
Roosevelt attacks the SWP
Roosevelt picks six
UAW convention asks for action
The case of Pvt. Ned Turman
He died fighting for democracy
The army’s version
Sixty soldiers go AWOL
Randolph urges new mobilization
Steelworkers hit military bias
For Negro labor councils
CIO vows to unionize the South
Part 2: From December 1941 to September 1945
Irony at Pearl Harbor
Blood is segregated too
FRWo.indb 6
105
108
112
113
115
116
117
118
120
122
123
125
127
128
144
148
152
158
160
163
167
169
171
172
176
178
181
184
185
188
195
196
9/16/2009 11:36:24 AM
Fighting Racism in World War II
Copyright © 1980 by Pathfinder Press
Fighting in Louisiana
The lynching of Cleo Wright
Mob action in Detroit
Barred from Sojourner Truth housing project
‘Protection’
Labor’s duty
Lies from a northern congressman
More brutality reported
Two ways of not skinning the cat
Why Communist Party attacks ‘Double V’
First Black troops in Australia
A new wave of violence
Mrs. Fannie Hall writes the president
Winning production jobs at Flint
Bigot expelled in Tennessee
After war may be too late
Getting ideas in your head
Individual action and mass action
2,000 march in Maryland
Reviving the March on Washington movement
25,000 jam Madison Square Garden
Stalinists oppose movement
A report from St. Louis
Good news on Dodge Truck
Signs of the times
New attitudes and a secret survey
The shameful walkout at Hudson
The legal lynching of Odell Waller
His last testament
Odell Waller is dead
The Communist Party’s role
Randolph answers Ethridge
Racist terror in the South
The struggle in India
How it affects Black Americans
Randolph’s statement
Poll shows solid support
FRWo.indb 7
198
199
200
202
203
204
205
207
209
211
212
216
217
220
221
222
223
226
228
232
235
237
238
240
243
247
248
252
255
259
263
265
268
9/16/2009 11:36:24 AM
Fighting Racism in World War II
Copyright © 1980 by Pathfinder Press
March on Washington movement holds national conference
269
Conference called
A great opportunity
270
Permanent organization established
273
The SWP’s 1942 convention
280
Randolph at the AFL convention
282
Dirty deal kills anti–poll tax bill
284
General Davis is a busy man
288
Noncoms busted and transferred
289
Advice for North Africa
291
Post Office bans the ‘Militant’
292
Official explains why
Excerpts from Exhibit A
295
Excerpts from Exhibit B
297
Layle Lane’s speech
300
Women sue Cleveland plants
302
Why Hastie quit War Department
303
Alcoa victims in Cleveland
306
Randolph and civil disobedience
308
In these perilous times
312
10,000 demonstrate in Detroit
312
The southern white liberals
314
Lessons of miners’ strikes
317
Negroes in the postwar world
320
The NAACP emergency conference
336
‘Zoot suit riots’ in Los Angeles
339
FEPC OKs job segregation
341
The case of Dr. Edgar Keemer
343
Blood in the streets of Detroit
344
Part of national pattern
Eyewitness reports
345
Michigan CIO condemns anti-Negro riots
349
Police, politicians, and the press
351
SWP on the anti-Negro terror
353
Roosevelt’s letter
360
R.J. Thomas on flying squads
361
The Stalinist complaint
362
FRWo.indb 8
9/16/2009 11:36:25 AM
Fighting Racism in World War II
Copyright © 1980 by Pathfinder Press
Government distortion and slander
The March on Washington movement’s
national convention
Prolabor sentiment polled
The Harlem outbreak
A protest against intolerable conditions
‘Not another Detroit’
Who was to blame?
Some faulty evaluations
Four Freedoms at home
Two kinds of justice
Four Freedoms abroad
A government study on hiring
The case of Winfred Lynn
The case of Milton Henry
Army suppresses pamphlet
Jim Crow terror in Louisiana
The southern atmosphere
Anti-Negro strike in Philadelphia
Company agents hope to smash CIO union
Where is your liberty?
Springboard for repression
Transport Union elections
No middle ground
Equality decreed—in Germany
Britons reject racist indoctrination
News from the southern front
Soldiers strike in Arizona
Three electrocuted in Florida
SIU endangers hiring hall
CIO committee fights Jim Crow
Fifty found guilty of navy ‘mutiny’
Sgt. Brown’s letter
Just a Negro soldier
How to win the struggle
What Greek civil war teaches us
Labor shortage and the broom
FRWo.indb 9
363
365
371
372
375
376
379
380
383
386
388
390
392
395
397
399
401
405
405
407
408
410
412
413
415
416
418
421
424
427
429
430
443
445
9/16/2009 11:36:25 AM
Fighting Racism in World War II
Copyright © 1980 by Pathfinder Press
The demand for labor conscription
73 court-martialed for protest
Plight of Japanese-Americans
The Stalinist ‘silence’ policy
Congressman Powell, contortionist
Hunger strike by Seabees
WACs, Seabees win cases
162 officers arrested, released
Roosevelt dead, Truman in
Death knell of FEPC
Liar Eastland and the press
Truman at Potsdam
449
452
454
457
458
461
462
464
465
467
468
470
Glossary
Index
473
487
FRWo.indb 10
9/16/2009 11:36:25 AM
Fighting Racism in World War II
Copyright © 1980 by Pathfinder Press
Dates and events
1939
March – Spanish civil war ends with fascist victory. Germany
seizes Czecho­slovakia.
April – Senator Theodore C. Bilbo introduces bill to deport Blacks
to Africa. Italy seizes Albania.
July – Socialist Workers Party adopts its first comprehensive
program for Black liberation.
August – Stalin-Hitler nonaggression pact is signed. Communist
International drops demand for “collective security” alliances between USSR and “democratic” imperialists against
fascist imperialists; Communist parties in the “democracies” campaign against imperialist war.
September – Germany invades western Poland. Britain and
France declare war. USSR seizes eastern Poland.
November – USSR invades Finland to gain territory Moscow
needs for defense of Leningrad.
1940
April – SWP convention reaffirms policy of defense of USSR
against imperialist attack despite Stalin’s crimes; a large
minority splits away. National Negro Congress splits, with
A. Philip Randolph heading pro-Allied forces and CP heading opponents of war; Randolph quits and Stalinists take
control of shell of NNC.
May–June – Germany crushes France.
June – Italy enters war.
11
FRWo.indb 11
9/16/2009 11:36:25 AM
Fighting Racism in World War II
Copyright © 1980 by Pathfinder Press
12 / fighting racism in world war ii
August – Leon Trotsky is assassinated by Stalinist agent. Italy
occupies British Somaliland.
September – U.S. draft law is passed.
October – Roosevelt announces that proportion of Blacks in military will be same as proportion in whole population, but
opposes desegregation of armed forces units; U.S. military
remains Jim Crow throughout war.
November – Roosevelt wins third term.
1941
January – Randolph calls for march on Washington July 1 against
discrimination in employment and armed forces.
February – Italian army in Africa collapses; German army intervenes.
April – Black workers support United Auto Workers strike against
Ford; May victory wins first union shop agreement in auto
industry. Germany attacks Greece and Yugoslavia.
June – U.S. government breaks North American Aviation strike
with troops. Germany invades USSR. CP drops opposition
to imperialist war and demands U.S. intervene on side of
USSR. Roosevelt issues Executive Order 8802 establishing
Fair Employment Practices Committee. March on Washington
is cancelled. FBI raids SWP headquarters in Minneapolis.
July – Government indicts twenty-nine SWP leaders under
Smith Act.
August – Sixty Black soldiers persecuted by racists in Arkansas
go AWOL, returning to their former base in Michigan.
October–November – Sedition trial of SWP leaders is held
in Minneapolis. CIO convention resolves to organize the
South.
December – Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, Philippines, Malaya,
Hong Kong. U.S. declares war on Axis powers. Eighteen
SWP leaders are sentenced to twelve- and sixteen-month
terms. German army pulls back from Moscow as USSR
counter-offensive begins.
FRWo.indb 12
9/16/2009 11:36:25 AM
Fighting Racism in World War II
Copyright © 1980 by Pathfinder Press
dates and events / 13
1942
January – Over 3,000 Black soldiers are arrested after violent
confrontation in Alexandria, Louisiana.
February – Mob of 1,200 armed whites prevents three Black families from moving into Detroit housing project. Roosevelt
signs Executive Order 9066, leading to internment of
110,000 Japanese-Americans.
June – March on Washington movement holds mass rallies in
New York and Chicago.
July – Government imposes wage controls.
August – Axis forces sweep into Egypt.
September – Siege of Stalingrad begins.
October – Roosevelt issues executive order freezing wages. Britain routs German army in North Africa.
November – Allies invade Algeria.
1943
February – German army at Stalingrad surrenders; USSR wins
pivotal battle of war.
March – Post office revokes Militant’s second-class mailing
rights.
April – Ten thousand demonstrate against racism in Detroit.
May – Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilders Company in Mobile
instigates walkout and riot of 20,000 white workers against
hiring of Blacks.
May–October – United Mine Workers strikes defy U.S. government and break wage freeze and no-strike orders.
June – Racists rampage in Los Angeles, Detroit, and Beaumont,
Texas.
July – March on Washington movement holds convention. Allies
invade Sicily. Mussolini is ousted and Marshal Badoglio
forms new Italian government.
August – Black uprising in Harlem is triggered by police brutal-
FRWo.indb 13
9/16/2009 11:36:25 AM
Fighting Racism in World War II
Copyright © 1980 by Pathfinder Press
14 / fighting racism in world war ii
ity and discrimination. USSR begins to drive out German
army. U.S. launches campaign on Pacific islands.
September – Allies invade Italy. Italian government surrenders
but Germany continues war in Italy.
November–December – Western Allies at Tehran summit conference pledge to open second front against Germany.
December – Roosevelt announces end of New Deal. Eighteen
SWP leaders go to prison.
1944
January – Roosevelt calls for labor conscription law.
March – Militant regains second-class mailing rights.
May – U.S. Communist Party is dissolved; Communist Political
Association is formed.
June – Allies take Italy. Second front is opened with invasion of
Nor­mandy (D-Day).
June–July – USSR takes Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania.
August – Troops run public transportation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after white workers strike against hiring of Blacks.
November – Roosevelt wins fourth term with backing of labor leaders. Major Black newspapers oppose him because
Democratic Party platform does not call for laws against
poll tax, lynching, or military discrimination.
December – U.S. retakes Philippines. Allies win Battle of the
Bulge in Europe. British troops battle Greek partisans.
1945
January – SWP leaders are released from prison.
February – Yalta summit conference is held.
April – Roosevelt dies; Truman becomes president. Mussolini is
executed. Hitler commits suicide.
May – Germany surrenders. Japan approaches USSR for peace
terms.
FRWo.indb 14
9/16/2009 11:36:26 AM
Fighting Racism in World War II
Copyright © 1980 by Pathfinder Press
dates and events / 15
June – U.S. troops mop up in Pacific; Japan’s cities are in ruins;
40 percent of Tokyo has been destroyed.
July – Funds to FEPC are cut. Atom bomb is tested in New
Mexico.
July–August – Potsdam summit conference is held.
August – Hiroshima and Nagasaki are destroyed by U.S. atom
bombs; over 200,000 are killed or maimed, and radiation
causes disease and deaths for generations. Japan accepts
surrender terms.
September – Japan signs surrender pact.
FRWo.indb 15
9/16/2009 11:36:26 AM