Stalinist Apparatus Here Seeks Control of All U. S. Seamen
FLAHERTY, JAMES
Stalinist Apparatus Here Seeks Control of All U. S. Seamen Sets Up CIO Maritime Group, To Raid West Coast Unions By JAMES FLAHERTY ?LEVELAND. — With a desperation sharpened by the rets* Naii...
...This is the first step...
...Training to meet the shortage of workers in the higher brackets of skill has assumed several forms...
...So we are in danger of being .marked, and despised as traitors...
...The Office of Education and the various State educational authorities have made available to private enterprises, the services of expert foremen trainers whose job it is to develop an understanding of the instructional aspects of the foremen's job...
...The hiring of large 'numbers of semi-skilled has also raised the question of providing an adequate supervisory force in the form of superintendents, foremen, and lead men...
...The typical defense trainee attends the pre-employment course for six hours a day, five days a week, for about six weeks...
...The United States Employment Service has the primary responsibility for this latter phase .of the labor supply problem...
...But each one in his own house...
...But besides the legal problem there exists the moral problem...
...The procedures involved in the first are the finding of job openings by location and by occupation, and the referral of qualified workers, and placement...
...For obvious reasons he is using a pseudonym...
...No one can blame you for it...
...Ash is an important official in the government's U.S...
...But the emigrants of these countries in the United States are ^bt considered enemies...
...When first set up in the summer of 1940, the pre-employment, or pre-employment refresher courses as they were then called, assumed that there was a'large group of workers whose skills were rusty from disuse and who, through a short intensive "refreshing," could be made available for immediate employment...
...U. S. Meets Skilled Labor Shortage By Vast Industry Training Program By Robert Ash WASHINGTON, D. C.—The character of tie labor mar- I. ket in the defense situation can be seen by the fact that the problem causing concern is the supply of labor, 'ra'fher than the demand for labor...
...The elements of doing a job are different from teaching a new worker to do the job: therefore, the need for foremen who can serve as teachers in the plant...
...We must remain loyal to the Italy of Mazzini, of Garibaldi, pf Toscanini, not to the Italy of Mussolini...
...This is a condition unprecedented in so accentuated a degree since the first World War...
...has been the money spent for armaments...
...The USES, it should be remembered, operates in 'a field which includes private, employment agencies and the independent placement activities of large employers...
...If the Italians want to free themselves from Hitler and from Mussolini they must desire the defeat of Hitler and therefore also of Mussolini...
...England cannot win this war without the help of America...
...Indeed, this body in def.ance of its own constitution, has named thirty delegates...
...This is why we give our support to President Roosevelt in his policy of active solidarity with the English people...
...b) Then the coordinated plan to eliminate all plan to eliminate all seamen who oppose the Stalinist bureaucracy from working aboard ships...
...The Italians mi^ht help Father Coughlin or the Ku Klux Klan Klan chase out the Jews, but then they will be driven out in turn...
...Induction training for beginning occupations in the semi-skilled categories is provided through so-called pre-employment courses conducted in the public vocational schools...
...This call is false...
...With a desperation sharpened by the rets* Naii declaration of war upon Soviet Russia the Stalimata an the United States have intensified their efforts to sew up control...
...5. The NMU Pilot story of page 2, June 27 issue, on delegate) to the NMU convention which opens July 7 in Cleveland, Xj> • * a ' IN addition to the above listed exhibits it must be taken into con* sideration that the NMU communist leadership has issued a mT' to the West Coast unions to participate in the NMU conveazka under the guise of national unity of all seamen...
...It has been found that the most effective method of maintaining the supply of all around skilled craftsmen is through the apprenticeship route...
...A new mtnowrJ was planned...
...the SUP and ¦H have A. F. of L. affiliation...
...And in the United States 'the Italian population alon...
...The supply of workers with defense skills which could be refreshed is approaching the vanishing point...
...Perhaps we will fail...
...and then only in a small box not promineaw ¦ displayed...
...France, too, has in this country men who campaign for Petain and Darlan...
...If it aa> eeeds the commissars «ks> now control NMU dual Joe Currsn will contra...
...Ta* story behind the scheaw ¦ revealed here by a newt-pi per man long familiar with NMU activity...
...Because no.Norwegian, no Swede, no Frenchman takes up the defense of those who navVbetrayed his...
...Late advices, of the Voice of the Federation, disclose that the SUP arid the MFOW are expected to send "rank and Me* delegates (i.e...
...This is a legitimate feeling...
...more than 90 per cent of our colleges of engineering organized for short-course training to more than 110,000 engineers...
...The'use of such devices as "job dilution" inay haye disastrous economic and social consequences in a' post-war period, unless organized labor can safeguard Its legitimate interests...
...This is the most precious privilege the United States grants to her citizens...
...build up a better order...
...His further statement from page 3 of the same minutes readi: "If West Coast seamen's wages are to go up, if their conditions are to be made better, they must unite with the NUV into one industrial union to solve these problms...
...If Hitler is beaten in Europe, what .would be the situation of the population of Italian^arigin \n this country, if it commits the error of associatfi^-itself in this crisis with the Fascists...
...gave training to half the workers-hired by expanding aircraft industries...
...Shortage in productive capacity and materials are a much more serious threat to the 'progress of defense production...
...those who run all ef America's boats...
...These unions are the Independent MFOW (Marine ^fti,'' men's Union) and the Sailors' Union of the Pacific (SUP), waiea is parent organization to the Seafarers' International Caesar (SIU) on the Atlantic, Gulf and Great Lakes...
...American brand...
...The basic impetus to this sharp increase in employment, of course...
...If a .totalitarian regime were to rise here on the ruins of democratic institutions, the first minority to be reduced to slavery would be the Jews, and immediately afterwards would come the Italians...
...4. The June 14 issue of the Voice of the Federation, organ if the Maritime Federation of the Pacific (Bridges-Communist' dominated...
...it promotes the adoption of apprenticeship systems by employers and labor organizations...
...Our sons and our sons' sons will have to continue...
...Perhaps We will succeed...
...The two peoples will have to cooperate in the same work of peace and labor in the free world of tomorrow...
...Third, the contract awarding- agencies should let as many contracts as they can...
...of the American merchant marine...
...We hope and wish that such a disaster may be avoided and we will work to avoid it...
...I ' A CAREFUL study of the defense labor supply program ** generally, and the training program specifically, suggests certain conclusions and recommendations: First, it is absurd to think in terms of an overall shortage of manpower, either now or in the remote foreseeable future...
...That is why we are trying to bring about, one organisation 'under tke...
...For this reason we follow with trembling admiration the heroic resistance of the English people...
...If America becomes Fascist it will not be Italian Fascism, but an...
...Therefore, it must logically b* naked, how can the NMU better wagea and conditions for seamen of any other coast when they have no ships whereupon to give tboet men jobs...
...Their purpose is tcAfit the trainees in...
...To construct a better order will be a task even more difficult and more tiring than preventing Hitler from establishing his order...
...Nevertheless, the Marine Cooks' "nJL Stewards' Union of the Pacific (a CIO union, not affiliated with the NMU) has agreed to send delegates to the convention...
...Employers were loathe to make long-term commitments in the face of a stagnating market for their products...
...An element aggravating this shortage is the .undue extent to which production depends on the utilization of these all-around skilled craftsmen...
...HPHE shortage of competent supervisors and foremen has * already been referred to...
...Italians would be feted, to live here despised and suspected as an accomplice of the vanquished enemy, as disloyal and a betrayer of American hospitality...
...has produced .criminals wholaccept the dominion of HitfeVover Italy, 'the country of their origin, and who hope for the victory of Hitler over...
...Accompanying this situation is a shortage of apprentices...
...Let Us improve our purgatory as best we can, but let us be careful not to fall into Hell...
...TTHE fact should be stressed that while the National Mnritma * Union's Communist leadership has screamed loudly against tat transfer of ships for national defense from the East Coast part of the industry, they have inconsistently shouted at the nuaibit ships of the West Coast unions to unite with them to better tfeJ "West Coast wages and conditions...
...Page 5 comment on dissolving of the Federation, which is handing over all its functions to the CP-coa-trolled Maritime Committee of the CIO...
...We can exert a great influence on the decisions of the American Government...
...A era*1 was launched te bring all American sea workers kV I to the NMU...
...This has arisen because in- such crucial industries as machine tool, aircraft, shipbuilding, and munitions, the national defense strategy has stressed the critical importance'of original planning and design, areas of industrial activity which are essentially engineering In character...
...To say to a man with a heart that he must fight the country of his origin in order to remain loyal to his adopted country is like telling him that he must put out his own mother to keep his wife...
...It should be pointed out that Myers refrained from aayiof anything hike that while speaking at meetings aboard ships on the Pacific Coast...
...As thin is being written, only slightly more than onerthlrd of the total defense authorizations have been translated, into contracts...
...The discrimination would multiply and perpetuate themselves for many generations...
...We have no enmity for the German people...
...Apprenticeship particularly involves a long-Term investment, for the apprentice must serve a four to five year period before* the employer begins to get - a return for the time and money expended in the bringing of the apprentice to full productive capacity...
...Work with us for a future of Jastice and freedom for America and for Italy...
...These United States are in a state of war even if war has not yet been declared, and it may be declared from one minute to the next...
...V* ' 3. The NMU Pilot—official organ of the union—June IS, freat page comment on tmi number of ships transferred from tat industry for the Army, Navy, National Defense, to Britaia and other registries...
...This kind of regulated migration of labor is obviously more desirable than the random movement of job seekers, In both cases, community adjustment in terms of housing, schools, and health facilities need to be -made...
...What must be our choice ? Italy is not Mussolini...
...a nation-wide employment service is most apparent when it becomes necessary to shift substantial numbers of workers from one state to another...
...America will have a deciding voice in the future peace conference...
...All these delegates have been named illegally according to Ha constitutions of their own unions and that of the NMU...
...loftsmen, and pattern makers are illustrations of the typ.es of skill involved...
...Under totalitarian regimes the minorities have no rights...
...Comaaaa with the OP tactic—it is join us, or else...
...After his recent return from the Wesl Coast, Myers stated fc a May 29 meeting that: \ ¦ ' "I was sent out to the Coast as you know to popularize convention and to lay the basis for an amalgamation of er-ganizations into the National Maritime Union, such natiafd/ action to be taken at our convention in Cleveland in July^ (Emphasis this writer's...
...That is the record of the schools of the nation since the educational service for national defense job training was started Jnly 1, 1940...
...We are.only four and a half million compared with one hundred and thirty millions...
...Under the guidance of occupational^ competent instructors, workers currently employed are being up-graded to higher levels of skill by being able to work at comparable machines in the schools, a resource unavailable to workers when machines in the plant are being utilized* at full capacity...
...We who have never made any concessions to Fascism, we who have no- responsibility tor the crimes of Fascism, we tell the men and women of ztaUfcikaxtraction in this country: It is hnrnan, it is right for_you:to keep in your hearta the affection for the land of your ancestors...
...own country to Hitler...
...The meeting of these shortages involves the establishment of two sets of procedures: one is the maintenance and improvement of the labor market mechanism, the other is training...
...Apprenticeships have always been regarded as -a reserve for renewing the supply of skilled craftsmen...
...The large numbers of new workers inducted into industry necessitates foremen who in effect have to be teachers as well...
...v* And from the document of the June 12 meeting one can fled the words of the same "Blackie" Myers, third paragraph, •* follows: | "We cannot allow ourselves to get into a position w^ier* all the suggestions are going to coma from the Pacific Coast This Union and the Convention belongs to us...
...The answer is' that the destiny of the Italian people is in your hands, men and women, citizens and residents, of Italian origin, in the United States...
...They have found hi*i in Lindbergh...
...The tightness of the labor market has, however, compelled employers to utilize the services of USES...
...America their adopted country...
...The Cam-intern will then have uc-ceeded in capturing ear merchant marine...
...For this reason last year, instinctively, all those of us who have not lost all moral and common sense, mourned the ruin of Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, and France as our own personal disasters...
...Long-range labor supply planning is impossible unless employers know with reasonable definiteness what they will be required to produce...
...In addition the Training-Within-Industry Section of the Office of Production Management has promoted the adoption of in-plant training programs by employers/ The Apprenticeship Unit of the United States Department of Labor has been given the responsibility of promoting the adoption by employers and labor groups of apprenticeship systems meeting minimum standards of adequacy...
...The loyalty owed to the country pf adoption does not prohibit affection for the country of origin...
...In that period more than 10,000 city and rural schools were mobilized...
...Let them cross the Alps and we will again be brothers...
...Shortages of skilled workers do exist' There is.no shortage of any consequence, however, that can not be met by a. combination of job dilution and an intelligent public and industry training program...
...But if Hitler wins this war every hope for a better order will be lost in Europe...
...this was accentuated by the geographical concentration of defense production...
...Communist) in excess of forty...
...There are, in the United States, four and a half million' persons of Italian origin...
...s* By Gaetano Salvemini Italian-Americans Urged To Aid Fight on Hitler-Duce Axis • in FASCIST tactics threaten to have tragic effects in the . ""present moment of the history of America and of Italy u" Italy'lias been placed by Mussolini jinder Hitler, no more no less than Ozecho-Slovakia, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium^ France, Yugoslavia, ahd Greece...
...The democratic republic of the United States is not a paradise...
...their materials...
...The democracy of the United States may -.fee purgatory...
...They will be able to hope and fight...
...To be sure, we have tfie legal obligation of remaining loyal to the oath we" took to our adopted country, and even if we have taken no oath we must respect the laws of the country in which we live...
...Mussolini in Italy suffocated the German, the Slav, and the Jewish minorities.' This fate would be reserved for the Italians in this country...
...Even further, empldyersjwho persist in engaging in these practices should be denied priority ratings for...
...Although less pressing, the great -numbers of persons to be hired' in the semi-skilled jobs constituted a serious problem...
...We must demand justice for the people from whom we come, but punishment for Mussolini and for his accomplices, beginning with the King...
...The most pressing problem has been a shortage of skilled workers...
...England wins the war ? Will not England make the Italian people pay for the crimes of the King and Mussolini ? The question is fair...
...1*HE old European order has been destroyed by Hitler...
...n«arj7~" jj sees fit te tell of it...
...Then we must take the second step...
...the shortest possible time for Immediate employment ip defense jobs...
...For the most part, the pre-employment trainees are referred to the schools by the local Office of the "United States Employment Service...
...This is the future the agents of Mussolini have prepared for us...
...Hecently the French joined us Italians in this misfortune- and .shame...
...Probably we will succeed in only a fraction of what we hope for...
...In this they are obeying tat * edicts of Statin and Loxovaky: To be able to control the strategic industries in event of an anti-Soviet war...
...Fascist with a speed -which will startle the world...
...Hitler wins in Europe, a Violent Fascist wave will quickly take over South America, and soon will storm North America...
...TTHE solution of these problems has become the respon-stbility of the Government On the planning level, it has become the task of the Labor Division of the Office of Production Management working through such established agencies as the United States Employment Service, the United States Office of Education, the National Youth Administration, and the Works Projects Administration...
...However, there mU«t be increased labor participation in the determination Of policy in the training programs, particularly in the local levels...
...Labor Supply 1X7HEN 1,500,000 persons are trained for jobs in " defense industries, then we know we're somewhat in earnest in this talk of an "arsenal of democracy...
...No matter what is in store for our people, they must bear on their shoulders the burden of victory as well as the burden of defeat, if we do not soon find a remedy for the crime committed here by the Fascists...
...We ardently hope that his name will remain linked with those of the creators of freedom: those of Washington and Lincoln, Garibaldi and Mazzini...
...There is ample justification for the Government taking vigorous steps to eliminate discrimination, both in law and in economics...
...Nevertheless they are to be seated at the NMU convention with full vim and vote...
...These workers on lower levels of skill, now work-ing at a given plant, through a combination of plant and school training, are brought up to more difficult and involved tasks...
...But we want a better order which grants peace, justice and.freedom to all peoples and not a worse order which reduces all peoples except one to the state of beasts of burden...
...Pre-employment training is increasingly concerned 'with starting new workers from scratch...
...Second,..under no circumstances should the Government tolerate discriminating employment policies' oh the part of defense industries which prevent the hiring of qualified persons because of color, age, sex, nationality, religion, Or any other extraneous consideration not related Jo "efficient operation.' If it is.necessary, an anti-discrimination clause should be put in each Government contract...
...We do not mourn that order, its errors and its crimes...
...A Fascist dictatorship would be hell...
...He who wants a better order and not a worse one than the old order, must prevent Hitler from establishing his order...
...To this end, an Apprenticeship Unit functions in the Division of Labor Standards in the United States Department of Labor...
...The citizen of this republic may have two souls: that of his native country and that of his adopted country...
...But in order to exert this influence we must accept loyally the principles on which the democratic Constitution of this country is based...
...Sometimes we seem to see a man who is walking along the edge of an abyss...
...This tragic situation was sot created by the Italian people, it was created by Mussolini and by his accomplices...
...banner of the National Maritime Union...
...The shortage of both journeymen and apprentices in occupations essential to defense industries find their origins in the post-war years, which witnessed the decline 'from disuse of the highly involved manipulative skills...
...The Fascists hope that if...
...The Communist Party's plans to make the American Merchant Marine a "cloyed ^hop" for Communist Party members — after they have taken control of the West Coast unions now opposing them — follows in essence: (a) Seizure of control of the Pacific Unions' memberships who now oppose the Communist dictatorship of the Marine Unions...
...The advantage of...
...And yet the choice must be made...
...Men and women of Italian origin, make up your minds: do you want a free America and a free Italy ? Or do you prefer to play the part of Fifth Columnists in favor of Hitler and of Mussolini, against America and against Italy...
...France, too', today has irr Vichy a government which • boasts of . "collaborating"' with Hitler...
...But if Hitler wins piis war, Mussolini will save himself, whereas Italy will lose her national independence and will be ruined from the economic and moral standpoint...
...Such relaxation of standards has, however, in the past had a deteriorating effect on skills as was proved in the last World War...
...In the face of the facts—as shown by their own documents— < that the NMU has no ahips upon which to place added members (there are few enough to employ existing NMU members), and h> face of the expressed words and "desire" of the CommunJsfci within the NMU, we can plainly see that the Stalinists intend * place the "kiss of death" upon the West Coast unions...
...The USES operating as part of the sociaT security system of the United States has its first critical test in attempting to substitute for the pirating of skilled labor, unscrupulous private employment agencies^ and bootless migration of workers, the regulation of an orderly labor market which will come as close as possible to eliminating the elements of chance in securing the right man for the right job...
...Worthy «f mention, here, are the facts that the Voice of ta» , Federation for June 14 telle the West Coast seamen that law Federation is being dissolved into the CIO Maritime Committee, . and that the NMU Pilot, by recommendation of a committee ef Communists, will become the national paper for all seamen...
...We can help Italy save from the wreck all that can and mUst-be saved...
...Faced with this war, what do we intend to do ? To say that we must obey the laws of the country in which we live does not help at all to put our souls at peace...
...These delegates like those of the Stewards' union are illegal, but are named purely for the point of packing the NMU aaasa> turn against the internal revolt of the NMU members...
...The'training program has followed a pattern dictated by the kinds of shortages indicated above...
...These can be made without large-scale dislocations when it is possible to anticipate the movement of job seekers...
...We feel very keenly the heavy responsibilities which weigh on his shoulders...
...IBither-Mussolini or Italy...
...All will depend on our intelligence...
...Mussolini's agents, however, in the joyiof serving Hitler, do not stop to wonder what would be the fate of the population of Italian origin in a Fascist America...
...We must throw Mussolini overboard.- We must disavow Fascism...
...If Hitler wins, North America will become...
...DUT there is another alternative...
...The hopes of the ° Fascists may fail...
...factories must build their unskilled and semi-skilled working force...
...Perhaps the most effective measure is the so-called "up-grading" technique...
...For it k) the aaast strategic of all This week it met in cos> vention...
...This plea is just another Stalinist bleat, since the majoritf it the transferred ships have been lost to the NMU members, aits» the West Coast seamen...
...Mussolini has made Italy the slave of Hitler...
...2. Minutes of a similar meeting of June 12...
...Sailors IF the Communist apps-ratus here were faced with the sodden diiemnu of retaining control of only one labor organisation, k would pick the National Maritime Union...
...machinists, tool makers, die makers, precision lens operators, ship...
...Sl The documents revealing this plot to discredit the ieadersaia of these unions and thus disrupt them and take them ever art1. Minutes of the National Maritime Union's New York beat quarters meeting of May 29...
...At the end of this tempest which shakes the whole human race Roosevelt will either be one of history's greatest men, or a finished man...
...For the most part, the training conducted in the public schools has been directed by the United States Office of Education through individual State Boards for Vocational Education in .every-state...
...He who does not accept these obligations ought to feel it his duty as an honorable man to return to Italy and not remain here as a dead weight or as a spy and a traitor...
...Theirs will be a decisive factor in the "vote" to set up a National Industrial Maritime Union — which will, of course, be controlled and manipulated by the CIO maritime committee in Washington—now absorbing the Maritime Federation of the Pacific —the present NMU Communists—and such other Stalinists as the Communist Party may from time to time see fit to name...
...In plants where there is no systematic in-plant training program in effect, much of the up-grading process occurs in the public vocational schools in cooperation with plant managers...
...We too remain bound to our ancient mother, Italy...
...c! Bat'Italians are in a worse position because here Fascist propaganda has for almost twenty years Insinuated that in Europe Italy was Mussolini and Mussolini was Italy, and that in America all the Italians were united as one man at Mussolini's orders...
...They will be free men...
...Robert Ash, in the accompanying article sketches the background of the vast government program training and redirecting the skilled and the unskilled labor supply of our nation...
...But Italians will say to me:—And what will happen to Italy if...
...If the man is a man and not a brute, a choice of this kind cannot be made without profound anguish...
...Make up your minds...
...This shift from a moribund peace time economy to a 'flourishing war economy has not been accompanied by an automatic readjustment in the labor supply...
...Either Mussolini or America...
...German Nazis, Italian Fascists, ar.ti-Semitic followers of Father Coughlin, four-fifths of the Catholic priests of all nationalities, capitalists who want to enslave the trade unions, young intellectuals who have been educated above their intelligence, all the factors of "a vast Fascist movement are ready for the attack in this cpuntry, "Up until now they were lacking a leader...
...Frequently the up-grading is accompanied by a program of related and other instruction in a public vocational school in such fields as blue-print reading and mechanical drawing, for this background training can be taught more adequately in a school shop than in the factory...
...Afcein* emphasis, this writer's...
...A shortage of qualified persons in the various branches of engineering essential to defense production has also appeared...
...helped more than 50,000 WPA workers leave relief rolls and enter defense industry...
...There is an indispensable minimum of all around craftsmen who constitute the nucleus about which the...
...a (c) Maintenance of the Communist faction within labor as a perpetual menace to anti-Communist elements within tat" CIO, with the "fear "of causing a split and a new federation by splitting the CIO...
...These apprenticeship systems, it is urged, should adhere to certain minimum standards of adequacy with regard to such factors as duration of apprenticeship, related background instruction indentures, and a sequence of jobs on which the apprentice is to be put Considerable pressure has been exerted to ease what has ^appeared to some as rigorous requirements...
...Every hope will be lost also for us in America...
...In this world we must choose between purgatory and hell...
...A study of National Maritime Union—Communist controlled, documents and papers exposes their well-studied campaign % seize control of two Pacific Coast marine unions which have lea,'1 sistently resisted Stalinist drives on this strategic ("key") indn...
...The English remain attached to England, the Irish to Ireland, and so on all the other groups which make up the North American nation...
...They will live on their feet, they will not die on their knees...
...And we -would like to be able to say to him, as Virgil to Dante: "Do not despair, thou wilt overcome the test...
...We must show the American people that Mussolini and Italy are not one and the same for us...
...Fbttrkh) the public vocational schools have, on the whole, done a competent job of training...
...We must want Italy freed from German domination...
...Minorities can live and develop"" only under a democratic government...
...Germans and Italians suffer together from the same shame...
...Office of Education...
...Among all the countries conquered by Hitler, Italy alone has a government which boasts, of its servitude to Hitier...
...These with the other exhibits add up to the question that V» NMU membership, long smouldering in internal revolt, must What is the purpose of this new strategy of uniting all ae*a»»a <; unions in one large Communist-controlled federation...
...Thus these forces are expected to be a decisive bloc in tat assembled cor.vention, since they are all—with few exceptions— Communists...
...A shortage of such skilled craftsmen affects the employment of correspondingly larger numbers of workers in the lower levels of skill...
...The Pilot, however, in the June 13 and 20 issues failed e*aBW mention these vital developments to the NMU membership, aad only the June 27 issue—a month after this has happened...
Vol. 24 • July 1941 • No. 28
