Hard Times Come Again in Old Virginia
George, David G.
Hard Times Come Again in Old Virginia [This is the sixth article in theseries on economic, social and political conditions in the States andthe prospects for the Socialist Party.]By David G....
...For thefirst few weeks the chief work Isto protect the tender plant againstgrass by hoeing...
...Numerous deaths from outrightstarvation have been recordedSuicide Is on the increase, while'laease Is reaping its toll...
...The crowd of 1,500 people that turned out to hear Thomas in Norfolk recently—the meeting being arranged on one week's notice—Is indicative of the interest in the party...
...This Is particularly true of the tobacco farmers.The tobacco belt stretches, roughly, from Petersburg westward toabout 75 miles west of Danville,and from the James River southinto the Carolinas...
...Outof this one-fourth, or $62.50, wentto his landlord, while $75 paid forfertilizer...
...The elections fall on June 14, and we expect to make an excellent showing...
...The development of tobacco culture in Ontario, SouthAfrica and elsewhere in recentyears, as well as in Georgia andother southern states, has helpedto cripple the Virginia market...
...In payment of debts to him, the farmers use meat, corn, molasses, eggs, poultry, etc...
...The degree ofhealth that the farmers do enjoy Isamazing, but here, too, disease hastaken a horrible toll, and Is on theincrease...
...The chief cities are in'Tidewater...
...I believe that such success as we have had has beenlargely due to the stressing of thesymbolism of our color, the singing of our songs, and the generalspirit of revolutionary enthusiasm Southerners are very emotional,and we must appeal to their emotions as well as to their Intellect.We are now making gains espe<daily among the Negroes, whohave been used as a political football by iheboid parties...
...Our present movement wasformed in 1928, with about adozen charter members...
...Our comrades sangand cheered and worked seriously We believe in Socialism in outtime...
...A white tenant sold 4,000pounds for $12...
...The farmers of Halifax Countywill have to live on fresh air andimagination from now until summer," one 'armer said...
...We started last year with 88, but now haveabout 400 red card members...
...A IS Month Year The culture of bright tobaccoentails probably the hardest laborof any farming operation...
...A Fresh Air Diet One Negro family, with six adultworkers, raised over 6,000 poundsof tobacco and sold the entire cropfor $9...
...In late August the "savlrfg" ofthe tobacco begins, after it hasripened In the mid-summer sun.This work lasts all winter, and isusually incomplete when he mustprepare his plant bed for anothercrop...
...Within the partywe have been able to effectuallysquelch whatever race prejudice has shown its ugly face, so that Negroes find a hearty welcome awaiting them...
...In Danville, thousandsof textile workers live In shacksof the most miserable structure.In Hopewell, practically 80 percent of the population lives Incheap company houses, or otherseven worse...
...potatoes, with the easterncounties p oducing the bulk...
...Last year prices hit the lowestlevel In fifty years—so low thatmany farmers threw their tobaccoon the soil without stripping it.Tobacco is sold at sales warehouses, located in many smalltowns and cities, and usually operated by banking interests...
...Virginia's urban population amounts to about one fourthof the total of 2,400,000...
...I was assured that these wereaverage prices...
...It is very difficult for him to diversify hisfanning...
...In the"y of...
...The Negroes cast about 10 per cent of the total state vote, and the percentage is steadily rising along with improved educational standards...
...There isa very small population of foreign born, while the Negroes number about 650,000...
...Money Is seldom seen any more...
...The highest price received by any farmerI met was $250 for 4,000 poundsof excellent quality tobacco...
...A prominent hardware merchant doing a credit busi ness with farmers for thirty years,assured me that both he and they have "gone off the gold standard...
...Chickens run in theyard because the farmer can't afford to build a fence...
...Bright tobaccois used principally in cigarettes.While every large tobacco companyshowed substantial gains In dividends and profits In 1931, wageswere cut In the factories, and thefarmers received the lowest pricesin fifty years...
...The textile mills pay wagesaveraging from $6 to $15 per week.The state average probably fallsunder $10 for an average week ofabout 55 hours...
...corn,strawberries, vegetables, hay andgrains, and a wide variety of fruits.In addition, there are many largeand small dairy farms, while cattle, sheep and hogs constitute important produce of large stockfarms, besides being important"side products" of all small farms.Riches and Poverty It would seem that in such astate there could be no poverty orwant...
...On a recent trip through thehear1...
...Practically no provisionhas been made for the unemployed.Breadlines have been formed Inmany cities, including Richmondand Hopewell- the latter a city ofonly 11,000 people, with about 1,000unemployed workers...
...Eachplant will have from 10 to 14leaves, after "topping," and foreach leaf there comes a suckerthree times...
...Our vote inall sections averaged three timesthe Morgan vote, and 16 per centfor the whole area that we contested...
...Patiently webuilt In 1929 "Father" John J.Kafka polled 460 votes for Governor, in a total of 270,000...
...Old styleoutdoor privies (or none at all)are used...
...In 1928 Norman Thomas polled only 250 votes in a total of 305,000...
...Before the war the Socialistmovement had not gained muchheadway in Virginia...
...Thesewarehouses charged a sales commission of 2H, per cent for manyyears, but the rate was raised to3 per cent last fall...
...For the use ofthe land, the tenant pays one-fourth of his crop to his landlord.Another fourth is paid for the useof teams and tools, when thetenant has been sold out for debtsand lacks these necessities...
...To make matters worse, every bank In HalifaxCounty closed doors last year,while in Mecklenburg County onlyone small bank survived...
...We campaign to WIN, andon straight revolutionary Socialist lines...
...Within thelast year thousands who were "independent" have lost their homesand now are tenants...
...We will have a full Congressional ticket and will make a big fight for the Presidential ticket this fall I am convinced that our vote will be very large...
...at our picnics,we display the Red Flag...
...Consequently, with theexception of a garden, a couple ofhogs, enough corn for his mules,and a few chickens, he has nothingto fall back upon when the cropfalls either in production or price...
...City Campaigns Being Fought Our recent state convention was enthusiastic...
...large salt develop*mints and a vast fishing Industry.The principal market products of the farms Include tobacco, grownmostly in the Piedmont...
...We are now beginning vigorous municipal campaigns in Norfolk, Hopewell and Richmond...
...This will cost us many thousand votes this year, but we'll get a healthy percentage of ihose who can and do vote...
...Farmers and city worker*despair of a return of "prosperity...
...Thestreets are unpaved, muddy andin many cases dangerous at nightWages in the city were extremely low even under "prosperity,"and are now among the lowest inthe nation...
...In Norfolk the vast majority ofworkers are condemned to live Indark, poorly lighted streets, in old,dilapidated shacks and .shanties,damp and forbidding, and infestedwith vermin and disease...
...In Richmond one may travel throughscores of streets as bad or worse,except that the hills provide betterdrainage...
...The largest vpte ever polled Inthe state before the war was 1,062for Benson in 1916...
...The savings of fruits, meats, etc., fromlast year have been practically exhausted, and "it's only dried peaswe have left...
...The farmsare slipping rapidly into the handsof bankers and warehouse men...
...Their newspapersgive a great deal of space to ourwork, and many of their leadarpare coming to us...
...The Pellagra Plague Unemployment is heavy and Increasing...
...In Newton, a Negrosuburb of Hopewell, Negroes arecondemned to shacks costing about$40 each for construction andrenting $8 to $12 per month...
...Many are coveredwith "tar paper" Instead of weath er boards...
...The poll tax and registration requirements cut down the Virginia vote to a maximum of about 300,« 000...
...The farmers are condemned tothe most miserable of cabins, withthe scantiest furniture Imaginable.There are practically no sanitaryprovisions...
...For thepast few years the Negroes havebeen deserting the Republicans andforming "Negro Democratic clubs,"and probably a majority have beenlined up with the Democrats, However, many ate now thoroughlydisgusted, and are disposed to turnto Socialism...
...Hard Times Come Again in Old Virginia [This is the sixth article in theseries on economic, social and political conditions in the States andthe prospects for the Socialist Party.]By David G. George VIRGINIA, Like Oaul, U divided"into three parte"—"Tidewater" or the east, "Piedmont," or thecenter, and "West of the BlueRidge," the latter region includingthe Shenandoah Valley and the valleys and mountain counties of thesouthwest...
...For instance,we seldom have to explain thatwe are not all atheists, free loversand want to "divide up...
...One would think that noslums could be found In the cities.In the midst of all the bounties of nature one would expect that in"Old Virglnnie," would be found apeople to whom want, hunger, coldignorance, squalor and miserywould be unknown...
...Danville, alone, 5,000 cases of pellagra have been reported—this in a city of 22,000 people!Tuberculosis takes a heavy toll,especially in the textile towns...
...peanuts, the chief product of the southeast...
...apples andwheat, grown mostly in the Shenandoah Valley, which was knownas the "Granary of the Confederacy...
...In 1930 Joe Morganreceived 7,944 for U. S. Senate, Ina total of 146,000...
...But there are rays of light andhope...
...cotton,grown only In a few southsidccounties...
...They are becoming as disgusted with the Democratic party,which rules the state and counties,as they are with the Republicannational administration...
...The farmer has a sayingthat his job "runs 13 months tothe year...
...Many children have been takenout of school because of lack ofclothes, tuition fees, or bus fares.Another generation seems doomedto grow up in Ignorance...
...The big majority of tobaccofarmers are tenants...
...The main industries Include tobacco, textiles, peanut products,furniture, paper, shoes and leathergoods, canning, packing and shipping...
...For each adultworker usually from 25,000 to30,000 plants are set out...
...of the tobacco belt, I talkedwith dozens of farmers...
...By thousands they will turn to the Socialist party this year...
...The price of tobacco Is alwaysuncertain, but has been low sincethe war...
...Perhaps foithis reason, we do not have tocombat as much misinformation asin some other states...
...To successfully raise tobacco,the farmer finds little time left forraising other crops...
...Wewere elated...
...Incidentally, we find SovietRussia a powerful argument, anddo not fail to stress Russia as anexample of Socialist construction.In our halls and...
...The majority have never heard of us eithergood or bad...
...The farmer can't affordscreens, so from early spring untillate fall, the house is filled withflies, fresh from the hogpens,stables, privies, etc., transferringtheir filth to the food on the table.No meal can be eaten In hotweather without someone to fanthe fUes away...
...In 1931 we ran20 candidates for county officesand the Legislature...
...There are also ship yards «t Portsmouth and Newport News.There is considerable coal miningin Virginia...
...Vigorous locals are working busily InRichmond, Norfolk and Hopewell,while a new and promising localhas just been formed in Lynchburg, and in Monroe, a small local has cast*40 per cent of the totalprecinct vote...
...An equally terrible situationfaces the farmers...
...Another sold 5,000pounds for $96, after throwing away all low-grade tobacco...
...But the visitor who Vavels through the backstreets and the country roads, willsee a picture of stark misery...
...We voteby show of red cards in localmeetings...
...The shoe workers ofLynchburg average about $11 perweek...
...Nearly all "in dependent" farmers, and all tenants are hard hit...
Vol. 13 • May 1932 • No. 19
