Camden Courier-Post – June 28, 1933
Leaders Aim to Have Demonstration Similar to That of Labor Day
Plans for a Fourth of July demonstration, similar to labor demonstrations staged throughout the world each year on May 1, will be formulated tomorrow night at a mass meeting conducted by the Unemployed Union of New Jersey, according to an announcement yesterday by Frank J. Manning, president.
Manning said the meeting in Convention Hall Annex would be addressed by Mark Starr, professor of economics, and Josephine Colby, instructor of English, of Brookwood Labor College, and by three students of the college.
The Unemployed Union tomorrow night, will demand that the city commission hold a public hearing on housing conditions in Camden and the proposal of the union to establish municipally operated living quarters, Manning said.
Dr. A. L. Stone, city health director and chairman of the Camden city emergency relief administration, will be asked for his conclusions on representation of the union on the city relief board, Manning said.
The demonstration on July 4, according to Manning, will start with a parade at 10 a. m., to be followed by a mass meeting on the steps of the City Hall plaza, before the buses and automobiles leave for Kirkwood Lake, where a picnic will be held in the afternoon.
The parade will assemble at Second and Cooper Streets, Manning said, and will march on Cooper Street to Fourth, to Newton Avenue, to Broadway, to Federal Street, to the City Hall.
The Unemployed Union, according to Manning, will co-operate with the Socialist Party for the picnic. Norman Thomas has been invited to speak, he said.
The three Socialist candidates for Assembly — Manning, Charles W. Sherlock and Herman F. Niessner — will present their platforms. In addition. numerous athletic events; including a baseball game, have been arranged, he said.
“The Unemployed Union urges all workers and farmers in Camden county to assemble for a mighty labor demonstration on July 4,” Manning said. “We shall make known our demands for action to relieve unemployment, to end inhuman wages and ruinously low prices for our products. We shall set forth the plans at the Continental Congress of Workers and Farmers, with which the union is affiliated, for wiping poverty from the face of the earth and for building a world with plenty and happiness for all.
“We shall hold a short mass meeting on the steps of City Hall Plaza at which the New Declaration of Independence of the Continental Congress will be read.
“July 4 must be made the occasion for building up, the solidarity and power of farmers and workers. A powerful well-rounded labor movement could drive corruption and graft out of our public life, abolish sweatshops and build a workers’ world of peace, plenty and freedom.”
Regarding the platform of the three Socialistic candidates for Assembly, Manning said:
“Our platform will be constructive and in the interests of the workers and farmers of the state. We shall go into every corner of this county with our platform and we shall also challenge our opponents to meet us in debate so that the voters may have a chance to know where all the candidates stand on important issues.”
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