Teachers, Machinists, Shipyard Workers Show Labor the Way to Clean Out Communists
SAPOSS, DAVID J.
Teachers, Machinists, Shipyard Workers Show Labor the Way to Clean Out Communists By David J. Saposs Formerly Chief economist, N.L.R.B. IN spite of the loyalty and patriotism of over * 99yi% of...
...it is flying toward us in the shape of embittered refugees, Nazi spies, totalitarian demagogues, and naive or callous isolationists...
...ruthless terrorism...
...technique in prosecuting company dominated unions the same results should be attained...
...Their favorable position has enabled them to confuse he rank and i file and a large portion of the general liberal public...
...The Pulitzer Prize went to Robert Sherwood for Ms "There Shall Be-Mo Night," and the Drama Critics' Circle's award went to Lillian He&maa for "Watch on the Rhine...
...outlawing Communist and other totalitarian dominated unions.' This procedure is designed to parallel the provisions outlawing company dominated unions...
...Some persons advocate, therefore, an amendment to the N.L.R.A...
...It shouts, be possible to show that Communists arc so more interested in effective collective bargaining than anti-union employers...
...He read about it in his newspaper, but with no more sense of alarm than he read about the exploits of a visiting college football team...
...The Russians think so, too, but they are wrong We are your enemies, Herr Doktor...
...of Long Island is "also energetically applying itself in the same direction...
...Simultaneously with the instigation of unwarranted strikes and the prolongation of just strikes', the Communist and other totalitarian ilk are perverting many of the hallowed liberal principles and slogans...
...But their only son is nevertheless drilling in Mannerheim's army...
...Valkonen, a famous physiologist, winner of a Nobel Prize...
...that they an primarily interested in disturbed and unstable labor Delations...
...family if arm unit—to give farm families a reasonable ^security on the land and a decent standard cf living...
...The significance of these awards is that our stage has . been engaged in dramatizing Nazism ever since Hitler came to "power, but with conspicuously little success until these two plays arrived...
...Lower interest rates, longer period amortization, reduced principal based on a determination of the productive value of each particular farm, and varible payments permitting larger payments in good years, smaller in bad—all these are involved in a sound program to make farmers who still cling to their land, however fictitious their equity may be, again secure on their land...
...mU^ JUjISS LILLIAN HELLMAN would hardly agree Woffli...
...Moreover, they fear that fascist and other subversive elements may also become firmly established in some unions...
...THE Farmers Union, of course, with its •** tensive program of youth and adult ednestion, promotion of friendlier relations I***** organized farmers and organized laborers, W sponsorship of cooperatives, and its well-re***** legislativ>-Jprogram, seeks to do more ffJ farmers in 1941 than the two measures aaV lined here...
...But if low income farmers can have a asi*** of credit for building cooperatives and a of refinancing their impossible debt load, IW will have a home and an economic base *¦*• . provide an incentive for seeki ng a solatia* M all the problems that face American itmaamj...
...about Russia and Finland...
...At the end of the period, a new mortgage based on what the farm it can produce will be written pro*ie*eTeJ amortized payments over a 40-year period...
...She> wood speaks to us of the menace to all free peoples is the words of Dr...
...Its meticulous, systematic and intelligent handling of a most aggravating and difficult problem against ¦ a powerfully entrenched and unscrupulous group stands out as a monumental guide post for other to follow...
...It had more action, clearer characterization, and fewer expository speeches...
...There Shall Be No Night" dramatizes Russia's invasion of Finland...
...taa directed by an outside force, in this case a foreign country...
...Recent events indicate that some unions are seriously and effectively cleaning house...
...But there has been no need to, revive Rite's earlier play...
...some members of'the theatre audiences labeled it) propaganda...
...In this way: N'ofcatf could come out of that theatre and still be afraid.' 'I waHnf out of the theatre feeling somehow fcraver and strong*' 'You have given us something to hope for in these frights* ing times.' " Clearly, the success of these two prize-winning play* I a social phenomenon...
...The problem is being vigorously attacked in Minneapolis by the Teamsters' Union...
...A considerable number of the unions have constitutional provisions barring membership to Communists, Nazis, Fascists, and other subversive groups...
...Ziemssen, the German Consul General a Finland: i "Dr...
...the lower-income two-thirds of the farmers of the Midwest and South, who with the lower-income workers of the cities constitute the bulwark of American democracy...
...While It is important that we aid Soviet Russia as against Nazi Germany, nevertheless ,we must continue our t • - .Id' J "* ; vigilance against communist infiltration at home...
...Though the Federal Land Bank system bailed out private banks, insurance companies, and other investors in land in 1933 and 1934, by taking over their mortgages, the indebtedness of the land, based on the speculative values of the post-war years, remained higher than farmers could ever expect to pay out of the products of their soil...
...The final impression we get is...
...Private business can secure credit for its needs through the Reconstruction Finance Corporation...
...must warn you...
...prohibiting loans for cooperative purposes failed by a vote of 96 to 93...
...and that their revolutionary objective runs counter to the legitimate objectives of unions interested in the immediate inaproYemen t of the conditions of their members...
...When the amendment was re-inserted in the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senators LaFollette, Wheeler, and Lee, armed with information furnished by the Farmers Union legislative committee, succeeded in having this prohibition removed by a vote of 31 to 22...
...All the little Communist cells, is labor movements, youth movements, in all nations—they sn now working for us...
...The play lasted but briefly...
...For wheat and cotton farmers, there is a 'growing disparity between the things they sell and the things they buy...
...It is their opinion that in these instances government intervention is necessary...
...For several years the Farmers Union ha...
...You think your enemies are these—these Communists who now invade vow country...
...Europeg was very far away, a Strange, unhappy continent...
...whatever-upheavals it went through were not our business...
...The cooperatives set up prior to the restrictive legislation two years ago, mainly elevator associations which bought existing facilities that were financially involved, have proven that farmers can repay Quia* loam out of the earnings of their patronage...
...Prospects for passage of sncn a bill at this session of the legislature are goat, Farmers Union officials believe...
...Valkonen, disillusioned, enlists to fight the invaders, «nj both father and son are killed...
...Agriculture faces an insecure future regardless of developments in the war crisis...
...THIS, Farmers Union officials hold, is a fun* damental victory for the cooperative movement and for low-income farmers...
...OENDING before Congress at the present tito* * is the 1941 revised version of the Fsrmsri Union Adjustment bill, which provides not onlj^, a method by which a farm debtor, whose osht exceeds what the farm can 'be expected to nay, may refinance his debt and also for a revision at the whole farm credit system to make the Ureal farm loan associations more responsible ana more cooperative...
...The family affected is that of Dr...
...He listened to spasmodic broadcasts from the capitals of Europe, but with much less "interest than he listened to Amos and Andy or InformationJPlease...
...And when company, dominated unions tried to disguise ^themselves by allegedly going independent If...
...For this reason a large share of the Farmers Union program for 1941 is designed to~ protect the...
...It is their contention that the Communists are too strongly entrenched in some unions to be dislodged by aae.abei ship action alone...
...North Dakota.—"We believe that present conditions require concerted action and ciooperartion to a greater degree than • ever in the jfast...
...Cooperatives and Mortgage Reform Drive Pushed in Congress by Farmers Union By Harold V. Knight JAMESTOJrVN...
...They have, already done much damage and will do more unless, checked and finally eliminated, Not only are these individuals strategically located but they have powerful resources in the form of money, propagandists, literature, and' benighted fellow-travelers...
...second, the Farmers Union-sponsored meeting at St...
...Moreover, the history of the Communist and other totalitarian groups shows conclusively that these elements must not be treated as honest and responsible, oppositions and minority groups...
...The literature, the ideas, the activities of employer anti-union elements were replete with evidence of company domination...
...However, I want to reaffirm my position that public expose and union house cleaning are th« preferable methods...
...Notwithstanding that the courts were skeptical and not too sympathetic to union organization the evidence was so conclusive that they sustained the outlawing of company unions...
...And yet "There Shall Be No Night" is not really a pie...
...The farmers Union cooperatives of various kinds that dot the Midwest offer ample evidence that economic cooperation offers very tangible and substantial benefits to participating farmers...
...But unions have always reserved the right of self-preservation...
...When" the Farm Security Administration was created several years ago-for, the express purpose of rehabilitating low-income farmers, who, because of drouth and depression, had lost all their resources and could get no more credit anywhere else, a'fundamental part of the FSA program was the loaning of money to, these down-and-out farmers for participation hi cooperatives that would aid in their rehabilitation...
...Flight to the West," which competed with the two' prize plays during most the past season, brought the Nazi menace much closer to our shores...
...Or does it mean that the public has taken a long time in .coming to a realization that the material presented in these plays has relevance to us here in America ? . 1 ¦' . The answer to both questions is yes...
...By means of a group of representative European and Americans flying in the Clipper from Lisbon to the United States, he was able to focus our attention upon our most immediate problem...
...And when the invasion comes, and bombs crash down from the sky, Qt...
...Both of the latter plays concentrate on a single family, quiet, kindly, cultured people—typical men and women of goodwill—who suddenly find themselves in a world of...
...Young Finland is cautious, suspicious of its militaristic neighbors...
...although they may not know it...
...The Farmers Union believes the establishment of cooperative enterprises for the marketing, purchasing, and servicing of the farmers' peeds offers, in the long run, the only solution of their problem making farm outgo and farm income balance...
...The play deals with the underground movement in Germany and succeeds in portraying the honon.*" the Nazi regime and its impact upon a refined, hitherto "neutral" family...
...No money that the Federal government has made available for relief and rehabilittion has done a.-better job in helping folks to help themselves so that they will not permanently need assistance...
...that they are orders...
...Indeed a front organization actually has appropriated these last two words for its euphonious title, Since when does our bill of rights and constitution protect treason...
...Another union which has demonstrated its alertness is the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workets, which recently ousted Communists from its Baltimore local...
...that they aim to circumvent the will of the rank and file for genuine union okjectives through subterfuges and the raising of extraneous issues...
...Likewise, the charge of interference with civil liberties is raised when attempts are made to check the dissemination of seditious literature and other subversive activities...
...Their effective educational campaign which made'if possible to carry a referendum vote against a group that is past-master in the use of all tric|e of deception is indeed some.thing to comment...
...Thus when Communists and other totalitarian* are detected, in their machinations and prowlings, immediately the cry is raised of infringement of constitutional rights...
...The second, the measure providing a method of scaling down and adjusting farm debts, based on the ability to pay, is expected to be brought up in the near future...
...But the union that deserves our most profound admiration and gratitude is a union of "despised" intellectuals, namely, the American Federation of Teachers...
...For the past two years, these interests through the assistance of a couple of reactionary Congressmen, notably Youngdahl and Knutson, have befcn successful in inserting a provision into the appropriation bill for Farm Security Administration barring this aid to farmers...
...the Lunts have been receivtoj many letter...
...The lady, as well as Mr...
...A cooperative creamery or egg- association, for instance, might make it possible for a farmer to receive three orfour ceits more for his cream or eggs and open up a new source of income...
...They do not respect the democratic rules "of the game...
...f The claim is also made that unions must grant membership to Communists and other . totalitarians because unions must not 'discriminate on account of race, creed, color of political beliefs...
...that to h) neutral now is to be both blind and tallous...
...Around this challenging statement, the Farmers Educational and Cooperative Union of America) popularly known as the National Farmers Union, is rallying the farmers • of America, particularly...
...Valkonens and Fanny Farrellys...
...It indicates that our playwrights he* learned how to use the stage for democracy and that Ameri* is watching the Rhine, determined, that there shall be W night for the Dr...
...Through the efforts of the Farmers Union legislative committee in Washington last month this discrepancy was removed for the next fiscal year...
...It is part of a cycle of trageinwi dealing with the spread of Nazism all over the world...
...T* Sherwood...
...No Night...
...Flight to the West" was much better than "Judgment Day...
...IN particular, two battles on the legislative front are paramount in this program to protect the small farmer at the present time...
...I am told that this International intends to' follow up this good work at its forthcoming convention...
...and most of us, critics and public, were too apathetic to be either disturbed or amused by it...
...Nor can ;we—any longer...
...They are setting an excellent example for the others...
...Most unions have been cognizant of the evil and have attempted to cope with it...
...Just as they misused the united front and collective security aspirations, so are they now making capital and thereby discrediting other laudable ideals dear to the champions of democracy...
...His "Judgment Day" presented in forceful dialogue the ideology and the early deeds of Hitler, Goering, Hess, et alii the burning ^of the Reichstag, the savage persecution of minorities, the'' confiscation of private property, the dissolution of labor unions, and the warlike boasts of the Third Reich...
...And their nefarious activities have1 made it easier for anti-labor elements to popularize legislation which would cripple or destroy unions...
...In the sev^n years which have passed sincef 'Judgment Day," Mr...
...Europe is not far away...
...Certainly Communists and other totalitarians, who are fundamentally opposed to free unions and the attainment of trade union objectives cannot ever be loyal trade union members...
...Such a program of helping farmers help themselves has drawn the opposition of certain private interests, particularly the organized grain trade of the northwest...
...Oanmunisnviaa good laxative to loosen the constricted bones of Tfemocracy...
...But it was not so good as either Sherwood's "There Shall Be No Night'^or Hellman's "Watch on the Rhine...
...Was possible through painstaking research'and"'investigation to gather data exposing the masquerade...
...So far this has proved helpful in enabling them to mask their traitorous activities...
...In the House of Representatives attempts' to insert an amendment in the bill making appropriations, for F.S.A...
...Shumlin, aVt «rector of her play, is known for her "leftist" leaniap...
...But some close students of the subject question the ability of the union movement to completely clean house...
...This Finnish incident i»or>e little item in our v«st scheme...
...that-the choice now is less Whether we j shall organize or remain unorganised than' it is whether we shall organize voluntarily and -rapidly under plans of our own choosing, or: be organized by force of circumstanpe 'supported by edicts of others...
...Rice has learned how to write better drama pn the same subject...
...One, aid to low income farmers to participate in cooperatives, has already been won in Congress —with the aid of friendly Senators and Congressmen from labor districts...
...The British public could not afford to be apathetic...
...Valkonen...
...Paper provisions alone are, of course, not sufficient Vigilant and unequivocal action is imperative...
...Those disloyal to the principles of organized labor were always excluded...
...Indeed, faced with' impossible debt burdens and the growing mechanization of agriculture, these farmers may become even more insecure if .good prices make it profitable for mortgage holders to foreclose and for each large farm operator to expand hps holdings and to farm with modern machinery .[what has been the homes of three or four farm families...
...It is as though the play touch*1 fome hidden aspiration in people...
...By Bryllion Fagin Professor of English at Johns Hopkins University Dramatists' Use of the American Stage For Democracy Finds Responsive Audience* rk significant ithat the two highest honors in American drama, for the season just closed, were bestowed upon plays, dealing with the menace of totalitarianism...
...We make good est of our esteemed allies...
...Thus the farmers who could put up 40% of the capital of a cooperative in cash could borrow the remainder from the district Bank for Cooperatives, but the poor farmers who Could raise no capital, the ones who needed the benefits of cooperative marketing most, were refused credit for participation in cooperatives from the credit agency designed to help them...
...Fanny Family, the Washington hostess, becomes convinced in the end ant the least she can do is to help her courageous son-inJtt get back to Germany to bore from within...
...The machinists have done a good job among its members at the Boeing Aeroplane factory in Seattle...
...In the former case it was shown that company urfions were inspired, initiated and directed by anti-union employer sources...
...Every play dealing with totalitarianism failed, at the box office until Robert Sherwood—with the aid of the Lunts—stunned the American theatre public with ^There Shall Be...
...And more recently...
...A similar historic and economic approach should make it possible to outlaw Cororanaiot ar other totalitarian dominated unions...
...And even if, through high commodity loans or subsidies, prices of basic farm commodities achieve parity, there will remain insecure the great mass of farm families who traditionally have produced the food and fiber for the nation and the world...
...Stripped of technicalities, under thio b*J, a farmer in the process of foreclosure at threatened with foreclosure, whom a commit** of neighbors believe capable of making a 4* of farming, is given an opportunity to rent h* land for five years from the Federal Fnr*V Mortgage Corporation and farm it according** a farm plan which will produce the best Ii*i*» from that farm...
...sought legislation which would readjust these debts on a basis that farmers might reasonably be expected to pay over a period of years...
...Some critics found it too indignant to be plausible...
...Its local at the Brewster Aeroplane Co...
...Besides enabling low-income farmers to secure loans to build their own cooperative enterprises, the Farmers Union hopes that its second great legislative victory for 1941 will be the passage of its Farm Debt Adjustment bill...
...i: * * * JN 1934, Elmer Ride dramatized the Nazi Party's coming to * power in Germany...
...Paul, a year ago, when 21,000 farmers from 20 states rallied around farm debt adjustment proposals made by former Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace, and, finally, the support given to farm debt adjustment by eleven of the twelve ttitiim* land banks and hundreds of local National Farm Loan Associations...
...In a recent article, Maurice Colbourne reports of Ik* enthusastic reception throughout the country of "There 9M Be No Night...
...While I believe it would be much more difficult to discover and expose Communist dominated unions it would seem to me that such a procedure is practicable...
...Emphasizing my preference forkunion house cleaning, I want merely to discuss\|he practicability of this suggestion...
...When it has served that purpose, it willj*appear down the sewer with the excrement auajeV purge...
...Bat she has'wisely avoided any controversial issue in "Wtteh on the Rhine...
...expressing the feeling that- "the play is to* only wanted, but needed...
...It has now, alas, become very- much our business...
...fT is preferable that the boose cleaning of subversive elements be done by the unions themselves...
...It seems almost incomprehensible now, but it .is true nevertheless, that until a" abort while agio the march of totalitarianism in Europe signified almost nothing to the average American...
...Several steps toward this goal have already been accomplished: first, transfer of Farm Credit Administration from an independent agency to the Department of Agriculture and the consequent replacement of hard-boiled banker policies with a more realistic approach of keeping farmers on the land...
...In additior...
...Their way of life—like our way of ilife-^-the priceless heritage of ages of hutnan progress/ is shattered through no fault of their own, save perhaps that of too much faith in the impossibility of modem man's reversion to barbarism...
...IN spite of the loyalty and patriotism of over * 99yi% of tne American workers, subversive elements of the totalitarian stripe have wormed themselves into strategic positions in some unions...
...Does it mean that our playwrights have taken a long time in, learning their job...
...Certainly, such'a goal is important in making America strong and its democracy unassailable...
...Now that Nazi Germany has declared war on Soviet Russia, the Communists are attempting to shift emphasis from a war for Democracy to a war to save Communism...
...The top leadership of the U.A.W.-OIO has done a good job in connection with the North American Aviation strike...
...For the past twenty years it has been the policy of the Federal government to encourage farmers to participate* in cooperative enterprises, by making credit available to agricultural co-ops and offering research facilities in the Department of Agriculture...
...DASED on over five years experience as Chief ™ Economist of the N.L.R.B., ' UtiS Over a quarter of a century as a student of labor, I believe that by using the N.L.R.B...
...They maintain that it would be just as easy' to expose -Communist and other totalitarian dominated unions as it has been to detect company dominated unions...
...Valkonen is a charming, gracious American woman, who believes with her husband that Finland has nothing to fear from Russia, that civilization is here on earth to stay, and that it is best to concentrate on creative and peaceful pursuits, science, music, art and literature...
...Yet this same play produced in London this-'past winter proved a smash hit...
...Lillian Hellman found audiences warmly responsive to her excursion into this field of dramatic writing...
Vol. 24 • July 1941 • No. 27
