Juror’s bias.
ignored in
trial of “12

NEW YORK,

Judge Harold R. Medina has
brusquely denied motions by de-
fense lawyers in the trial of, 12
Communist leaders here for recon-
Sideration of his refusal to dismiss
Juror Russell Janney, and for tes-
timony from Reporter George Lan-
dry of the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph
concerning Janney’s bitterly anti-
Communist remarks in Macon last
February. Russell Janney, the ju-
rou involved, is a theatrical produ-
Ger and author of the intensely re-
ligious novel Miracle of the Bells.

The fact that he swore falsely
when he said he was not prejudiced
against Communists, and that he
had persistently violated judicial
“admonitions” not to read or talk
about the case, was disclosed in
a front-page in the Compass, Lib-
eral New York daily.

The article was ‘signed by Ted
©. Thackrey, Compass editor and
Publisher, who urged Judge Medina
to dismiss Janney from the jury,
and to substitute one of the three
alternatives who have been sitting
through the trial along swith the
rest of the jury.

The defense, however, -basing it-
Self on an affidavit signed by act-
ress Carol E. Nathanson, claimed
that Janney had discussed the case
with other members of the jury,
and had tried*to influence them.
The judge’s injunction to the jury
_ baerridsd the.onal lydloig isu

barred discussion among them-
Selves. '

Hence the defense demanded a
mistrial.

Evidence of Janney’s misconduct,
contained both in the Compass and
in a memorandum accompanying
the mistrial motion, includes clip-
Pings from the Macon (G2.) Tele-
Sraph of February 22, 23 arid 25
of this year containing reports. of
red-baiting speeches made by an-
hey in that city. This was less
than a month before he became a
member of the jury. \

10,000 on strike

BUENOS AIRES

Ten thousand Argentine seamen
and longshoriemen went on strike
for higher wages. Labor-govern-
ment relations in Argentina are
worsening. Police at Rosario broke
up a Partisans for Peace rally held
with ‘labor backing and arrested
eight persons.

Haile Selassie
order hangings

HAILE SELASSIE
ADDIS ABABA

Death by hanging was the
penalty decreed for leaders
ot a strike of 600 railway
workers on the French-Ethi-
opian line linking Addis
Ababa with the port of Dji-
bouti in French Somaliland.

The order was issued by
Emperor Haile Selassie. The
reason given was that, in the
course of a clash, the workers
had injured. American and
European management per-
sonnel hired by the railway.
The announcement mention-
ed no trial and did not say

-how many were doomed.

Athens‘ claim
is punctured

LONDON

Giving the lie to Royalist claims
of having wiped out the “last
stronghold” of the Greek Demo-
cratic armies at Vitsi, Free Greek
headquarters reported at the end
of August having inflicted 2,217
casualties on enemy forces in six
days of fighting throughout Greece.

It ig recalled that inspired U. S.
press reports have on several occa-
sions in the past ‘two years “wiped
out” the Greek Democratic armies,
only to have to return and wipe
them out again.

The Free Greek radio reported
that in several areas, south of Vit-
si, the guerrilla forces were actu-
ally on the offensive.

Food for striking woodworkers

A truckload of food collected at the gate of the International
‘Harvester plant in Louisville, Ky.,by members of Local 236, United
Farm Equipment Workers (CIO), has gone to TWA members who

have been on strike for four months, Here FE officials pass out

food’ and candy to the kids.

Shanghai plants produce

for people, not for export

SHANGHAI

The industries of China’s greatest factory city, which used to produce largely for export to swell
the profits of foreign and Chinese employers while th:re was a shortage of industrial products in China
itself, are now being re-geared to supply the people of their own country. Shanghai’s metal industries used
to concentrate on electric fans, flashlights and similar goods which, through cheap labor, competed with
non-Chinese output’ on world markets. From now on they will turn out internal combustion engines and
farm machinery for China’s own villages, easing the back-breaking manual toil of the peasants.

Rice-growing depends on proper irrigation of the land, and one plant, which used to make water

‘pumps for urban apartment houses,
will now shift to pumps for rice
fields. In most of China, water is
Still raised to these fields by tread-
mills operated by human
power.

leg-

Shanghai plants will also sup-
ply machinery for local agricul-
tural machine repair shops and
items like automatic hammers for
village blacksmith shops, formér-
ly entirely unmechanized. Small
industries will be set up all over
the country and will operate with
lathes, coal gas and diesel power
units made in Shanghai.

As part:of the battle against the
Kuoniintang naval and air block-
ade, which has the announced aim
of starving the new China, other
plants are making goods previous-
ly imported from abroad, Several
have begun to prioduce generators
and motors for coal mines ang en-
gines for river and sea-going
barges. :

The Ghina Oil Company is pro-
ducing good synthetic gasoline and
lubricants from cotton - seed oil,
plentiful in China,*at the rate of
24 Ibs. of engine fuel to 100 Ibs. of
the raw material. Cigarette paper,
once bought abroad, is also being
manufactured. Silk factories which
used to specialize in expensive fab-

rics for export are now making
cheap, sturdy cloth for the use of
the people.

Many textile mills, previously
situated in Shanghai to be close
to foreign markets and sources
of imported cotton, are now be-
ing moved inland to be near do-
mestic cotton fields and con-
sumers.

President Chen Yun of the All-

China Federation of Labor has ask->

ed Shanghai workets to take some
voluntary pay cuts for the duration
of the blockade and reconversion
in the interest of creating a rapidly
growing home industry. All wages
in Shanghai rose after the Chiang
Kai-shek forces were driven aut,
so they will still be higher than in
the past.

Miners seeking

|wage revision

; LONDON.

A new wage structure in British
mines is being demanded by the
National Union of Mineworkers.
The proposal was worked out fol-
lowing more than a year of re-
search by union economists. It rep-
resents the most important wage
claim so far made in any British
nationalized industry.

Under the proposed system, Hor-
ner said, “each man will receive
an equal reward for equal work,”
instead of the same job being paid
at different rates depending upon
the area, the system developed un-
der private ownership.

After its membership has discuss-
ed the proposals, the NUM. will be-

{gin negotiating with the National

Coal Board, which operates all
British mines. The board accepted
the need for a new wage setup, in

principle, two years ago.

U.S. Negroes scorn

“bleaching’

proposal

By MASON ROBERSON

SAN FRANCISCO

Walter White’s much publicized proposal that U.S. Negroes bleach
their way to “‘equality’’ is meeting with a response among the Negro
people, big and small, cool enough to chill off Dixie. ~

The Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, which

recently held a convention in San Francisco has added its voice to the

general protest. This powerful Ne-
gro lodge issued a formal resolu-
tion condemning White, for “addi-
cating before the theory of White
Supremacy” and labelled his idea
“unworthy of the attention of the
Negro people in their fight for free-
dom.”

White, on leave ag executive sec-
retary of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored
People, wrote in Look magazine
that scientists had discovered that
monobenzy! ether of hydroquinone

‘turned dark skins light by. remov-

ing the pigment, melanin, from the
skin. He suggested this as the so-
lution for the Negro. people.

From New York City came a
chorus of denials from all Negro
leaders—from Dodgers first base-
man Jackie Robinson (“I’m proud
to be a Negro’) to. big league lea-
gue political commentator, John
Pittman, editor of the Worker,
a paper that presents the Com-
munist viewpoint.

Pittman wrote: “White is done
with the task of a people’s liber-
ation and prefers to set up an
alchemy shop... . he demolishes
the meaning of his entire life . . .
(it is). espousal of the Negro’s
cause from a kneeling position.”

Lester Granger, head of the Na-
tional Urban League, termed the
article “something less than a valu-
able contribution to the discussion
of the racial quesion. . . . Those
Negroes I know are concerned with
the question of how to protect their
standing, in America as Negroes
and are not thinking about resign-
ing from the colored race... .”

John Sengstacke, publisher of the
Chicago Defender, Negro weekly,
said:

“Negroes are proud of their heri-
tage and do not want to lose it by
merging with the white world. They
want first class citizenship, not
second class as Negroes.”

They need the money too

‘ -

What with high living costs and spreading unemployment these
veterans gleefully waving insurance premium forms at New York
gemeral post office can use whatever part is coming to them of the
close to $3 billion now being paid out to ex-GI’s who paid insurance

premiums at inflated levels.

Communist party in Italy
adds 200,000 new members

ROME
The Communist pariy in Italy
now has a membership of: 2,242,719,
of whom 2,028,042 held membership
ecards paid up to date on June 30,
vice-secretary of the party Piestro
Secchia revealed at a central com-
mittee meeting just concluded.
Secchia’s report stated that the
Communist paper, Unita, sells
more than 500,000 copies daily,
compared with last December. The

‘PACIFIC TRIBUNE —

‘

party’s theoretical monthly, Rinas-
cita, ppints nearly 50,000 copies.

Secchia reviewed the struggles
of the Italian workers, their suc-
cessful strikes, and the unity and
determination of the masses, which
he attributed to the increased in-
fluence of the Communist party,
Persecution, ‘police violence, ar-
rests, murder of workers, and mass
dismissals, has all been met with
determined resistance.

SEPTEMBER 9, 1949 — PAGE 3