|
236
picketing was legal under the Norris-LaGuardia Act, and former participants in the
Baltimore boycott movement celebrated this victory as their own.^*
There are two final points to be made about the boycott movement, both
regarding the relationship of this movement to whites. First it is important to
emphasize that this was an almost entirely Black movement which received little
evident support from whites or from organizations with white memberships. The
main exception to this was the interracial Baltimore unit of the Communist Party.
However, the Baltimore CP's support was not unequivocal. Like the national CP,
the local party was ambivalent about the boycott for fear of it dividing Black and
white workers and diverting the Black freedom movement away from a struggle
against the ruling class toward whites as a whole. CP member Bernard Ades, Euel
Lee's lawyer, spoke at a mass rally during the second week of the Pennsylvania
Avenue boycott. While extending his solidarity to the boycotters, Ades asked that
the white workers in the Pennsylvania Avenue stores not be antagonized. He
further proposed that the movement fight for shorter hours at full pay for all
workers in the stores, thereby opening jobs for Black clerks without firing any white
clerks. The Afro reported that "Although the audience applauded, many murmurs
could be heard against his proposal. ->
Secondly, it is important to note that the Pennsylvania Avenue phase of the
boycott movement resulted in heightened ethnic conflict between the Baltimore
Black freedom movement and some members of Baltimore's Jewish community.
The simple reason for this is that the great majority of the white small store owners
in the Northwestern Black community were Jewish. Particularly after the victory
over the large chain stores, the A&P and ASCO Stores, the main target of Buy
Where You Can Work movement shifted from white commercial capital (often
large white commercial capital) to small Jewish capital; from the racism of white
business to the racism of Jewish business. In the stories, columns, and editorials of
|
