The Home Front
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
The Home Front By WILLIAM E. BOHN Churches Not All Bad At the Hose •{ our last paJpilaiihg^cbaplei we left correspondent Cy Record saying to the Ca*ptetn: "Come now, sir, it really ain't that...
...When I w.nt by there again in 1939 the CIO Steel Workers were using it for their local headquarters...
...The confidential text, according to Matthew*, "contained enough political dynamite to overthrow the government...
...Tjie influence of the church is definitely declining, and it might decline at a faster clip if interested persons were to do more than deplore the antics of some of their ministers...
...Italics mine...
...The feud between Mrs...
...Rosenberg and Sidney Hillman ia atill too recent for the scars to have healed, lt is known thai Roosevelt would appoint a labor man to the post —if the AF'L and CIO could agree...
...Hillman favors the creation of a nationwide liberal organization in which non-trade union people would predominate...
...I recall seeing in 1937 a 'tabernacle' (Baptist) in a store building opposite the entrance to a steel fabricating plant in Fort Worth...
...Wl B Whirligig *A'I the beginning of the war...
...Editor, DaUy Workei: In an article on October :D you .-.tate: "The charge that Roosevelt ia a Communist is too contemptible for words...
...It is true that then- is a lot of this pie-in-the-sky stuff in Southern churches, and it divtrta energies which might otherwise be directed toward having a little bit more here and now and getting it by trade union and political organization...
...labor claimed lhal trade union support could be strengthened only if labor were given "representation" in government When the War Labor Hoard waa set up...
...Record, on the contrary has taken a dynamic part in things down there...
...Now the War I »Im...
...But look at Houston and Galveston and Fort Arthur...
...Y. Time* Might to come oat into the open en t his...
...la addition one sentence' ef the story that had been deleted was alao reprinted by L'ltmlim Nuevm...
...1 am making no effort to justify the dismal picture which the Captain drew...
...Aad that ia the cowmen point where those who believe in positive opposite* of these things can agree...
...I am not attempting to ahow an easy optimism that ignores the brutal and potentially violent threats to ths everyday and common aspirationa of the common people in my native state...
...One is that PAC, as constituted, might form the basis of a Third Party, which Hillman vigorously opposes...
...I would agree with the Captain that a particularly sensitive person would hsve a pretty hard time of it...
...There are various reasons for this, asys one source...
...Now the announcer's tones fade out, and the neat voice which you hear will be that of Private First-Class Cy Record: "Anyone who haa attended a summer revival under a red-fringed tent in one of the large Texas cities or who has watched a Holy Roller orgy under a brush arbor in rural Eaat Texas will understand the Captain's reaet'otts to the preacher whom he described in some detail...
...His overtur s to the Union for Democratic Action towards creating this new liberal groups ha' ; r i too well received...
...There have been and are some liberal and outspoken voices among the ministers...
...What is important far the Captain and all af us to realise la that we must understand them in terms that admit of action, aad that there is no piece to which we can safely retreat Either we do seme thing about low wages, race prejudice, poor educational facilities and political rights in the South—and elsewhere, too—or we don't...
...The late Thomas Curry, Sr., was one of them...
...They have probably only deepened them...
...The first falling out was over the endorsement of judgeships...
...I have tried to add a few touches of color to the ranvea at specific point...
...The Captain states that he sometimes thinks there is 'hope in the unions, but they too present a terrific problem...
...One of the meet hopeful prospects of the state results from the fact that much of the recently constructed industrial plant can be kept in operation after the war, and that consequently unions can continue to grow...
...There are the Steel Workers finally establishing themselves in Hughes Tool and the Automobile Workers moving, into the new airplane plants...
...Matthew's confidential message gave the motive* behind the Umberto atatement* at this moment...
...Readers are invited to send in their comnunts...
...The trsde union movement is one of the sources of genuine hope...
...But I think this is not too great a deterrent...
...But there is a question of a particular kind of sensitivity, one that responds to the needs of workers with imagination and action...
...It would take a long time to get very far in a town like Waco.' So what...
...Now they will have no responsibility, and when a decision goes against them, they ran lead the rank and-tile chorus of dissent...
...A grtater reason is that Hillman actually follow* the (Jumpers precept of avoiding the tag of "class organisation...
...This has long been an eld tactic with him, dating hack to his social worker ac...
...labor was given four Mats, along with four for employer* and four for the "public...
...Certainly the task ia enormous, and it may be one hell of a long time before there ia a atrong industrial union council in Waco...
...Sen»e and Insenjitivity t»**r* 1 HERE is s strong suspicion thst organized labor and the PAC had something to do with the withdrawal of Congressman Dies...
...G. S. J. * • • la the Hearst Kamp •Joseph p. KAMP...
...I am convinced, however, that the influence of the church in the South as well as in other sections is declining, as it has been for several decades...
...Hillman understands- and the election propaganda reinforced it- that in a middle-class country the existence of a permanently established political arm of labor would draw lines too tightly, with the middle class and especially farmers stampeded into the other corral...
...Anna Rosenberg will not be offered the job .of Secretary of Labor if Madame Perkins resigns...
...There are opportunities and possibilities in the South—real ones— and we must recognize them, even where their contours are limnied by the doubts and insecurities of a liberal's way of thinking...
...The implication of the italicised line i* thet the Bonomi Government waa the promoter of the Umbrrte interview, and that Mr...
...Marcantonio is intent en using the ALP to make himaelf a political boss in New York, while Hillman has other commitments...
...The difficulty is richly documented by the two letters about the state of Texas...
...Others, however, state that it would only provoke strife with a labor man in the Cabinet job, and that somebody outside labor'a ranks should be named...
...The Home Front By WILLIAM E. BOHN Churches Not All Bad At the Hose •{ our last paJpilaiihg^cbaplei we left correspondent Cy Record saying to the Ca*ptetn: "Come now, sir, it really ain't that bad...
...This could be documented in detail with examples which range from comical incidental things to violent clashes...
...Cabinet Timber DeSPITE pre-election rumors, most of them circulated by John L. Lewis's United Mint Worker* Journal, Mrs...
...aasociate of msny pro-fascists and anti-Semites, ia a frequent visitor to an editorial writer in the New York Journal-American building...
...I merely went to inaiat that it be sketched in more completely and that the deep shadings of black and gray be properly blended with a bit of red, pink and white...
...The organizer told me that he didn't have many requests...
...At any rate, a leakage on one of his confidential dispatches almost caused a Cabinet criaia...
...Record remarks in a postscript to his letter that bis experienee runs against it He remarks: "From my own observations of 'Yankee' soldiers la Southern camps and from the reactions of Southerners to then*, t have come to the conclusion that close contacts and association* have not dented any of th* barriers...
...If Hillman stands aside, that leaves them nekkid...
...We reprint verbatim, without any further comment, a recent letter from the Daily Worker...
...Hoard is disintegrating and proposals are made for the creation of a public board only, without labor and employer representation—and the labor people are tickled silly by th* idea...
...I BEGIN to see what is wrong with Paul Castelar's ides thst army training tones down regional antipathies...
...These problems cannot be separated regionally or on any ether basis...
...Thia ia secret diplomacy of ah invidiou* ?ort, where the power ef a great press is utilised t* make a king or destroy a government...
...The IV...
...Kamp is a friend who is not required to wait or be announced...
...He wrote with a sense of infuriated frustration...
...By MURRAY EVERETT Inside and Out Hlllrnoa, PAC «od CIO A I the meeting ef the CIO Executive Board in Chicago this week, preparatory to th* annual convention, Sidney Hillinan will urge the dissolution of the Political Action Committee, insiders insist...
...I gathered that most of its members worked in the plant since they lived in the immediate area...
...We have, in Texas, a reactionary press, poor educational facilities, limits on academic freedom, bigoted churches...
...the story goes, cancelled a Madison Square Garden meeting for the President because Hillman would not permit Marcantonio and Quill to speak...
...The Captain concludes: 'The churches make no effort to better social conditions —they do everything, indeed, to maintain the status quo.' Again this is one of those lamenting genual » tmils to which there are definite exceptions...
...The army is not precisely an ivory tower, but it cuts its men off from civilian life and so invalidate* their judgments...
...We think our readers ought to *tep into the controversy now raging in the lettrra columns of the l>aily Worker are Communists contemptible or eaazy...
...hf off hews !¦ the Roman Don HkRBEKT MATTHEWS, Italian correspondent of the N. Y. Times, seems to be, unofficially, a powerful influence in Italy...
...If such e conclusion were sought...
...the peppery little Mayor may produce harmony, otherwise, if the Communist* persist in their present plana, there will be a split...
...The young officer who seat in the original document waa an intelligent and deeply interested observer of life in Texas, but he had no connection with it...
...They feel that with the flamboyant Harlem Congressman and the Iriah brogue of Quill they can whip up a treraendoue propaganda barrage which would establish the Consmuniats as a major influence in New York . Hillman would not support Marcantonio for Mayor...
...It seems that Hillman and Vito Marcantonio juat don't pull the aame way...
...1 think this is more than a little significant...
...Hillman s New Yorfc Headache SlDNEY HILLMAN has become an imposing labor figure over the country because the bang-up jobs PAC did in the key states of Michigan and Pennsylvania, but his headaches in New York, hia home bailiwiek are jaat beginning...
...This business has its near comical and certainly its tragic features...
...Working in the trade union movement in the South does not differ too gi -ally from working in other sections...
...Aa a Communist I resent this—since when it it "contemptible" to lie a Communist ? Such a charge may be "fantastic" or just plain "crazy," but not "contemptible," brothers and sisters...
...Last week Matthew* cabled a story of a conversation with Prince Humbert, wherein the Savoy heir made a bid for leftiat support...
...The loss of Hillman would mean, more than the question of Immediate votes, the lass of the major front behind which they operate...
...The ALP tallied about 485,000 votes...
...These things ere more true of the South han ef other sections, but the difference is not so much one of kind aa af degree...
...The meetmg* faro/red governmental responsibility and there wo* e iuro, in mtHhaml cirri...
...Ha area talking about the black picture of Texas education drawn in a previous issue...
...The objections of the ministers have not prevented women from entering industry, and as a result women are gaining a larger amount of independence—much of which will be retained after the war...
...For they hope to run Marcantonio for Mayer Quill for Boro Preaident of the Bronx...
...There is alao need for a form of inaensitivity —to tar and feathers, disrupted union meetings, railridings, editorials in the Dallas Morning Newt and the Houston Post, and related matters...
...And this ia of special significance in the South...
...A breakdown of that total abowa that the upstate vote waa due entirely to the Amalgamated and the steel workers, white heavy votes in Bronx and Brooklyn were due to nonCommunist CIO officials who worked through PAC...
...Cajomnnhts: Contemptible or Croxy...
...By special arrangement, any denomination could use the hall for prayer-meetings...
...The Coeamuaiat strength among aeesr sabers!* come* frees the argument that they are "carrying out th» CIO line...
...If the impasse continues, it might mean Madame Perkins for four more years...
...At the point wbtre I interrupted hiui he was just poised for the plunge into the subject of Southern religion...
...We offer a prize of a slightly dog-eared copy of the History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (the one they revised before the present revised copy was re-revised): Trenton, N. .1...
...For in practice the WLR set-up meant that the labor leader* had to take responsibility for WI.H decisions and fight off a rebellious rank-and-file...
...The situation waa auch that at the end of the campaign the ALP...
...It may be noted, lor instance, that the rural Baptist and Methodist preachers of Arkansas were instrumental in the organization of the southern tenant farmers, and that"their little unpainted churches were places where they could hold a union mteting as well as a Wednesday night prayer session...
...That makes all the difference...
...Some persons are urging the appointment of Dan Tobin, which might be agreeable to Sidrtty Hillman...
...If LeGuardla decides to run in 1Mb...
...But, as Matthew* cabled on Tuesday, "feelings were greatly exacerbated yesterday when the raonarchiat organ L'ltmlim Snovm printed the text of a confidential message "I sent to the S. Y. Timet about my article on Grown Prince Humbirt...
Vol. 27 • November 1944 • No. 47
