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dropping into one of the hundreds of local beer joints the Baltimore waterfront was
noted for." And, as Bailey pointed out, the party discouraged its militants from
spending too much time in waterfront dives and similar places. But whatever need
they met or form they took, and wherever they were located, the party insisted that
Yl
these socials and dances be interracial.
Throughout the United States during the early 1930s, the party put a special
emphasis on the necessity to fight racism in its cultural as well as its political work.
In fact, a key event in the party's internal "struggle against white chauvinism,"
waged in those years to educate those in and close to the party to this necessity, was
an incident involving discrimination against Blacks at a dance. The Yokenin
incident, as it became known, occurred at a dance at the Finnish Workers Hall in
Harlem in early 1931. When several Black workers arrived, attempts were made by
whites to eject them, then to restrict them to a corner of the room; the Communist
caretaker of the hall, August Yokenin, supported the other whites. Yokenin was
publicly tried by the party for white chauvinism before a workers* court in Harlem.
During the trial, the prosecution called for Yokcnin's expulsion from the party, and
the defense countered with Yokenin's admission of guilt and self-criticism of his
racist behavior. Yokenin was provisionally expelled from the party, to be
readmitted if he proved himself by taking leadership in anti-racist activities, which
he pledged to do. Harry Haywood, then a leading Black Communist, later stated,
The impact of the trial was tremendous throughout the country. The most
important newspapers carried full stories and photos of the proceedings. The trial
represented a breakthrough in understanding the importance of the struggle of the
Afro-American people." The spectacle of a predominantly white organization
publicly trying a member for discrimination against Blacks at a dance in 1931 was
an absolutely unique phenomenon in U.S. society at the time (or since!). Many
Blacks welcomed it, and many Communists — white and nonwhite — took the lesson
to heart.28
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