Down here in sunny California the dark clouds of fascism are gathering rapidly and ominously. Vigilantes, Red-baiters, and terror are running rampant. Every large paper is engaging in a hysterical Redbaiting crusade. Recent events are only the logical outcome of such poisonous propaganda.

During the past week the citrus workers have been on strike in Placentia. After the hiring of strikebreakers and the calling out of the police, who used their usual brutal tactics, the climax was reached Friday, July 10.

The 150 strikers were holding a peaceful meeting when a band of vigilantes, armed with teargas bombs and clubs, stole upon them, fell upon the dumbfounded workers without warning, smashed
jaws and cracked heads, dispersed the group save for one striker left lying on the ground smashed into unconsciousness. The next morning the yellow press came forth with headlines praising the "heroism" of the vigilantes—loyal American citizens fighting the Red menace, etc., etc., ad nauseam.

The more enlightened Evening News, published
by Manchester Boddy, investigated the case and disclosed the fact that the "heroic" vigilantes were "twenty-eight Los Angeles bums, recruited from streets and beer-halls through a detective agency and paid eight dollars a day by the citrus growers to foment violence and terrorize the striking Mexican pickers." Henceforth, nothing that happens in this HearstChandler infested area shoud be cause for surprise. Secret bands and organizations are sprouting up like mushrooms. The notorious Rev. Dr. Martin Luther Thomas, founder and a leader of the Christian American Crusade is preaching his gospel of fear and hate twice a day on the radio. From every
quarter the Red scare is being raised.