TIMELY TOPICS

...Fortunately the Executive Council of the A. F. of L. recognises this in its other planks for the aid of the unemployed...

...of conventional applause which will now come to President Lowell of Harvard, will not the figures of Bacco and Vansetti, like some unforgettable ghosts, perpetually rise to remind him of the day when he lost one of the...

...At the same time I am convinced we should work with might and main for the Socialist amendment to the constitution which would give Congress power to enact all necessary social and economic legislation in behalf of the workers...

...that is, an opportunity to show that in this country the processes of justice are more than s rationalization of class interest and class prejudice...

...We csn only end that by more effective organisation...

...Whether or not a 3% premium on payrolls would provide a sufficient fund for unemployment insurance, it is now too late to look at this measure as an adequate source of help...

...It is pretty dear that some outrageous practices were need la forming the R.C.A...

...A Gentleman's Agreement A GENTLEMAN'S agreement has at last been entered into by the government and the Radio Corporation of America under which nominally the R.C.A...

...In percentage I should ssy that this is about the lsrgest, certainly one of the lsrgest Increases In any Important state in the country...

...They are cogent snd convincing...

...It does well also to call for "national economic planning for the purpose of balancing production and distribution...

...Not only did our vote reach s new peak, but our party organization In the stats is mora extensive than ever before...

...Certainly the fact stands that he wss more responsible thsn the Governor of Massachusetts or his colleagues on the Governor's commission for the most terrible act of class and caste injustice which even the history of America affords...

...It is necessary to get positive action for maintenance of the workers while a program of useful work is being formed...

...As I thought s great part of our vote was not counted...

...I can assure you that ths movement' in Washington is very genuinely proletarian...

...The vote was 16,000 in Detroit and sbout 80,000 in the state...

...Hence we shall have to work for state bills...

...It is very doubtful whether now that ths eggs have been broken the omelet can be unscrambled...

...The Socialist idea of the participation of the state through taxation on the income receiving group is still valid...

...By Norman Thomas TIMELY TOPICS Every week Norman Thomas write* in ' his pungent style his own comments upon the salient events of the moment The A. F. of L. Marches Forward THE statesmsnlike report of the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor in favor of compusory unemployment insurance is like s bright light on a very dark night Its positive arguments admit of no effective reply...

...is to be separated from Westlnghouse and the General Electric which now own it The decree also will affect the patent licensing relationship between the R.C.A., the General Electric, the Westlnghouse and other companies involving more then 4,000 patents...

...This requires federal action...

...Some time I may want to comment on what the vote showed in percentage of increase, but I want the complete figures before me when I make this comment In the light of my present partial knowledge I should like to call attention to the immense incresse in the state of Washington...

...To go back to the specific matter of unemployment insurance...

...Noted for His House Plan...

...The situation, however, demands a more vigorous statement in behalf of Immediate action for a maintenance wage...

...I rejoice that the Council sees so clearly that Ideally unemployment insurance should be national...

...I doubt if 8% imposition on industry will provide sufficient funds to make unemployment insurance adequate...

...The ssme logic which has finally forced the A. F. of L. Council to endorse, at least partially, immediate demands made long ago by Socialists will force labor men to endorse the Socialist philosophy and the Socialist program...

...A splendid meeting at North Adsms on a rainy night in which locals around that industrial town participated and the conference of delegates from Connecticut valley locals in Northampton Sunday afternoon and evening showed that the Socialist cause was marching on and thst ths Party was preparing its plans to meet its opportunities...

...set-up Is capitalism's fair-haired boy, President-elect Roosevelt's staunchest Wall Street backer, Owen D. Young...

...Until We can act nationally in national crises democracy is in grave danger...

...readers the tre-* mendous encouragement I got' over the last week-end in Massachusetts...

...Aa in the case of the Standard Oil dissolution, social gains from this anti-trust decree will be mighty small...

...Of course the A. F. of Labor is on very sound lines in its hearty endorsement of the five-day week and a six-hour day...

...In the paeans...

...greatest opportunities that ever came to an American of his class...

...What we have been doing, and are eonthring to do, is to build from the roots up a political party which will represent the economic Interests of the mass of ths people...

...Detroit Gratified and Is Building for the Future DETROIT.—With the Socialist vote in Michigan the highest in the party's history, leaders of the Socialist Party hem declared the dection results accorded with their early analysis of the vote and that their campaign for the future...

...stock by the R.C.A.T This question is Important from a Socialist angle, not primarily because we are interested in making great trusts safe for little investors, but because of the light it sheds on the whole racket which ie called capitalism...

...By what inner processes of rationalization this old Boston Brshmln snd educator, President Lowell of Harvard, justified his extraordinary role in the Sacco-Vansetti affair I do not profess to know...

...As the Council points out, given the constitution as interpreted by the courts, a national unemployment insurance bill would probably be declared unconstitutional...

...j A Trip to the Bay State .%\ I WISH I could share with my...

...It will be as one of those responsible for the legalized murder of two obscure Italian Anarchists lifted by their fate to an heroic level in history...

...Does this decree mean, for Instance, that the government will not make any investigation of the amazing Iocs to investors, especially to small Investors, in the manipulation of the R.K.O...

...My campaign suggestion that some of these deals in which he was at least indirectly involved through his company needed investigation with a view to possible criminal action was studiously ignored by almost every paper in the United States...

...We Socialists can afford to be very skeptical before we throw up our hats and cheer for this decree...

...As matters now stand, we are dealing with millions of men and women who have already lost their jobs and therefore cannot insure them...

...It must not be forgotten that the moat prominent single figure in the whole R.C.A...

...Only the future can tell just how much this execution of two men who were obviously denied a fair trial will cost the world by the contribution it has inevitably made to cynical bitterness snd distrust of protestations of faith in right and justice...

...From town after town I have heard of uncounted votes...

...Indeed, it is quite possible that the companies accepted the decree to forestall criminal proceedings agsinst them and their directors for some of their acts...

...In rejoicing that the A. F. of L. has seen the light it is still possible for us in a friendly spirit to point out that much of the present tragedy would have been alleviated if the A. F. of L. had aeen this light in '28 or '24, or even earlier...

...While we had ody ton locale a year ago, we have seventy now...

...The election was but an Incident in the upgrowth of the Socialist Party In this state," Frands King, state secretary, declared...

...I wonder if there Is any labor man who will be willing to argue with a Socialist how such planning can be carried out short of Socialism, that is, without social ownership of the things for whose use we plan...

...I msy add that the general note in letters which I get is a note of encouragement and determination...

...We must act and we must act fast The A. F. of L. should put itself In the very vanguard in demanding such action...

...It has not for thst reason fsiled to draw support from the more far seeing and professional groups...

...I should like to see included in that amendment a specific provision that Congress could impose necessary forms of taxation, which, of course, would include a capital levy...

...which will be largely a program o* politicsl and economic education, was slresdy under way...

...If history remembers to record the name of A. Lawrence Lowell at all it will not be ss author of a "House Plan" in Harvard University...

...Only so can it hope to reach the unorganised workers or to recoup its serious losses in membership...

...He and other high dignitaries will be on at least as good terms with the incoming administration as with the Hoover government Lowell of Harvard IREAD in the headlines: "President Lowell Resigns at Harvard...