DUKE ELLINGTON | Reorene t = DIAHANN CARROLL my A veritable flood of famous Negro entertainers—both men and women—has been lining T h e€ y a d d e€ d e © emp in support of the courageous struggle for equality being waged in the southern states of the USA. The Rev. Martin Luther King, leader of the non-violent campaign for Negro civil rights in the U.S., has been receiving offers of help and encouragement from literally dozens of world-known Negro personalities. Below, we reprint the comments of a few such people: e Diahann Carroll, currently starring in the Broadway hit “No Strings,” stated emphati- ically: “T will follow Martin Lu- ther King Jr. right into the grave if it is necessary in the war for human dignity in Birmingham. If the only way we can gain the right to live in dignity as human beings is by dying, we must be ready to do so — all of us.” * *& * Harry Belafonte, renowned folk artist and-.folk song im- pressario, promised that a flood of Negro artists coming to the forefront of the integra- tion struggle is in the offing. Belafonte, who is a close personal friend and support- er of King, served as host at a private meeting in New York recently. The meetiag, which was held after the stra- tegy for Birmingham had been worked out, explained the objectives of King’s move- ment and obtained the moral and financial backing of the many stars who attended. Bo * * Eartha Kitt, pop singer, stated that when police dogs were loosed on the peaceful demonstrators in Birming- ham, it became inevitable that prominent Negroes would take part in the anti-segrega- tion demonstrations. “When they did that, we felt that we just had to do something to help. If neces- sary, I would have gone to Birmingham, too. But even if Birmingham integrates, it will be necessary, I'm afraid, fo fight the same battle over again in other places.” She criticized government inactivity. “I don’t see that _ President Kennedy has tried to do much. In England, when there was a race riot, a mem- ber of Parliament stood in the street and said that the law would be enforced, people re- sponsible would be sent to jail, he said, and they were.” Langston Hughes, famed poet and playwright, said: “TI remember when I was eight or nine, in Lawrence, Kansa/, we suddenly couldn’t go to Saturday ‘movies anymore. The only theatre in town. posted a sign. ‘No colored peo- ple admitted.’ If I'd known how to demonstrate in pro- test, I would have done so then.” He said the demonstrations “are absolutely necessary if we’re going to have any pro- gress . . . I’ve been writing about Negro problems for 40 years, and it’s my belief that writing doesn’t change things like Southern segregationist attitudes.” * * * Max Roach, jazz drummer, said that there will be pil- grimages to scenes of dispute “that none of us can imag- ine.’ He doesn’t think that either partial or complete vic- tory in Alabama is going to make things any easier in the South. “As far as the black man is concerned, we have this thing all over the United States.” * * * Ossie Davis, who wrote and: starred in the Broadway show “Purlie Victorious,” said that the victory achieved by the integration efforts so far was a small but significant one. ‘But the fight is by no means over, and as it proceeds other stronger and more pos- itive tactics will be needed.” He praised Dr. King’s ability to swing the top-name Negro entertainers into the struggle. *& * * Leon Bibb, a folk singer who is gaining an ever in- creasing measure of popular- ity, has proposed a touring ‘“Hootenany for Equality” which might start with fam- ous artists performing in Car- negie Hall to raise money to aid the integration cause. “Any negro in a leadership role has to do something,” he said, “or he will have disa- vowed his leadership.” Bibb emphasized that, no matter what happens,:there will be no violence by the Negroes. * * * Duke Ellington, bandleader and composer, was horrified by the use of police dogs against the demonstrators in Birmingham. “The pictures of those dogs and children is what I can’t get out of my mind. The dam- age to America’s reputation is done, and J don’t know how they’ll undo it.” * * * Bill Kenny, one of the orig- inal ‘‘Ink Spots,” (now resid- ing in Vancouver) thinks the Birmingham troubles “have done a great deal of good.” Said Kenny: “The rest of the world, looking at what happened in Alabama, will stop and think: ‘If this can happen in what they call the greatest democracy in the world, it could happen to us’.” * * * Ralph Ellison, novelist (“The Invisible Man’) and essayist, said: “The outcome of the struggle in the South rests with those who have the pow- er of violence in their hands. And that is not the Negroes.” He added, however, that he “fully approves of the work of Rev. Martin Luther King” and that he had marched in the past and would march again. “T hope the marches contin- ue,” he said. “And not only in the South . . . I hope they’ll be carried on into the North, until the day comes when my people have their full free- dom.” * * oa Sammy Davis, Jr.. world famed entertainer, lashed out at what has happend in Bir- mingham. “Thank God the Negro is on the move,” he said. “Martin Luther King is one of my dearest friends and I have worked to raise money for his campaign. Negro stars answer freedom cal ... their names LEON BIBB #3 LANGSTON HUGHES EARTHA KITT More on Communism and art . he art and literature discussion. begun a short time ago at Meetings of Communist Party and Soviet government leaders with Writers and artists has had world ~~ WORTH _ READING A Star to Steer By. Author — ‘ Hugh Mulzac (Paperback). Price This is the story of the first Negro to captain a U.S. vessel— the S. S. Booker T. Washington— in the early days of World War II. The book .traces the all-too- familiar pattern of a highly qual- ified Negro, ‘unable because of Tacism to practise his skill as €& master mariner, and the bitter rebuffs and disappointments he experienced until the U.S. was Catapulted into the war and found It desperately needed men, re- 8ardless of race or color, to car- Ty food and weapons to its allies. The author describes vividly the fight for better conditions and — quality in a book that makes citing reading. ‘Sees J wide reverberations. That is not surprising, for in the cultural sphere as in others, the Soviet Union is blazing the trail into the communist future. It is therefore only natural that every signif- icant step along thts path should be closely watched and studied by communism’s friends and foes. At these meetings, and at num- erous. gatherings since _ then, Soviet intellectuals have discussed not merely their current, worka- day problems. The discussion has centred on such fundamental issues as the struggle of commun- ist ideology against capitalist, the artist's world outlook, his place in society and his duty to the people, partisanship in art, genuine and ficticious freedom of artistic creation. * x * All these questions are being searchingly examined, and that has lent the discussion such wide international interest. Over half a century ago Lenin proved that the artist's ‘absolute freedom” of the class struggle was an illusion, He proved also that in capitalist: society most intellectuals are closely linked with, and subject to, the tastes, requirements and interests of the ruling classes. The only artist who is really free is the one who consciously ties his life and work with the most progressive class and the most progressive movement — the working class and socialism. * * * \ The history of the past half- century has abundantly confirmed that point. of view. In all fields of artistic endeavour, the finest works have come from artists who have hroken with bourgeois and anarchistic individualism and have been guided by the noble ideal of liberating mankind from capitalist bondage and oppression. On the other hand, there is a definite stamp of degeneration and decadence in the ‘“‘new”’ art trends that are now the vogue in the capitalist world. Numerous examples could be cited. The most glaring, perhaps, is the abstractionist psychosis the bourgeoisie seeks to palm off as the greatest achievement in art- istic creation. * a * In the West, frank criticism of e e abstractionism has met with angry comment and sharp at- tacks on Soviet art and socialist realism, the guiding principle of Soviet artists and writers. The capitalist press has tried to describe the Soviet attitude to- wards abstract art to narrow- mindededness and __ primitive tastes. But these are the very things that are characteristic of the modern bourgeoisie, which re- gards abstract daubing and caca- phonic music, void of all mean- ing, as the ultimate in art. Most of the attacks have been levelled at Nikita Khrushchev’s emphasis on the Leninist propo- sition that peaceful coexistence of the hostile ideologies of social- ism and capitalism is unaccept- able and harmful. It is not difficult to understand why the imperialists object to this truth. Rejection of the idea of ideological coexistence under- mines imperialist aims of trying to disarm Communists ideologic: ‘ally. It makes it incumbent upon the mind of man to choose between the false art of capitalism and the people’s art of socialism. ~ Spiders Spiders, atomic spiders of doom, Racing the Earth on legs of darkness, Spiders smashing buildings and trees, Sipping lives with feet of greed Spiders fattened on poisoned pies, Spinning villainous arrows at children’s faces; To make cinders of them all... Heaps of silence, riding ghosts to eternity. @ DAN McLEAN May 31, 1963—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page