November, 1939, 1939

Butler, in a mimeographed letter to all union members dated October 26, gave instructions for a campaign to get STFU representatives elected to AAA county committees. When George Mayberry, a black organizer at Mashulaville, Miss., tried to obtain information about the elections from Noxubee County officials, he was kidnapped, beaten, and run out of town. The papers concerning the case, which run from Nov. 22 onward, include a letter from Mayberry to the union, asking for help (23), Mayberry's affidavit (29), and a long letter from Butler to Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace on the case (25). Another issue developed around Poplar Bluff encampment in Missouri, where several hundred sharecropper families who had participated in the highway demonstration the previous winter were living under wretched conditions. Harriet Young warned the union of a Communist attempt to start a relief campaign (9), advice for an STFU counteroffensive came from the WDL (13) and Norman Thomas (20), and the union arranged a meeting with FSA Administrator Will Alexander to secure government help (27 to 31). For a report on the overall situation in Missouri, see Butler to Isaac Wells (17). Finally, there are daily reports from F.R. Betton during his organizing trip in Mississippi (14 to 17)