Thursday, June 26, 1930: French Troops Evacuate The Palatinate

Speyer, Germany:  French troops depart The Palatinate, a region of about 2,100 square miles in southwestern Germany that has been occupied since the World War.  Residents celebrate by removing French-language street signs.  By prior agreement, all French troops will be out of the Rhineland by June 30.

Moscow:  The communist party’s annual convention opens at the Moscow Grand Opera House with speeches urging communists in the United States to agitate for revolution.

Washington:  Secretary of Commerce Robert P. Lamont releases census figures which indicate unemployment is just under 2.3 million, better than widely thought.  William Green, President of the American Federation of Labor, says unemployment is 3.6 million.

Berlin:  Herman Dietrich is appointed Finance Minister to replace Paul Moldenhauer, who resigned June 18.  Moldenhauer’s financial reform proposals proved unpopular.  Dietrich was Minister of Economics in Chancellor Heinrich Bruening’s cabinet.  Political observers say Dietrich’s appointment is Bruening’s last chance to save his government.

Budapest:  A group of 30 communists attacks the Polish Embassy with stones, smashing windows and shouting, “Down with Polish dictatorship!”  This after Poland executed a group of communists at Lwow (Lviv).  Police disperse the mob and arrest some.

Sunday, June 22, 1930: Saxony Elections Yield Big Gains for the Nazis

Dresden:  Election results for the landtag (parliament) of the state of Saxony show big gains for the National Socialist German Workers’ Party – nazis.  They pulled a nearly three-fold increase, from 5% in the 1929 elections to 14.4% today.  This will increase their seats in the landtag from 5 to 14, making them the second-largest party in the body.  The Social Democratic Party is still the largest, holding roughly steady at 33% of the popular vote and 32 seats.  The communists gained slightly, from 12.8% of the vote in 1929 to 13.6% today, picking up one seat to 13. 

Moscow:  The government announces it will recall Rabbi Lavarev, Chief Rabbi of Leningrad, from Siberian exile, but restrict his movements upon his return home.

Friday, June 6, 1930

Berlin: Chancellor Heinrich Bruening’s plan for saving Germany’s finances by taxing workers’ salaries, corporate directors’ fees and bachelors, runs into immediate trouble.  Several political parties publicly oppose it.  They and their allied press outlets predict not only that the measure will fail to pass the Reichstag, but that Bruening’s cabinet will fall over it.  Meanwhile, the Prussian Trade Minister’s monthly report on economic conditions in that state (which makes up nearly 60% of Germany) describes “almost universal depression.”

 

Tokyo:  Government officials are said to be apprehensive about developments in Tsinan in the Chinese civil war: 2,000 Japanese students are trapped there as fighting approaches.  Tsinan was the scene of a brutal attack in 1928, when southern rebels overrunning the city killed 30 Japanese nationals. 

Gomel, Ukraine:  Kulaks (rich peasants) outraged at continued soviet collectivization of their farms, set fire to the two largest collective farms in the district.  Sheds containing agricultural equipment and machinery are destroyed, leaving the collectives without the means to produce food.  

Sunday, 20 April 1930

Leipzig, Germany: 

A gathering of 30,000 young communists observing “Red Youth Day” turns violent when fighting breaks out as police attempt to cordon off side streets leading away from the plaza where the gathering is being held.  Three are killed, two of them police. 

Madrid: 

More than 25,000 supporters of the monarchy jam the new bull ring here to show their support for King Alfonso XIII.  Streets around the arena are draped with banners reading, “Long Live the King,” and “Long Live Spain.”  Speakers say the king has been unfairly attacked by supporters of a constitutional republic, and that the majority of Spaniards want the monarchy to continue.  The king was not present, spending Holy Week in Seville. 

Soviet Union:

Kharkov, Ukraine:  29 people are sentenced to prison terms totaling 173 years for allegedly trying to restore a “capitalistic” system in Ukraine.  Among those being sent to prison are the former President of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, the former Ukrainian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister.

Moscow:  The 200 or so remaining Orthodox churches here are jammed on Easter Sunday, despite efforts by the Atheist League to detract from it.  In an attempt to draw people away from church, all theaters in the city are opened at midnight and shows are run continuously through the day, and military bands play at public squares and other gathering places.  However, as part of its “slowdown” on the atheization of the country, the government does forbid citizens from molesting worshipers in churches, or on their way to and from them. 

China:

In the civil war, skirmishes are reported between nationalist government forces and northern rebels along railroads around the city of Kweiteh. 

Thursday, 3 April 1930

Berlin: 

Heinrich Bruening’s new cabinet wins its first vote of confidence from the Reichstag, with the deciding votes ironically being cast by the party of nationalist leader Alfred Hugenberg.  The vote is 252-187, with socialists, communists and nazis voting against.  Hugenberg had threatened to defeat the new government, but after Bruening outlines his cabinet’s agriculture policies, which are under the care of Martin Schiele from Hugenberg’s National People’s Party, Hugenberg evidently changes his mind, and his party votes in favor of Bruening.  Hugenberg still says his party may desert the government and bring about its downfall, however, at any time it feels so inclined.

Moscow: 

Rabbi Lazarev, Chief Rabbi of Leningrad, and 15 others, are sentenced to 10 years in a concentration camp for alleged anti-soviet activity. 

London: 

At the London Naval Conference, the delegates from the United States, Great Britain and Japan officially agree to a three-way naval treaty which is intended to reduce the navies of all three, with the U.S. and British delegations accepting certain reservations from Japan.  U.S. Senator David A. Reed, a U.S. delegate who did most of the negotiating with Japan, says, “I cannot impress on you too strongly the fine spirit with which the Japanese and British have met us.  There was no disposition to quibble on the part of any one of the three delegations.  All three delegations have been frank and fair.  I cannot imagine a more pleasant negotiation than this has been.  The result is not a victory for anyone, but an honorable and reasonable settlement between the three powers.” 

Monday, 31 March 1930

Moscow:  The government exiles 90 Jews to Siberia for participating in groups the state deems illegal; 55 more are forced to sign statements promising not to leave Moscow and to discontinue their memberships. 

London:  The British fiscal year closes with a deficit of 14.5 million pounds, more than 18 million pounds below budget, due to the economic downturn.  Meanwhile, some 1,200 companies in the wool industry post notices of wage reductions, effective next week, due to the economic conditions. 

Monday, 24 March 1930

Paris:  

In the case of White Russian General Alexander Koutiepoff, missing since allegedly being kidnapped in broad daylight January 30, a newspaper claims to have proof that he is in prison in the Soviet Union.  La Liberte writes, “We have awaited the moment when the secret service has received official confirmation of the above facts in order to make them public.  We can now affirm that Koutiepoff six days ago was alive in the Lubyanka jail in Moscow.”  An accompanying editorial urges the French government to sever relations with the Soviet Union over the incident. 

Geneva:  The tariff truce conference that opened here last month ends with 11 European nations agreeing to limited restrictions on their protective tariffs.  The hope is that this will stimulate the economies of Europe, most of which are trending downward in the worldwide depression.

Saturday, 22 March 1930

England:

London:  At the naval conference, a scheduled meeting between British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald and French Prime Minister Andrae Tardieu is cancelled, signaling definitively that France is out of the parley.  After two months of meetings, the conference is at a complete standstill – with nothing to show for its effort -- as Great Britain and the U.S. await word from Japan on whether a 3-way pact can still be signed.  Many in the press are saying the conference will have been a complete failure if Japan’s reply is negative.

Manchester:  More evidence of the Depression’s spread: an estimated 25% of cotton operatives in Lancashire are out of work, some so destitute they can’t get food to eat. 

Elsewhere:

Paris:  Finance Minister Paul Reynaud, in a committee speech, says that barring unforeseen circumstances, he expects France will remove all forces and end its occupation of the Rhineland by June 30.

Moscow:  Tens of thousands of demonstrators march for three hours here and in other cities around Russia in protest against religion.  

Friday, 21 March 1930

Manchuria:  

Warlord Zhang Xueliang, effective ruler of Manchuria, offers his services as mediator between Chinese President Chiang Kai-shek and rebellious Governor Yen Hsishan of Shansi.  The threat of renewed civil war in China has been looming for weeks.

  

London:  

The French delegation appears to withdraw from the naval conference, having left for Paris for the weekend and announcing that they won’t be back.  Observers think it’s a ploy to try to wrest an 11^th hour concession out of either Italy (to give up its demand for naval parity with France) or England (for a naval deal that includes continental security).  But Great Britain, the U.S. and Japan evidently saw this coming, and reportedly have a three-way “fallback” pact they will go to work on.  It is expected that if France is out, Italy will be too, as Italy presumably would not agree to any limitations on naval power with France under no such obligation.

Chisinau, Romania:  

Russian and Romanian border guards get into a firefight on the Dniester River near here.  According to reports, the Russian guards board a boat on their side of the river, then cross over and attack the Romanian border post with hand grenades.  The Romanians respond with rifle fire.  One Romanian is killed and several Russians wounded.  No one knows a reason for the attack, but tensions relative to Russia are high in Romania, as the government says it has uncovered communist plots to attempt a coup in the country.

Elsewhere:

Moscow:  Crowds of Young Communists and Young Pioneers (a communist version of the boy scouts) converge on the Italian Embassy and hold protests against the Pope. 

Bogota:  Thousands of unemployed conduct a demonstration that devolves into a riot when police fire on the crowd.  Two are killed and at least 20 injured.

Thursday, 20 March 1930

Soviet Union:

Moscow:  Newspapers run headlines, articles and cartoons ridiculing the Pope’s prayers on behalf of Christians in Russia.  Pravda runs a cartoon of a warrior wearing the Pope’s headpiece, riding a horse and carrying a banner that reads “Anti-Soviet Crusade.” 

Yet at a meeting of the All-Union Congress of Atheists tonight, speaker after speaker reminds the audience that religion cannot be stamped out of Russia overnight, and warns against excessive force or zeal in closing churches, synagogues or mosques.  The chairman of the meeting says removing God from the people should be done by peaceful persuasion, propaganda and scientific argument.  Special and intensified propaganda should be brought to bear on women and children, says one speaker. 

Elsewhere in the Soviet Union, reports say peasant revolts are flaring up in several places, as the people protest food shortages and having their lands collectivized.  Factory workers are living on black bread and thin soup, and striking for better food.  The OGPU (secret police) is arresting strike and revolt leaders.

London:  

At the naval conference (still going), the meeting is deadlocked.  Italy and France cannot come to agreement on Italy’s insistence for parity with France, and France’s demand for a high level of naval tonnage.  An unnamed British officials says, “My reasoning tells me that the present deadlock will not be broken . . . .”

Wednesday, 19 March 1930: Religious War of Words Continues

It's a day of religious "warfare of words."

Vatican City:  Pope Pius XI leads a special prayer service and mass at St. Peter’s for persecuted Christians in soviet Russia.  50,000 attend.  A Russian choir sings, and Orthodox Greeks join in Slavic chants during the service. 

 

Vienna:  Communists attack and break up a meeting of the Czechoslovakian Catholic People’s Party, which was protesting religious persecution in Russia. 

Moscow:  Meanwhile, the press here is full of anti-Pope messages.  The Atheist magazine publishes an article entitled, “Down With the Pope,” which calls the Pope the world’s biggest landowner and the capitalist scion of a Milan textile family.  The article goes on to boast that 33 churches, 2 cathedrals and 10 chapels were closed in one soviet in the past week, and 9 villages threw “God’s rubbish” from their homes, namely icons, church fences and bells, ecclesiastical robes and altar draperies.  The gold, silver, iron and other items filled 50 carts.  The magazine goes on to insist that the 240 remaining churches in the Moscow soviet be closed.  “We must turn the red capital into a godless city this year.” 

Pravda, official publication of the communist central committee, criticizes the Pope for his “personal enmity” for the soviets.

Berlin:  

Communist mobs attack churches holding prayer services for persecuted Christians in Russia.  The communists parade around the city all day in protest of the Pope’s prayer service in Italy.  But as night descends, they grow bolder and more violent.  In one working district, a group of communists bursts through the doors of a church shouting, “Long live the red front!” and ridiculing God.  The congregation rushes at the intruders and drives them out of the church, and a melee ensues.  Police arrive to break it up.

In another working district, communists attempt to raid a Catholic church, but are fought off by a guard established by the church members.

Yet not everything happening today is of a religious tone.  Minister of the Interior Karl Severing orders all funds for the police in the state of Thuringia suspended pending an investigation into charges that Wilhelm Frick, the nazi Minister of the Interior of that state, is plotting treason against the government.  This is in response to a manifesto issued by Frick (elected earlier this year), which denounced the federal government and called the public to support nazi ideas for nationalist rule.  The Prosecutor General will begin an investigation. 

Tuesday, 18 March 1930

United States:

New York:  More evidence of the worldwide economic depression: Francis H. Sisson, Vice President of Guaranty Trust Company, says export trade by the United States has declined $117 million since November 1929.  Meanwhile, at two different “bread lines” in the city, more than 1,000 unemployed are reportedly in cue. 

Pittsburgh:  Newspapers report more than 1,700 people standing in a bread line at one location, 800 at another. 

Elsewhere:

Moscow:  Notwithstanding the soviet executive’s order of Saturday, the Moscow soviet votes to close 56 more churches in Moscow and the surrounding region.  The churches are to be converted to schools, clubs, libraries, restaurants and laboratories.  The congregations have the right of appeal, however.

Hanau, Germany:  Communists attack Paul Rehbein, a Social Democrat member of the Prussian diet, while he is visiting a cemetery.  They knock him down and beat him with spades so severely he is taken to a local hospital.  The attack is understood to be in retribution: Rehbein was formerly a communist, but became a socialist.  

Monday, 17 March 1930

Paris:  The negotiations between France and Germany over the Saar region are suspended after five months of on-again off-again meetings that have thus far produced few results.  Reason given is that France wants to wait for the London Naval Conference to end before resuming.

Moscow:  The Godless One, newspaper of Russian atheists, calls for anti-religion demonstrations to “counteract” the Pope’s call for Catholics to pray on Wednesday for the persecuted church in Russia.

Sunday, 16 March 1930

Tokyo:  

Press reports state that the “two-thirds” ratio of capital ships proposed for Japan at the London Naval Conference is causing a rift between military and civilian government leaders in Japan.  Naval officers are displeased with the “second-class citizen” status the ratio would give Japan.

Vienna:  

The government announces that the Austrian national anthem has been changed (for the fourth time since the World War).  The new anthem will be Deutschland, Deutschland-Uber Alles (Germany, Germany Above All) which is also Germany’s national anthem.  This was also Austria’s national anthem before the war (though with different words).  The socialist mayor of Vienna, Karl Seitz, dislikes the anthem so much he refuses to stand or remove his hat when it is played.

England:  

In response to a call from Cosmo Gordon Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury, Anglicans throughout the country hold special prayer services on behalf of persecuted Christians in Russia.  Indeed, Christians as well as Jews around the world are supposed to be holding similar prayer services .  Rev. A.F.W. Ingram, Bishop of London, says, “to think that all those bishops have been butchered [in Russia], all those priests murdered!”

New York:  

Police are busy guarding special prayer meetings in area churches, called on behalf of persecuted Christians in Russia, as well as guarding 12,000 people attending a communist anti-religion rally at Bronx Coliseum.  At the communist rally, the crowd boos religion, calls for an end to class war, and pillories everyone from New York Police Chief Grover Whalen to Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini to the Pope.  The meeting is guarded by 450 police with riot gear, machine guns and paddy wagons, but it is peaceful.

Paris:  

Miguel Primo de Rivera, who until six weeks ago was dictator of Spain, dies unexpectedly in his hotel room here.  Cause of death is said to be an embolism, a complication of his diabetes.

Saturday, 15 March 1930

Germany:

Berlin:  A newspaper reports that Germany and Russia are scheduled to hold a conference to discuss German concerns about the spread of communist propaganda in Germany.  Meanwhile, Chancellor Hermann Mueller announces that he expects Germany’s approval of the Young Plan to help the nation’s economy, attracting fresh capital, stimulating trade and helping with unemployment.

Schleswig-Holstein:  Bombs connected to clock timers are found in two different places – one in the cellar of the town hall, the other against the wall of the treasury building.  Both are discovered before they explode, and are safely removed and disarmed.  No claims of responsibility. 

New York:  

The impact of the worldwide economic depression widens:  The Family Welfare Association of America releases a report indicating that 54 of its city agencies around the country are reporting a 100% increase or higher in families needing welfare assistance compared to a year ago.  Moreover, “A number of the societies stated the number of families under their care at present does not give a true picture of the unemployment situation in their respective communities,” the report states, “as many dependent families whose difficulties are only of unemployment are being referred to the tax-supported departments.”  It goes on to say, “It is estimated that between 55 and 60 per cent of the relief funds for January, 1930, went for unemployment relief.  There was never, in the history of the society, a month like January, 1930.”

Moscow:  

Despite Russia’s fiery rhetoric defending its elimination of religion, the soviet Central Executive Committee issues a new decree ordering punishment for those who ridicule religion or close churches without consent of the majority of a local populace.  In doing so, the order effectively concedes that earlier claims by various Russian authorities and media, that churches and synagogues were closed at the request of the people, were lies: it prohibits church closures under the pretense of “fictitious petitions of the inhabitants.”  Additionally, it says party officials and organizers “unnecessarily” ridiculing religion will be severely punished. 

The order comes the day before Christians both Protestant and Catholic, as well as Jews, are scheduled to hold coordinated prayer services for persecuted people of faith in Russia.  

Friday, 14 March 1930

Germany: 

Berlin:  The worldwide economic depression worsens: new reports signal that manufacturing production is decreasing, and bankruptcies are up 30% from a year ago. 

Munich:  The Muenchner Neuste Nachrichten newsapaper reports that two nazi Reichswehr officers in Bavaria have been arrested as a result of a decree by the Minister of Defense to eliminate political propaganda in the military.  More arrests are expected. 

Leipzig:  The Federal Supreme Court sentences Richard Schultz, Editor of the communist newspaper Rote Fahne, to 15 months in prison for attempting to incite treason.  One of the articles on which Schultz was found guilty was titled, “Away with the Bourgeois republic, fight for soviet power.”  

Elsewhere:

Moscow:  The League of Militant Atheists announces plans for a “counter-papal prayer” day to kick off an anti-religious campaign scheduled to last two months.

Tuesday, 11 March 1930: Germany Ratifies the Young Plan

Berlin:  

The Reichstag approves the Young Plan bill on second reading, as well as the separate war debt payment agreement with the United States.  President Paul von Hindenburg threw his support behind the measures when he threatened reluctant lawmakers that he wouldn’t sign the bill unless it passed by a substantial majority, thus placing the blame on them.  The plan additionally calls for all foreign occupation of the German Rhineland to end by June 30.  Today’s approval makes it virtually certain that the final bill will pass when it gets its third reading tomorrow. 

The Reichstag also rescinds parliamentary immunity for seven of its communist members who incited violence during the March 6 International Unemployment Day demonstrations.  Four people have died as a result of the riots. 

Also, the Reichsbank Board of Directors unanimously appoints Hans Luther, former Chancellor of Germany, to the post of bank president, vacated by Hjalmar Schacht a few days ago.

 

Moscow:  

The government’s persecution of religion intensifies, despite worldwide condemnation.  Leaders of the League of Communist Youths instruct their members to have “special shock brigades and groups of light cavalry” ready during Easter week to lead anti-God activities, and to investigate how anti-religious training is going in schools and universities. 

Additionally, the Society of Militant Atheists calls for Easter Day bonfires of icons (the religious symbols beloved by Eastern Orthodox Christians), to celebrate the “extinction of religion.”  The Godless One, newspaper of the society, writes, “In answer to foreign agitation against us, we will strengthen our Red Army.  We will build armored tanks and an entire tractor column which we shall name ‘The Godless.’  Forty-thousand rubles have already been collected for this purpose.  By intensifying the struggle against religion, we will hasten the collectivization of peasant farms.  By liquidating the kulak as a class we will quicken the fall of his chief support, which is religion.  We will convert the state and collective farms into great centers of atheism.”  

Saturday, 8 March 1930

Germany:

Berlin:  Defense Minister Lieut. Gen. Wilhelm Groener issues a memorandum to military officers around the country to be extra watchful, as his office has received information indicating that communists believe the time is right in Germany for a communist revolution.  Meanwhile, Germany sends notice to the Soviet Union that it will blame that country for any future communist propaganda within German borders.  Most western governments consider it a “worst-kept secret” that COMINTERN is state sponsored by the Soviet Union.

Meanwhile, Wilhelm Marx, former Chancellor, pens an article which appears in newspapers outside of Germany, warning the world against the “insane bolshevist teachings” of soviet Russia.  “Bolshevism, which is regarded by all advanced peoples as utterly insane, is striving for world wide revolution, and has secured dominion over the Russian people.  Its aim is to shatter every state and human institution, and especially capitalism, in order to erect on the ruins a new order – to create indeed a new type of human beings.  The ideas embodied in this doctrine, so destructive to humanity, exercise a strong fascination especially on peoples little affected by general culture.  The Chinese empire, which had hardly been touched by world history for over a thousand years, was within an astonishingly short space of time menaced to its very existence to the highest degree by Bolshevik propaganda.  All this was finally counteracted, but perhaps only temporarily. 

But for Europe the menace of the East remains as a threatening storm cloud on the horizon.  Supported by incalculable natural resources and the tenacity of the Slavic race in its endurance of the greatest wretchedness, men in power in Russia are carrying on their propaganda with inexhaustible funds.  Naturally the neighboring states are the chief sufferers.  Perhaps the countries victorious in the world war will one day have to regret that in drawing up the Treaty of Versailles they concentrated all their efforts toward weakening Germany.  It is alone due to the healthy common sense of the German people and to their steadfast love for order that bolshevist agitation has hitherto been able to gain comparatively little ground.  But the bolshevist menace should serve also as a warning to other countries not to destroy Germany’s economic basis.  An impoverished people whose widest circles are doomed to want, is naturally the best culture medium for bolshevist agitation.  The very existence of states, the conservation and health of peoples and all social and economic order are menaced if these insane teachings of the bolshevist leaders should gain dominion over a still greater part of humanity.”

Meanwhile, the effects of the worldwide economic depression deepen:  Bankruptcies are up 43% over same month 1929.  In Cologne, the Social Democrat Association of Police announces that carnivals will be considered out of place at a time when 2.5 million people are receiving unemployment assistance.

Elsewhere: 

Washington:  The National Unemployment League appeals to President Herbert Hoover and Congress to enact immediate legislation starting a public works system to reduce unemployment. 

London:  The British government releases a white paper which it says reveals a decree issued in the Soviet Union earlier this year limiting religion.  The decree forbids meetings for prayer or Bible study, calls for religious buildings to be nationalized, and mandates that all confiscated church funds be turned over to the state.  

Friday, 7 March 1930

Berlin:  

Dr. Hjalmar Schacht resigns unexpectedly as Reichsbank President, citing again his opposition to the Young Plan – which he now calls merely a distortion of the original.  “Please don’t call it the Young Plan.  Sanctions, moral discriminations and even the taking of our property – as Snowden [Philip Snowden, British Chancellor of the Exchequer], France, Poland, New Zealand, Canada and Australia are doing – have nothing in common with the Young Plan as conceived in Paris.  I am for the Young Plan, especially in the Young spirit; I am even now willing to accept the Young Plan in the Young spirit.  What is now before the Reichstag I call the Hague protocol, and as to what I think of Germany’s future under it . . . .  Well, I don’t say anything.”

Schacht’s antagonism, directed both at Germany’s financial situation and the revisions to the Young Plan, had made headlines throughout Europe.  But his resignation catches official circles by surprise – it lends him a kind of moral high ground, some say, in that he is willing to give up a powerful and high-paying position over principles.  But some officials worry that Schacht is simply planning to launch an attack on the cabinet of Chancellor Hermann Mueller from the outside, possibly bringing down his government. 

The Reichstag bills to approve the Young Plan have been tied up in negotiations for days, as political parties who’s support for the plan will be needed use that in turn as leverage to negotiate for things they want – in particular, for or against a tax increase on individuals to help pay the government’s bills. 

Meanwhile, more communists riot in East Berlin, with two police and a civilian shot.  It starts with a demonstration of several hundred.  When police attempt to break it up, someone opens fire. 

Moscow:  

The Commissariat of Health issues a rule that priests and other “former people” of the old Russian monarchy are not to be given beds in hospitals until all the treatment needs of the “proletarians” have been met.  Since non-proletarians are already prohibited from receiving medical care at public clinics – whose physicians are the ones referring patients to hospitals – this all but excludes these “former people” from the healthcare system (although they still may receive private medical care in their homes).  

Thursday, 6 March 1930: International Unemployment Day Rattles European, U.S. Cities

International Unemployment Day

New York – Detroit – Chicago – Boston – Milwaukee – Pittsburgh – Philadelphia – Cleveland – Washington – Seattle -- Berlin – Hamburg – Munich – Vienna – Manchester:  

In dozens of cities in Europe and the United States, International Unemployment Day is observed with demonstrations and marches, many of which erupt into riots, all organized by the Communist International, or COMINTERN. 

In New York, a crowd estimated at widely divergent numbers – from 35,000 to 110,000 – marches down Broadway toward city hall, and is broken up by an estimated 1,000 police.  As many as 100 are injured and another 100 arrested.  Police Commissioner Grover Whalen calls it the worst riot in the city since the World War. 

In Detroit, a crowd estimated from 30,000 to 100,000 turns out for a demonstration that devolves into a two-hour battle with police, who charge the crowd with horses, injuring anywhere from 5 to 26.  31 are arrested. 

In Chicago, a crowd estimated from 10,000 to 50,000 marches peacefully for four hours.  Crowds in other U.S cities range from 50,000 in Boston to 10-25,000 in Cleveland, where the crowd battles police.  Seattle sees 10,000 demonstrators battle police.  International Unemployment Day is reportedly observed in a total of 30 U.S. cities.

In Washington, several hundred communist demonstrators march in front of the White House.  Some attempt to climb the White House fence and are pulled down by spectators.  Then the whole crowd is dispersed by police with tear gas.  9 are injured, 13 arrested. 

In Berlin, where demonstrations were banned, smaller groups of demonstrators nevertheless clash with police in various outbreaks.  One is killed and 14 injured, half police.  270 are arrested.  Two people are killed in Halle, Germany, where marchers attack police by throwing rocks.  56 are arrested in Munich.

 

In Bilbao, Spain, 400 communists and socialists battle each other, some with gunfire.  Police arrest 40. 

In Vienna, a crowd of 1,500 attempts to rush police guarding the university district, where students are shouting derision at the marchers. 

Moscow:  Meanwhile, the Soviet newspapers Pravda and Izvestia publish front-page editorials urging workers and the unemployed worldwide to rise up in revolt against capitalism. 

International Unemployment Day in New York

Elsewhere:

London:  Meanwhile, back at the stalled naval conference, the French delegation returns, now that France finally has a government again.  Work on caps and parity of naval fleets is expected to resume.  

Moscow:  The government evicts 5,326 traders, former noblemen, landlords, officers and other members of the non-laboring class, from their homes, freeing up 33,367 square meters of living space, which the government then distributes to industrial workers and demobilized Red Army soldiers. 

Tripoli:  Native forces serving Italy clash with a fleeing band of Libyan resistance fighters south of the city, headed by Sulelman Sefennasser.  He and one of his sons are killed in the fighting, and his wife and five other sons are taken prisoner, along with the entire caravan.