The Communist Party of the United States, as the vanguard of the proletariat, led the first national protest against unemployment during the Great Depression on March 6, 1930. They organized working class folks on Main Street against Wall Street. In Minneapolis, Minnesota, Gus Hall, the Marxist-Leninist former leader of the Communist Party, and the Communists led the mass struggles.
Written about the Great Depression, William Z. Foster's words ring with clarity today. He wrote that "with the outbreak of the economic crisis the bourgeoisie immediately embarked upon the same course that it had following all previous crises; namely, to unload the burden of the economic breakdown upon the shoulders of the workers and poorer farmers." (William Z. Foster, History of the Communist Party of the United States, 1952, International Publishers)
The Great Economic Crisis of 1929-1933 meant Fight Back! Carl Winter, Communist leader of the Unemployed Councils in NY and one of the organizers of the National Hunger Marches of the 1930s said that: "The first nationwide organized protest (on March 6, 1930) against the burdens of the economic crisis, being shouldered by the working people of the United States, was organized upon the initiative of the Communist Party." (Carl Winter, "Unemployment Struggles of the Thirties," in Bart, Highlights of a Fighting History, 1979, International Publishers)
William Z. Foster, Marxist-Leninist former leader of the Communist Party of the United States preceding Gus Hall, said "With relatively few members, but with a clear head and a stout heart, the (Communist) Party boldly organized the famished unemployed...
"March 6, 1930 (was) the historic national unemployment demonstration, led by the Communists. The Communist Party, the Young Communist League, and the Trade Union Unity League threw their united forces into the preparations. A million leaflets were circulated and innumerable preliminary meetings were organized. The national demonstration was held under the auspices of the T.U.U.L. The central demand was for unemployment relief and insurance, with stress upon demands for the Negro (African-American) people, against wage cuts, and against fascism and war.
"Among the mobilizing slogans were 'Work or Wages!' and 'Don't Starve--Fight!'...
"The March 6th turnout of the workers was immense--110,000 in New York; 100,000 in Detroit; 50,000 in Chicago; 50,000 in Pittsburgh; 40,000 in Milwaukee; 30,00 in Philadelphia; 25,000 in Cleveland; 20,000 in Youngstown, with similar huge meetings in Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, and other cities all over the country. All told, 1,250,000 workers demonstrated against the outrageous conditions of hunger and joblessness. In the demonstrations, Negro (African-American) workers were a pronounced factor...
"Under the leadership of the Communists, the unemployed had stepped forth as a major political force. The great demonstration at once made the question of unemployed relief and insurance a living political issue in the United States. It showed that the masses were not going to starve tamely, as the bosses and reactionary union leaders had thought they would...It was a magnificent demonstration of the Leninist leading role of the Communist Party." (William Z. Foster, History of the Communist Party of the United States, 1952, International Publishers)
The national demonstration inspired many hundreds of class struggle actions of the unemployed across the country. And Gus Hall, the Marxist-Leninist former leader of the Communist Party USA, said that "in Minneapolis, (MN) we Communists led the mass struggles of the unemployed." (Gus Hall, Working Class USA, 1987, International Publishers)
