Where the News Ends
Ellington, Duke
Where the News Ends By Duke Ellington Although a composer of swing and a conductor of a popular orchestra, Mr- ilfT^V «•*¦«** thh week towers above Tin Pan Allay o« Jon Sibelius does above the...
...The present offer JJJTT 'perhaps have been scorned in 1938 or even in 19™^ many Indians who will now welcome it The exw-"*" have had time to realize that, with the British power brp*s*| it would soon be a question whether India was jjff by Germany, by Russia, or by Japan, or be drviden **5 the three, and that any such fate would* be unrneasurnw worse than even her present unsatisfactory status...
...The contempt they show for the intelligence of (be organized workers of this city is second Only to their own stupidity in believing that they can succeed in deceiving many of them...
...unions* this city...
...One may ask: How can the council be "responsive only to the desires and demands of New York's working people," who are overwhelmingly for President Roosevelt, whit following the Communist Party line pursued by Lewis...
...THE older generation faced with an uncertain * future, called in desperation upon their Savior, while the younger people expressed the dawn of l the new day with livelier, gayer music...
...and aristocratic enemies...
...inability to shop around for bargains in street markets...
...It was the conscript forces who made tke German revolution of 1918, and it was not they who made the Nazist counter-revolution in 1932-34...
...Let us not, however, go back farther than to the early capitalist period...
...a"-'lis...
...The cakewalk was one expression of this type of music...
...Alaska is rich in forests and mines, but it takes a heap of capital to win much and even then it's a gamble...
...The teaching of history is not that conscript armies are more dangerous to labor, to democracy, or to international peace than volunteer armies...
...It doesn't pretend to be precious, nor does it claim relationship with the so-called higher arts...
...For me and for the men who will continue to create it .in the future, it will remain the simple musical expression for the masses of Americans...
...U. S. the Last Stronghold Ot Democracy From Major D. W. Blakeslee To the Editor: I consider the work of The New Leader the greatest force in the United States against dictatorship and for democracy, and therefore the strongest upholder of civilization in the world, since the fall of France and the Scandinavian countries have left the United States the last stronghold...
...These locals had been the basis of the old Workers Alliance...
...Let no one who has the re-election of President Roosevelt at heart and seeks to build an American Labor Party that will be truly American, labor and a party desert our ranks...
...today it is called swing...
...These governing bodies of the party remain in the hands of the progressive trade union elements who form the party's backbone...
...Swing is not something, however, which sprang from the upper reaches" of American social, intellectual or musical life...
...I'm sure 80 per cent of those who remain would also return home only for the hand-outs from Uncle Sam...
...Reports from cities where the plan is in effect show that attempts have already been made to cut relief, and gradually force the unemployed to turn all of their cash into stamps...
...Fortunately, the Communists do not control the state committee and state executive committee of the A.LP...
...It was always volunteer troops that were wed The United States has something of a record for^nv perialist aggression in Latin America and the Philippines...
...The claim that the stamp plan will increase the food budgets of the unemployed by*50 per cent— the point most widely advertised ' by its proponents—is not true...
...Uses New Leader On^Foreign News From WALTER R. CARTER To the Editor: Although I get The New Leader in the exchanges which the editor of the Kern County Union Labor Journal turns over to m» for my study in making up my contributions, I would like to have an extra copy sometimes, so am subscribing oh my own...
...These blues were quickly seized upon by the white man, printed, and soon received wide popularity...
...Today, fringed with palm trees, the square forms part,of the municipal grounds called Beauregard Square, but old Negroes still speak of it as Congo Square...
...Conscription was introduced by the first French rctsssc as the only means of meeting the attack of its rnoesfCsk...
...Then came the Spanish-American war and in its wake there appeared still another musical element, the blues or lament...
...Always it remains entirely unpretentious...
...This is being done and will continue to be done with ever increasing vigor and determination...
...Upon its recent formation we characterized it as a Communist G.H.Q...
...It is wholly in the hands of men who, masquerading as trade unionists, are actually engaged in promoting the Moscow line in the labor movement...
...Will Joe Curran and his fellow Communist stoogei clear up this point...
...California...
...Nothing would please the Communists more and serve their purpose better at this time than to see a mass exodus of anti-Communists from the A.L.P...
...is rapidly exposing itself to all intelligent persons as an instrument of the Communist Party...
...But no facet of American culture should be alien to the thoughtful reader, and swing music is very definitely an expression of American culture, . something specially and wholly American...
...The facts are these: the first Negro songs in America were work songs, entirely lacking in religious motivation or outlook...
...The strong rhythmic beat, characteristic of all swing, was an importation from Africa long before tiie spiritual had made its appearance...
...The working people of New York and of the nation would regard such defeat at their own...
...The committee is merely a new instrument designed to do the job of the Communists among those who cannot be reached by the Commies through their agents in the ALP, Together the Stalinist conspirators will do the work of Moscow and Berlin in the coming Presidential campaign, The object of the task assigned to them is to help confuse and "soften" the American workers so as to make it easier for the totalitarian to shatter American morale ud resistance to Hitler aggression...
...I have been out of the party for twenty years but still think myself as good a Socialist as I ever was...
...With the advent of each new interpreter jazz has gone through a new stage...
...There is room for hope that the step just now taks» S improve relations between the two peoples, that '* strengthen the British defense, and that the defeat of M totalitarian* will be followed by India's entry "IPS Commonwealth of Nations into which the British EMF*^ is being transformed...
...This will be \ particularly true of New York State, which may prove to be the pivotal state in the contest...
...Potatoes, string beans and peas do fairly well, but nearly as well as in any of our middle or western states across the Canadian line...
...is repulsed do we help re-elect Roosevelt...
...It could no?J|L for it is not true...
...j That Britain's war-need has made converts to tn*°<*Jj2 of appeasing India cannot be denied...
...is assured, however, provided every anti-Communist voter supporting the A.L.P...
...Thus jazz was born, , the first original American folk contribution to music...
...If, a&he says, he intends to support President Roosevelt, there is,.no more strategic battleground for this purpose under the circumstances than the A.LP...
...C.I.O...
...Born of Congo rhythm and work-field lament, it expresses somehow the mood and tempo of an entire continent...
...AND THE ELECTIONS DEADERS of The New Leader need not be reminded how crucial the coming Presidential election will be for the United State* and for the world...
...And because man, no matter what his color, cannot always live in misery and despair, the tempo of the dance expressed his moments of liberation of a Saturday night in contrast to the spiritual...
...To indicate the essential Americanism of swing, it is only necessary to consider the origin and development of-this particular type of musical expression...
...and all the ill effects of public recognition as relief recipients...
...Present indications are that as New York goes so goes the nation...
...Its distinctive rhythm was first brought to America by the African slaves in...
...Swing is as peculiar to the American democratic masses, and is as individual to them, as is American slang...
...That is precisely the objective toward which they have been workin for years...
...Where the News Ends By Duke Ellington Although a composer of swing and a conductor of a popular orchestra, Mr- ilfT^V «•*¦«** thh week towers above Tin Pan Allay o« Jon Sibelius does above the lowlands of contemporary "serious" musicians...
...Unempleyed workers who use the stamps instead of cash will be exposed to the dangers of all voucher relief systems: Discrimination in price and quality of foods...
...By this one maneuver, if successful, they may give the Presidency to Willkie and the reactionary appeasemnt group oprating behind him...
...Editorials THE A.L.P...
...The appearance of Roosevelt and Wallace electors on the state ticket of the A.LP...
...Refugees would never like such a country, and they know next to nothing of what do do or how to do it in Alaska...
...INHERE is a popular notion that swing or jazz...
...As is traditional with all popular (folk) music, swing expresses the sentiments of the great majority of the American people and does not claim to be a medium for the delicately-tuned thoughts and the more subtle emotions of the intellectual elite...
...It was always volunteer soldiers and marines that did Ae fighting...
...As for the attitude to be taken by the committee en the Presidential race, the public was informed that the committee would give careful consideration to the views of John L Lewis...
...affiliate in New York City, headed by Sidney Hillman, C.I.O...
...With the characteristic ethics and political dishonesty marking the "plebiscites" conducted by Stalin and Hitler,^ Curran declared that the new Communist-controlled partisan" political committee would "be responsive dajyfi the desires and demands of New York s working people, taking its direction from the council of C.I.O...
...and XIV, Frederick II, Peter I, Catherine II...
...And in tracing its history it be-v comes apparent at once that this form has greatly influenced the tempo of American life, has molded the folk-ways of the vast American mass...
...For to the extent to which the assault of the Communists on President Roosevelt through their position in the A.L.P...
...Dlscassing him, the Encyclopedia of Recorded Music says: "The most eatable efforts to invest American jazz with the imagination and craftsmanship vital to aesthetic worth, have boon made by the young Negro pianist, dance orchestra leader end composer: Duke Ellington...
...Pennsylvania...
...on the ground that it is infiltrated with Communists...
...The fundamental purposes of the plan—to raise food prices and maintain them at a high level— is opposed to the interests of the unemployed and of all low-income groups...
...Of course, the new political committee will work hud in glove with the Communist disruptionists in the A.LP...
...Those who will not take the trouble to study history should beware of calling it into evidence...
...Created spontaneously by men who are unknown today, they expressed the submerged heartbreak which is characteristic of nearly all folk-music...
...The St...
...has always been used by a powerful capitalistic government both for imperialist aggression and to crush labor at hone," We must remark that this has not been conclusively shown by leading Socialists nor by anyone else...
...and "I'll tell the world...
...votes or even less cast against Roosevelt might prove sufficient to help Willkie win the state and the election...
...Lewis has predicted that President Roosevelt would he "ignominiously" defeated...
...something beyond the back-breaking toil of the fields, of a life remote from the bite of the lash and the heartlessness of the auction-block...
...READERS of The New Leader, who are ordinarily concerned with the phenomena of our rapidly changing society, may be surprised somewhat to find themselves confronted this week by a discussion on jazz, or swing as it is currently known...
...His own union recently rescinded the indorsement of President Roosevelt and recommended formation of a new political party, in line with the suggestion of John L Lewis, whose opposition to the President has been repudiated by all bona-fide trade union organizations in the C.I.O...
...Mo?e than ever it is the duty of all Social Democrats, laborites and progressives to rally to the support of the A.L.P...
...In those days, it.was said that a "silent slave is a think-, ing slave...
...Hard Winters Bar Alaska as Refugee Colony From F. G. R. GORDON To the Editor: It seems to me that some one should say a few lines about the real Alaska as a colonization place for anybody and more especially for farmers who have failed in the "States," and for refugees...
...Under the fake flag of a bogus labor unionism, Curran announced that with its political committee as the vehicle, the council would follow the path of political independence with respect to candidates and elections for office...
...That is also why the Communists, operating through their agents inside and outside the American Labor Party, are determined to awing as many votes as possible from President Roosevelt and thus throw the electoral vote of this state to Willkie...
...To further confound the minds of the innocent, Curran announced that the new political committee would have no relation to the right or left wings of the American Labor Party, although Curran himself and all members of the committee are associated with the left (Communist) wing of the A.LP...
...We might cite other facts, but space forbids...
...So are many trade unions, but that is no reason why bona fide unionists should quit and leave the field to them...
...first found its origin in the Negro spiritual...
...Early • records reveal that soon after the Louisiana Purchase, slaves were permitted to assemble for social and recreational purposes in a large square in New Orleans...
...confirmed by the opinion of disinterested political experts, the election will be close...
...vice-chairman, in refusing to become part of the council...
...This is no time to go into the story of the great Negro musicians who helped bring jazz or swing into its own.- Men like Buddy Bolden, Willy Cornish, Frank Lewis were the unlettered virtuosi who took the crude jazz of their day in the 1890's and gave it form and vitality...
...It might seem like an incongruous selection to you, but the two publications most valuable to me for their foreign news and their general awareness of the myth- of America's isolation are The New Leader and the Chris- tian Science Monitor—and I am not a Christian Scientist either...
...The Communists, both inside and outside the A.LP., must be fought without equivocation and compromise...
...and every loyal party member gives the organization and' its anti-Communist leaders his fullest, unstinted cooperation: In districts where the Communists may succeed in nominating Congressional and other candidates, they will be repudiated by 'the governing organs of the party and the overwhelming majority of the party members...
...Up to the middle of the nineteenth century, the Congo rhythmic dance and the spiritual existed side by side, expressing varying moods...
...it left them lost, entirely at sea, ignorant of what to do and where to go...
...The 50 cents in blue stamps will be extra food money only to the extent that more surplus foods are offered in the stores and in the depots—and only if the disadvantages of using the orange stamps instead of cash do not outweigh any small gains...
...At the time of the Civil War and Emancipation both types of music expressed a mood far beyond their seeming content...
...I wish I could do more to help in the good work...
...Great Britain was the outstanding capitalistic and" imperialistic nation of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries...
...it was not with conscript armies that Philip II, Louis...
...It has been known by many names...
...Michael J. Quill, whom Curran appointed chairman of the new.political committee, was repudiated and defeated by the A.LP...
...Tardiness in making concessions as weH an* facing dangers is a common fault not only of the Bj*** government, and not only of governments, but alaO-Of P0" litical parties and other human aggregates...
...That is precisely what they want, for that would assure their capture of the party and complete freedom of action for their cohorts...
...To thwart the conspiracy of the Communists, entrenched by virtue of the last primary election in some sections of the A.LP., is, therefore, a task essential to the victory of President Roosevelt For it is through their position in the A.LP...
...Something like 235 families from Wisconsin and Michigan and two or three other northwestern states migrated to Alaska at the expense of the U. S. Thirty-five of these families have quit and returned to the States...
...the early lBOOV Today, southern reactionaries remark that a "good" Negro is a servile Negro...
...The younger generation of Negroes imbued their music with a spirit of optimism, excitement and gaiety, while to the older folk their newly found freedom was bewildering...
...and otter rulers of that time carried out their aggressive and impends* wars...
...The fate of democracy everywhere, of the whole of our Western humanitarian culture, may -welT be determined by whether Franklin D. .Roosevelt or Wendell L. Willkie is elected next November to head the government and shape the policies of this country...
...Because of their opposition to President Roosevelt, in line with the strategy prescribed from Moscow and Berlin, it will be easier to expose the Communists in this election and drive them from the party...
...Pp volunteer armies have proved at least as dangsnj**.•* conscript armies...
...If you get away from the influence of the Japanese warm ocean stream, you will find a real winter for seven to eight months in the year...
...Massachusetts...
...It was with volunteer armies that she fougjmaW nfgressive wars in Europe, North America, Asia, and Ahic* From the days of Charles 1 to those of George Ui tlx British government often employed armed force againstaW discontented workers, and it has happened occasioufty since then...
...Along the levees of the Mississippi, in the squares of New Orleans, in the teeming * cities of the South, in Memphis, Charleston, Savannah, restlessly tapped out the heat of a people made free...
...COUNCIL 'J'HE Greater New York Industrial Union Council of the C.I.O...
...Louis Blues is as native to America as the expressions "O.K...
...VOLUNTEERS JN a document recently prepared by certain well-meaning but ill-informed friends of ours we read: "Leading Socialists have conclusively shown that a large conscript ana...
...Alone among relief and unemployed groups, the UPWU is conducting a campaign against the much-heralded "stamp plan" for distributing surplus foods...
...Its secretary-treasurer is Saul Mills, a Communist stooge and long press agent for Stalinist-controlled organizations...
...with Communists in 1940, as does Louis Waldman, is a distortion...
...that under present conditions **¦*¦* aggressive nor defensive war can be fought by troops nnlnnj raised and sent into battle without thorough training: and that the dangers which the existence of large armies entail* depend upon the extent to which the people approve ** perialistic policies, the extent to which they fail to «X»«J* steady democratic control over their governments, and the extent to which public opinion condones lawlessness aao disorder in private as well as governmental affairs...
...It merely replaces the food now given out free through Federal Surplus Food depots...
...Two-thirds of the council's officers and executive board are Communists...
...Always" is a long time...
...as candidate for reelection to the City Council because of his refusal to condemn the Stalin-Hitler pact...
...Every Saturday and Sunday night they met to perform their Congo tribal and sexual dances...
...Outside of potatoes, I don't think anyone will brag about the taste of vegetables that are raised by a sun that shines 18 hours a day for six weeks or so...
...Curran himself designated the members of the council's political committee...
...This number of A.LP...
...that the Communists hope to divert the 50,000 odd votes which may prove decisive in the final showdown...
...We have examples in the United States and in New York City well, let's not specify more closely...
...From all indications...
...At the same time it has confirmed the wisdom of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, largest C.I.O...
...The council has not waited long to confirm our characterization...
...A large section of the unemployed, organized and unorganized, fear the stamp plan because it is a form of voucher relief, and may be used as an opening wedge in a campaign to cut relief standards all over the country, and to: return to voucher relief in full, with all of its old abuses...
...It has been badly imitated by Europeans, it has been stolen for classical symphonies, it has been written about by highbrows who read into it some esoteric meaning...
...Here the slaves danced, stomped, shuffled, until the square was completely de»« nuded of grass...
...The UPWU believes that any small benefits that might come from the plan could be achieved just as well by distribution through the present surplus food depots...
...The trade unionists in the A.L.P., backed by the Social.Democrats and all genuine progressive elements, have a truly historic task to perform this November...
...An illustration of this was supplied by the council this week, when it announced formation of its "Nonpartisan Political Activities Committee," modeled outwardly upon similar committees maintained by the American Federation of Labor and its state and city affiliates, but designed as a mask for pushing forward the Communist program of political and social disorganization and disunity among the American people...
...There will be a nasty primary fight with the Communists on nominations of candidaets...
...To say, therefore, that regardless of the party's position on such candidates there will be a united front in the A.LP...
...Others carried the form to greatest heights:- King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Fletcher Henderson...
...And as thought was deadly to slavery, plantation owners compelled their slaves to sing as they worked...
...Its president is Joe Curran, head of the Communistdominated National Maritime Workers...
...But this belief is entirely false...
...Already the Communists are seeking to make deals with the Republicans in several districts...
...It was always the force of federal and state volunteers, never of conscripts...
...I am enclosing a clipping or so of my columns to show how I have been "stealing" from you for years...
...cJ^eilers To the Editor Unemployed Group Protests Stamp Plan as Discriminatory From RHODA PEARSON Administrative Committee), XJPWU To the Editor: ' , „, The Unemployed and Project Workers Union was built from locals that broke away from the Workers Alliance last year in an attempt to rebuild a rion-partisan and democratic union of the unemployed...
...The 50 cents' worth of free blue stamps to be given with each purchase of %l worth of orange stamps does not represent 50 cents' worth of extra food money...
...It was not until American Negro slaves were converted to Christianity by their owners, and ..the Bible became a source of consolation to them, that the religious note entered the'work-song of the Negro plantation worker...
...The general public has been deluged with arguments ip favor of the plan, coming from those who will get" the primary benefits — the farmers, grocers' interests, and the political elements that seeks that block of votes...
...That is why organized labor, acting through every bona fide instrument at its disposal, is vitally concerned with' the outcome in this state...
...The farm colony, Matanuska, is not a howling success, though our Uncle has spent around $18,000 per family so far...
...From the 1870s till about twenty years age, armed force was often used against labor in this country...
...Neither from the point of view of tactics nor principle is the position taken by Waldman tenable...
...CONSCRIPTS VS...
...On the contrary, it is the pulsing medium whereby the everyday man and woman finds it possible to express the heartache, weariness, love- • sickness, joy, and elation which, in sum, comprises all life...
...It was mainly with paid volunteers...
...The spiritual told of the black man's aching 'search for...
...INDIA'S FUTURE JT is a pity, of course, that the olive branch held out *» tk» Indian peoples last week was not proffered at lass* * year ago...
...Because of all these facts we regret Waldman's resignation from the A.LP...
...History's lessons are*'*** large standing armies do involve some such dangsir...
...No good purpose can be served by falsifying the W60...
...From Portland, Oregon, to Matanuska it rains, or snows, or it's cloudy at least five days out of seven...
...Swing was first born in the work-fields of the South...
...It seems to bs true that the fear of British defeat in the European wsrW* had its effect on Indian opinion...
...In the case of lodea ™* British Labor party does not share the blame...
...All the other countries of Cstonental Europe eventually adopted it, but Great Britain did not...
...It would be hard to prove that within the last ninety years Germany's conscript armies have been used to crash labor at home...
Vol. 23 • August 1940 • No. 33
