poets began to read from their work as published
in Progressive Masses. Copies were available for
fifty cents.

Things went peacefully with the poetry
reading, despite the heavily propagandistic
message, until the intermission. That was the
opportunity for about twenty members of the New
York branch of the Bund to push their way into the
meeting hall and press people in attendance to
buy copies of their own literary magazine, Unser
Vaterland, for seventy-five cents. Joe and Easton
noted a couple of scuffles, but no fights as such
actually broke out before Jim and his sergeant-at-
arms restored order.

The poetry reading continued, more or less
without incident as members of the Bund, took
chairs toward the back and remained mostly quiet.
Then Kelvin Beaufort, the famous Canadian leftist
poet from Dawson City, approached the podium.
He didn't begin immediately to read his poems but
instead pointed to the two journalists in front row
and said, “These bourgeois impostors are a-------,
spying on us to report back to the FBI. And they're
the ones who encouraged the members of the Bund
to come here so they’d have fights to cover.”

Turning to the two journalists, Beaufort
demanded, “Give me your noteboooks right now,
and leave. LEAVE!”

Joe said, “Lo que dice usted es toda mentira, y
usted lo sabe bien!”
The two journalists stayed put.

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“noth Ei a .
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@ presi ‘ y , ‘.
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Beaufort finally returned to the program and
succeeded in reading two of his poems in
Progressive Masses before scuffles erupted again
in the back that within seconds turned into full-scale
fist fights. Soon everyone from the CPUSA and the
Bund in attendance was involved. Chairs flew. Joe
and Easton made a quick exit through a side door
into the street and stood behind a big De Soto.
Someone flew through a plate glass window and
landed, bloody, on the sidewalk.

In a moment a contingent from the NYPD,
wielding billy clubs, arrived at the scene, waded
into the meeting hall and forcibly ended the melee.
Joe and Easton hailed cabs back to their respective
newsrooms.

The next day the evening edition of the
Eagle-Advertiser carried an article that compared
the fights at the launch to the street fights between
Communists and Nazis in the late Weimar Republic
just before Hitler took over. An editorial expressed
concerns about freedom ofthe press and the future of
safety for members of the general public exercising
their First Amendment right of free speech. The
article in the Chronicle reported there had been
some scuffles but everything eventually calmed
down and ultimately, after the police left, differences
of opinion were resolved through discussions with
the manager of the building where the launch had
been held. An editorial in that paper said there was
nothing really to worry about. Meanwhile, both
Hitler and Stalin grew stronger and contemplated
expansion of their respective countries.

ksed
63
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63
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