Happy Child Health Day

First celebrated in the U.S. on May 1, 1929, and then moved to October 7th. It invites "all agencies and organizations interested in child welfare to unite on Child Health Day in observing exercises that will make the people of the United States aware of the fundamental necessity of a year-round program to protect and develop the health of the children of the United States."

Some people have had strong opinions about the day though:

The Hypocrisy of Capitalist Child Health Day

By HARRIET SILVERMAN.

“Child Health Day” was established by an act of Congress of the capitalist government, to be observed May First. As an attempt to distract the workers from the singnificance of May First, the International day of struggle of the revolutionary working class, “Child Health Day” must be exposed and working class demonstrations of protest staged in all cities. Mass misery is mounting by leaps and bounds, and 6 to 10 million children are starving in a land of plenty.

What is of “Child Health Day” of the capitalist class? Its history’ goes back 20 years ago. Theodore Roosevelt, the Bull Moose “progressive” Republican standard bearer, called the First White House Conference to hoodwink the working class into believing that something would be done for “the health and protection of the children” of the nation. Roosevelt sent out the invitations for the Conference on Cristmas day, in 1909. Fifteen recommendations came out of this conference, the outstanding one: “that children should not be removed from their own homes by reason of poverty." Tens of thousands of workers children who have had to exist and suffer in the charity institutions of the boss class because their parents were jobless and unable to give them the necessities of life, give the lie to this outstanding decision of the Roosevelt administration conference.

President Wilson, the gentlemen who “kept us out of war,” and whipped up the imperialist war machine for a “war to end war,” and a “war to make the world safe for democracy,” called the Second White House Conference on Child Health during 1919. Money was supplied from the war emergency fund to organize the conference in Washington. Wilson at that time was attending the so?called Peace Conference in Paris. With characteristic demagogy Mr. Wilson piously expressed the hope that the conference would be successful in setting up “certain irreducible standarrs for the health and education and work of the American child.”

Twenty years have passed. The six to ten million starving children in the year 1932 of American “prosperity” can testify to the humbug of the Roosevelt-Wilson-Hoover conference. And the 5 million young workers under 20 years of age slaving in the shops, mills, mines and farms of this country, not to mention about 6 million others between the age of 20-24 including 600,000 exploited young Negro workers can testify to the bodywrecking exploitation. that stands as an indictment against the capitalists system. The million children under 16 years of age, and the countless children, some of them babies under ten years of age who are ground into profits for the capitalist class give the lie to the conference on child health and protection of the capitalist bosses government.

The Republican machine with Mr. Hoover in the harness, called the third White House Conference on Child Health and protection held in Washington in November 19, 1930, which outdoes the other conferences in demagogy. Hoover’s speech disclosed that there are six to ten million children,

6 million of the 45 are improperly nourished.”

1 million have weak damaged hearts.

1 million have detective speech.

382,000 are tubercular.

And so on to a total of at least 10 millions of deficients more than 80 per cent of whom are not receiving the necessary attention.”

Whom does Mr. Hoover, the lickspittle of Wall Street charge with this crime against children of the working class, who stunted, starving and denied even the necessary medical care, are dying of slow starvation and exposure? Mr. Hoover declared:

“The ill-nourished child is in our country not the product of poverty: it is largely the product of ‘ill-instructed children and ignorant parents’.”

This is the brazen conclusion of Wall Street’s servant in the White House. The hypocritical, sentimental sob-stuff which was spilled at the “welfare” conference of the Hoover-Wall St. government, has been printed in 40 volumes. Words instead of food, clothing shelter, medical care! Words instead of the chance to go to school, forcing children into mines and mills to help eke out a miserable existence for entire families of the working class where fathers and mothers have been unable to get jobs, while child labor and tenement sweatshop labor have increased as a result of the crisis. Words, instead of immediate relief for the unemployed and their families! Words, police clubs, tear gas bombs, the shooting down of unemployed workers at the Ford plant and jail sentences for the militant ranks of the unemployed fighting for immediate relief and unemployment insurance at the expense of the employers and the state.

Behind the White House Conference on Child Health, called by the ruling class, and Child Health Day, there is the driving purpose, to use this channel and every other means for war mobilization purposes. From childhood to old age the capitalist class reaches out to poison the workers and enslave them in the stranglehold of patriotism, of loyalty to the boss class and its government.

Mr. Hoover, the experienced Food Administrator in the last world war, used every means to crush by starvation, hunger and blockade, the newborn First Workers and Peasants Republic, Mr. Hoover has made plain where he stands: “the ambition of my life is to crush out Soviet Russia, yes even if it means starving the women and the children.” And in that driving imperialist ambition, Mr. Hoover sees in Child Health Day one more means of keeping check on the future army of the country for the coming imperialist war.

The public schools will probably celebrate Child Health on April 29. This year when the working class is more than ever in fighting mood against the crisis which has engulfed the capitalist world, we must strike a blow against the Wall Street Child Health Day by mobilizing the working class, men, women and children, for Hunger Marches to demand immediate relief for the starting children of the unemployed and for Unemployment Insurance.

The Workers International Relief has proposed Hunger Marches as the most effective form of mass protest of women and children who can be mobilized for this demonstration on a broader scale than ever before to fight for free milk, free food, free clothes, free lunches in the schools, free medical care and for unemployment insurance.

The Children’s Hunger Marches must bring into the forefront the sharp contrast between the mounting starvation and mass misery of children in capitalist America, and the high standard of protection of child life and motherhood in the Soviet Union, possibly only because the workers and farmers rule.

The children’s hunger march, organized with trucks to transport mothers with small children from working class neighborhoods should demonstrate before all public schools where children are not receiving hot lunches.

The hunger march of women and children of the jobless workers of America must expose the terror against the militant workers, and especially against foreign born. The Children's Hunger March on May First must demonstrate the growing unity between the Negro and white workers in the struggle against lynch terror. The children’s Hunger March must expose the charity racketeers the Block-aid fakers, and family help family fakers of capitalism which grow fat on the misery and starvation of the unemployed millions.

The children’s Hunger March must aboveall arouse and win the children for the ranks of the W. I. R. Pioneers to fight with their parents for loyalty to the working class, for revolutionary struggle as the only way out of the workers from the hell of capitalist crisisy miser, exploitation and oppression.

Organize a children's hunger march against the bosses fake child helth day for the fight for immediate relief and unemployment insurance!

Support workers international releif children’s hunger march plans in your city!