A. L. P. Points Way to National Labor Party

A. L. P. Points Way to National Labor Party Assemblymen Ready To Fight for Program By NATHANIEL M. MINKOFF Leader of the Labor Party Delegation in the New York State Assembly ¦BJSlfJBl ...

...The A.L.P...
...It is and will be, the articulate voice of the people of New Jersey against corrupt government and reaction and for honest government and progress...
...BEHOLD THE BENEVOLENCE OF SIR WEIR OF WIERTON AND he is not only a demonstration of the grandeur of the American opportunity to shoulder, shove and outwit, but he is a kind man, Sir Weir...
...To him we say: "You protest too much...
...Create exclusive State employment agencies in lieu of private agencies that prey upon the unemployed and frequently supply scabs in strikes...
...Aad the National Labor Relations Board, a creature of this insufferable administration, wished to know whether that article was a paid advertisement or a free offering upon the altar of the Jungle, Because if it was a paid advertisement, its distribution by Sir Weir was a violation of the law that seeks an absolutely free and un trammeled decision of the workers in regard to organization...
...Okr optimism is not unfounded...
...They're his men, aren't they...
...Nevertheless, it - is safe to say that among the first bills will be the « ^flowing: ^ • * ? PROGRAM OF THE LABOR PARTY * 1—Adoption of the Federal Child Labor Amendment...
...Must we necessarily follow in its footsteps ? While we are not required to repeat any errors of the British, it is important that we hold to a broad view of social progress, and that our critical judgments remain unprejudiced by what must, in the long run, appear as minor deficiencies of a new party...
...It is an all-important question and upon its answer may rest the future of the A.L.P...
...Something can and must be done about it...
...The Labor Party delegation in Albany * «• toing it alone...
...will, before hmg, provide a substantial basis for the hopes even of those not in agreement with the views currently held by the Labor Party...
...Overtures from vote-conscious politicians leave us cold...
...WE CAN SMASH HAGUE MACHINE A LABOR PARTY is not and cannot be the product of one individual or a group of individuals...
...place a Bf ml B fake **°°r Partv on the ballot...
...And so Sir Weir gave them the run...
...It is inspiring to observe how our newspapers are responding to this appalling attack upon the foundation of oar liberties...
...Your promises are empty, and your words have no meaning...
...My answer is: No, I cannot build a Labor Party...
...In an article I wrote for The New Leader, months following the ?Wt of Sir Walter Citrine, I pointed out that the British Labor Party had also endorsed candidates of other parties during its first years...
...They did splendid work, all the way from contributing valuable ideas and helping to put the campaign on a -high level to doing any kind of drudgery that had to be done, and I am sore that they are going to continue this kind of service to the caramon cause...
...The victories scored by the American Labor Party of New York give us hope and courage...
...candidates under the party emblem has definitely been established...
...The state office of Labor's Non-Partisan League receives a daily batch of letters from fraternal and civic organizations, from professional people and homeowners, urging the establishment of a state-wide Labor Party...
...And if working m the frightful heat and stifling gases of his mills just to make Ms profits, was not always exactly salubrious and hygienic, they were . common working men, weren't they?—and lucky to be alive...
...The lower middleclass elements are beginning to feel that their place is with Labor, that their interests and Organized Labor's interests are the same, that they stand to gain a better life only through united action with Organized Labor...
...fl —h'an hw r—Mfcaat tni rrrmajnaesT TnTeJi it, say Countrymen: Forbid it, Heaven...
...No longer do we fall for the pleasant politician who says: "I am a friend of labor...
...But that, too, is merely the opinion of a minar fraction of the organized trade-union movement of the state...
...Reduction in the age limit for pensions and benefits of the I aged and the destitute from 65 to 60...
...does not correspond with preconceived notions of what, in the judgment of some friends, a genuine Labor Party should be...
...And if* there is a stronger voice anywhere against the Insurgency of the Babble that threatens the security of Wall Street, I want to learn of it...
...and that despite this beginning that party had developed into a genuine Socialist organization, and has become a pivotal force not only in Great Britain but in international politics...
...They smashed Tammany Hall in New York, and we can smash the Hague machine in New Jersey...
...It's his, isn't it...
...Workers ask me: Will you build a Labor Party...
...trade-unionists...
...To have a lot of Reds from Moscow and low "Communists" and Subversive Elements barging into an Earthly Paradise like Weirton was a little too much...
...How much longer can honest citizens play with Hague and his cohorts while New Jersey endures the misgovernment of corrupt machines ? How much longer can the unemployed stave off starvation while our socalled representatives indulge in flights of oratory at Trenton ? The Republican and Democratic parties have enslaved the workers of New Jersey...
...It is the product of necessity, of the people...
...It isn't the Democratic Party...
...A Labor Party is not and cannot be the mouthpiece of self-seeking officials...
...By CHARLES EDWARD RUSSELL QIR WEIR OF WEIRTON desires to conduct his own business in his own way...
...elected several of its candidates under the A.L.P...
...Unless are incapable •f suing they see the handwriting on the wall, they will know that - *hey have to meet us half way in our demands...
...8—Curbing unreasonable rent increases by restoring to the statute books the emergency laws adopted in the Assembly in 1921...
...That these elements, which, in the final analysis constitute a decisive factor in any municipal or state election, will support A.L.P...
...In Bronx County, for instance, the AL.P...
...He is good to his men...
...And both, Hague and Hoffman, operate their respective parties for the benefit of the Chamber of Commerce and the Manufacturers' Association...
...Labor and progressive elements have demonstrated their confidence in the A.L.P...
...needs them and will need them in the future...
...We are •'ring to Albany convinced that not only the constituents of our 2*a districts, but that the great masses throughout the City and * heartily approve the plans and program of the Labor Party, are- going to make their wishes and aspirations known to our j*eislatrve colleagues and we believe that we will succeed in carryJ^fenawogh our program...
...they know the way out...
...WE SHALL HOLD THEM TO AGREEMENTS THE officials we helped elect have entered into a written agreement with us, and^we intend to told them to it...
...The state executive committee of Labor's Nonpartisan League says we need a Labor Party...
...Frankly, we are envious of those victories, but we realize that every state presents a different set of problems...
...XJJELL, it seems that somebody produced an alleged article in an *» alleged magazine setting forth Sir Weir's transcendent virtues and the beatific state of the low common workers in his detectable realm, and copies of this magazine were carefully distributed among Sir Weir's tribesmen to inform them of their happy lot and keep them from listening to these iniquitous agitators...
...Organized Labor, double-crossed for many years, has no faith in pre-election promises...
...And not a Privilege left to us of the Better Classes...
...The Wfj B returns definitely showed that the BBcl electorate not only manifested its jj B disgust with the old parties, but B -<^B...
...m'.l.Ikis the hope of the American Labor Party that the splendid ••ginning we made in 1936 will ultimately lead to the creation of •^national Farmer-Labor Party in the United States...
...We have done something already...
...And everything was going nicely with Sir Weir and his tribesmen in his happy and stench-laden province when along came a band of villainous mgitators and* tried to tell Sir Weir's happy henchmen that they ought to organize and join the movement to obtain better returns for the workers that create the world's wealth...
...Labor itself is wide awake to the need for a Labor Party...
...The election of two Labor Assemblymen in the Bronx has also definitely paved the way for a greater degree of complete independent political action in the 1988 elections...
...He has helped some of them to build houses outside of the horrible reek and stench and gas-poisoned air that broods and hangs around the hell on earth that his factory has constructed—and enabled them to get upon the hillside, where they can occasionally draw a lungfull that isn't charged with sulphur fumes...
...What kind of a Labor Party will it be, if and when formed ? Those who organize it will decide what form it should take...
...emblem witaeat the endorsement of other parties...
...We do not reach for the moon...
...The question has been frequently posed, both within and without the Labor Party...
...Wise and Kind and Good Is Sir Weir of Weirton ALL HE WANTS IS TO RUN HIS OWN BUSINESS IN HIS OWN WAY, SO WHY DOES THE SNOOTY N.L.R.I...
...What specific legislation will be advanced by our delegation...
...A Labor Party is not and cannot be the private property of one person or group...
...Something better—what is it...
...But to do this, we need builders and not disparaging critics...
...And then what...
...Same thing, you know...
...Yes sir...
...Indeed, indications are that jn this country, the period of fusion and endorsement of old party candi- ates, will be of shorter duration than that in Great Britain...
...v I learn all these precious facts from an issue of that noble champion of the Return to the Caves and devoted defender of the Rights of the Overlords, the Saturday Evening Post...
...How the Freedom of the Press...
...program and its ability to realize it when entrusted with power...
...Naturally...
...With a hatchet gang, If necessary...
...Well, then, do you think any miserable, demagogic, snooping, sneaking national administration has any right to come in there and tell him how to run his own business ? Not on your life...
...And now is the time for all Good Citizens to get together and resent this intolerable invasion of the rights of property and the Supremacy of Order...
...And he "gives" employment to all these hundreds or thousands of common workingmen, doesn't he...
...Let him be made Duke of Weirton aad First Groom of the Royal Possett...
...Jersey City might just as well be the capitol of Nasi Germany or Fascist Italy...
...BUTT IN ON HIS PHILANTHROPHY...
...7—Legislation to further enforce collective bargaining rights of labor unions and extend the machinery for voluntary adjust. ment of industrial disputes...
...Fellow Countrymen, will you stand for that...
...Director T^O we need a Labor Party in New Jersey 7 *^ That's the question confronting the people of New Jersey...
...More than that, we tmust'not became disheartened because the A.L.P...
...Stand fast, me Brave Men...
...their ceaseless devotion to their needs, certain fundamental differences between old party politicians who owe their' first allegiance to the political machine and Labor representatives who owe their first and last allegiance to the masses whom they represent...
...Progressive elements in both parties are too weak to buck the iron rule of the money-bags and their faithful hirelings...
...Why, as you can plainly see, Chaos, Rain, Devastation...
...CULMINATING IN PRESENT REIGN OF BIG BUSINESS UNDER TWO-PARTY PROTECTION, MAKE A LABOR PARTY ESSENTIAL...
...I ask you...
...And more, they-have betrayed their own rank-and-file members...
...In this respect we are just seven - teas years ahead of the British...
...PAID AD OR FREE OFFERING...
...Destruction...
...I am not finding fault, but only expressing a difference of opinion on one point...
...8— Liberalize State compensation laws which are working havoc with maimed and injured workers...
...This I group has little patience with any ^BMBBBBWmWRmW^-^Bm^FBM political movement, no matter what t . NATHAN MINKOFF its label, that is not entirely di" vorced from the existing major parties...
...I have completed a tour of the state, and I find that sentiment for a Labor Party is widespread both among A. F. of L. and C.I.O...
...We will not lose our identity for one minute, -Jj* It is only by maintaining ourselves as an independent party j3hat«e can hope to remain loyal to our principles and our policies...
...That Hague and Hoffman have trampled the civil liberties of New Jersey's citizens for a number of years...
...An attitude of resignation will spell our doom...
...Remember, the Social Democratic Federation existed for years apart front the Labor Party, and not before 1918 did the Labor Party . admit individuals as members...
...The farce at the courthouse immediately following the arrests was a flagrant violation of the civil liberties and constitutional rights of free American citizens...
...That the political machines of the state, dominated by Hague and Hoffman, are saturated in the mud of graft and corruption...
...Labor Party Needed to Fight Hague-Hoffman Dictatorship NEW JERSEY'S CENTURY OF CLASS RULE...
...And of course Sir Weir couldn't stand for that...
...We didn't go to sleep in 193o when the LibertyLeague threatened to give the White House back to the DuPonts and Raskobs...
...He started in with next to nothing and by the exercise of a superior intelligence he outwitted, out-scrambled, out-shouldered and out-shoved his competitors sad built Weirton, didn't he...
...If a Labor Party is to be formed, the workers of New Jersey will form it...
...Abolishment of home-work in all industries...
...That the unemployed of the state are given a run-around while petty politicians find soft berths in needless jobs...
...It is and will be the property of the people who belong to it...
...A. L. P. Points Way to National Labor Party Assemblymen Ready To Fight for Program By NATHANIEL M. MINKOFF Leader of the Labor Party Delegation in the New York State Assembly ¦BJSlfJBl flSBBl THE *uccess of the American La¦ * bor Party in the recent muni¦ cipal campaign heralds a new day BJ^ ^m^^^^m^B_^L\ in American political history...
...Vwan am get the Fascist state, for which he has labored so .....¦lisiilloejtlj, I want the editor of the Satin-day Evening Post to have the recognition he has abundantly earned...
...This unanimity of opinion embraces broad sections of the population, and it tends to point to one direction: The people of New Jersey at last have found something better...
...We shall watch closely every move they make, and we shall be on guard to see that they live up to the agreement...
...e a A LOT OF MISSING "IADV.I"S DECAUSE...
...WE FACE COLD FACTS IN N. J. LABOR POLITICS OUR decision is based upon cold facts: That New Jersey has been the stronghold of reaction since the Constitutional Convention of 1787...
...That the Constitution of New Jersey promotes the interests of a vested minority...
...He did that...
...As the party's legislative committee is still drawing up the official program, it is difficult to list the measures we will offer...
...That extravagance and waste of taxpayers' money are rampant throughout New Jersey...
...The victories scored by the American Labor Party of New York did not turn our heads...
...Or his kind, benevolent banks did it...
...He pays them—it's his money that keeps them alive, isn't it...
...No SightMinded Person could...
...Being an infant, it will probably follow in the footsteps of its successful elder, the American Labor Party of New York...
...Frank Hague runs it...
...It will certainly retain its affiliation with Labor's Non-Partisan League, nationally...
...People said the same thing about Tammany Hall, and it was done...
...Our attitude will not be one of begging or pleading...
...He built it up, didn't he...
...HIS BASEBALL CLUBS AND LOVELY DISPOSITION gUT then if you will believe me, this vile, wretched, Commumunistic national administration took up the matter and actually tried to make a case against Sir Weir and his inalienable right to run his own business in his own way...
...Harold Hoffman runs it...
...EXPERIENCE Of THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY V3ZHAT pertinence does the experience of British Labor have for V ue...
...THE LABOR GROUP IN THE LEGISLATURE 117HAT can be accomplished by our Assemblymen in Albany...
...From coast to coast with a beautiful unison they spring to battle for imperilled freedom...
...One thing is certain: By intelligent and courageous advocacy of the much needed Labor - and socially desirable legislation, the Labor Assemblymen can not ealy fulfill their obligations to their constituencies, but demonstrate ' to the...
...Some one ** might wish to push this inquiry into the rotten advertisements that the Power Trust spills all over our free and enlightened press whenever it has a particularly filthy deal to put over, or to some other advertisements and articles aad the like that if exhibited before the public gaze might be exceedingly awkward...
...And Hague can teach both Hitter and Mussolini a few tricks...
...19—Extend the civil service so as to prevent raids on public office, and which will recognize the principle that eligibility for pub| Be office must be based upon competence and merit...
...111 say...
...JL\ I "d^uled by their votes, Tammany's wBK ^EBB^^Bf thinly veiled attempt to...
...That the people of New Jersey are pretty sick of it all and are ready to overthrow their selfappointed overlords for something better...
...With editorials, with articles, With ear* toons, with news despatches, they throw themselves in a phalanx across the path of the advancing Demon of Communism, otherwise known as the National Labor Relations Board...
...By CARL HOLDERMAN New Jersey Regional C.I.O...
...There are some people who say that Hague's stranglehold over Hudson County is too powerful, and that it can't be done...
...B\ ''^ f Bfc^ JjlBBgJ Ir to be regretted that there B were, and still are, some Social BB\ ^AmkmmmBBM^wBBBBBmf Democrats who regard the course BB\ *^aigVJ^BB^* i of t,ie in its initial campaign BBBjk B^^B of 1938 and the subsequent camfl paign of 1937, with misgivings...
...U—Strengthen academic freedom by repeal of existing laws which experience has proved are restrictive, or which may be misused...
...masses, by...
...The executive committee did not get its ideas out of the clear, blue sky...
...And for one other thing I will stand as srlsnssat...
...The immediate end to Hague's reign has become an immediate necessity...
...4 But now, just as the-Post had settled everything and Overwhelmed the cohorts of Moscow with an exposition of Sir Weir's baseball clubs and lovely disposition, this abominable administration and its minions butt in and plan a fresh assault upon Sir Weir, the Constitution and our Most Cherished Liberties...
...It is too early to pass judgment on this record, but indications are that the course of the A.L.P...
...I'm inclined to suspect, however, that even the most independent Democratic and Republican office-holders are tied hand and foot to the will and dictates of campaign fund contributors and party bosses...
...Any true patriot and Believer in Law and Order would have done the same...
...And created the Weirton Steel Company, didn't he...
...Look at the record...
...with right to stand upon the steps of the throne...
...1 say we need a Labor Party...
...Political friends, minor considerations and the constant fear of being shelved are reflected in the wavering actions of the independents of both major parties...
...In saying this, I am not reflecting upon the Social Democratic Federation or its members...
...At fair interest rates, of coarse...
...Labor's Non-Partisan League pursued the same course in the last elections...
...Are we going to resign ourselves to the disastrous notion that nothing can be done about it...
...I can only help build it...
...It isn't the Republican Party...
...What are we going to do about it...
...r; Z—State aid to Housing and .enabling legislation to cities for slum clearance...
...4—If the courts rule that the city has no legal right to build a power plant or a municipally-owned milk distribution plant as ¦ a 'yardstick" basis, the party's delegation will press for • . ¦" enabling legislation to carry out its program...
...you leiow, brethren, a word in your ear...
...I say no...
...Of course...
...But that's my personal opinion...
...Will we accomplish this ? Well, it is reasonable to assume that ** 9m two major parties -have learned a lesson...
...And he let them organize baseball clubs and football clubs and everything, he was so kind and good to them...
...And some of them drew almost enough wages to lire on...
...But they got the lungsful, didn't they...
...I doubt whether their apprennension is justified by the Labor Party's successes the last two years, as well as its program and general tendency...
...Certainly the British Labor Party at its inception presented a no more hopeful picture than oar own Labor Party...
...They're attacking the Freedom of the Press...
...Rather let us die in our tracks than yield to the besom of Anarchy...
...NO GOOD FAITH IN EITHER OLD PARTY WJ0W in heaven can Organized Labor rely upon * * the good faith of both major parties when every effort to better the conditions of the great mass of workers is blocked by office-holding Democrats and Republicans ? Can Organized Labor have confidence in either major party when every move to elevate the living and working standards of the workers is met with injunctions from Hague's vice-chancellors and state troopers from Hoffman's strike-breaking camp ? Can overtaxed citizens tolerate the unchallenged reign of the Republican and Democratic parties when their hard-earned money goes to finance the machines that waste it...
...Here then is the foundation upon which we can build the type of Labor Party we want...
...The arrest of union organizers by Jersey City police proves conclusively that .Hague's intention is to wipe out any attempt to better the conditions of workers in Hudson County's sweatshops...

Vol. 20 • December 1937 • No. 50


 
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