Strikes in Defense Industries
Kingdon, Frank
By Frank Kingdon Strikes in Defense Industries NOBODY in America can be very happy about the government's action in sending the American - army into a strike situation. Something basically...
...When we talk about national defense we must recognize that it is not only defense against something but also defense of something, and this something is democracy...
...Industry's opposition to plant expansion in steel, power and shipping is broken...
...First of all we have to recognize that this strike, and others like it, are Communist inspired and Nazi supported...
...to drive the Communists from the organization...
...To throw strikers m jail is just plain Hitlerism aitd, defeats the democracy we want to preserve...
...But this is not exclusively - the Negroes' fight Ask an army officer why colored boys are not taken into the ranks with the whites...
...The Negroes do well in making a frontal attack upon it at this time...
...Gene Debs and I were sent to the U. S. Penitentiary at Atlanta, Georgia...
...If Gene Debs were alrrt tot* he would still be an mtauualaia" socialist, believing that ia tad** ism we would find a was" fe about the brotherhood af aai1 and the federation of tlef*** Gene Debs believed that_ •**»•" ized error is more powaaful tiaa unorganized truth...
...Reactionary regulations are expressions of ancient prejudice...
...affiliates was a companion piece to the statement published by Labor's Non-Partisan League, a Communist-ridden - organization operating under Lewis's direction, which also characterised President Roosevelt's crackdown on the Communists on the Pacific Coast as a "witch hunt" and accused the Administration of "outdoing the Bias Committee in slandering elected labor representatives.'* The hand of Lee Pressman, whose style recalls that of the Daily Worker, is easily discernible in both the statement of Labor's Nonpartisan League and Murray's letter...
...I deem it my duty to place the facts, as I see them, before this committee, first because I am an American...
...Here are some figures on corporation profits in 1940...
...President Roosevelt in the statement to the Office of Production Management which he released on Tuesday, gave proof of a similar understanding...
...Every democratic group must line itself up and do its part...
...Almost over night he changed his tune...
...One plant alone is equipped to produce each month enough light tanks to supply an entire armored division...
...The average weekly wage in manufacturing industries was- $26.<o in 1929...
...I firmly believe that it is the duty of those who are acquainted With the facts of this penetrative process to speak out before it is too late for democracy to survive...
...It is my conviction that those who know the facta and fail to speak out in this hour of national emergency, must be judged as equally guilty with those who are seeking the destruction of democracy...
...Here we have a clue to the whole situation...
...It goes back to the way people get along with each other, respect each other's rights, and are willing and able to adjust differences without endanger- ' ing the general welfare...
...As the Committee on Manufacture ¦' of the United States Chamber of Commerc* has said: "Anti-strike laws will prove ineffective and: will deny fundamental rights to our citizens...
...What happened, within that period of one week when Murray began by denouncing wildcat defense strikes and ended with taking the Communists under his protection...
...To ns this was no surprise...
...Strikes are news, meetings of Boards of Directors ait'"' not...
...Beating down this wall is a job for all of us—not exclusively Negroes...
...The experience can be turned to value only if we learn from it...
...His natural appointment as head of the Office of Civilian Defense is sufficient proof that he is precisely the man for this job...
...Wages have been rising, but so have prices...
...The New York Times this week reported that between March \t 1941, and May 31, 1941, the cost of living had risen 3.1% and Standard Statistics estimate...
...i Tne nature of issues will make it possible in the September primaries to clean out once and for all the un-American elements which have hampered the party almost from its start NEGROES AND THE NATION 'J'HE Negro part of our population is voicing its grievance against American society with patriotic restraint but with a deep sense of the justice of its cause/ The present effort to secure equal treatment in the army, the navy, and the defense industries is one chapter in the long struggle upward from the position of stave inferiority...
...Behind his enemies loom Hitler and Stalin...
...I have been local organizer, state organizer, and national organizer of the Socialist Party, and it's candidate for Congress, U. S. Senator, and Governor of Rhode Island...
...The President says the government cannot countenance discrimination, industry must take the initiative in opening the doors, and workers must welcome fellow-workers "of all racial and nationality origins...
...Our metropolis is in many ways the nerve-center of this country...
...The Communists have violated every -humanitarian and social principle which we in America hold dear...
...And who are these "slander-mongers...
...Bat let there be no mistake...
...Appeasement of Communists and their allies is no more possible than appeasement of "Hitler...
...Whether these developments will lead to an early break ' with Germany will depend largely upon the reaction, in Berlin, but they all have their inexorable logic...
...There will be "no changes in the fundamental policies of the C.I.O.," Murray declared, characterizing all attempts to drive the Communists from the organization as "witch hunts' 'and all denunciations concerning Communist activities as "slander...
...I deem it my duty to present the true facts before this committee because I have been a public school teacher for over twenty years...
...In the second place, we have to recognize that Communist and Nazi propaganda 'jean be effective only when there is general discontent...
...If the obstacle lay exclusively in the employment policies of defense industries or in specific regulations of' army or navy, orders from above would do the trick...
...The encouraging defense picture has found its reflection in the diplomatic steps taken within the past few days in —Washington: the freezing of Axis funds, expulsion of all Gernfan consuls and auxiliary Nazi propagandists, and the tough attitude this government is preparing to take on the sinking of the Robin Moor, as brutal a piece of piracy as was ever perpetrated on the high seas...
...Lewis gave the order and Murray toed the line...
...This is true also of the strike in the Aluminum Company of America ins Cleveland and the Bonn Aluminum strike in Detroit They have followed the same pattern of action and conflict: 1. Each strike was called while the dispute was pending before the National Defense Mediation Board, and was called by the officers of the local unions...
...Those aw** ments are now destroyed aai driven underground, their leaden imprisoned in eoncsBttstiea camps, or killed...
...By that time Hitler will know, if he is not already aware, that he has lost the Battle of America, the battle to keep this country in a state of indifference to its own fate and the fate of the world...
...So we have to go back to the causes, and I would lay down two basic principles which I believe are fair: 1. Labor should share with capital in any increase in profits that come in this defense period...
...Italy, sa» in Germany...
...ItTjpA upon a final determination to make our love A freedom effective in the maintenance of a united and strong America...
...The Negroes must do much more than get action from President Roosevelt or Congress or any other official . agency...
...The military and industrial emergency affords a wonderful opportunity to achieve a victory over it...
...The fetter aajreaaed by Murray to C.I.O...
...In modern total war the city plays an enormous part...
...But this sort of thing is definitely out...
...They will go on in the Mayor's next administration as they have since he first entered City Hall...
...I say now that Gene Dabs wa» an international socialist as** believed in the international •> cialist movement, and wen hi alive today.he would supperf say movement-that called for all P**-•sible aid to the Allies...
...Murray has refused to do the housecleaning...
...Ask an employer why he discriminates against Negroes...
...and chief Communist conspirator at CXO...
...We discussed many phases of socialist philosophy and tactics...
...The obstacle to be overcome is not some specific policy of the administration, not some rule_of the army or navy, not some prejudice of employers or trade unionists...
...These ships should be escorted by American naval craft and war planes in accordance with the President's declaration that the deliveries must and will reach their destination...
...By Frank Kingdon Strikes in Defense Industries NOBODY in America can be very happy about the government's action in sending the American - army into a strike situation...
...Important Negro groups are planning a march on Washington for July 1. This committee, under the leadership of A. Philip Randolph, is fully aware of the wide reach of difficulties to be overcome...
...an increase of 5% in 1941 over 1939...
...We anew he would change his tune as soon as Lewis, the architect of the unholy alliance between the Communists and the CI.O...
...That American merchant ships will soon be armed to resist U-boat attacks appears to be inevitable...
...Suppose that nothing happens...
...LAWS denying labor the right to strike are essentially wrong because they put the wholei;;> burden of proof on the worker, when anyyfair' judgment of strikes indicates that they result ; from unreasonable attitudes"~on the'"part of em...
...They must make an impression upon the en- -tire nation...
...New plant building will now proceed at a rapid rate...
...I would be unworthy of my trust as a teacher were I to fail to expose those responsible for this crime...
...This letter was written at Lewis's direction, after consultation with some of the Communist leaders in the C.I.O., and with the participation of the notorious Lee Pressman, general counsel for the C.I.O...
...Many of us fought against it...
...banner...
...To keep the record clear I want to say right here that I do not -question the honesty or courage of Norman Thomas, even if I do question the soundness of his judgement in the present world war situation...
...I believe that I bad a better opportunity to know and usdw-stand the real Eugene Viet* Debs than the writer of "hi* oalf full length biography...
...All right...
...The greatest crime of the totalitarians is their active effort to corrupt our youth...
...When he attempts to identify the sources of the hindrance to their employment he mentions three—the United States government*, the employers, and the white workers...
...This, we hope, will be accompanied by instructions to all American naVal vessels patrolling the Atlantic to sink any Axis U-boat or raider on sight, and by repeal of the defunct Neutrality Act...
...Theorists in municipal affairs will lament this situation...
...first became interested in Gene Debs during the 'Pullman strike of 1894...
...He knows that he has lost the war unless he can bring England down before the end of this year...
...Letters To the Editor Holds Action Against C. P. Is Vital Now From BENJAMIN MANDEL To the Editor: The following is a statement submitted at a hearing before the Rapp-Coudert Committee, held in New York City on June 5, 1941...
...Both government and industry are set to move forward in a manner which may be expected to shatter all previous ,r calculations as . to defense production in both speed and •volume and top anything Germany can do...
...What then...
...3. In each case the strike was opposed by the national officers of the C.I.O...
...Today he speaks of keeping inviolate the principles of the C.I.O., principles which permit acceptance of Communists...
...With LaGuardia in his place, this city will do its part...
...He cannot deliver...
...Not that playgrounds are out—or better housing——or any other good thing...
...executives aided by the rank and file are "idle or malicious gossip," said Lewis's man...
...And it happened...
...Command of priorities by- OPM will make: possible more effective planning of further expansion...
...Very well: the rank and file must—and will— do it The alternative is the destruction of their unions...
...affiliates, in which he repudiated the charges of ¦ten like R. J. Thomas, president of the United Auto Workers, and other responsible C.I.O...
...2. Wages should increase with prices, so as to keep real wages as equitable as possible...
...the nefarious political schemes of John L. Lewis, the pompous demagogue who believes that the labor movement ia his private property...
...His enemies have placed the conflict on that footing, and his friends accept the challenge...
...There are strikes and strikes—for union recognition, for higher wagta...
...If labor cannot get a hearing in any other -way it must...
...Bat that was before he had heard from his boas...
...In simple language he recognizes the brute fact that defense production is hindered by the failure to employ qualified Negro workers...
...Management to take immediate steps...
...To cover up this shameful surrender, Murray wrapped Ids capitulation ia a few hypocritical phrases about his devotion to "democratic principles," "wholesome collective'bargaining" and "the organizational discipline necessary for the proper functioning of any democratic movement...
...They will recognize in his letter a truly Red herring drawn across the pic-tare in an attempt to serve, not the interests of the C.LO...
...leaders against Communists at work in their organizations, and sought to discredit their efforts to clear their unions of Communist traitors...
...aircraft companies, 290...
...He will tell you that it is because he fears discontent in his labor force...
...and the labor movement in general, but...
...They are symptoms and part of the answer to them is to cure the fundamental causes of the grievances which these foreign movements are exploiting...
...Not one of us can plead for exemption in this war...
...Democracy has got to demonstrate that it can deal effectively and fully with Communist and Nazi programs in this country, or else it is going to degenerate into a spineless liberalism that will lead us to national defeat This, however, is not all we have to say about these strikes...
...Gene Dabs •* lieved in free labor unions, ast'* government controlled mntss *» now prevail in Russia...
...Mayor LaGuardia cannot be re-elected without a bigger and better and more powerful 'American Labor Party...
...When three strikes follow a pattern so exactly, a well-defined line is apparent The fact of the matter is that we in America are confronted with an international revolutionary conspiracy aimed at weakening and undermining our defense program...
...Now let's have a look at the second proposition: wages and the^xost of living...
...But they are not the issue...
...The National City Bank reports that 2590 corporations in trade, transportation, utilities, mining and manufacturing earned an average profit of 7% on capital in 194Q> and in all manufacturing the average profit was 10.3...
...Certainly no American can be very proud of the way in which the management of the North American Aviation Company acted before the strike was called...
...2. Any dispute that such a Board cannot settle should be referred to a National Board, such at the National Defense Mediation Board, with • provision that this group must hand down a decision within thirty days, during which period no strike shall be called, and with a further provision that all findings of the Board shall be 1 retroactive to the date of the first presentation of the dispute to the Board of the Industry...
...headquarters...
...The greater the city, the more important its role...
...Front blasting the Communists he turned to appeasement...
...As an American, and a teacher devoted to these principles, I feel thst the Communists in the teaching profession have violated the moral, ethical and professional codes which are commonly recognised among men and women sincerely devoted to the maintenance of the four freedoms...
...Moreover, it will not work...
...Thank God," said Abraham Lincoln, "we have a country where working men have a right to strike...
...There are real injustices in our present economic set-up, and we must face them...
...We must devise a method to forestall strikes, I suggest, therefore, the following means to approach the problem: .' 1. In every industry a Board of- Industrial Practices should be set up to which disputes can be referred and which, from, an expert knowledge of the industry, can help maintain good employer-employee relationships...
...We refer, of course, to Murray's letter, published on Monday, addressed to all C.I.O...
...He even goes so far as to deny, in the face of well known and widely publicized facts, the existence of an anti-Communist movement within the C.I.O., thus giving aid and encouragement to enemies of labor eager to utilize Communist-inspired and Communist-directed strikes in defense industries as an excuse for anti-labor legislation...
...More, than that: he now denies that there is a Communist problem fat the C.LO-, and terms "fantastic" the charges of Communist intrigue and sabotage in industries where the subversionists function under the C.I.O...
...Close cooperation with Britain along these lines will win the crucial, decisive battle of the Atlantic for the democracies...
...for jurisdictional rights...
...United States Steel profits were 148% higher than in 1939...
...The world is in danger...
...He can and he will strike some more severe blows, but he cannot deal the knockout blow...
...Of course, we must recognize that this problem of strikes is part of a larger problem of Industrial morale, and, therefore, of national morale...
...Every industry should voluntarily establish a Board to keep relations good, and 'to deal with disputes as soon as they arise...
...Naval and shipping construction is considerably above schedule...
...Our Negro fellow-citizens, one-tenth of the nation, must be placed in a position where they can render their full service to our common country...
...He expects the Office of Production...
...There f spent twenty-six months, and in almost daily contact with Gene Debs...
...high command, would crack the whip...
...The wall against which our Negro citizens are beating is a mass thing, a national thing, a widespread and de^->-seated thing...
...The President has properly designated the present as a period of national emergency...
...It is estimated that the increase in wages - was 7.7% In durable goods, 2.2% in service industries, and 6.8% in the cleaning industry...
...Hitler knows this...
...They cannot carry far without support from the public...
...It is an attitude of the " American people as a whole based deep in old habits and emotions...
...There will be no "purges, ted hunts, etc" ia the C.I.O., Murray wrote...
...It we batt*1* in the democratic way ?"* ganize all possible aid te *¦* Allies...
...railroad equipment companies, 240...
...He will tell you that it is because of opposition on the part of the privates...
...Something basically American in us is shocked by it Nevertheless, everyone must be agreed that we cannot tolerate strikes in defense industries, and that the President was right and justified ia the action he took...
...The infiltration of those whose first allegiance is to the dictates of the Stalin-Hitler alliance—into our schools, our government, the labor movement and strategic posts in our national life, is one of the gravest phases of this national emergency...
...2. In each case these officers charged that the Mediation Board was stalling in its settlement of the strike...
...Our airplane production space is already equal to Germany's...
...For a fleeting moment daring the wildcat Communist defease strikes on the Pacific Coast Murray indicated his intention to help the honest, bona-fide labor elements in the C.LO...
...and of the need of rooting it out Last February Murray himself spoke of driving Communists, Nazis and Fascists from our shores...
...The great majority of the C.I.O...
...If the machinations of isolationists and disloyal factions under foreign control were able to bring about his defeat and place in the City Hall a Tammany hack more interested in satisfying the boys in the back room than in defeating the international forces of destruction, this result would be a tragedy* for the entire nation...
...We might all prefer to conduct a calm campaign about parks, playgrounds, pavements and city budgets...
...Phil Murray Surrenders Philip Murray, dummy president of the C-LO-, lost no time, in confirming our charge of last week that he is only the front for his boas, John L. Lewis, and that his professed opposition to Communists is mere lip service...
...organizations who have long been aware of the Communist cancer within the C.LO...
...This prejudice itself, deep in the minds of millions, is what we must attack...
...rank and fife and the responsible leaders and governing bodies of its affiliated anions, who know the Communists from bitter experience, are not likely to be deceived by Murray's cries of "slander" and "witch-hunts...
...All this is good news...
...have the right to strike...
...THE NATION NEEDS THE ALP *pHE campaign to elect Fiorella H. LaGuardia as Mayor of New York is-a part of the wider struggle to defend democracy and to defeat the forces that threaten the existence of civilization...
...We have nnW things in common, including membership in the SocialW Party of the United States, being sent to prison for va socialistic activities, and intimate knowledge of Eugene V. Debs and Norman Thomas...
...Next week the disloyal Communist elements will marshal . their forces for the fight in the primaries...
...Fortunately, leaders of the regular Amencan Labor Party are fully aware of the crucial nature of the situation...
...Gent U* would remember the labor nniae* and socialist movements in many countries now ruled *f totalitarian forces...
...He has imagination, energy, the gift of leadership...
...The democracies have just begun to fight...
...What William Lloyd Garrison and Abraham Lincoln started, we must end...
...It calls for a dewtion on the part of both employer^ and employees, it' an ideal greater than profits or wages...
...The very men' whom but a few days before he pretended to support when they fought the Communists in the outlaw strike at the American Aviation Company's plant, men like Thomas and Richard Frankensteen, who denounced the strike as a Communist conspiracy, men like Sidney Hillman and Gustave Strebel, head of the New York State Industrial Council, and other leaders of C.I.O...
...Joseph Coldwell Says Debs Would Favor Aid to Allies Now From JOSEPH M. COLDWELL To the Editor: It was interesting to read the letter in the New Y<sk Times in defense of Norman Thomas from my old fritm and comrade, Judge McAllister Coleman...
...I met him for the first time in 1897, and joined the old Social Democratic Party in 1898, which later became the Socialist'Party of today...
...We are not winning anything if we lose that...
...The mobilization of 2,000,000 tons of shipping under direct government control recently ordered by the President will soon be completed, we hope, to make possible the beginning of shipments in wholesale quantities of food and war materials to Britain...
...That blow will be struck by his enemies...
...ployers as1 much as from those of workers...
...The burden of proof is on the employer not on labor if they do not get these adjustments...
...Even if this alibi is partly false, it contains enough truth to make it stick...
...Thus, the majority would never reach the strike level...
...Many fester over a long period of years...
...World War I was a commercial one...
...It is higher low...
...Iq another three months we shall be producing at a rate approaching Germany's present output...
...The era of hesitation and confusion is drawing to a. close...
...It was $24.58 in 19S9...
...It is good because it comes not from Administration press agents but from hard-boiled observers who have always been quick to cite errors, delays, and weaknesses...
...Mass production of planes, tanks and other weapons essential to the defeat of Hitler is about to Begin...
...Anyone familiar with life in their Soviet fatherland and with their activities in this country, will not and cannot deny this...
...Such orders will accomplish something—as the Walsh-Healy Act has proved—but not enough...
...These were profits after all taxes were provided for...
...CTRIKES have causes, they are not just mani-testations of perversity...
...Behind the Mayor looms the President of the United States...
...Democracy must guarantee to all the people conditions that enable them to live and work in equity and security...
...They are gathering a group of representative laborites and liberals to constitute a policy-forming committee and so place the organization on a wider and firmer base...
...These are only some of the criteria by which we can now measure the progress made since this nation began to move one year ago after the collapse of France...
...This is no ordinary little parochial palaver...
...The trade unions have a special responsibility which they cannot dodge...
...against those within its ranks who seek to use it as an instrument of Communazi conspiracy against the defense and security of this nation and for the destruction of the free labor movement in this country...
...We do not intend to allow the unity of our advancing ranks to be disrupted by slander-mongers who seek to promote factionalism and other forms of internal dissention," wrote Murray...
...All stories of Communist conspiracies in the defense industries and of plans to put an end to them through the efforts of responsible C.I.O...
...So says the President of the United States...
...AMERICA ON THE MARCH *^HERE is a direct connection between the progress of this nation's rearmament program and the course of American foreign policy...
...We are convinced that the publication of Murray's letter will stimulate the crusade on the part of all honest unionists in the C.LO...
...He has promised his robots victory by December, 1941...
...Industry has advanced its tooling up to a point at which America's war potential will soon be demonstrated in all its might...
Vol. 24 • June 1941 • No. 25
