# Chapter VII: The Strike-Breaking in Paradise explained — Black No More

> Chapter companion for Black No More by George Schuyler.

## What happens

Grand Exalted Giraw Matthew Fisher learns of a planned strike at the Paradise Mill in South Carolina. He flies there with Bunny Brown and extorts $15,000 from the German owners, Blickdoff and Hortzenboff, by threatening to use the Knights of Nordica to support the workers. He then addresses a mass meeting, inciting racial suspicion by suggesting Black-No-More converts might be among them. Back in Atlanta, he sends secret operatives to discredit the strike leaders by spreading rumors of Negro ancestry. The workers, terrified of black blood, abandon the strike. Outside labor organizers are also driven away by similar rumors. The mill owners, on federal advice, build recreational facilities to appease the workers, and the strike is broken.

## Themes in this chapter

### Economic Exploitation and Class

The mill owners' greed and the workers' desperate conditions highlight class conflict, which Matthew manipulates for personal gain.

### Satire of Racism and White Supremacy

The workers' irrational fear of 'Negro blood' is used to destroy solidarity, satirizing how racism undermines class consciousness.

### Power and Corruption

Matthew abuses his position in the Knights of Nordica to extort money and break the strike, showing how power corrupts.

## Character check-ins

### Matthew Fisher

As Grand Exalted Giraw, he extorts money from mill owners and sabotages the strike by spreading racial rumors.

### Bunny Brown

Matthew's assistant, accompanies him to Paradise and later deposits the extorted check.

### Blickdoff

One of the German mill owners, coerced into paying Matthew to prevent the strike.

### Hortzenboff

The other German mill owner, also coerced into paying Matthew.

### Swanson

The strike leader, falsely accused of being a Negro and driven out of town.

## Key lines

> The working people here are talking about going on strike next week unless Blickdoff and Hortzenboff, the owners of the Paradise Mill increase pay and shorten hours.

Workers at the Paradise Mill are planning to strike for better pay and shorter hours.

_The report sets the stage for Matthew's intervention._

> But ve can't pay dem any more... Vot ve gonna do?

The mill owners claim they cannot afford to pay higher wages.

_The owners' protest is a typical capitalist excuse._

> He insinuated that even in their midst there probably were some Negroes who had been turned white by Black-No-More.

Matthew hints that some of the workers might be secretly Black, undermining trust.

_This tactic exploits racial paranoia to break the strike._

> To the simple-minded workers Swanson’s admission was conclusive evidence that the charge of being a Negro was true.

The workers accept a flimsy rumor as proof that Swanson is Black.

_Shows the power of racial prejudice over reason._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/black_no_more_se/chapters/vii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/black_no_more_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/black_no_more_se/chapters