Libmonster ID: U.S.-1873
Author(s) of the publication: Yu. M. KAGRAMANOV

When former General of the Southern States Army N. Forrest, who became the head - "great magician" of the Ku Klux Klan, officially disbanded it in 1869, the clan had actually already done its job. The Negro population of the South, betrayed by the northern bourgeoisie and terrorized by the clan, was forced to give up their hopes of achieving civil rights. After losing the civil war, the southern racists, using the klan (created in December 1865, that is, a few months after the surrender of the Federal army at Appomattox), tried to win another, underground war, which was aimed at perpetuating racial segregation and excluding Blacks from participation in political and social life. At the same time, the Ku Klux Klan's continued open preservation became impossible: stained with the blood of many thousands of people, it incurred the indignation of public opinion in the North and had to resort to self-dissolution.

In the next half-century, an extensive literature appeared about the Ku Klux Klan. But only a small part of it told the truth about the affairs of the "knights" in white robes. . Even in the books published in the North, the activities of the kukluksklans were most often justified in one way or another. In the South, however, it was openly celebrated. T. Dixon Jr.'s novel "The Birth of a Nation", popular in the early 20th century, was a panegyric for the clan. Based on this novel in Hollywood, director D. Griffiths staged a film of the same name, released in 1915. In this film, "cavaliers" in hoods act as "champions" of virtue and the law, while Negroes are depicted as mired in all sorts of vices. The film was a resounding success in the racist South. In Atlanta, the capital of Georgia, one of the states of the "deep South", the film "Birth of a Nation" was shown every day for several months. Often in the screening room you would see a gaunt, lanky man, then unknown to anyone, an insurance salesman named W. Simmons. His pince-nez enhanced his resemblance to the preacher. He was once a preacher at the Atlanta Methodist Church, though not for long: he was fired for " inefficiency." The movie, which Simmons had watched twenty times, gave him the idea of reviving the Ku Klux Klan. So, in any case, he himself told later. However, on another occasion, confused, he claimed that he had cherished this idea since childhood .2
On November 25, 1915, as soon as it was dark, 34 people gathered at the top of Stone Mountain, near Atlanta. These were Simmons and the first volunteers he recruited, including three members of the original clan. All of them put on white robes and hoods with slits for eyes and began the dedication ceremony of the new Ku Klux Klan. To an impromptu one

1 W. Ran del. The Ku Klux Klan. N. Y. 1965, p. IX.

2 Ibid., p. 182.

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An American flag was hoisted on the altar, and an open Bible was placed next to it, and on it was a drawn sword, a symbol of the clan's determination to deal with its enemies, "a symbol of legitimate violence," as the Kukluk Clan's "Instructions" say. One by one, those present swore to be loyal to the clan and keep its secrets sacred. Then a large wooden cross, erected right there, began to burn. Very soon, the burning cross will become an ominous symbol of the clan's presence for residents of American cities and towns. But then, even though the burning cross was visible in the surrounding area that November night, it still didn't tell anyone anything: the burning of the cross was Simmons ' "invention", not an early clan custom.

A week later, the state of Georgia gave official permission for the existence of the clan. The new organization became known as the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Its structure was borrowed from the original clan. The Knights were led by" great magician " Simmons. In each state called a "kingdom", the clan was headed by a" great dragon", to which the" titans "and"cyclopes" were subordinate. Mixing politics with the mystical game, the clansmen came up with a number of alliterations to denote their institutions: the council under the "great magician" was called clonsilium (that is, "clan" 4 + "consilium"), the meeting of all clan leaders - clonvocation ("clan" + "convocation" - meeting), the gathering place of the clan cell-clavern (by association with a tavern), and the gathering itself is called cloncave (instead of "conclave"). The Kloran ("Koran" of the Ku Klux Klan) was a code of organization rules written in deliberately esoteric language .3 The same" bird language " was used by members of the clan when they met each other. There were, for example, such abbreviations that were incomprehensible to the uninitiated: "Auak?" - asked one (i.e.: Are you a Klansman? "Are you a klansman?"); "Akia," replied another (i.e., A Klansman I am)4 . And so on.

While the new clan largely copied its rituals and organization from the old one, the Ku Klux Klan's "knights" program was significantly different from the old one. "The invisible Empire," Simmons demanded, "is called upon to solve new problems after half a century of slumber." 5 The Klansmen of the "reconstruction" era considered the Negroes their enemy and took great care of the " supremacy of the white race." The ideology of the early clan was black and white, like a Griffith movie. The new clan offered its followers a whole spectrum of racial hatred. "Full-fledged" whites, his ideologues argued , are only Anglo-Saxons of the Protestant faith - All those who do not belong to them do not have the moral qualities necessary for "one hundred percent Americanism." Among the" inferior " clansmen included not only blacks, but also many white immigrants of different nationalities, as well as Catholics. If the old clan operated only in the South, the new one offered a ready-made racist program for the entire United States.

At first, the activities of the revived clan were mainly limited to Georgia and neighboring Alabama. "Colonel" Simmons, as he was now known, made speeches here at every opportunity, recruiting new "knights". But he didn't have much success. By the beginning of 1920, the organization had only about 2 thousand members. She was also in financial trouble because the clan treasurer had run away with the cash register. It was an enterprising Californian named E. Clark who got the case off the ground. A former reporter and advertising agent, he realized that the clan could turn out to be a profitable business if he organized a good "publicity" for it. Clark suggested that Simmons entrust him with the entire organizational and financial side of the case, promising to pay the" great magician " $ 1,000 each. per month. Simmons accepted the offer and signed Clark to a contract. First of all, Clark established an entry fee of $ 10 and an annual fee of $ 5 for clansmen, set up the production of robes and other clan regalia, the publication of cloran and other similar reading materials. The clientele grew rapidly. By the end of 1921, the Ku Klux Klan numbered 100,000. members. Over the next three years, the clan grew like a snowball. By 1925, the number of" knights " of the Ku Klux Klan reached 6 million people .6
3 A. Rice. The Ku Klux Klan in American Politics. Washington. 1962, pp. 3 - 4.

4 W. Ran del. Op. cit., p. 292.

5 A. Rice. Op. cit., p. 2.

6 W. Randel. Op. cit., p. 194.

page 211

How can we explain the reasons for this growth? The fact is that during and after the end of the First World War, the class struggle in the United States sharply escalated. The victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution, its powerful impact on the revolutionary movement in the United States, and its futile attempts to crack down on the Land of the Soviets caused fear among the American bourgeoisie. She was afraid of the rise of the revolutionary movement in the country, the intensification of the struggle of the working people for their social, economic and political rights. Reaction launched a furious counter-offensive, seeking to divide the working people and paralyze their will to fight by terror. Its shock troops became ultra-right organizations, the main role among which was played by such terrorist societies as the Ku Klux Klan and others. All over the country, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, crosses were lit up. Kuklukklansmen in the Midwest and South were particularly zealous. The Klansmen of the State of Georgia, for example, committed four murders between October 1920 and October 1921, maimed one person, and beat forty. 7 Between 1919 and 1922, 239 Negroes died at the hands of vigilantes alone. 14 Negroes were publicly burned at the stake, of which 11 were burned alive . The clan rioters did not spare those who sympathized with the Negroes. In August 1921, in Mason City, Iowa, they seized Socialist Ida Hazlet, took her out of town, burned a brand on her back with hydrochloric acid, and threw her out of the car at full speed. In August 1922, in Marrouge, Louisiana, two white labourers who disapproved of the klan were captured and taken out of town. Two months later, their mutilated remains were found in a nearby lake.

As a rule, criminals went unpunished: the police officers themselves were members of the clan or sympathized with it. The same can be said for judges, municipal officials, mayors, and local legislators. Those of them who did not dress up in white robes often went along with the kukluksklanovtsy out of fear of losing votes. At least that was the case where the klan controlled political life, i.e. in most southern states and in some Midwestern states. The increased activity of the Ku Klux Klan has made new demands on the leadership of this organization. It turned out that Simmons was unsuitable for the role of "national leader". Clark also became a very odious figure, caught in immoral behavior and in the illegal sale of alcohol (then in the United States there was a "dry law"). In November 1922, a small "palace coup" deposed Simmons and put a certain X in the chair of the "great magician". Evans, a Dallas dentist who had previously served as the" great dragon " of Georgia. Clark was also fired shortly thereafter.

The new clan leader combined Simmons ' fanaticism with Clark's efficiency. Evans described himself as "the most average of all average Americans." His followers clarified: "Evans is the most one-hundred-percent of all one-hundred-percent Americans." His first duty was to organize the clan's finances, which Clark had previously managed out of control. In 1927, the organization's membership fees and annual dues, plus the proceeds from the sale of clan regalia, totaled about $ 75 million, not counting the large receipts from businessmen who generously poured dollars into the clan purse. 9 The clan bosses didn't forget themselves, either. A high position in the clan became a source of personal enrichment for the" purple robes "("dragons "and" titans " wore purple robes). For example, the "great dragon" of Indiana made a fortune of three million dollars during his tenure. Evans, being a "great magician", only for the first 1.5 years put $ 5 million in his bank account. Having such significant financial resources, the kukluksklanovtsy began to influence the course of election campaigns and support political figures who were pleasing to the clan, subsidize periodicals of the extreme right, and bribe officials. So, in the 1924 local government elections in the states of the South and Midwest, candidates of both the Republican and Democratic parties were sophisticated in front of each other, proving what "one hundred percent Americans" they were and how they were on the right track.-

7 J. Mecklin. The Ku Klux Klan. N. Y. 1963, p. 9.

8 W. Foster. The Negro People in the History of America, Moscow, 1955, p. 573.

9 W. Ran del. Op. cit., p. 228.

page 212

built against blacks and immigrants 10 . Not content with power over the political life of individual states, the klan tried to establish its own control over the federal government. In the summer of 1924, the Klansmen actively participated in the election of presidential candidates from both the Republican and Democratic parties. At the Republican National Convention held in Cleveland in July of that year, the clan representatives publicly endorsed the notorious racist Watson for vice president. A sharp struggle between supporters and opponents of the clan unfolded at the Democratic convention in New York. Opponents of the clan made a special amendment to the program of the Democratic party, condemning this organization. But the Klansmen managed to gain a majority that rejected the amendment. The klan lobbyists at this convention were led by Evans himself, who had once deliberately dropped the phrase that "the Ku Klux Klan does not engage in politics"11 . Since 1926, the clan's importance has been declining. This is usually attributed to a series of scandals in which the clan was implicated and which had a very negative impact on the reputation of these so-called champions of Puritan morality. Especially loud was the story of the "great dragon" of Indiana Stephenson. Stephenson abducted and then raped a certain M. Oberholzer, who rejected his claims. She had poisoned herself after testifying before her death to a state court official who had no particular sympathy for the Ku Klux Klan. Stephenson was sentenced to life in prison. The scandal was compounded by the fact that the former "great dragon", which the clan was quick to disown, in retaliation exposed all the dark machinations of the clan in his state, in particular, that the clansmen resorted to forgery in elections and to bribing officials. This was followed by the "great exodus" from the Ku Klux Klan. Staying in it becomes "bad form" among the "decent" bourgeois public. In the ranks of the Ku Klux Klan, mostly declassified elements remained, which had always been its asset. The clan went into reserve for a while. He settled in his native Georgia and some neighboring states in the racist South. There were still crosses burning at night, and during the day there were silent, ominous processions of "white robes" escorted by policemen just in case.

A new wave of kuklukklanovsky terror arose in the 1930s, when the reaction intensified the struggle against the growing workers', farmers ' and anti-fascist movement. Now the main targets of the klan are communists who aroused its hatred, in particular as consistent fighters for racial equality. In Birmingham in November 1932, klansmen distributed leaflets that read: "Negroes of Birmingham, the Ku Klux Klan is watching you! Tell the Communists to get out of the city while they're still safe... Alabama is a good place for good Negroes and a bad place for Negroes who believe in racial equality." The klansmen moved from threats to action, and some time later, after abducting two communists in Dallas who opposed the lynching of Negroes, they killed 12 of them . They also considered the supporters of Roosevelt's "new deal" to be Communists. These terrorists were especially zealous against the "reds who were entrenched in the trade unions", and almost all trade union activists were among them. The "white Robes" did not limit themselves to anathematizing the unions at their gatherings. "Plutocracy stormtroopers" terrorized workers by encouraging them to leave trade unions, participated in the dispersal of strikers and hiring strikebreakers, beat and killed pro-activists. This was often done in collusion with the police. In Tampa, Florida, on the eve of the 1935 election, the chairman of the local Workers ' Union, Shoemaker, and a number of other pro-activists were called to the police, where they were detained for several hours and asked provocative questions about their ties to communists. After leaving the police department, the pro-activists fell into the hands of people in white robes. All of them were brutally beaten, Shoemaker was castrated. A few days later, he died. Eleven Clansmen were arrested and identified as victims. However, after lengthy court delays, all of them were released 13 . This incident once again confirms that the activities and history of the Ku Klux Klan cannot be considered.

10 A. Rice. Op. cit., p. 58.

11 Ibid., p. 81.

12 Ibid., p. 101.

13 W. Randel. Op. cit., p. 230.

page 213

isolated, out of touch with the politics of the ruling classes.

Riding the horse of anti-communism, the Ku Klux Klan is once again emerging into the arena of national politics. In 1940, the clan had 500,000 members in 39 states. A year earlier, Evans had sold the position of "grand magician" to D. Colescott, an Alabama veterinarian. This farrier in the post of "great magician" did not hide his sympathies for Hitler. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent entry of the United States into the war on the side of the anti-fascist coalition could not but adversely affect the situation of the Ku Klux Klan. The propaganda of racism has become temporarily irrelevant to the course of events. The clan, which had compromised itself by cooperating with the Nazis, actually curtailed its activities and on April 23, 1944, again dissolved itself.

The Ku Klux Klan was never revived as a national organization. But in the mid-50s, the "white hoodies" became active again, and again in the wake of anti-communism and calls for racial pogroms. The difference from the old days is that the current Ku Klux Klan is fragmented into a number of independent organizations. And most importantly, it no longer inspires Negroes and whites who are fighting for the equality of the Negro people with the same fear. Now the movement for racial equality in the United States is expanding, growing, and it cannot be stopped.

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