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From Labor Action, Vol. 14 No. 1, 2 January 1950, pp. 1 & 4.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line (ETOL).
A national emergency civil rights mobilization, spearheaded by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is being planned for January 15–17 when thousands of delegates from some fifty national organizations are fo assemble in Washington, D.C. As it is expected that fair employment and other anti-discrimination measures will come up early in the second session of the 81st Congress, the purpose of the mobilization will be to put the maximum pressure on both houses of Congress consistent with the objectives and habits of the organizations involved.
This is not to be a “March on Washington,” such as that proposed and later called off by Randolph in 1940. The NAACP and other organizations involved are not calling on Negroes and whites who support the cause of racial equality to rally in masses and exert the kind of pressure on Congress which could be produced by the presence of tens of thousands of irate citizens personally petitioning for la redress of an ancient and terrible grievance.
The national emergency civil rights mobilization is to consist of accredited delegates from chapters of the NAACP and locals of unions, veterans’ organizations and the other participating bodies. Senate Majority Leader Scott Lucas of Illinois is expected to address a mass meeting and Minority Leader Kenneth Wherry of Nebraska has also been invited to speak. Other nationally prominent leaders from different walks of life will also address the assembled delegates. In all likelihood the major activity of the delegates will be to listen to these speakers and to approach congressmen and senators for their votes.
The mobilization’s program includes FEPC, abolition of the poll tax, anti-lynch legislation, prohibition of segregation in transportation facilities, home rule for the District of Columbia, establishment of a permanent commission on civil rights, statehood for Hawaii and Alaska, elimination of racial barriers to naturalization, settlement of Japanese-American evacuation claims, and strengthening of existing civil-rights laws.
Mobilization officials realize that there will be serious difficulty in obtaining housing for Negro delegates in Washington’s lilly-white hotels. They plan to exert pressure to obtain suitable hotel accommodations for all, but it is quite likely that many delegates will have to stay in the homes of Negroes and unprejudiced whites in the city.
One problem which confronts the leaders of the mobilization is the effort of the Stalinists to get in on the doings. The Stalinist-controlled Civil Rights Congress has offered full support and cooperation to the mobilization, but has been informed in curt language that its support is not desired and will not be accepted. In fact, a letter will be sent out to all participating organizations setting forth in exact detail the measures to be taken to exclude the Stalinists.
As is increasingly the case in all organizations in America today, the liberals heading the mobilization show every intention of trying to keep themselves clean of the Stalinist taint mainly through bureaucratic measures.
It is true that the Stalinists are noted for their own completely unscrupulous organizational behavior. Yet the fact remains that to proceed against them by means similar to those used by the Stalinists themselves usually leads the organization involved to gut its internal democracy and to impair the purposes which it is organized to serve. This is illustrated in a small way by the fact that the letter by Acting NAACP Secretary Roy Wilkins to the CRC, rejecting any help from Stalinists, refers to them broadly as “organizations of the extreme left.” This they are not; and the use of the term tends to ascribe the Stalinist taint to those genuine socialists who are real left-wingers.
The national emergency civil rights mobilization can perform an extremely useful function at this time. It is quite likely that Congress will in fact take up the civil-rights measures of the Fair Deal administration. All persons interested in abolishing the blight of national and racial discrimination in America are aware of the fact that the resistance of the legislators from the South could be overcome if there were a real desire on the part of Congressmen and senators from the rest of the country to push civil-rights legislation through both houses.
Yet the fact remains that although both major parties are pledged in one way or another to pass FEPC and other civil-rights legislation, when push comes to shove nothing has ever been accomplished.
It must be born in mind that the legislators in Washington know that th« organizations sending delegates have been and are committed to continued support of the two major parties, regardless of what they do or do not do with respect to civil-rights legislation. They know that even though delegations may come and pound on their tables, the organizations they represent have not and do not threaten the formation of a new political party which would make civil rights one of the foundation stones of its whole program. They are quite accustomed to making promises at election time or to delegations of lobbyists which are later broken and explained away on grounds of “political expediency.” A mobilization for such a new party of labor could effectively hold an ax over the politicians’ heads to secure the rights of the Negro people.
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Last updated: 26 February 2023