An Open Letter! To the AFL
and All Other Labor Unions: To All Labor and Fraternal
Organizations, Negro and White: To the Socialist
Party.
Signed Communist party, District 24. New Orleans,
Louisiana: Trades Council Allied Printing, n.d.
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Of the radical right figures in the
1930s, Huey P. Long (1893-1935) was the only person to
wield political power, becoming governor of Louisiana in
1928 and U.S. senator in 1932. During 1934 and 1935 the
servile Louisiana legislature enacted without debate a
series of laws that abolished local government and gave
the Long machine control of the appointment of every
policeman, fireman, and teacher in the state, while the
"Kingfish's" control of the militia, the judiciary, the
election officials, and the tax assessors put all
citizens at his mercy with no possibility of redress. The
end came only with his assassination in September 1935.
The flamboyant oratory and populist vocabulary of this
vulgar demagogue, his widely heralded "Share-Our-Wealth
Society" and especially his slogan, "Every Man a King",
made Long the idol of millions; his first name became
popular for male infants. Robert Penn Warren's novel
All the King's Men (Pulitzer Prize, 1947) was
based largely on Long's career, and with its very
successful filming Long is perhaps more familiar to
contemporary audiences than any other political figure of
the Thirties except Franklin Roosevelt. The flyer shown
complains of actions by Long and the Louisiana
legislature.
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