Labor War Looms as AFL- CIO Peace Parley Collapses
Labor War Looms as AFL- CIO Peace Parley Collapses Negotiations May Be Resumed Some Labor Leaders Coot Final Session Lasts Only Half Hour Despite Strong Peace Sentiment in...
...unions affiliate with the world federation of labor is interprtrtfa it...
...some quarters as just one more indication that the Mbwcow ]S|p1istt whose policies sir* being more and more by nationalistic considerations, is desirous of gradually "liquidating" the Comintern, whose importance is clearly on Ifag...
...Tthet* T\tR MsTlskssT W*kl*"j« "It is to be boned that the American worker will appreciate the bearing which these developments have upon his situation, for at present the labor movement in our country is ia danger of being torn to pieces by the fight between the two Communist factions...
...The break-up of the conferences was not altogether a surprise to those who have been dose to the situation, except in so far as the wish for peace may have led some to hope against hope...
...January 1st, when the guests will he treated'to a welt-planned New Year's supper and an elaborately staged party with song., dance, . noisemakera, etc until the early morning hours...
...Military circles in the Capitol are gleeful over the situation and look for important psychological benefits to come from the Japanese 'crisis...
...Let my decision help clarify public opiulsa shout the regime which has betrayed Socialism and humanity...
...Sensational trials, to eradicate every one of the old Communist leaders, are being prepared...
...My resignation has been sent to the foreign commissar in Moscow and I am now just a political refuges who ts protected by the laws and opinions «f the nation which has extended every courtesy to ms...
...I would have condemned myself to the worst demoralization and to carrying responsibilities of the crimes of the Stalin government, which are being committed every day sgainst my people, if I had stayed at my post any kmsjsr...
...Such revolutions are inevitably made by a few people...
...II Duce was vehemently opposed to the Duke because of his proEnglish leanings...
...at a moment when the servitors of big Business in press, pulpit, and radio are launching a campaign against Organized Labor...
...What comes now is yet more savage war between two groups of workers, both of which are for two reasons losing ground...
...The conclusion, or moral, or ^tmSJ!k Igg want to call it, is •at We- must depend in our own country^ upon our own democratic ¦kdacajt for the working out of our own problems, both domestic and international...
...We believe that very few men or women who have had enough trade-union experience to know what schism involves, can be satisfied with what took place on Tuesday...
...In our straggle against fascism and war we shall continue to work with the L.S.I...
...The editors of The New Leader, which is the only English newspaper to print it in this country, feel that M. Barmin's plea to the public opinion of the world is a historical document and7* sweeping indictment of the Soviet dictatorship...
...They do organize,, sometimes with the aid and advice of either A F. of L. or C.I.O...
...Adv...
...SiSO p. m. and by 4 o'clock it was all over...
...the Soviet ambassador to Latvia, Padolsky...
...Schism Is Suicidal, Peace Was in View, Yet Strife Goes On AT the most critical moment since 1932...
...Second, because workers who wish to organize are herorrting disgusted and beginning to say, "A plague o' TjjiM, Bemud point is no guess...
...They sought sanctuary in Paris and then published their stories in open letters to the League for Human Rights, to the Socialist Party and to the Central Committee of the Trade Unions of France...
...JT is always easier to break a precious thing than to repair it, easier to destroy than to rebuild, easier to start a quarrel than to end it...
...MttMIN'S LETTER I HAVE just severed my connections with the Soviet Government and think it my duty to bring to the world's attention the following facts and at the same time protest, in the name of humanity and civil liberty, the crimes committed every day in the Soviet-Union...
...the chairman of the society for cultural relations with Europe, Aroseff...
...At the preceding- session of...
...by the workers...
...Some favor one tie-up, some the other...
...3. In another group of indnstries there was to be a combination of the industrial and craft forms, such as actually prevails, for example, in the International Lsdsss* Garment Workers' Union, the de> tails to be worked out in each ease with regard to the special condition* and needs of the industry...
...Most of the sixty food ships which have reached Valencia during the past two weeks originally nosed out of English ports...
...No doubt this was done on the theory that they could be dealt with later on...
...WASHINGTON, D. C—It is one thing to prove that the Moscow trials of so-called Trotskyists have been sheer frame-ups and that the Stalinist stories about Trotzky and his friends plotting to restore capitalism in Russia are fantastically false...
...They realize that whichever group they join, they will be enlisted in a suicidal internecine struggle...
...No news of what happened at the meeting has reached here...
...the hundreds of thousands of dollars that are now being spent in mutual conflict that has reached the stage of mutual scabbing would have been made available for imailiialiar work...
...Today's session meant nothing more than the...
...Their proposal was for a general agreement which should include the following points: 1. The twelve unions suspended by the American Federation of Labor, which formed the nucleus of the Committee for Industrial Organization, were to be restored to full rights of membership in the Federation, and the executive eeuocil of that body was to be issprleea of the power to suspend unions in the way it was done in these eases...
...preeea^Nft a demand that all its affiliates, not only those unions which had exist, ed within the A. F. of L. and had been suspended, hat also those brought into erJstano* since the split, should be unconditionally admitted to tha Federation...
...in the Soviet Union is a farce...
...Today Republican Spain has established its forces as one of the best national armies in the world...
...The New Leader has received definite and reliable information of a recent tendency which has not yet become widely known...
...They can only retain their political supremacy by a combination it mm methods: partly by making ^2aJons to the many, such as ESfBtiels in wages, etc., which E agentttaU...
...We are back where we were—-or worse...
...They solve the problem—or think they solve it—by refusing to join either group, by remaining an isolated plant union...
...By adopting the Trotsky direction Ameriean radicals would be jinn ping out of the frying-pan into the are...
...The legislators did succeed in voting themselves $250,000 for traveling expenses...
...The soul of unionism, the feeling of comradeship in a great and noble movement for the common good, is being crippled and done to death...
...Special to The New Leader VALENCIA.—While all Loyalist Spain hails the capture of Teruel, spearhead of the Insurgent forces who were about to attempt to cut Republican territory in half, another victory is being won quietly on the Mediterranean as hundreds of food ships enter Barcelona, Valencia and smaller Government ports...
...Twenty-six nations art now affiliated...
...It is understood that there was a good deal of disagreement among them, but a substantial aajerjgr^ carried the deosioa npon waissWae*-"' C.I.O representatives in the josfct conference committee acted...
...As a matter of fact, the means that are used affect the end, and may even completely change it...
...But in this case the difficulties were being overcome...
...it unanimous...
...All that was needed: to complete the task was a unanimous wish for peace without factional victory...
...formal presentation and rejection of this proposal by which all the previous work Of the conferences would have been junked and aU the jurisdictional conflicts and cases of duality generated ejaee the schism began would have keen carried over to be settled, (et nott within the ranks of the Federstion, Immediately after adjournment statements were issued by both sides indicating that active hostilities will he resumed on both sides...
...In March, 1937, I became the charge d'affaires there...
...Franco realized some time ago that he could never win the civil war by force, and that his only chance was starving out tit* Republic during this winter...
...The affiliation of the Russian trade unions to the International Federation of Trade Unions—if it takes place, which is as yet uncertain—will not, according to Walter Schevenels, secretary of the U.T.U., involve any danger that the latter body will be dominated by the former, or that it will be committed to communistic policies...
...at a moment *^ when workingmen are being laid off by the hundred* of thousands...
...Th* vkieas element in the whole conceptien a that the end is so important that it justifies the use ef saymasns, Thia idea iaso deeply ingrained in the Communists, that ear own radicals resort to it sad even, excuse the present assaesbatacla on that basis...
...The road of dictatorship and rule by terror and falsification cannot lead to economic justice, to freedom, or to peace, no matter who takes it or why...
...Vyi Later, during 1934-35,1 was president of the Central Export Trust which the Soviet had established for auto and aviation products...
...the directors of the Foreign Commissariat, Zuckerman and Peckner...
...This means that the very men who created the revolution, the ones who fought-in and led the civil war, and later made secure this revolution are now to be turned over to the hangman...
...Wkjl* the U.S.S.E...
...I see my friends, the old Bolshevists, disappear, probably to be tortured and executed The former ambassador and commissar for foreign affairs, Krestinsky...
...The recent attacks fay Dimitrov and other C«nnTttfti»tB have certainly not tempted us to change this policy...
...It was impossible for me to conceive that the leaders of the Russian Revolution, despite the confession they were alleged to have made, were guilty of the crimes of which they were accused My close relations with the working class and broad masses of the Soviet Union and ray disbelief in the guilt of the murdered Bolshe- vist leaders prompted me originally to consider resigning...
...The committees met together at...
...Political unity behind the Loyalist lines is also being effected as Largo Caballero returns to Barcelona after having attended a special meeting of the executive of the I.F.T.U...
...Every such case is a disaster in itself...
...and more recently the newly arrested ambassadors Davtian, Karsky, Bogomoloff, Rosenberg, and Bradovsky—all these I knew personally and knew that they were devoted to the masses of Soviet Russia...
...The ether twenty C.I.O...
...secretary declare also that the Russtan atfluattor...
...WASHINGTON, D. C. — the joint mm ion of the conference committees appointed by the American Federation of Labor and the Committee for Industrial Organization to try to effect peace in the labor movement, held in this city today (Tuesday), was decidedly short and by no means sweet...
...It would have meant the betrayal of the Socialist cause which L»bave served all say Ufa...
...DEAL progress had been made...
...Tie-up With Soviet Unions Will Not Bolshevize IFTU Secretary Schevenels Tells...
...He pointed oat that ia the eastern!- tdmm- *t the I.F.T.U., whose authority is above that of the exertftrW c*mmilttee of seven elected at the triennial congress, each BJiSiaBfll federation has one vote and > no more...
...It is common knowledge that the C L O. in its eagerness for rapid growth at the beginning accepted many/members and even used organisers who belonged to one of these Communist factions or the other...
...Labor War Looms as AFL- CIO Peace Parley Collapses Negotiations May Be Resumed Some Labor Leaders Coot Final Session Lasts Only Half Hour Despite Strong Peace Sentiment in Erery State...
...During the years 1931 and 1982 I was the official Soviet agent in Belgium, and spent the next year as a member of the Soviet delegation to Poland...
...Lines are being rapidly drawn by the Administration forces to start,a counter-attack on the reactionary coalition in Congress headed by Senator Vandenberg...
...But practically gongs Uetnet and cannot work out (hat way...
...will make another Strong bid to take the lead in forcing through Administration legislation, at the same time keeping his eye on the 1938 elections to strengthen his hold on both houses...
...And yet it is the great majority which belongs to neither of these factions that is the important element in any consistent labor movement in this country...
...The tentative plan, worked ae* *i Moscow,- he said, safeguards th* congresses also a g * i n s t being swamped b ythe votes of any one or two national federations, however lifge...
...the grounds for KLtsky's claim that the Stalinist iwjms has abandoned Marxianism 3 is on it* way to state capitalism Sees OTerthrowr...
...the former ambassador and vice-commissar of Foreign Affairs, Karakhan (who has already been executed...
...Or—worse yet—if the employer is fairly dever and tactful, it is quietly transformed into a company union...
...All have strong progressive records in the Senate, indicating that F.D.R...
...the dualism in vanoua trades and industries that has grown up since the "schism began would have been eliminated by reasonable adjustments...
...For this reason, the Italian and -German diplomats at the Non-intervention Committee have been fighting for belligerent rights for the rebels...
...The political realignment expected by the nation may come sooner than the 1940 presidential fight...
...On the basis accepted at the previous conference, the field of industrial unionism would have been immensely broadened...
...at a moment when trade unions, regardless of affiliation, are being financially and morally weakened by the inability of members to pay dues mil hy ||bjsj jjjjSjfck of hopelessness which unemployment breeds...
...Weald Doable Membership The adoption of this plan would more than double the membership of the International Federation, which now has about 19,500,000 members, while the Russian unions, claim 22,000,000...
...I sign my own death warrant to be executed by Stalin's hired assassins, eat I have no other alternative...
...Z(tiy, at the Stalinist regime has B. iflmiwirif all opposition, Ms* within the party...
...the conference committees it seamed at if these point* were accepted as a basis and all skat remained was to work it out in detail The bene for peace, however, was lailjjeali dispelled by the C^O...
...above all, Organized Labor would have regained the confidence and prestige which it has so largely lost, and its voice would again have been listened to with respect...
...field workers...
...We know that many are indignant...
...ironed out...
...In the meantime, despite the improbability of the United States drifting into war with Japan, the flare-up in the Far East is producing an increase in the urge toward nationalism, with all that means in basic government policy, and a lessening of public resistance to an impressime program of naval building and army "modernization...
...Either the plant union dies because it cannot live as an ianlated unit...
...If he had gained recognition from Great Britain, be could have cut the Loyalists' food supply in half immediately...
...I was completely sobered by the recent events in Russia and bereft of all illusions...
...The Russians, tf they come in, will have 38 vote* oat "of a total of 126...
...Only if tile represent* Uvea of thirteen other natisael ***> eratione voted with the Rtt**U*s on any disputed question could their ideas prevail...
...in Paris...
...I think of my friends who are still at their posts in various countries of Europe, Asia and America who are in constant danger and in a tragic situation—they will either fie recalled to Soviet Russia to be executed or will be killed by Stalin's Cheka abroad, the very agents who now shadow my every step...
...I am fully aware of the danger created by this action...
...and inexperienced elements would have been cot down...
...the opportunity for spies, stoolpigeons, and disruptionists to mislead and betray newly iiifsMsiiai...
...In fact, however, the ineans that are employed decide the ends or conseP*M*>ai|yare actually attained...
...would have no effect upon the preset: close relations between that body and the Labor and Socialist International, that there weukf be no rapproachement with th* ComT.U...
...We still hope...
...We must stop looking to tiie Soviet Union as a model -for solving oar own economic difficulties *nd as a source of- defease for democracy against fascism...
...Both Stalinist Commanism and Trotzkyist Communism are dangerous to the American labor movement and to all hopes for genuine social progress in this country.* If the unions are wise, they will see to it that no dictatorial or terroristic tendencies of any color gain influence within their ranks...
...proclaims jqBjrfela freedom of the individual H its sfid, th« means they use vioWHfjMj elementary freedom of thsqffct, speech, press and freedom Agam: "According to the origami theory, this dictatorship was, aeCllisrjr aWfl on the way' to complete sleltflsktion...
...nineteen years I served, fought for and devoted all my energies to the cause of the Soviet government, I voluntarily joined the Red* Army in 1919 and six months later was made a political commissar of a battalion and later of a regiment...
...Or will steps be taken that will compel factional self-assertion to bow to the will for peace...
...3 Millions Lose Jobs In New Recession, As Congress Quits Reports From Washington Indicate Political Realignment Before 1938 Elections—Senate Liberals Hold Secret Meeting...
...Food Supply Important This phase of the war is more vital than the international military prestige which the Republic has, gained through the Teruel victory...
...More than that, these cases show which way the wind blows...
...Realignment Moves Start The - President—so the Capitol j hears—will eliminate all reference ' to relief in his annual message en 1 "the state of the ; Union" which he will send to Congress at the opening of the regular session...
...This news makes more vivid and more important the following letter of Alexander Barmin who was one of two Soviet ambassadors who refused to return to Moscow despite their recall by the Foreign Commissar...
...Country Warned by Dewey of Dangers In Any Communism Noted Philosopher States American Radicals Would Be JumpmgOut of FrymgPan Into Fire by Turning to Trotzky...
...It is quite another thing to infer that those who wish to get rid of capitalism and to maintain liberty ought to line up behind Trotzky...
...This was also the cause for Franco's friendly advances to the English Tories...
...I see a reactionary dictatorship being set up In say country...
...Schevenels has just returned from Moscow, where he and Leon Jouhaux, head of the French trade union movement, both acting for the I.F.T.U., conferred with^ the representatives of the ¦ Russian unions and worked out a tentative plan, which is to be studied and acted upon by both bodies...
...whether this WttaM not give the Russian organisation a controlling voice, Scheveneis denied that this Would result...
...I commanded a brigade on the Southern front and in 1920 jeopardized ray life many times on the Warsaw front during the war with •Poland...
...War department officials feel that the minds of the people have been temporarily diverted from economic troubles at home, and they reason that now is a good time to secure huge armament appropriations...
...Republican Spain is hysterically happy over the Teruel victory won by an army which a year ago consisted of undisciplined political militias, knowing nothing of strategy, trenches or barbed wire, waging a desperate and what looked like a losing battle...
...the Rumanian Soviet ambassador Astro vsky: the Generals Guker, Schmidt and Savitsky...
...give the national affiliates a very large measure of autonomy The moral authority of the congress and the general council h* said, is very great, but th*y have little or no pewer of compulsier...
...That progress has been junked...
...COR two reasons: First, as already noted, because unemployment is incraesjsjg...
...To all appearance the peace negotiations are at an end and tha war between the two groups of unions is now to be carried oo more aggressively than ever by both sides...
...but, as things now stand, they are giving the C. I. O. leadership a great deal of trouble...
...This week saw a secret conference, called by the President and attended by Senators Norris, Schwelienbach, Minton,, LaFollette, Pepper, Brown and Green...
...In Pennsylvania and the Middle West, perhaps else wane, this sort of thing is now happening:— The workers in a plant resolve to organize...
...unions were to be brought in as fast as difficulties could be...
...Walter Citrine presided...
...I appeal to the public opinion of the world to help save those revolutionists who are still alive and to safeguard them against all further accusations...
...It is a known fact...
...The A. F. of L. had, in the course of previous joint sessions, indicated how far that body was ready to go...
...The wiflingnet*' of the fitfViet government to have the Rueslsr...
...The idea that evil means may rightly be used for a good end is not only ethically false, .but it is disastrous in practice...
...What we had was war between two bodies of workers, both of which were growing in membership and were full of hope...
...Joint action with the Comintern is imperishable, and will continue to be so...
...The" next tflo years I spent as head of the division which looked after imports from Franca and Italy...
...Not only has the Government frustrated fascist plans to end the war by a final push, but its resurrected navy, about which little has been heard, has been effectively convoying food ships into east coast ports and balking all of Franco's moves to starve Spain...
...4. In each case where definitely dual unions now exist in any trade or industry, one affiliated with the A. F. of L. and the other with (tie C.I.O., the basis of unification was to be worked' out in direct eonference between the organisation* concerned, with the aanstance as needed of representatives of the whole labor movement...
...Some do not feel so sum, lesnwC that the Soviet government and Its open and"secret agencies, including the Cheks, are going to dlswfltihu* their meddling with the sifairs of both the political and the industrial movements in other countries...
...They will attempt to cut into funds which will otherwise go for public relief...
...ambassador Yureneff...
...Dewey, "that when violence is used to bring about economic and political reform, the method of force must be employed to keep the new government in power...
...vice-commissar for Foreign Commerce, Eliava...
...Then they take up the question of affiliation...
...Special to The New Leader WASHINGTON, D. C—Despite the desperate need for relief created by the collapse of more than 1,800,000 jobs throughout the counout eM^hjTany of^thTabjectives for which the Special Session was called...
...Sincerely, ALEXANDER BARMIN...
...After that, one thing or the other is bound to .happen...
...In severing all connections with the Stalin government I follow the dictation of my eonscience...
...The question now is, will the fight have to go on till both sides are too weak to fight...
...at a moment when the under-cover men of Big Business m Congress are beginning to wreck the structure of social sad labor legislation which until very lately they did not dare oppose—at such a moment, when men and women in the shops and mills and mines were hoping that Christinas week would bring them the glad news of reunion in the labor movement, what they get is word that the peace negotiations are broken off, that what had been done toward restoring unity has now been undone, that .thewar between workers and workers is to go on more fiercely than before...
...Some of the more outstanding passages follow: , Force Breeds Force "The Russian experiment proves conclusively," says Prof...
...The Man Who Refused to Be Shot AS tais letter is being translated, press wires *" are humming with news of new Soviet executions...
...A good start had been made...
...The danger lies in the fact that the tactics employed by these Communist groups have invaded the forces, of labor and are attempting to divide it...
...As this writer reported last week...
...The present government m the tftSJLR...
...Wh*n they reconvene early in January, according to authoritative sources, Congress will face the problem of caring for 3,000,000 more unemployed...
...of Safeguards Against Swamping of World Union Federation by Big New Members Kip...
...the Soviet ambassador to Finland, Asm us...
...Officers of the unions sflBwfl»4 with the C.I.O...
...Schevanels called attention ab.o to the fact that the statute* of t8e I.F.T.U...
...The Committee for Industrial Organization as a separate federation was of course to go out of existence, 2. The industrial form of organization was to be recognised at once for twelve industries, including some of the largest, each as coal, steel, and automobiles...
...Loyalists Smash Franco's Blockade As Teruel Falls Sixty Food Ships Reach Valencia—Trade Union Peace Seen as Caballero Returns From Paris...
...RECORD CROWD EXPECTED A T BREAKERS, A T LAN TIC CUT —I LA BORATE PROGRAM PLAHHEP With the approach of the New Year Holiday Season, which begins on Friday evening, December 24, 1937, and will continue, through until Sunday, January 2, 1938, the management of the famous Breakers Hotel on the-Boardwalk, largest Jewish Hostelry in the world, is all in readiness to receive its multitude of guests that are expected here from the major part of various communities in the East, The climax of the social program will be reached Saturday night...
...were in session for four hours in the office of John L. Lewis, president of the UnttSi Mine Workers, earlier in the day...
...However, the recent Moscow trials filled me intense mental pain...
...That inference is unsound...
...It is of course' to be borne in mind that in Russia the unions are in effect a part of the governmental system and membership in them is virtually obligatory , r Being . asked by a reoorter of the Dutch Social Democratic daily He: Volk...
...Among the victims are such prominent ex-leaders as Leo M. Kara khan, former, vioe-commissar, and Yenukidze, another veteran of the Revolution...
...During the previous...
...and in doing Kb the 3jylinfta« have not been kk ill choice in their methods...
...Reports from well-informed circles indicate that the White House is fully aware of the proposed raids on the relief funds and is tacitly encouraging them by keeping still...
...The Russian ftbetk* again demonstrates obviously Ifcat you cannot get away fjou iSsst methods without gettff iato trouble...
...Italiaa* Taka Over Customs However, this hasn't prevented the Italians from taking over most of the income from the customs duties of the rebels, including the postal service...
...From 1923 to 1925 I served as Soviet General Consul in Persia and spent the years between 1925 and 1929 as Commissar of Foreign Commerce...
...The gestures which are being made toward) sias*Iiliieeein el government only e&sphsaise the fact that deaocracs...
...Unanimity in that wish was lacking...
...Where you will go depends on the road yon take...
...It is of course permissible to quote only small parts of this interview, in which the young-hearted veteran treats the subject more broadly than was-practicable in his speech at the Hotel Center in New York and his radio address...
...Letters coming from Cordoba in rebel territory bear Italian stamps...
...I was appointed first secretary to the Soviet Ambassador in Greece in December, 1935...
...Italy has been operating her own postal service in Insurgent cities despite protests of the rebels...
...Special to The New Leader AMSTERDAM...
...A significant report, printed in the United States News, a Capitol political newspaper, indicates that Mayor LaGuardia has definitely broken with the Roosevelt administration with a-view towards heading a Farmer-Labor Party presidential ticket in 1940...
...Franco even dared antagonise Mussolini to get British favor by appointing the Duke of Alba as hi* "accredited agent" to England...
...Representatives of both sides of the conflict in the Spanish Trade Unions stated their cases and means were devised to reconcile their views...
...Yet, though no on* en either side cares to say it at this time, there is a general opinion that circumstances may before long compel a renewal of the conference...
...These are among the salient points in a remarkable interview with John Dewey, published in the Washington Post last Sunday...
...No matter what position I had, I worked f ullheartedly in the belief that I was serving the best interests of my country and the Socialist cause...
...Wshku and End «]t ia nsscbeiy this question of 01 bspermnce of the means which (rtstea the necessity of surveying ear sitasfien with a view to atatwhtgAsaecratic means to achieve sat isi'etltiat1' ends...
...is so established, so thoroughly entrenched that it also can otSy be overthrown by force...
...The I.F.T.U...
Vol. 20 • December 1937 • No. 52
