1957-05-16 — Page 1

DON IDDON'S DIARY

THE

THE Ku Klux Klan rides again and rides high. Not since the '20's has the hooded order, against Negroes been so powerful.

There is even a propaganda campaign to spread the word of the Klan to Great Britain.

In recent weeks my desk has been flooded with mail from Klansmon. They are looking for publicists, and they are looking for recruits.

I have talked to Klans men in the past few days. Some have asked for anony

Others have quite mity. brazenly paraded their views and asked for banner headlines.

The head, or Imperial Wizard, of the U.S. Klan and Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, is a 10-year-old paint sprayer, Eldon Lee wards.

Emperor

Ed-

BY day Edwards works at e Fisher car body factory in Atlanta, Georgia, for a modest 92 dollars (about £32) a week. By night Edwards is the em- peror of the most dominant Klan organisation,

He is clubbing down his rivals and it is his ambition to form the scattered groups of Klansmen into a dis- ciplined army.

Today Edwards bosses a Klau of 60,000 members,

Ile says:

niggers

"The good

(he always refera to the coloured as niggers

and never Negroca)

want this integration more than we do.

don't

The National Associa- Hon for the Advancement of Coloured People is trying tu jam integration, the mix- ing backs and whites, down or throats; and it is backed by Jew money.

Edwarda quotes facts and Agures to justify the Kion's prosperity. Over $1,000.000 was collected from members during the past year.

And, noce the Supreme Court called for. Integration in the schools, over 100,000 new Klana-

THE CHINA MAIL, THURSDAY, MAY 16, 1987.

DONT GIVE IN

PAINT-SPRAYER BY DAY, IMPERIAL WIZARD AT MONT

Eldon Lee Edwards, Ku Klux Kiso baza, addressing a rally of Klansmen. Bis aim, a coast-to-

Topii my.

INDIA MUST STAY IN THE EMPIRE!

You

of

the

Ah! A truly Tory candidate for Number 10!

Easy error

Americans,

Ku Klux Klan, the Florida robes and hoods, costing around but do not KKK, the Louislana K.K.K... £3 per costume, the South Carolina Klens, and aspire to the silk and satia

atui the original K.K.K. of the Con- regalia

green

gold, mon, native-born, white, Pro- federacy.

crimson and purple, which the aytestant, Gontlles, have taken

Wizards Wear. The Imperial Wizard of the the secret and solemn oath

Gulf K.K.K. Elmo Cagle against Negroes, Jews, Roman Bernard, a gunnlth by trade. Catholics, and foreigner."

I come under the category of A voh man, Bernard loves to "foreigners," although the Klans- strut in his robes of scarlet and their gold leading his white-robed mien frequently boast of British

of being hooded followers along the side- ancestry and

walks of Mobile, Alabama, Anglo-Saxons.

thrusting the frightened coloured aside into the street.

Bernard likes to quote such grandiose Kin proclamations na " The K.K.K. in the past year But the Klan means

"the sacred duty of protecting has been responsible for death TDWARDS plans an Imperial business and is doing good E Palace in North-West for ever the God-given supre-

and womanbcod

maintaining are destruction. Its fiery crosses business."

Allento. At present his small macy of the white race."

are burning far into the night in the Deep South. white wooden mouse serves as There are several thousand headquarters.

women members of the Klous. One of the most powerful of Challenging the U.S. Klan are Known as Indy auxiliaries. the Klesmen is a Grand Dragon a variety of groups the Gulf they are permitted 10 wear named the Bav. Alvin Horn, of

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OLLET is dark, intent, serious, precise, and determined. Especially de- termined.

He is an organiser, first and Inst, a shrewd calcu- lator, a dealer in facts and figures. He looks like and would have made banker.

a

His origins are proletarian, a fact which he recalls regularly

To some people, even to anc the Klansmen and women are figures of fun No one and not to be taken seriously, could make n greater error.

Cummings

Nasser's

Terms

off

|Chapter 5

Count

can't laugh

Klux Klan

Ku

Alabama, who claims to be Baptist minister,

# Edwards himself has been ing president); Kislift (vice-

(chaplain); twice in gaol The Rev. Alvin prevident); Kluda Horn has been indicted for Kaight-Howk (initiation chlef). murder, but the case against him and a lot more. was dismissed.

The latest propaganda line of the

Kiansenen is that they are

Horn is a super-salesman, a glad-hander. He is an electrician and earns about £45 a week. lie also owns farmland

The vorious Klens

charge different initiation fees, but the

President Eisenhower and his officers say they are almost help-

Basie

ELD ON

Wain

less to do anything about the The First Recording average is $10 (£3 109.) down against the Negro to the bitter Klon under the involved inter- tod, but only vaguely antagen pretations of the lows end istic towart Jews and Roman Federal statutes. Catholics.

for the first year, $7 50c. for the Tobe and $8 dues.

An miniser Ja valled ก

Only Klongie. Usually the Klcagle gets $2 for every new member, spokermer,

South signed up.

In gaol

THERE are hoodlans and thugs among the ranks and some have ariminal records. Imperial "We may Wizard Bernard says: have a few thugs, but most are upright Christian gentlemen,"

GUY MOLLET

dealer

middle-class fal

Their leisure

time is spent mostly in in- tellectual pursuits and they are most al home amaay Sn- tellectunts.

It is true that Mollet joined the Socialist party when he was still a schoolboy and that he has never wavered in his political faith. But such lemcity andi

loyalty to

abstract stern cause is, after all, more typical than of the

of the middle

working classes.

He is also immensely proud of the fact that he is descended from an Englishanan (who spell ed his name Moltelt) and who

K.K.K.

this week

Bill Hendrix, Carolina, zaid: group ia willing to Catholics."

Helpless

THE second big break for

THE

the Basio band came. The Administration Is reluc-

Willard Alexander per in tant to interfere in the affairs "Our of sovereign States. The State Buaded the Music Corpora- admit Governments themselves and the tion of America to sign the political leaders in the Deep band for radio work. This South walk a tightrope.

A PART from Imperial Wizards A and Grand Dragons there is a bewildering array of title and rank. There are Cyclops (mean,

in facts and

They do not want to allenate a movement with a mass follow ing and fear violence to then- selves and their families.

It will be a long time before the Ku Klux Klan is rooted out.

figures

By Les Armour

On this, too, the have followed dutifully.

made history. It was a break in MCA policy for previously it had only handled white orchestras. Basie's coloured.

Was

When he signed the contract, Basic was fronting the originai nino-piece outfit he had brought from Kansas City, Augmented to "nome band" size for radio work, the group lost some of its magic. It took Basle nearly a yoar to mould his men the 'why' he warted them.

But mould them he did, and by the end of that year, his was one of the top jizz bands in America

An engagement at the swanky Ritz Carlton in Boston meant

of

headlines for the jumping Basle crew. Next morning, the Count Within months, his campaign Socialists unless they admitted

Socialists opened the Boston Record to read: "It came quite late in the proved so effective that was either Poujade or the Commun- Although his

onc

those evening.... virtually pressed into service as its to power. National Secretary of the Party. party had only 25 percent of the

Why? The answer scema to strangely unpredictable spells Beata in the house,

whole roomful of Mollet be mainly psychological. The in which a The suddenness of the trans- got absolute power. He made no organisation on which they de- people become a entranced by pond is Mollet's creation. The the music as to b:come part of formation from schoolteacher to secret of it.

shrewdness which has national Icader reflected the chaos

given. Presently there was not one of the time, He had emerged He threw over his Radical them power is his. If they re-

parson in the place, from John and even volled the party would crumble Roosevelt or his lovely wife to from the war a hero, and he ally Mondes France "arrived",

not and they politically,

would be out of while Mendes' supporters dared

the bus boy, who was not keep still Wag hero-worship

business. in raise their voice. There were

ing time with the beat of the thore who didn't want fashion.

gov. As for the rest of the country,music." Once installed as party lead less did they want government chaos. And he has chosen

erament by Mallet.

the choice is still Mollet .OF

big issues carefully.

He appeals to Frenchmen Frenchmen rather than 49

cr,

however, quickly to type,

he

But even

reverted

with the Communists or Poujodists.

He devoted himself almost ex- clusively urganisation to

to

the

Now, although he has prob-

his

THE SOLID FOUR

"Varlely" commented, "The AS dancers rushed from the tablos to the dance floor as if respond.

emigrated to France in the early ballding the party Into a tight ably had more troubles than any Socialists, Only those far to the int to an air-raid warning,"

nineteenth century. This sort of pride, again, Er not, perhaps, typical of the working classes.

Interruption

unlt which could be easily con trolled from the top and which would be immune from Com- munist infiltration. The shock he got when he turned the war had permanent

of WAR and, ever since, he has regard

od the Communists principal enemy.

he

From 110 Alme that graduated from university-in

from effect

os his

to has than

At times, Indeed, the 1920's-to the outbreak of sounded more reactionary the Second World War. to any Conservative, taught school in Acras, attract-

ing no attention at all.

other post-war Premier, he has outlasted them all.

The choice is

Mollet or CHAOS

He, like Eden, saw Nasser as a potential Hitler and, even be-. dore Eden, determined to stop him at all costs. He failed but, In- curiously, his popularity creased.

But the Communists at lost provided an enemy who could be

Frenchmon falt proud Ho was popular with his fought on the hastings, on the students and respected by hia factory floors, and in the Na- that, for once, France had colleagues. But in those days he tonal Assembly. They were had the courage to act. was not seen as future Prime tangible, comprehensible to the Minister.

War interrupted his com- fortable existence and, curiously, it was his knowledge of English grammar that started him the way to the top.

an

In the resistance movement, and to considerable effect. His men were needed to make con- father was a factory worker in fact with British agents Mollot through his the industrial north of France, was elected and,

contacts, beetand ope of the the breeding ground of French, master planners of the move-

Bocialism and Comenundsen.

But the fact that he has to koep reminding the world of his humble origin, is suggestive. In deodi but for his reminders, hardly anyone would suspect it. He is a schoolteacher by pro fession and something of a scholar. He has published's books on English greentrar.

ment.

working class Mollet led.

m43sca whom

He, ko the extreme right, sces in France's Algerian battle Wielding the Power a struggle of civilisation against

primitive anarchy, and he Welding the Party determined that civilleation

The gambit had its effecta secondary as well

primary. The primary effect was the containment" of French Com mumma. It never even got close to its goal

19

going to win. The sentiment is curious for a Socialist. But the Socialists have followed him meekly,

At home, too, he has made few conccasions to his followers and, like conservative politi-

indiation bo acce is that clara,

Franco's major danger,

The secondary effect the French Socialiai party has Back is Arras in 1945 ho dia- become covorod that the Communists effective organisation.

had all but taken over from the

Germans. The Industrial north of Fronce was on the verge of becoming a Soviet.

a clor-kalt, dilechly Traditionally. French Social-

Leta-like British Socialists Rave been doubtful about For 10 years apart from few months in junior jobs in European economic union on the coalition governmenta-Mollot grounds that it would preclude stuctiously let power pass him the possibility of individual planned economies. Mollet, how- He Torped into the bafile, god by. Then, last year, he alruck. himself, elected Mayor of Árren elfalt

over, rogardis European union sa The elections, turned up a necessary for Europosa survival; nad- fosgirl' a pitched battle to He and his wife live in a keep the Communilate out of the National Assembly in which no culturally, so well as economi- xrent med "acomli but comfortable Sodaliat mortuak.

·ope could goven without - the cally,"

Or

of

left, care to defend Nasper the rebels in Algèria.

The original 16-picco band in- his cluted the personnel And only a few old school Kansas City nino-piece outfit, Socialiste daro 10 oppose plus Buch jazz soloists as Buc European union-for France may withdraw, Germany trombone, Earl Warreck, alto,

though

trumpet, Dickle Welin, Clayton, will stay in And the French blues singer Helen Humes, and. have had enough of a Europeiate tenor-man, Herseliel Evans. led by Germany.

POCKET CARTOON by OSBERT LANCASTER

"Do tell me, whatever would the Prezidens do 1o one of theek fine daya she United Natiana gos áround' so making up their own tiny minds) Ma

That band was accepted the epitomy of swing; the solid, four-to-the bar jump rhythm, clipped trumpet styling, glis sandoing trombones and rolling reds; blended throughout with jazz solos by the leading jazz- men of the era.

Among recordings which illustrato just what this batid was doing then are "Patienes

Fortitude," "Rod

Bank and High Tide on Columbia; "One O'Clock Jump,” "John's Idos,"

maxi

Boogle,"

pur

"Good

Morning Blucon Docs; "Basic's Batiment," "Robb Nest Take a little of the top,”

"Solla as a Rock“ on RCA Views

Many of the Count's originale are basca on the twelve, poña- sure blues progression, such as

Tumpla

nt the Woodalde,” "Swinging the Blus" "Nutt Leg," Km City Siridon? and Harvard Bluca

Count also want along to the recording studios on moro, than one occasion to wax solos Dut that was never his greatest fald the man from Rod Hank ung always been happiest when sure, rounded by a bend into which he can minge his swinging plano

But trouble lay sbeed,