Honest Elections The First Step Won by Puerto Rico Workers
Iglesias, Santiago
By Santiago Iglesias Honest Elections The First Step Won by Puerto Rico Workers Under Leadership of Socialist Party of Labor Movement Masses Won Democratic Vote and...
...The fact that Ihe I.L.P...
...is in communication with other groups and parties still within the L.S.I., and that a recent conference was held, reports of which were not widely printed...
...They would like to abolish all evidence which would give the least possibility to the workingmen* of the fields, factories, shops and offices of conquering through free suffrage the right of being heard and elected and of participating in the government of their country...
...The modern result* of this miscegenation brought such a mixture of the race* that in Virginia a few year* ago the politician* were puzzled to define the precise percentage of Negro blood that would place a person beyond the white pale...
...In the modern period every form of reaction in the South has fostered race hatred between white and Negro workers...
...The discussion revealed deep dissatisfaction with the policies and practices of this body, and important decisions /ere finally reached, which will be sent to the L.S.I, shortly, and published with a full statement of the point of view of the I. L. P. An international manifesto addressed to the workers of the world, which had been authorized by the recent conference of left-wing parties held in Amsterdam, was revised and authority given to sign it on behalf of the I. L. P." A number of leading members of the I.L.P...
...Neither group can . emancipate itself from exploita, tion without the help of the other...
...He woe a delegate to the convention that founded the Socialist Party of the United States, and for a number of years he was a member of the Island Senate, and for a while it* president...
...they now proclaim the downfall of democracy and their own framework...
...During the present depression we have received ini formation of many young white i girls on the road in the West who i have become victims of this t commerce...
...Miscegenation...
...The following is from the minutes of- the last meeting of the National Executive of the I.L.P...
...Cowardly beating and terrorization of peasants and workingmen were practiced, very often including the fabrication of iniquitous and inquisitorial indictments and imprisonments...
...Moreover, the letter ascribes to us views that we do not hold and aupports views that are in conflict with the best interests of both white and black workers...
...The slave girl was merchandise...
...Alterations in the registration lists were the order of the day: Imaginary electors were counted by the thousands and acts of corruption and intimidation of Socialist voters and their representatives in the election booths were very common...
...Our correspondent asserts that social equality results in miscegenation...
...On the other hand, if I choose a Negro for on* of my personal friends, that ia a matter ?-----1— solely belonging to me and does not concern anybody else...
...No more black and tan belts for intelligent whites...
...Its every man to his own taste in this instance, except that attempts at social equality always result in miscegenation...
...Also we will see to it that some other paper is used in the coming organization work in the South...
...We appreciate the difficulties facing both white and black Socialists in the South, but we do not believe that these difficulties can be overcome by following the course and the views of our i correspondent...
...That speech was picked up by the Associated Press and disseminated through the South...
...its continued affiliation to the Labor and Socialist International was considered...
...By James Oneal Socialism and Race Prejudices A Southern Reader Threat-" ens to Quit on the Negro Issue — Social Equality and Miscegenation Are Not the Same Thing...
...has been naming candidates in opposition to Labor Party candidates in local and parliamentary elections, and that several labor municipal councillors were defeated by I.L.P...
...Since the end of the Civil War a small Negro bourgeois class has also appeared...
...While they managed the power, j they imposed their laws, causing very grave social political and ecoj nomic evils...
...The workers of both races are exploited by the capitalist class...
...It is significant that in the days of slavery a few hundred Negro freemen in the South became slave owners...
...votes has not been stressed by the spokesmen of the seceding party abroad...
...All of them see themselves caught in the web of our organisations and institutions of social, political and economic rehabilitation...
...In Richmond, Charleston and New Orleans especially, these Negro owners of slaves were allied with the white owners of slaves in opposing the emancipation of slaves...
...It is learned that the I.L.P...
...However, we have a greater cause for kicking than that...
...You can believe what you please about Negroes and have all the social equality you want, but as a leader of the Socialist Party you have no right to force such offensive personal habits down the throats of self-respecting whites and Negroes both—.who know the inherent dangers in attempts at easy familiarity...
...intelligent workers will strive to wipe out those prejudices and unite the working people, politically and economically, for their deliverance from wage slavery...
...have been traveling in the United States in recent months...
...So be it, We can only say that if there are those who think that The New Leader will dip its colors in obedience to race, nationalistic, language or other prejudices they are mistaken...
...Negroes and whites do not compete in the non-industrial South...
...the producers, if the Workingmen are to use their votes to defeat them, then democracy and freedom should be suppressed —and to Hell with the American flag and Constitution...
...When the writer speaks tf social equality and adds, "every man to his own taste," it is obvious that we have here a confusion of ideas...
...We must leave to the southern comrades, both black and white, tho problem of breaking down the old barriers to unity of action between workers of both colors, but it will not be worked out by accepting tho i conditions that prevail as our j correspondent does...
...Socialists have never held that nature has made "men equal...
...They were welcomed by the white Socialists to meet with them, but the Negro comrades on their own initiative decided to remain apart so as to avoid stirring race prejudice...
...Our "intellectual aristocracy" prefers a "sovereign government" for Puerto Rico like that of Cuba, or Venezuela, where these things cannot happen...
...Our Ideal for the Negro workers la the same aa ( our ideal for the white workers...
...i If the Florida Socialist vote was less in 1932 than in 1928, our correspondent should remember that , Socialist candidates were on the • ballot in the first year and not in . the second...
...During the campaign Norman Thomas advocated social equality for Negroes in a speech...
...By Santiago Iglesias Honest Elections The First Step Won by Puerto Rico Workers Under Leadership of Socialist Party of Labor Movement Masses Won Democratic Vote and Electoral Honesty...
...They are unequal in talent, initiative and character within the white race as well as within the black, but In addition to variation of individual capacity there is a class differentiation that cuts across both races...
...The same thing is true of the Negro...
...Really a few selected intellectuals, professional* and professors feel desperate because American democracy has permitted the "low" people of Puerto Rico to Save the sama right* and to bs able to elect their representatives— carpenters, cigarmakers, printers or simply "peons...
...The Negro worker who is employed by a Negro capitalist is a* much exploited as the white worker employed by the white capitalist...
...The writer of the above has presented some views that require some consideration...
...The reverse is true...
...The elections of November, 1932, are the cleanest ever held in Puerto Rico...
...They already fear their definite defeat and disappearance through the free and guaranteed vote of the producing peasant and Socialist labor ' people, who are progressing and acquiring greater capacity and personality in the Island...
...They do not vote because they do not register and pay poll tax...
...Clean Elections Clean and honest elections, based on a just law enacted by the Socialists and Progressive UnionRepublicans with ideas of justice and democracy, matter very little or nothing to the capitalist bosses of Puerto Rico, as in many other nations, if they are defeated...
...Now that t.' > vote begins to be adverse to them, they appeal to desperation and fight against the regime and institutions which the United States guaranteed and maintained in Puerto j Rico all the time that the political bosses were in control, almost like a dictatorship...
...To facilitate this infamous work, the Electoral Law was always amended at the pleasure of the dominant party to prevent the success of the Socialist vote and of the workers...
...The Alarm Bell The alarm bell which they sound desperate against the "democratic" institutions of government to which the producing people of the United States and Puerto Rico jointly aspire to establish an the work of the uncultured professional bosses...
...Personal choice will remain...
...Nature herself has not made men equal...
...They view these principles of political equality as very dangerous...
...They are only interested in attaining power...
...TOR many years honest and free elections were impossible in Puerto Rico, suffering under the domination and demagogy of the old-time political bosses...
...When General Nelson A. Miles occupied San Jtuin in August, 1898, lglesias was a political prisoner in Morro Castle, and upon hik release he served as liaison officer between the people and the American military...
...Race Prejudice Having cleared the ground witk, 1 these observations we also hasten ' to add that we fully appreciate ' how deep-rooted race prejudice is ' in the South...
...Finally, our correspondent is going to "speak a language" that we can understand by boycotting The New Leader...
...And why attempt to educate that large group of non-voters before we can get the intelligent white voters...
...So long as the workers of both groups accept this color prejudice both will remain victims of the exploiting classes...
...On the general question of the international relations of the I.L.P...
...The few Negro So; cialists in the South also appre1 ciate it...
...YU& have received the following letter from a reader in one of the southern states: "Social equality is something which each person must determine for himself...
...Speaking at a Socialist meeting in Texas In 1909, the ' writer observed that about 25 Negro workers stood about a hundred feet away from the white audience...
...The Negroes here mostly serve as house servants or do work in the sun which white men cannot do...
...The four parties which had candidates in the field—Socialist, Union Republicana, Liberal and Nacionalist—had equal representation on the electoral boards...
...Wo fight for the liberation of . the whole working class, black and ' white, from exploitation, tyranny, ( social degradation and economic . servility whether they work for . white or black exploiters...
...Inquiry developed tho fact that some of these Negro workers were Socialists and others were sympathizers...
...If I do not Ilka the personal company or friendship of a certain white person, that is my affair...
...In 1932, we polled less than 1,000...
...Harriet Martinaa, who travelled through tho floats in tho 'thirties, was impressed with this fact and many women told her of this social ulcer and its effect on family life...
...You may not agree with me...
...Later articles will deal with political, economic and indu*trial conditions in Puerto Rico...
...It is notorious ihat in the days of tho slave regime white masters and their aristocratic sons generally indulged their lusts because Negro girls were helpless in their hands...
...A Class Antagonism This, underlying class antagonism is fundamental...
...All elections up to the year 1932 were settled by enormous frauds and abuses...
...It's bad strategy from every angle...
...So that's that...
...One sorrow that brooded over the homes of white people in general in the old days, especially among the women, was knowledge of the aid* Illicit relation, between white bob and slave girls...
...Moreover, the inequality due to the capitalist system has also made many daughters of the white working class victims of the white* I slave trade...
...So' long i as the Negro worker is kept down I by white prejudice his standard of j living and social life Will tend to drag all other worker* down to ¦ the same level...
...Igletia* ie the founder of both the Socialist Party and the labor movement in Puerto Rico, and for ten years prior to the American occupation in 1898 Ate tea* a labor and Socialist agitator there and in Cuba...
...They foresee now the definite defeat of the iniquitous and oppressive personal system which they maintained for many years, and...
...However, I am going to speak a language you can understand, and that is yott may cancel my subscription to The New Leader...
...This conduct was maintained for more than a half century in our Island...
...This was a striking demonstration of the contention of Socialists that class interest is fundamental...
...IV* would prefer to tee the $heriff'» sign on the door and a public uhcHdh of it* meager assets than to baiter the welfare of white, black, foreign or nativeborn workers to prejudices that are an inheritance of other era) •/ human exploitation...
...The attempts of the gangsters of capitalism in the course of years caused the death of several innocent comrades and others...
...The wrongs which may have occurred originate from the capitalistic political education of the past We hope that the country will progress more in the exercise of its duties of citizenship...
...Imagine then the ifnpunity of the Socialist who determines to dictate social equality between whites and blacks...
...The reactionaries of Puerto Rico cannot resign themselves to the loss of the absolute control of the government of the country as a consequence of the popular vote which they restricted for their i benefit...
...Continued on Page Six) The ruling classes foster the old prejudices to keep the masses divided and exploited...
...THIS New Leader here pre$ent§ the /ir$t of a eerie* of articles by Santiago Iglesias, elected last November by the people of Puerto Rieo as their Resident Commissioner in Congress on conditions in the Island territory...
...Socialism does not propose to force human beings to associate together regardless of their personal "taste...
...In 1928 in Florida we polled over 4,000...
Vol. 15 • January 1933 • No. 2
