New York Marches
Winter, Max
New York Marches By Max WiaHr THAT was n great event for me aii(i an experience too, tiiis Xew Yorl< ^lay Day. I was surprised to. find so many "Worlt-ers lieliind tiie Red Flag, behind the signs...
...The band plays, and not only in rank and file were marching all the young people under the leadership of two young Europeans, Comrades Lipschitz and Eisner, they sang all the great songs of the working class with enthusiasm, the International, the Marseilaise, the European songs...
...In spite of the noise befng made by the Communists in their frantic efforts to capture the Negro, I did not encounter on my trip of over 5,000 miles a single informed Negro Communist, and only two oi' three of the,others...
...Hut isn't it time people stopped seeing we were light only after the event...
...Wir sind der Ziikiinft getreue Kdmpfer "Wir sind die Arbeiier von Wien...
...As the inevitable failure of the so-called New Deal becomes more and more apparent, the workers and farmers everywhere are turning to Socialism Hs their only hope...
...We are the young garde of proletariat and the other rising song with the original refrain: "We are the workers of Vienna...
...The Socialist Guard's picked squad, the amazingly effective Socialist Women's Guard with its straight columns and its blue shirts, to say nothing of the flapping flags, the Yipsels in blue shirts, the young men and women whose columns stretched for blocks, whose banners and posters and stunts were the result of weeks of tireless work—these were some of the highlights of the May l>ay testimony that the Young Socialists arc marching on...
...Unions, young people, and Communist comrades, ready to make fpeace with all workers and with these ready to fight against capitalism, only again.st capitalism...
...TJie second sign was the interest our youth takes in oun movement...
...There were in the mass demonstration many thousands of union comrades, not alone the big masses of the garifSent nad clothing workers but also many other unions and they had in their ranks not onJy signs' with inscriptions and symlwlic emblems, but many a red fldg was to be seen waving over the heads of the masses...
...As soon a^i he uttered his protect, the La-Guardia administration became quite "c<K)perative" and announced that May Day parades in the future will be so routed that nobody seeking to spend money will find any difficulty in finding "cooper-alive" business men prepared to take it from them...
...That is being "cooperative...
...And let's hope that the huge parade of workers next year will be a parade not only of workers—but of Socialists...
...Facing a beaming sun, the Socialist reaction passed through Madison Square Park's streets, hailed by tens of thousands of workers...
...And this was also great, a hope for me, a hope for a better future...
...For comment and interpretation you are referred to what the .Socialist Party said before election, and many times since election...
...Only our labors and devotion will bring that about...
...There it* the little matter of the cut in pay Mayor LaGuardia gave himself, so that he now has a mere $420 a week instead of the $500 he had before...
...It has an agreement with the city workers, and it cheerfully and (juickly breaks that agreement...
...Let's hope that the army will be much bigger next year...
...The workers need their living - and they do not get it...
...It sets out to pay in full...
...The LaGuardia administration is the result of a mass protest against something, and so a lot of unrelated elements got into it all together...
...And behind the girls were marching the men— young people, each young comrade also with a red flag...
...There is absolutely no doubt but that the tide of Socialism is definitely ri.sing in the United States as elsewhere...
...It has always been able to say, I told you so...
...The bankers want their loot, and they get it...
...At the head the girls, every girl in a blue blouse with a red n&k shawl and every girl a red flag...
...but the Board was "cooperative" and made the cuts in order to baljinco the budget...
...Charles Solomon and l.ouis Wiiid-man appeared licfore the Hoard of Estimate and piotcsted...
...The bands were playing all workers' songs and the mas.ses sang with them...
...also make known to their friends and acquaintances of this event, Saturday night, at 8:30 p. m., at the Commodore Hotel, 127th St...
...and Boulevard, Rockaway Park...
...llic atliiudf (if tile city administration," he says, "in permitting ycMerday'- parade to tie up i)usinf» at this critical time indio'atcs a n(in-C(K)])C'rativc attitude...
...GALA NIGHT IN THE ROCKAWAYS At least once a year the Rock-away Branch stages a large affair to attract as many residents as possible who ordinarily do not patronize the usual branch afTairs and also to replenish fk depleted treasury...
...There is the little matter of the livelihood of l.tXiliy^ity workcis, deprived by Ihcir ^1•y<lr of the only means by which/they can live and support their families and purchase gdod.s and contribute to a restoralfion of what is humorously known as "prosperity...
...Afttr school, after work—the Yip-¦sels gathered to do their work...
...Some of my laigest and most successful meetings in .Missouri, Kansas, Washington and California were organized and managed by Negro Socialists in these states...
...Bui he was wrong...
...And the'third sign: At the end of the march causes the group of the Trotzkist's, of the opposition in the Communist Party and their speaker spoke to all, "to Communists and Socialists, anarchists and syndicalists," to all parties and factions of the Socialist movement once more the great word of Karl Marx: WORKERS...
...It has an agreement with the bankers, and makes no move to moderate or abrogate that agreement...
...The teachers and the street cleaners get their "furloughs" and pay less vacations...
...F^very man and woman in it seems to mean well...
...It will march in the future in greater and greater masses until the victory...
...BUT THE BANKERS GET THEIR SWAGJ QUITE IN FULL...
...Indeed, 80 "solvent" is the city now that a syndicate of Clearing House banks announces that they are prepared to lend the city $75,000,000 more—at 4'/a"<—and thus to start the bad old Tammany system all over again...
...Here are a few unrelated facts— not so unrelated, however, as you might think: The city under the l.a(iuar(lia administration wants to dean liiiuse and balance the budget...
...The issue involved is not free speech or free assemblage, jt was the right to make a little money, and instantly a couple of hundred thousand people are told to take their durned parade somewhere else where it will not break Captain Pe3rick's heart...
...Admission includes refreshments...
...and so we can hope, that all these flags will fiy before masses in future time...
...For example, there is the matter of the saving of $2,275,94.'i on the budget of the city...
...The Ne-giii, too, is hap|)i!y being caught in the rising tide...
...Nothing kept them from that parade of workingclass might...
...Apparently, the Negro is learning at last how to, identify carpet baggers, ancient and modern...
...A Little Lesson in -'Cooper^on'' rjAPTAIN WllJJAM J. PKDRICK is I'rcsideni of the Fifth Avenue A^soc^ation, ami 'he prote-ts again-t the way .May Day parado i<ctp pe()])ie from buying ^uud- in tlie btores that maintain his (irjjanization...
...An added scoop Is the appearance of the renowned violinist Max Dolin...
...not against their workers brothers in the other section of the great international army of Socialism— these three signs give me the hope of a great growth of the Socialist Party in the^near future...
...The ranks of youth were the most spirited...
...This isn't very important, of course, but it indicates something that has got to be carefully noted...
...Norman Thomas is the principal drawing card, re-enforced by Sam DeWitl...
...On the other hand, many clear thinking Negroes feel that the Communist I'arty is using the plight of the .Scottsboro lK)ys to build the Communist organizatioits ih the United States, and are resentful...
...Three signs justify this hope...
...and yet the only people who seem to get anything out of it are the people who want the Mayor to be "cooperative" and help them when there is danger of nut making the money they want to make...
...and this raised my hope that the task of a flag is to fly before a mass...
...find so many "Worlt-ers lieliind tiie Red Flag, behind the signs of Socialism...
...That was a glorious sight, a sight I have seen often in former time in my poor Vienna...
...UNITE...
...CROSSWiUTH IS BRACK FROM 5,eOO-IIIM TOUR i_ Frank Crosswaith who has returned from a successful lecture tour to the Pacific Coaat reports that he found among the workers and farm/rs everywhere a greater interest in the Socialist movement than ever befor...
...That was perhaps the finest part of the great march: the section of the young people...
...Comrade Crosswaith will speak on "The Negro at the Crossroads," Sunday afternoon at 3:30 o'clock, before the Peoples' Educational Forum, 2005 7th Avenue (between 120th and 121st Streets...
...That was a magnificent Socialist demonstration...
...No experienced or highly-paid sign painters were working on the YPSL part of the demonstration...
...On May Day 19.34, the red New York was marching the first time in very great masses...
...So flieg Du flammende, du rote Fahne "Voran dem Wege, den wir xie-hen...
...The .Socialist Party has always heeii ri^ht...
...The program fc* the night of May 5th is especially attractive...
...Readers of The New Leader in all of the Rockaways and vicinity are urged to come...
...The YPSL's in the Parade Month.s of hopes, months of preparation.s — and, finally, the Young Socialists of New York in the Young People's Socialist League and in the Socialist Party achieved their goal more impressively even than they had hoped...
...My congratulations, my admiration...
...m:i\A) THE SOCIALIST PARTY...
Vol. 17 • May 1934 • No. 18
