'We begin bombing in five minutes'
Bell, Robert H.
connect the nuclear arms race and Central America to the need for economic conversion, defense workers insisted that this would be disastrous for their movement. Most defense work- ers, and...
...Roosevelt was spiritual heir to Ferraro's candidacy as the logical exten- those pioneers of social reform in the sion of twentieth-century woman's Settlement house movement and in com- march toward full mutual responsibility munity organizations who attacked the for the world in which she lives...
...Labor unions from defense industries had been able to discuss their concerns with a broad range of groups from the rest of American society, and to receive the support of those groups...
...The conference concluded on a note of hope engendered by the unique character of the gathering...
...The industry is reluctant to leave the comfort of government contracting to participate in a more competitive civilian economy...
...If the latter did not share that perspective they at least had the opportunity to hear it spelled out by people who were willing to share and support the workers' own concerns...
...The contribution of political authorities has been important in the successes that conversion has achieved thus far...
...While the government's immediate concern would be defense workers' jobs, its intervention would reinforce the principle of multipurpose government, one involved throughout the eco- nomy to promote the well-being of all citizens...
...KEVIN J. CASSIDY (Kevin J. Cassidy is assistant professor of politics at Fair- field University, Fairfield, Conn...
...It will be important not only in the effort for economic conversion, but for the continued development of broad-based progressive politics in this country...
...MESSAGE AT CAMPOBELLO It was Eleano~ Roosevelt who laid Of several minds: Abigail McCarthy c|aim once and for all to the public sphere as part of woman's domain...
...Second, most conversion successes, and especially the Lucas Plan, have come from labor, not from management...
...Most defense work- ers, and especially its management, are hostile to disarmament proposals, both for ideological and economic reasons...
...Roosevelt established her identity made it clear by teaching and example that woman had not only a right but a duty to take part in the things which afand her public life within the conven-fected her life, the lives of her children, tional boundaries of her role as helpmate, and of all humanity...
...Economic conversion, particularly if workers share in the planning as they have abroad, could mean a more influential role for American labor in determining industrial policy...
...Although Mrs...
...Only government can provide industry with enough eco- nomic inducements to persuade it to consider experiments in the civilian marketplace...
...Bishop DeRoo's address systematically set out the Catholic teaching that grants labor primacy over capital, and supports democratic planning of the economy...
...Congressmen Mavroules and Weiss have proposed a federal commitment in this effort...
...Experienced workers repeatedly described the intransigence of the industry in the face of proposals from workers for the development of new products...
...she would certainly welcome Geraldine Mrs...
...evils of slum-ridden cities at the turn of Commonweal: 458...
...Conversion cannot happen in a laissez-faire economy...
...Eco- nomic conversion has to be presented as an opportunity to save American manufacturing jobs and provide steadier employ- ment for defense workers...
...All of these shared a more left-wing perspective, and some of them had hoped for a similar orienta- tion by the defense workers...
...Throughout the conference there was strong support for economic conversion by representatives of religious groups...
...In her more than a dozen years as First Lady--more years than any other First Lady was ever to have--and in her fifteen years of vig- ELEANOR ROOSEVELT & HUMAN RIGHTS orous world leadership thereafter, she T HERE IS SURELY something seren-dipitous about the fact that the first woman to be nominated to one of the highest offices in the land should have been nominated in the year of the Eleanor Roosevelt Centennial...
...This has been a problem in American f'Lrrns as well...
...As Seymour Melman has repeatedly pointed out, military contractors have become much less efficient than their civilian counterparts...
...The emergence of such a coalition is an event to be noted and applauded...
...The strong emphasis on the jobs of defense workers disap- pointed the participants from peace organizations and those representing groups concerned with economic justice and the rights of minority groups...
...Lucas workers were repeatedly turned away with their proposals --proposals that wereinvariably adopted later by other firms --because management was unwilling to accept worker participation in policy-making...
...It requires extensive planning and cooperation among government, labor, and management...
...The issue was not economics but politics: who would control the company...
...Other Catholic partici- pants noted Pope John Paul II's support for a worker-oriented economy in his encyclical Laborem Exercens, and these points were warmly endorsed by participants from a variety of Protestant denominations...
...Political coalitions in Connecticut and Minnesota have been promoting legislative initiatives that would commit their states to more active conversion roles...
...Moreover, management often views alternative product plans submitted by workers as threats to the hierarchical stmcl ture of industry...
...That relationship may have been one of the conference's more important achievements...
...I I I Third, while economic conversion might provide labor with greater influence on policy, it might also give political institu- tions greater control over economic planning...
Vol. 111 • September 1984 • No. 15
