◆ SpookStack

workers in it were James W. Ford, H Ha Maude White, and many others . . . Its membership was eventually confined mainly to Communist (p. 460) Lovett Fort-Whiteman was a student at the Lenin School in Moscew, an institution at which foreign Com- munists were taught the theory and tactics of propa- ganda, agitation, and espionage. Fort-Whiteman was also an American delegate to the Sixth World Congress of the Communist International in 1928. (international Press Correspondence, July 25, 1928, p- 708) Foster says that the ANLC “was handicapped by sec- tarlanism—by writing too ‘left’ a program for the masses.” Foster also maintains that the ANLC encoun- tered “strong opposition” from the National Associa- tion for the Advancement of Colored People and the National Urban League. On the eve of the organization of the ANLC, Lovett Fort-Whiteman announced, with pride and obviously Bross exaggeration, that— Each day, everyone promoting the American Negro lahor Congress notes a growing uneasiness in the ruling class of this country in contemplation of the coming American Negro Labor Congress. (Daily Worker, October 7, 1925, p. 3) The Communist Internatioal (a mere euphemism for the Kremlin) kept a watchful eye on the American Com- munist Party and all the little sputniks revolving around it. The American Negro Labor Congress, insignificant 4s ii “us, did not escape the attention of the Musovite bosses of the American Communists. hy a resolution of October 26, 1928, three years after the launching of the sputnik known as the ANLC, the Communist Joternational said: Tre American Negro Labor Congress continues to exist only nominally. Every effort should be made to strengthen this organization as a medium through which we can extend the work of the Party among ibe Negro masses and mobilize the Negro workers under our leadership. (The Communist Position on ihe Negro Question. p. 59) The directives of the Communist International for the American Communist Party were supervised and enforced on the scene by a personal representative of the Communist International. In 1928, one of these agents of the Comintern in the United States was John Pepper. Benjamin Gitlow identifies Pepper in the fol- lowing words: A commander of the Hungarian Red Army in i7.%, ne had fled to Russia after the overthrow of the -+suges att Soviet Republic and along with Bela Kun became an important functionary of the Comintérn. 30 * his name had been Josef Pogany; be came is yal as John Pepper. (J Confess, p. 136) amphlet entitled American Negro Probiems, blisbed by Workers Library Publishers in 1928, John Pepper wrote concerning the ANLC, as follows: e American Negro Labor Congress which is still vey weak, must be reorganized and activized. The Communists working within this organization should try to make it serve as an intermediary mass organ- ization, as @ medium through which the Party can extend its work among the Negro masses and mobilize the Negro workers under its leadership. (emphasis in original; p. 15) When the sputnik named American Negro Labor Congress petered out, it was brought down and a new one was launched. ; ; James W. Ford, twice vice-presidential candidate on the Communist Party ticket, records that the frank anti-religious position of the American Negro Labor Congress was one of the reasons for its failure. In his book, The Negro and the Democratic Front, published in 1938, Ford wrote: 1 recall particularly the strict and unyielding atti- tude taken by the leaders of the American Negro Labor Congress toward religion. This attitude pre- vented the Congress from becoming a mass influence among church people. At an A. N. L. C. meeting in Chicago, 1926, composed of a large number of re- ligious people, a leader of the organization in the course of his remarks, said: “To hell with religion; damn the church.” (p. 82) Ford then told how the Communist Party changed its tactics and made dupes of church organizations and religious people: But today in the National Negro Congress church organizations and religious people work co-operatively with non-church people. Our Negro Communists are fraternizing with church people in order to organize them in the struggle for Negro liberation. (ibid, p. 82-83) Ford's meaning is crystal clear: the Communists adopted a policy of tactical silence with respect to their basic contempt for, and hostility toward, religion and the churches—a policy which continues today. The last convention of the American Negro Labor Congress was held in St. Louis in November, 1930, where, by unanimous decision, the name was changed to the League of Struggle for Negro Rights. (ibid, p. 83) league of Struggle for Negro Rights Immediate successor to the American Negro Labor Congress, the League of Struggle for Negro Rights was 31