AFL Sees Europe's Unions' Fate as Threat to U.S. Labor
WOLL, MATTHEW
AFL Sees Europe's Unions' Fate as Threat to U.S. Labor By MATTHEW WOLL Vice-President of the American Federation of Labor IT is now; just one month that the Nazis launched with ail of its...
...It is highly conjectural how much of America's trade with Europe will be salvaged in the event of a German victory...
...The National Defense Program will lift production to higher levels, particularly in the heavy industries...
...There are other instances ins difk*nt parfav of the world...
...Mass Production America's prime strength consists not in her military or naval power, but] in her potential resources...
...It is more than likely that America's ability to import from various parts of the world which in the event of a German victory will come within the political sphere of the Reich, will depend «lmost exclusively upon the policies and the whims of the totalitarian dictators...
...that inevitably we shall be in it...
...Shortly after his assumption of office, he issued an appeal to the trade unionists in the British Commonwealth and the United States...
...here is the reverse process of free citizens, members of the free trade unions, joining with the representatives of management in a great cooperative effort...
...people of the invaded country, but also their social philosophy and racial ideology...
...And so I say to Mr...
...We can also use our employment services to sift out all workers with previous training and experience...
...Reference is made to the importation of raw materials and products from foreign countries which, in 1939, aggregated $2,318,258,000...
...This does not mean that 79% of American families are living below minimum standards, since many families have less than five members...
...Shortening hours does not raise, the employer's costs of production, if he pays 75* for each hour of work, he can employ one man 60 hours or two men 30 hours each for the same cash outlay...
...Communists and Nazis have for years been attempting to bore within the American trade union movement...
...He has come here on other important mission from Great Britain...
...The will of the American people has now been made up...
...We may at least find a way to utilise the surpluses that we have been storing up in our land, or we may find it necessary to even defend these our foodstuffs against the ravages of a foreign foe...
...We have seen perhaps a greater devastation of Kfe and property than in any comparable period in the world's history...
...We have stood- against them and their ways...
...He is indeed as outspoken against the Communists as the Nazis, who, while pretending friendship for the workers of the world, are actually deadly enemies, working hand and glove with the Hitler dictatorship to crush the workers by terroristic methods and enslave the masses by the bombing of innocent -populations and by the massacre of helpless refugees...
...It has been said that three great principles stand at the foundation of our western world: First, the rule of law...
...Bevin has told us a significant thing: "For the first time in history, every penny, every inch of land, every item of wealth, every fae1 tory and workshop is now at the disposal of the nation...
...Recently the British Trades Union Congress sponsored the election of William Green to the world executive committee of the I.F.T.U...
...millions of underprivileged should be brought nearer an adequate living standard...
...It was the first labor organization here to declare a boycott on Nazi and Japanese goads...
...18.7 22.3 Miscellaneous __--5.6 21.4 TOTAL, all groups-- 22.9 16.0 It has been suggested in many quarters thai even a victorious Germany will respect the United States and will undertake nothing designed to antagonize the American people...
...In a word, what Mr...
...If the Western Hemisphere is organized on a cartel basis against the Old World, the percentages rise considerably...
...There are thousands of skilled workers either unemployed or not working at their trades who should have first chance to fill industry's need...
...and, third, the sense of the dignity of ' man...
...imports and exports from and to Latin America to total American purchases and sales abroad: Ratio of Imports Ratio of Exports Commodity Group to Total to Total Animals and animal products, edible.-- 18.0 21.2 Animals and animal products, inedible-- 12-3 14.0 Vegetable food products and beverages-- 56.5 9.6 Vegetable products, inedible, except fibers and wood 15.5 7.3 Textile fibers, and manufacture ..--6.2 10.5 Wood and paper__,---0.7 21.8 Non-metallic minerals-- 18.6 9.4 Metals and manufactures, except machinery and vehicles________ 23.9 17.8 Machinery and vehicles -—-- 0.6 23.7 Chemicals and related products...
...It shall not, it must not happen here: Labor to Aid Defense, Asks Raising of Living Standards (AN A.F.L...
...It is vitally important at this time to build up consuming power and keep our normal peacetime industries active, so that the dislocation to our economy may be as small as possible, and will not cause a depression when war production slackens .This will also help to raise national income, and make it easier to meet defense taxes...
...the output of the.two 30-hour men would-be considerably higher and the quality better because fatigue would be reduced to a minimum...
...Since then it has followed a strong policy of meeting the Fascist threat everywhere...
...And when these hungry men find that there are no places from which they can get food, revolution will spread and the social consequences of this no man can predict...
...so pronounced a loss ? 'Does this not suggest that the United States may be forced into an economy similar to that of Nazi Germany which is predicated upon the abandonment of all that is genuinely American, and the adoption of doctrines which are distinctly foreign and inimical ? American economy will'be confronted by another serious problem in tHe event of a German victory...
...If some of the American republics are unable to dispose of certain parts of their production ¦ to countries within the above'category, arrangement should be made for the purchase of surplus products, which cannot be disposed of in the manner intimated, With fund's created for such purpose...
...The fate of workers in Germany and other enslaved nations clearly demonstrates what will be the fate of workers in any country conquered and coming under the influence of Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin...
...then those with training but no work experience...
...To cite at random, America hauls 43% of the world tonnage or railroad freight, compared with 16% for Europe...
...There is still another fact about this notable presentation by Mr...
...DUT there is still another point about Mr...
...Industrial output is expected to increase from the estimated June level of 112 (Federal Reserve Board index) to 120 in September, within 7% of the all-time peak...
...in the knowledge, known by-her potential enemies, that with its raw materials and natural resources, combined with its vast reservoir of machinery, technical skill and manpower it can produce tremendous strength to meet a foreign thrust...
...Estimates by industrial engineers place America's production pace at 5,000 planes a day—150,000 planes a year...
...Today science has been prostituted to the ends of ruthless destruction...
...As long as the nation has a large surplus labor supply, production can be increased without lengthening the work-week...
...new plants will be built...
...Let us not be unmindful of the fact that the democracies of Europe have thus far been the buffer nations making secure our liberties, our freedoms, our institutions, our land...
...But Mr...
...We have today an idle work force of 10,256,000 partly because our working population has increased by more than 5,000,000 in the last ten years and also because there have not been enough new jobs to create work for all those laid off by machines...
...in a world dominated by the philosophy of force...
...As a matter of national conservation and preparation for defense, steps must be taken to correct this sorry condition and revitalize our human energies by giving work and adequate income to our work forces...
...How much of all this will a victorious Germany permit the United <States to retain ? It is idle to speculate upon the possibility that Germany will modify her attitude towards the rest of the world...
...We know now, if we did not sense it then, that a revolution of nihilism has been let loose in the world...
...British labor has come to regard the A. F. of L. as a staunch friend...
...To lengthen hours with 10,000,000 unemployed would be to lose our gains and preserve^ our unemployment...
...a helpless nightmare, the helpless nightmare of a people without freedom . . . of a people lodged in prison, handcuffed, hungry and fed through the bars from day to day by the contemptuous, unpitying masters of other continents...
...The challenge to us is to realize the necessity to prepare immediately for whatever betides our people...
...we have utilized all of our great power and resources to check them during the days of peace...
...The challenge to us is to save democracy from the fate that is overshadowing the remaining democracies abroad...
...Bevin has been in this country on many occasions as a fraternal delegate both to the American Federation of Labor and to the Canadian Trades Congress...
...I am sure that I do not need to remind you how •urgent is the need for us here and now to determine that we shall as a movement, unitedly and consciously, draw together to meet this supreme challenge...
...Private individuals can be compelled to subordinate any private interest or gain for the common weal...
...Unless we preserve the principle of representation, we are in grave danger of losing the very fundamentals of democracy which we build armaments » defend...
...The short work week is necessary, to, assure efficiency in the presence of work ahead...
...It is a stark and dreadful picture...
...i> » 1935-1936, more than two-fifths of Amerm families (42%) were living on incomes sess than $1,000 a year, and nearly fourIts (79%) had less than $2,000 a year...
...America's first line of defense is her nan-power...
...Support American unionism, acting through the American Federation of Labor, is meeting the totalitarian challenge to the world labor movement...
...Here, too, may we take lesson in our haste all the power and centralizing it in the hands of a few irresponsible dictators...
...Bevin tells us also that a production council has been set up, that hours of work have been lengthened, that certain work standards have been altered to meet the crisis...
...To Bevin's "Macedonian cry we reply: "Our airplanes we are now preparing to send you and we shall urge the government of the United States to -send to you every single available plane that can be released in this your crisis...
...by his f^nunent, to sell in addition to the product ?JP|frtJon, fantastic ideologies, absurd racial ^*e*> and vicious political philosophies...
...unemployment...
...Bevin's appeal that I should like to dwell upon and that is that this great voluntary cooperative effort in the hour of great crisis is the most effective guarantee that when this testing period is over we shall be able, all of us, to return to our ways of peace, with our institutions intact and not completely destroyed as the result of participation in the great war...
...To Mr...
...Labor cabinet minister Ernest Bevin last week addressed himself directly to the A. F. of L. asserting the imperative need of the crumbling Allies...
...A policy of 'watch.ful waiting is dangerous .in the extreme...
...Even if the Reich were to replace most of Europe | as a buyer of American raw ^materials and manufactured products, the United States may be obliged to accept or even to adopt fthe German method of trading, however unsound from the economic point of • view and however repugnant...
...Exports to Canada amounted to $806,552,000...
...W Even if one were willing to concede that the imminent i^iger of German •ifllanes of bombing New York or Buenos Aires or Rio de JeneirTis exaggerated or *»n-existent, the twenty-one" American republics are in the gravest imaginable Wer...
...Perhaps it is not too late for the immediate adoption of the following measure: Let the United States, together with the other twenty American republics, convene immediately, and let the assembled representatives of the Americas solemnly pledge themselves' to cease selling any...
...At the same time let the representatives of the twenty-one American republics solemnly pledge themselves not only to continue to ship, hat to increase the shipments of all raw materials and manufactured products, which the Western nations require for the purpose of successfully prosecuting their struggle against Nasi Germany...
...Taxes should be levied where savings are highest, on excess profits and incomes best able to pay...
...Bevin I would say that these.are the attributes of a great nation that cannot be crushed, for when men are willing to die and sacrifice everything that they have for an ideal which they believe to be greater than themselves, they have become invincible...
...tJ' With its rationalized production, the belt system, and the plentiful machines, America today can produce in one year more airplanes than the combined world total...
...This will continue to create new jobs...
...A sfeidy of the position of S*aewtei'n Europe, which has been made to for its economic wellbeing upon Germany ¦«»lhas as a result come completely within the *&fc»l sphere of the Reich, substantiates the thesis...
...We must be prepared to bring every single one of these representatives of the fifth and sixth columns into some type of protective custody so that we shall know where they are and thereby limit their evil designs...
...SURVEY) ] T3E $4,300,000,000 National Defense Program will bring changes of far reaching consequence to all citizens and particularly to working men and women...
...Since 1935-1936 our national income has increased somewhat, but even so, approximately 50% of American families today are living below minimum standards for health and efficiency...
...T was only yesterday that American labor was appealed to by Leon Jouhaux, the veteran head of the General Confederation of Labor of France...
...production in other industries will be shifted from peace-time products to armaments...
...As business js to be safeguarded in the risks it assumes to finance plant expansion, so labor should be safeguarded in its risks...
...Famine stark and terrible is likely to face millions, literally millions, of people in Western Europe...
...It seeks to destroy all our institutions, our culture, indeed our very liberties...
...Without the strength of human lind, muscle, and will, armaments can neither, i produced nor operated for defense...
...And now let us turn our eyes to Great Britain...
...Will America's economy be able to overcome the impact upon her economic structure of...
...Indeed, Jouhaux might well have added to this terroristic combination the King of all Birds of Prey—Mussolini...
...J"* «geat of a German enterprise occupies a different position when called upon to his company's products overseas: In r®",»-fcMepresenting his employer, he is also jJlVrat of his government...
...In his statement he clearly summed up the situation confronting labor the world over, where he said "Hitlerism and free organized labor cannot exist in the same world...
...No man today is wise enough to predict what the future holds for any of us...
...Imports from the Latin American countries totaled $558,073,000, while purchases from Canada amounted to $340,066,000...
...What is needed here now more than ever before is the creation of a production or industrial council, voluntary In character, representative of the best within industry, management and labor, free from political bias, influence or discrimination—and centered wholly and solely upon national safely, security and well-being...
...No man or woman, and certainly no working man, who has helped with its own hands to form the fabric of our civilization can witness what is taking place without not only a deep sense of indignation----~ but a deeper sense of determination that, come what may, government by violence shall not prevail in our world...
...CHOULD the Americas fail to act at once, *^ the United States (and the other-American republics) will, to quote from President Roosevelt's address at 'Charlottesville on June 10, "become a lone island...
...He appointed to the position of Minister of Labor and National Service, Mr...
...law has been outraged by the forces of anarchy, and everywhere men are being treated with utter disregard of the fact that they are human souls...
...we can be heartened by the resolute way in which they have faced up to the starkest facts and have adjusted their techniques and methods...
...When the British government was reorganized under the leadership of Winston Churchill, he summ6ned to his aid representatives of the British Labor Party, as well as some of the British trade union movement...
...If it should be found impossible advantageously to Bell audi surplus wheat, let the amount be carried by the fund...
...Bevin is saying to us is that these ancient liberties of the British people as well as their property have now been dedicated to the service of the great cause...
...raw material or manufactured product to aggressor nations or to countries which, while officially neutral, are suspected of transshipping some of the raw materials and manufactured products purchased in the Americas to the aggressor belligerents...
...He has reminded us of the service which the British movement rendered to the working people of Germany in the hour of their great need during the days of the Republic...
...A year ago the menace of Hitler seemed to be a far-removed fact from all of us...
...ir P°litical and economic concepts...
...They should be protected...
...Workers allying themselves with war industries link their future to an employment which may disappear when war needs are over...
...Living standards have been seriously reduced in European countries which have diverted huge efforts to armament production in recent years...
...However, there is *" notable exception: Under ordinary circum"•"tts* economically "and .financially stronger will develop the resources of less ad""eed countries to the advantage of all con"To illustrate: "''•never a representative of an American "¦fporatkro 'endeavors to sell, his company's ***** abroad, he is interested solely and exr^dyS* effecting the transaction so that J* buyer and seller may profit...
...Of this, the bulk came from Asia, amounting to $699,447,000...
...Autkrities on living costs place the minimum yearly budget necessary to support a family of five in health and efficiency in the United States today at approximately $2,000...
...The same is true of Asia and Oceania...
...In his appeal Jouhaux reminds us of the fact that the French workers freely waived many of the advantages they formerly enjoyed, not alone in defense of their homeland but likewise in support of a cause that is common to free people everywhere...
...Should Canada be forced to accept a treaty of peace which the Germans will dictate, America is bound to lose that market too...
...In other words, the United States is in danger of losing markets which last year absorbetL^more than three billion dollars worth of American products...
...In the United States, however, with- our large resources of idle plant and idle workers, reduction in living standards can be avoided if wages increase with increasing productivity, if prices do not increase and if taxes which reduce consuming power, such as sales taxes, are avoided...
...the*basis of force, if the humane spirit that we have cultivated in this cohhtry for the past hundred and fifty years is to be abandoned, if the whole practice we have counted as the necessary conditions of life are to be set aside, then it is true that our education, our science, our culture, our religion will have to be reshaped and reconstituted to adjust themselves to this new situation...
...Bevin and to the British trade unionists at this hour, to the French workers—workers everywhere, that this is Labor's struggle the world over, to unite in opposition to the tyranny and the destruction which is being wrought by the Nazis ndw joined by the Fascists, upon the peaceful peoples of Europe...
...it is estimated that the nation's 1940 income will reach $75,000,000,000 compared to $70,000,000,000 in 1939...
...Thousands and eventually perhaps millions of new workers will be required in our industries...
...j4^ND now may I say a word to my fellow workers here in the United States...
...The urgency of this program brings strong pressure for speed and efficiency...
...Figures represent the ratio of U.S...
...Yet for be past ten years the ravages of depression ive sapped the vitality of our people through isr income and...
...then to get those who would be most easily retrained...
...Plant capacity in strategic industries will -be - used to the utmost...
...I am confident this appeal of the French workers in their greatest hour of trial will not go unheeded by lovers of liberty defenders of democracy and champions of free labor in America...
...AMERICAN exports in 1939 amounted to $3,177,344,000, of which $1,285,994,000 went to Europe and ?j642,488,000 to Latin America...
...Munitions, guns, indeed ships, we will send to you as rapidly as is possible...
...Labor knows something about the operation of the fifth column...
...but allowing for smaller families, the American Federation of Labor estimates that in 1935-1936, 59% of all families had incomes too low to support an adequate living standard...
...In addition to J*™* merchandise he prepares the way for ? ^ttnphant entry of his Fuehrer's troops at . ^PS* moment...
...Also, we must safeguard and continue the ¦teady progress toward higher living standirds...
...It is apparent that the United States cannot under any circumstances continue to view this menace with indifference or complacency...
...to meet their situation...
...of losing their economic independence...
...A LREADY Hitler's ruthless tactics have set in motion the greatest migration of peaceful peoples in the history of Western Europe...
...second, the scientific spirit...
...In the last war, Great Britain found, that long - work hours lead to fatigue, increased accidents and impaired quality of work...
...That is one of the imperative duties which face America, second only in importance to the task of preparing ourselves for the great crisis which lies immediately ahead...
...that we...
...Bevin has reminded, us of the determination of the responsible executives of the 200 trade unions and federations that make up the British Trades Union Congress to secure a successful prosecution of the war...
...National income will increase as production rises...
...Several years ago, following Hitler's accession to power, the Federation reversed its isolationist policy and returned to the International Federation of Trade Unions...
...just one month that the Nazis launched with ail of its ruthless terror * a "blitdcrieg" in the Low Countries of Holland and Belgium and in the little Duchy of Luxembourg, where I was born...
...How long would our wage standards, how long would it be possible to continue those processes, if that should continue to exist...
...Hee, too, may we take lesson in our haste for preparedness and whatever eventuality may overtake us...
...This is a time when America needs particularly to safejnard her democratic procedures...
...He knows the leadership of this country and we know him...
...Such views must be considered as nothing but wishful thinking and as such must be disregarded, once German victory is a /«nt accompli, What measures should the'American government and the American .people adopt to guard tjjemselves against the menace incident upon a ' German victory over the Western democracies and the resultant establishment of German domination over the world...
...Americas Can Aid 21 Nations Could Cut Vital Trade from Hitler's Europe By Dr...
...He is not a,tonrtea-.-fe*v his company, much less...
...MAX WINKLER Economist, Former Financial Columnist for the North American Newspaper Alliance JUBJUGATION of the Western Hemisphere by the Nazi regime will be the inevitable result of a German victory over the Western democracies...
...This country with only 69'r of the world's population and 6% of the land area produces 39% of the world industrial raw material goods, against only 18% for Europe, exclusive of Russia...
...Here...
...To those millions of homeless, destitute refugees he now has added to his tyrannical actions a great and growing group of starving people...
...produces 62% of the petroleum, against 3...
...Ernest Bevin, formerly General Secretary of the General Transport Workers Union and one of the most powerful leaders in the trade union movement in any part of the world...
...The accompanying arUct* by Matthew Woll, vice-president of the American Federation of Labor, and one of its foremost spokesmen, presents not only Labor's reply, but America's answer too...
...Already plans are afoot to train 1,000,000 for defense production jobs...
...Huge industrial shifts must take place to produce the 50,000 airplanes, the battleships, motorized equipment, armaments and other supplies required...
...are indeed, as the President of the United States said, "an island," an island that is being washed by many seas: that we cannot possibly stand outside and apart from this conflict...
...In a few short weeks America" has awaked from its long slumbers to realize that the barrier of the ocean is no longer a security from invasion...
...In short, he forms what ra"*6 kn°wn as N»zi pifth c<>iumn ,Jr ^ntieth Century Trojan Horse.: As a J* fte-Nazi forces do not find it very diffi«* aW ^*ldin8 the 'and in question, to force ¦Jcntt...
...Should perchance England, too, fall subject to the same influence, domination and control, then indeed would the old world be completely arrayed against the new, and without the bulwarks, the buffer nations of European democracies and the protection of the great navies of France and Great Britain...
...34% of the coal against 45%, 29% of iron ore, compared with 44...
...whole communities may spring up in' the Middle West around new plants, with new homes to be conitructed for workers...
...f*HE extent to which the United States needs *¦ Latin America and vice versa is exhibited in the subjoined table...
...32% of the copper contrasted with 8...
...today we know that if he wins, we face not only a revolution in our whole social and political and economic relationships, but that we shall ¦ have to, literally overnight, change our habits and our ways and our thoughts to fneet the new crisis, or if Hitler can dominate all of Europe and of Africa and can put under subjection all the work people of Europe and all of the resources of the continent of Africa, how long do you suppose it will be possible for us in this country to compete against such a process of production...
...It has generously contributed to the support of the German trade union underground organization...
...Let no «e be deluded into believing that the Americas are immune'from danger bewue of the protection allegedly afforded them by a 3,000-mile ocean which sep«ateg the East Coast of the Hemisphere from the Old World !l The ocean as a safeguard is a reality only so long as Britain remains mistress f f the seas, but it incomes a myth the moment the British navy disappears or intermitted to pass in the hands of the Nazi forces...
...It is true not only that great and powerful leaders of labor have been called into the service of the government, but that the trade unions themselves, with all their resources, with all their disciplinary powers, have been brought into the center of this national effort and are giving their utmost to the successful prosecution of the war...
...Indeed, the moment we begin to reflect on all that is involved, we begin to see what a grave crisis we face, for if the world is to be organized or...
...Moreover, history teaches that the ^ of economic independence is invariably accompanied or followed by loss of Meal independence, especially where Ger*»» is involved...
...Now, however, they will become ruthless when they are eager to expand their domination over this land...
...Europe ranked second as a source of supply, with $617,329,000...
...I think it is important to indicate also that the American trade union movement, at a time when inflation had practically ruined the German Federation of Trade Unions, by the solicitation of the then president of the American Federation of Labor sent tens of thousands of dollars to help the German trade union movement in their great crisis...
...Bevin which appeals strongly to me: It is the manner in which the trade union movement itself has become the core and center of this great act of national self-discipline...
...But this is an hour, I believe, when we must think first not of ourselves and our relative security in the, United States from the imminent threat of invasion, but of our fellow trade unionists if not our kinfolk, who at this very moment" are being visited with death and destruction in a fashion to stagger the imagination...
...Such an island represents...
...Sales to the former amounted in 1939 to $560,796,000 and to the I latter to $79,050,000...
...With our present unemployment, and with productivity increasing at the normal' rate, we have work force and plant capacity enough to raise the national income from the 1939 level of $70,000,000,000 to $90,000,000,000 without increasing prices...
...To illustrate: .:*.''¦ ¦"If Argentina is unable to ship wheat to Spain, which, in turn, may send moat of the shipment to Germany, let the fund in question pur' chase such Argentine wheat, with the understanding that it would be disposed of in the course of time and in such manner as not to interfere with the existing market for that commodity...
...With a great productive effort being diverted to armaments there is always danger of reducing the national living standard...
...Union offices are directly in contact with skilled members who are unemployed and stand ready to furnish capable men...
...shared by workers as partners...
...If we must spend 25 or 30 or 50 per cent of our income in building up a great military establishment, then we shall have to forego many other things that we have come to count as desirable ends in our society...
...TT is now something more than twenty years *¦ ago that Samuel Gompers, the great leafier of the American Federation of Labor, uttered these prophetic words in 1917: "This is Labor's war...
...The sums invested will prove, in the long run, a much more profitable transaction than would be the case if such wheat were to aid substanially the aggressor powers...
...The government has taken immediate action to control factories and production...
...Fortunately this can be done in the present circumstances...
...We face perhaps the sternest and most difficult decision that this nation has had to face...
...Income increases should be fairly...
...Let us not prove incompetent, fumbling—altogether too slow and paralyzed by our own internal politics...
...But that has been done by a free people in a great act of self-denial in the face of a very grave crisis...
...We are now definitely a part of this struggle and the problem arises as to how we can most effectively contribute of our power and resources to stop this totalitarian world revolution and bring again to pass a society which is based upon the rule of reason...
...We will not,—we must not—permit one single stone to be left unturned to throw the full and complete weight of our resources— physical, economic and spiritual—to the end that the Nazi menace shall be not only checked but eventually banished from the world...
...Unquestionably the fate of labor everywhere depends on vietory for the democracies...
...Labor is ready to give full cooperation in the defense program...
Vol. 23 • June 1940 • No. 25
