A tangible gesture
Polner, Murray
Solidarity Day LABOR ON THE MARCH A HUNGRY GIANT A FEW YEARS AGO Irving Howe was defending the labor movement at a meeting that included some of its more impatient critics. "The labor movement is...
...What do they want to prove...
...We have gathered here to strike a different and more somber chord, to acknowledge in all honesty and with deep regret that ours is not yet one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all...
...But did they know that the giant is awake, fully dressed, and hungry...
...dotted with flags, balloons and banners blowing in the wind...
...Millions of our fellow citizens have been left to fend for themselves in the struggle for survival...
...My guess is that the effort will be more successful than most forecasters now predict...
...One disappointment was the relatively small representation of the religious community...
...One of the more striking and significant features of the day was, in fact, the great number of black marchers (perhaps one quarter of the total) and the number and quality of the black speakers...
...It is doubtful that the present government will listen to this petition...
...His best line was: "We have come too far, struggled too long, sacrificed too much, and have too much left to do, to allow all that we have achieved for the good of all to be swept away without a fight.'' Tom Donahue, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, did a fine job as master of ceremonies, but the decision not to invite any politicians-a wise decision on balance-deprived the rally of practiced crowd-pleasers like Kennedy or Mondale...
...I am sure they knew that those people include a giant...
...We are still a divided nation...
...It stretched all the way to the White House grounds, where a white canopy, presumably set up for some cocktail party or reception for the rich and powerful, reminded the marchers of who and...
...He said, "There is a time and a place to sing the praises of America the Beautiful...
...What saved the day was the black preachers and the widow of the greatest of them all, Coretta Scott King...
...Looking down from the hill at the base of the Washington Monument as the union delegations lined up for the march up Constitution Avenue, one could see little but a great mass of humanity...
...Many unionists on the west coast flew Canadian air lines to Toronto (to avoid crossing the controllers' picket line) and bussed the rest of the way to Washington...
...The labor movement is a sleeping giant," he told them,' 'but it's a giant...
...Some 4,200 buses converged on the city plus chartered trains and thousands of cars...
...Individually they could not measure up to him, but collectively they did the job that needed to be done: reaching down to the viscera, moving the heart, and breathing life into the spirit...
...It signaled a conscious decision on the part of the national AFL-CIO to bind itself firmly to the black community, a decision that will, I believe, pay off in greater strength and effectiveness for both, not to mention greater palpitations for Reagan and the Republicans...
...One aide to Reagan gave notice beforehand...
...heasked...
...And that the breakfast it wants is the hide of Ronald Reagan and his congressional supporters...
...what was in charge of the country...
...The effort took planning, hard work, and money...
...The National Council of Churches had a banner flying, as did the Catholic Network, the Labor Guild of Boston, and a few others, but the marchers were few...
...He is the editor of Religious Socialism, a quarterly newsletter...
...Lane Kirkland proved to be a strong speaker, but his falling inflections stirred no enthusiasm, lit no bonfires...
...Our bus, courtesy of AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees), drove all night from Boston and others from as far away as Michigan and Iowa...
...The black preachers gave authentic voice to the spirit of religion...
...We know there are people who don't like us...
...I am sure they knew...
...Despite the absence of Democratic politicians, Solidarity Day spelled nothing but good news for the Democrats...
...Even the urbane attorney Vemon Jordan, retiring president of the Urban League, was rolling out Biblical phrases and lamentations that' 'There is no balm in Gilead...
...JOHNCCORT (John C. Cort worked for many years in the labor movement...
...more cautious ways of George Meany and decided to risk the prestige of labor on an all-out effort to rally the troops and their allies in Washington, DC., for a Day of Solidarity and Protest...
...erly newsletter...
...The rally before the Capitol threatened for a time to be an anti-climax to the march...
...And we need a giant.'' The good news today is that the giant is awake...
...The gamble paid off, handsomely...
...Lane Kirkland, president of the AFL-CIO, gambled some months ago when he threw his weight behind a break with the...
...The mind of religion was perhaps best represented by the official invocator, Monsignor George Higgins, spokesman emeritus for the U. S. Catholic Conference on questions affecting labor and social action...
...There was no Martin Luther King to take the people to the mountain top and share his dream of a new Promised Land...
...You might say it was the opening salvo in the campaign to regain control of Congress for the liberal Democrats in 1982...
...We have come here this afternoon to show our solidarity with them and peacefully but firmly to petition the government on their behalf...
...This is not that time or place...
...They included Joseph Lowery and Jesse Jackson and, best of the lot, Benjamin Hooks, the man who has succeeded Roy Wilkins as head of the NAACP...
...There was no Walter Reuther to thrill the workers with his crisp, ringing appeals for a new America where justice and intelligence might dwell together in peace...
...Crowd estimates varied, from a minimum of 240,000 to upward of 500,000...
Vol. 108 • October 1981 • No. 18
