Patriotism Incorporated to Fight Labor
"Patriotism" Incorporated to Fight Labor Company Agencies Distort Union Work EMPLOYER-SPONSORED "PATRIOTIC" SOCIETIES PAINT WORKERS' ORGANIZATIONS AS 'LAWLESS" AND "UN-AMERICAN"—ANTIUNION...
...The passage of the first section of the Modern Code of Labor, dealing with the conciliation and...
...The bill, as it was first presented by the government, seemed an anodyne...
...j Their primary function - is to make available far distribution literature calculated to create the impression that regular unions, particularly those affiliated with the C.I.O., are communistic, un-American, and lawless...
...We had just had the "bank holiday...
...The MffgeMU weald Maws Men debaxed in ta* wampaiga...
...Blum realized the fact so acutely TTT June, 1937, he preferred to resign rather than run the risk of a bloody civil and international war that would have made the Spanish conflict seem child's play...
...Many nnions affiliated with both the A. F. of L. and the Railroad Brotherhoods have well functioning 'omen's auxiliaries...
...The Finance Minister opposes the bill on the score of lack of funds...
...Its technique in fighting the C.I.O...
...If we had a bettor psltilsss orgaaitatKMJ, we'd have a better Roosevelt...
...It did the right thing...
...The organization claims to have distributed °*«r 1,000,000 copies of the booklet "Join tha C.I.O...
...Public sentiment is supposed to be swinging away from him...
...144 Parmer-Labor ftoo»e*eK would not pick hit tlssaat Meitdg• from among bripbt yeang -chaps whom he happens i s tiiiaV...
...Under questioning by Senator Thomas before the LaFollette Committee, however, Mr...
...as a "Communistic" organization...
...This period—to the spring of 1935—was the best test of the Roosevelt measures...
...The Foundation also contemplates a "factual publicity service for the press of the country, nation-wide broadcasts, a National Speakers' Bureau," and the organization of student activities...
...It is significant that this organization was, founded during the maritime strike of 1B36, that it* re- leases were calculated to discredit' the motives aad actions of the strikers, that, in genereyrt PU^isWS wT*eor!t"rivid ^ n v ^ t e e n ^ ^ V i l» uri-American actions of other groups, such a* t » Harlan County mine owners, and that it emabasizes Its ^aonftdential isppeke*' te empieyerf This organization is ea>vseashp aght»r n i i f under the protecting symbol," dmerwtifltm...
...stwt...
...Bat VsA people of the VB*J*i States have no adequate political expression, the fallures of XM New Deal register then- lack of orgfnieatien...
...In the end, to the establishment of a Soviet form of government in the...
...Will it be the end of the People's Front, at least in its parliamentary form...
...2. To attribute such violence as has occurred during present labor disputes to the C.I.O...
...5 I don't mean that the New York American Labor Party went wrong in supporting Roosevelt...
...The occasion for its organization seems to have been the maritime strike of 1936...
...Recall the NRA parades...
...Chautemps seeks to gain time, and consequently asks for legislative powers to permit him to delay enactment of the measure...
...By WILLIAM E. BOHN YESTERDAY a student said to me: "What do we need of a * new labor Party...
...Nor, he admitted, did the words "constitutional" or "educational" have any particular significance in the title of the organization...
...The parte of the plsr would be coordinated...
...The senators have not betrayed that trust...
...The employeis are attacking obliquely the forty-hour law...
...There would be s party, a policy, a program, and adequate administrstion...
...They know if they are to wait on the good-will of Bonnet, Marchandeau A Co., the old people will get their pensions the day after death...
...There remain five sections of the Code still to be voted...
...SUPREME COURT PLAN BLOCKED EVERYTHING •TPHE Wages and Hours Bill might have helped, but what has * become of it...
...They actually direct' their energies toward fighting legitimate labor organizations which they falsely attack as radical and anti-government...
...They are, in great majority, hostile to the people's cause...
...has largely confined its activities to working within the Democratic Party...
...It was—and is—a great piece of legislation...
...W-h© te teb*amet What is to eseeaef Met presssery the #ree» dent...
...Writ¦B by Joseph P. Kampf, vice-chairman of the league, it seeks to picture the C.I.O...
...Camille Chautemps, prime minister, needed all his tact and patience to get, tha bill through the Senate in a form which would satisfy the workers...
...George than he did just five years age...
...The violence accompanying some of the recent strikes was Russian '"terrorism": sympathetic strikes were "the revolutionary way out" and "rehearsals for revolution": the mass production industries were the ' "Gomtrrunirts' main targets in 1936" a n d the major objective* of the C.I.O, drive in 19?6...
...meeting* the depression by raising tRe purchasing" pOWar "oi tnt people, fie is still trying to toxce through seta* fundamental legislation.' ~> , J - ~ ?> % * let'* imagine somettuag Suppose that Franklin fejaao Aopae» valt had been ejected »• a Farmer-Labor candidate a^d_jpac gone into bmce"with s Farmer-Labor majority in Cegfr«e* and * * » a Farmer-Labor Cabinet What n t i « the - dlwOrhnWef •, fHshf weald have happened by now...
...Unemployment was at its highest...
...The bill providing old-age pensions for those who are not included in the benefits of the Social Insurance Act must be on the speaker's desk in the Chamber of Deputies by tomorrow, the 10th of March...
...There are more than ten million people unemployed, and the number is growing...
...Thus, the Federated Press, a labor news service, is "the Communist news wire service," and trade unionists such as Sidney Hillman, David Dubinsky, Clinton Golden, and Francis Gorman are smeared with red...
...This leads right up to the tragedy at the heart of New Deal history...
...Chautemps considered it wiser not to antagonise the employers and the senators at the very start and allowed the Chamber's labor committee to fill in the omissions and to clarify the vague spots...
...What are the weaknesses, then, of the combination that prevent it from functioning as it should...
...as a highly synchronized mechanism whose direction emanates from Moscow...
...The months after the Supreme Court knock-out were the supreme test for President Roosevelt and his advisers...
...The Agricultural Adjustment Act was to jack up the farmer's position...
...and Help Build a Soviet America...
...That Lewisism (C.I.O...
...and Help Build a Soviet America," "Communism's Iron Grip on the C.I.O.," and "The Hell of Herrin Rages Again...
...The bosses are furious, of course...
...The sky was the limit of our prospects...
...Enough <has 'beep said, however, to indicate the red-batting and 'basically anti-union nature of the propaganda distributed by the National Americanism Foundation...
...A curious fact, which may not be due to pure chance, is that every time the French leftists have been in power, England and Germany have had a conservative or clearly reactionary government...
...Didn't Roosevelt and the Democrats give us the New Deal...
...The farmers' New Deal is still working, and the farmers are still with Roosevelt.' So far as the wage-workers are concerned, the tale is different and sadder...
...r ; ^ To blame the President for things gone wrong m te aeek a» alibi for our own shortcominga...
...An increase in the cest of living of at least five per cent makes wages and salaries subject to revision, but not automatically, and fixes the procedure to be followed...
...or h *he author over-accurate in his application of the term "Communist...
...aibitration of labor conflicts, after ten days of heated debate in the Chamber and the Senate, aroused hope of at least a temporary truce in industry between workers and employers...
...Patriotism" Incorporated to Fight Labor Company Agencies Distort Union Work EMPLOYER-SPONSORED "PATRIOTIC" SOCIETIES PAINT WORKERS' ORGANIZATIONS AS 'LAWLESS" AND "UN-AMERICAN"—ANTIUNION PROPAGANDA DISTRIBUTED BY ¦* MANUFACTURERS IN PAY ENVELOPES...
...Emphasis ours...
...No one doubts that the movement is alive and vigorous in the hearts of the Frenchmen...
...In the same way that Democrats are divided for and against the New Deal, the Radical-Socialists are for and against* the People's Front...
...is embarking on a political program...
...is nothing less than the theory and tactics of Leninism transferred from the soil of Russia to the soil of ^he United States is plain to anyone who can read and think...
...In the words of its Secretary-Treasurer, Chester A. Hanson, it has as its purpose "Education pertaining to the Constitution, interpretation of the Constitution, and education, information pertaining to subversive movements in this country which are working against or Yor the destruction of the Constitution of the United .States...
...One of their associations has already called^upon its members to sabotage the new law in every way possible, '"^wtll be difficult after that for the employers to declare that the workers are responsible for labor troubles...
...This spring is not quite as springy as the far-off season of 1933...
...Typical of the author's accuracy is his claim *at Trade Union Ladies' Auxiliaries in the United States are an innovation of the Comaanist- Party...
...Communism's Iron Grip on the C.I.O.," a reprint of a speech by Representative Clare E. Hoffman, follows the same general pattern as that in "Join the C.I.O...
...Industrialists Sabotage France by Fighting Peoples Front During Emergency By BENJAMIN PROTTER DARIS.—The kaleidoscope of events in France moves so fast, * it is almost impossible for a writer to sit down and giwe an understandable account of the situation...
...J*~ The administrators would be experienced Phoptd Ana thaf wouldn't he bobbing in aad out of departments, t h e / wwtyjfcHf on their jops as Secretary WaUaes hps «taye4 on bj...
...They were well administered...
...Within the past year it has issued three widely circulated pamphlets: "Join the C.I.O...
...Labor men are naturally anxious...
...No indication is.givan that orgaiyzation . on * an industrial basis, the use of shop committees to facilitate bargaining in mass production units, aad the ait-dawn strike can more plausibly be described ae highly effective union technique...
...Under the compulsion of the depression thi aeepae of the United States have learned something, and t t e a^airdj&aihw registers this advance in education...
...By the time his article appears in print, it is likely to be considered ancient history...
...This literature is widely distributed by employers and "independent" unions in pay envelopes, and is reproduced in the columns of the company's or "independent's" paper...
...To which I answered heartlessly: "New Deal history proves that we'll never get a new deal till we have a* Labor Party...
...By DAVID SAPOSS AND ELIZABETH T. BUSS Chief Economist and Junior Economist of the National Labor Relatione Board STILL another agency through which the employers operate in their manipulation of public opinion against unions is what may be termed the pseudo-patriotic organization...
...The good t h a t has eome from eke New Deal we Owe te Roaeeveit and t he progressive and labor groups whins rained round him...
...Meanwhile, Chamberlain is talking with Mussolini...
...PkarWddea by iaW ~ta interfere wffh their employees* right to crganrze...
...From the point of view of the nation, the present soil conservation acts leave much to be desired...
...Of special interest is the Foundation's proposed "Confidential Service" for business executives...
...WORKERS BILL GOOD ENOUGH TO INFURIATE BOSSES I ET us give credit where credit is due...
...Jts program includes plans lor the monthly publication and distribution of folders "containing a short interesting fact relating to the history and accomplishments of our country ' and e^ur people or a comparison between Americanism and the various radical isms in actual practice...
...I am taking toe granted thai ttm Farmer-Labor Party has no revolutionary purpose*, but i t merely wants he get out of the daorsesion, to see that the Auarsoi tkuec of t a t p o p a r t ox fthsii be oeeectfy...
...follows the ¦well established patterns employed by all antilabor organizations...
...But farm prices have been kept up...
...The result i| that a bill approved by the deputies is often rejected by the senators...
...RED"— POLICE VIOLENCE "LEGAL FARCE" ITS fight against "subversive movements" of late has been, in reality, a fight against the efforts of the Committee for Industrial Organisation to organize the unorganized workers in basic industries...
...His mind is as dear as a was in lftaa...
...But as . a means of maintaining the purchasing power of the workers it is plainly inadequate...
...and Help Build a Soviet America," with perhaps greater emphasis on the violence which it attributes to the C.I.O...
...H» seem* mu«b ipse tee gallant St...
...And things weuM**t depend on one man...
...In the face of «Ms situation the President"t control ef Congress is new inadequate...
...these employfrs and their allies have turned from open opposition to indirect, anti.-labor maneuver* and stratajgenw in order <e fttnlQ their old ebjeetisea...
...Although the League claimed to be in favor of a trade union movement and to be interested only in exposing the Communists therein, its literature labeled both the longshoremen and the rank and file group on the east coast as CoimTiunists and thus attempted to discredit these groups with the public...
...This * party is not a unified, disciplined political organization with a clear-cut doctrine and program, like the Socialists and Communists...
...The moneybags of France have put their faith in the Senate...
...Wage levels and farm prices had to be raised...
...BRITISH TORY GOVERNMENT J PLAYS AGAINST PEOPLE'S FRONT ANOTHER factor playing against the People's Front is the * * international situation and, in particular, the Conservative government in London...
...The depression was * due to inadequate purchasing power in the hands of the people...
...Even some of the labor forces are less confident in him than they were a year ago...
...is conclusive evidence of Communist diwetion...
...Since then we **a*e W a spade...
...AM ORE examples could be given of the attempts I T 1 to identify the C.I.O...
...The pretext is, of course, that production has fallen and costa have risen...
...During this strike, the League, operating from New York and San Francisco, distributed pamphlets, handbills, and news releases, calculated to create the impression that the strike was Communist inspired and that it was part of a well organized drive to overthrow the capitalistic system and the United States government...
...DAYS OF HOPE IN EARLY ROOSEVELT REGIME T^HE President started with a sound theory...
...To a considerable extent, both achieved their objectives...
...Public sentiment was behind them...
...There weuldbe no dspandencs or...
...Furthermore, some "independents," which -h^ave been free from attack as yjfmmunistic, make provisions for ladies' auxiliaries...
...Secretary Wallace and his experts have had continuous policies from the beginning...
...IS- eppoalttoa laomsd up In t h e Supreme Court, a well \^ouJet«o«t plan to take care of this oppositfcn would be set in operation from lha...
...This action is interpreted as revolutionary in nature, although the C.I.O...
...In the Chamber of Deputies, the majority of Radical-Socialists favor the Popular Front movement...
...The first went through and was declared constitutional...
...But to th<$ Constitutional Educational ***?Be, the organization of such groups by the V**0...
...Both measures operated for less than two years and were then knocked out by the Supreme Court...
...It is now six o'clock, March 9, 1938...
...The Chicago Memorial Day Massacre, for which the LaFollette Committee found the Chicago police solely responsible, is described as: "Lawless force and violence met legal force, and in a few moments four lay dead...
...The National Industrial Relations Act was to take care of wages...
...would be no need of compulsion of the legislative deparitaiht...
...Hanson revealed little actual knowledge of the Constitution of the United States...
...Factory payrolls stood about 55 when N.I.R.A...
...At a rightist meeting, Fernand-Laurent, crafty grafter, deputy and Paris municipal councillor, all in one, referred to "the deliberate omissions and vagueness" of the bill...
...But to come back to France...
...All the industrial charts and graphs and diagrams were at their lowest...
...They believe they have been tricked...
...pvedaaiinc are going deem...
...The opening sentence of one of these pamphlets, entitled "Leninism . . . Lewisism," indicates the general tone of this literature...
...LABEL C.I.O...
...The President's proposals are being held up in a Congress that is nominally his by a large majority...
...An analysis of the literature distributed by the Foundation shows a tendency to label large segments of the labor movement Communistic...
...The National Americanism Foundation considers itself a "a clearing house for authentic information relating to radical activities" and* its purpose is to expose and combat "all efforts to promote the programs of the enemies of our country...
...New—five years later—the New Deal is "bogged down...
...Agencies of this type, financed primarily by large donations, are ^presumably organized to ftght subversive movements...
...That obstacle makes it practically impossible for a government to take efficient, popular measures to overcome the constantly latent financial crisis, unless it is ready to sacrifice the -social reforms...
...The General Confederation of Labor answers that factory and mine owners have only to invest in new modern mavchinery instead of sending their capital abroad...
...S* -reiterates oft every suitable occasion hit original basic idea Bk is still best or...
...It will do right in supporting similar men and.similar programs in 1938 and in 1940...
...No nation can be saved till it gets ready U> W l ^ Itself...
...That all by itself has been worth the price of admission...
...SYMPATHETIC STRIKES "REHEARSALS FOR REVOLUTION" rT*HE National Americanism Foundation, an. other agency of this type, was originally organized early in 1936 as the American League Against Communism...
...The Capitalist International is a reality with which progressives the world over have to reckon...
...Everyone is asking: What will happen, then...
...Should, by any chance, a general election be called, the People's Front would come back as strong as in May, 1936...
...A large part of what labor has done in the field of organization goes straight back to it...
...have the seme objectives...
...They must look the situation squarely in the face...
...full weight of that force...
...It can be compared to our Democratic and Republican parties, a loose grouping of politicians held together by a certain number of very general principles...
...During the long winter session of 1937, Coftgreaj s h o ^ a a w ^ e b ^ S t ^ e g a ^ s t u c j u M ** r«WT*»But those bitter months were wasted in btekermg about the f»fa» Old stea...
...The chief substitute bills were the Wagner Labor Relations Act and the Wages and Hours Bill...
...There is no hope for real social and economic peace, and consequently true peace, on the continent of Europe, until the forces of Moloch, whether in its insiduoug form of financial capitalism in the so-called democracies, or blind fascist reaction in'the totalitarian countries, have been routed...
...We had the optimism of people who have just got out of jail or just got married or just struck gold...
...A government too far to the left to please those gentlemen, encounters inevitably innumerable difficulties...
...3. To picture John L. Lewis as a fabulously wealthy, power-mad individual, intent upon exploiting the workers in the C.I.O...
...They deal in brief with: workers' delegates, collective contracts, employment offices, hiring and firing, and strikes...
...Through its educational and publicity departments, it is seeking: 1. To label the C.I.O...
...Those were the days...
...Remember the Blue Eagle...
...When AAA was stuck into the wastepaper-basket, they quickly devised a substitute measure which stood the test...
...LOW PRODUCTION DUE TO ANTIQUE MACHINERY THE Socialists and Communists as well as many left-wing * Radicals are opposed to any further delay...
...When factory prices and payrolls started to descend in the spring of 1937, there was nothing to stop them...
...The sit-down strike and the handling of grievances through shop committees are branded as Russian tactics which wHi mad to "the revolutionary overthrow, of war government and...
...The American people t have got more political education in the past five years than in the preceding fifty...
...M» would have about him men who hfcve been tested ia-eJBoa> seated, and departments of t h e fade Wei fromu miiaat...
...That hope seems illusory . The bill enunciates the principle of a sliding scale for wages...
...They would understand wnajt tt going eft...
...at the present time is in the forefront of the battle to STOP LEWIS AND SMASH COMMUNISM...
...taeir attempts *» coaf use and lntimsdate their empeoyaea and te eeaae the National Labor BeiaTwtna Act fees ho-* recognized the unportanc* of capturing th>a««p* port -^^P^^^^^^S^^^M^ ergknfied labor The increM^^sWf wpjf wf?lT these smployers crystatUze puWe epinian rkf*Ogh orginiie a~Ad^barg^ui^coTlec^e^y^ New Deal Weakens Under Tory Pressure FAILURES OF ROOSEVELT CAUSED BY REACTIONARY LEGISLATORS—REVEAL VITAL NEED FOR BUILDING OF A STRONG NATIONAL FARMER-LABOR PARTY...
...They did the job for which they were designed...
...for the sake of personal ambitions...
...The President's Supreme Court plan got In" the way of everything else...
...The psopie woaid he ^tMm.jfl...
...Hanson stated: "Our activity is not so much pro-Constitution, S8 anti-Communist and anti-everything that has to do with subversive movements in this country...
...There are three...
...The Constitutional Educational League is an organization of the above type...
...A- - The above tummo/tr a*ekes it dee* tp«* t^» snti-union employers are operating through a well organized mass offensive in their fight against organised labor...
...eiothad...
...On the farm side he and they stood the test very well...
...United States, the ruling party of which will b e under Communist control, and an 'industrial union' under the same control...
...bright ideas...
...The' rssjcrit>- Senators and Represertatfves wtwlo...
...session and nearly three months of a regular session—aad the jab i s n t jmLdsas In the meantime the recession Fayroii- emasopmant...
...These organizations have been known to exist long before ^there ever was a Communist Party in the United States...
...This bulletin "will concisely review the most important items appearing in the current radical publications, making the full text of such articles available when desired," "will contain any facts or authentic information that the Bureau of Research may develop "from time to time," and "when occasion demands, will expose the facts regarding any radical individual or organization...
...The campaign against the methods of its administration are pure bunk...
...France, by its geographical situation, feels the...
...At one point in his testimony, Mr...
...An order has only to be nnued in Moscow and presto!—it is done—in Detroit, Chicago, or elsewhere...
...Alarm is voiced that the C.I.O...
...became law and about 70 when it went into the discard...
...RADICAL-SOCIALIST PARTY LOOSE GROUPING OF POLITICIANS PIRST, in the character of the Radical-Socialist Party...
...Those in the Senate, elected by an indirect vote and for nine years, have not had to declare themselves openly...
...and housed, to dt -what it can to head off future depressions, etc WHAT tP HO©$f?f tT HAk> NATIONAL LABOR PARTY...
...It is more than possible that before I have finished this article, France will be again in search of a government...
...as a part of "** Communistic .drive to overthrow the government and the economic system...
...The question now is if and when they will see the day...
...j h e a see* .tami eome into oftkt with, a dennats program...
...The firm pm&, toe wage-antf-employment phtn, the inflstirr...
...pitn—tf any—wMJkj no* checkmate one another...
...By its own admission, "It [the Constitutional Educational League...
...Workers, who were shot in the back, according to the findings of the LaFollette Committee, are described by the author as having "charged the police...
Vol. 21 • March 1938 • No. 13
