Where the News Ends
SCHLAMM, WILLI
By Willi Schlamm Where the News Ends Fl war, as in hell, you can't choose your corn-Deny. My brother, who in World War I did bis bit to defeat the Central Powers by becoming a reserve officer of...
...If Stalin now wants a united front with the democracies, their governments and peoples, he must demonstrate-that he is willing to have a genuine united front with the Russian people...
...The italics are his...
...Think of the innumerable villages and cities burned to the ground...
...In an ancient Jewish book I have read that "there ia a time for every purpose under the sun —a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up, a time to keep silence and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate...
...And until this great republic speaks to Stalin in the language in which it speaks to Hitler, all hope of enlisting all the powers inherent in Russia for the common cause of world freedom will prove false and illusory...
...Reports are that the old boss is getting weary of the fight and may make a graceful exit without waiting for the inevitable -denouement...
...Whomever he mat in actual battle were people like you and as...
...The President's envoy further assured Stalin of the utmost cooperation of the United States in the struggle for the liberation of the world from the Nazi menace...
...did I resigs • tell the truth...
...It is also untimely...
...Yet . . . when I^glance abroad and track the source More selfish far, of other nations' deed, And mark their tortuous craft, their jealous greed, Their serpent-wisdom or mere soulless force, Homeward returns my vagrant fealty, Crying, "0 England, shonldst thou one day fall, Shatter'd in ruins by some Titan foe, Justice were henceforth weaker throughout all The world, and truth leas passionately free...
...Is this the time for tearing open wounds that have begun to heal, for speaking of age-old hatreds, and keeping silent about newfound amity, for breaking down the comradeship which common suffering and common struggle are building up...
...An English Poet of 1885 Highlights The Present Day From MAX ROCK To the Editor: I came across the sonnet below while nosing through a volume by William Watson, an English poet of the Victorian era...
...But they have no illusions about Stalin and his regime...
...If we are to believe Etra and Nehe-miah, it is yet older—only they turned it the othef way about...
...The blows exchanged by Hutchinson and Lewis on the floor of the A. F. of L. convention at Atlantic City in 1935 marked the preliminary artillery bombardment in the battle which soon thereafter shook the entire labor movement with the formation of the C.I.O...
...But *mV in a few weeks hi* artielei **• appearing in the New Tot* *•* 'telling all.' "Only . . . i* J*» of this year...
...He was ther given a trip to Russia, and *ak there spoke over the mans* radio...
...A few individuals, possessed of especially forceful personalitiES, may escape—but the great mass of the succeeding generation succumbed to the process of totalitarian reshaping of men...
...But the remedy is not wholesale recrimination...
...Roosevelt...
...Much as we should discount official Moscow rhapsodies of self-praise—we certainly are justified in believing every word the .Vaxi* say about remarkable Russian resistance...
...There was never any real reason for the feud between the Republican boss of the A. F. of Lj...
...circles, except in those regions of the C.I.O...
...Think of all the horrors that have descended upon the Russian people because Stalin had chosen in August, 1939...
...IssMai he cooperated openly wmV •» CP...
...My brother, who in World War I did bis bit to defeat the Central Powers by becoming a reserve officer of the Austro-Hungarian amy, often has told me that the beat soldier is his battalion was a chap with the moat elaborate criminal records...
...He must open the jails and concentration camps of Soviet Russia.' He must, restore to the Russian people die liberties which the Communist dictatorship stole fiom them I He must make it possible for the creative forces of the brave Russian masses to assert themselves to the full in the defense of their country...
...Why did not Mr...
...Civilized men hate to be commanded, ami J ticularly to be commanded to die...
...maneuvering, purges, ia> ders and betrayal of the as*> ployed...
...They are • match far Hitler's shock troops, precisely because they tao are the sons and the product* of a totalitarian regime...
...But this should not trouble the new allies...
...We are confident that the next two months will prove the validity of this solemn warning...
...Decimated and half-starved, they are still carrying on the fight as best they can, under the joint leadership of the P.P.S., the Peasants' Party, the Bund, and the Democratic Clubs...
...domination Is 9* Alliance...
...He must remove the chains from the minds and bodies of all true spokesmen of Russian democracy and release the immeasurable forcer of-popular will and cooperation now enchained within the steel framework of Communist despotism...
...They don't give a damn lor any Fuehrer's gracious praise...
...Smith's name has become synonymous with Stalinist intrigue in labor and government...
...And God .the poorer for thine overthrow...
...The French people did not know what they are fighting for," say the chaps from the Russia First Committers triumphantly, "but the Russians do, and that's that...
...He is deeply'distrusted both in A. F. of L. and C.I.O...
...When one of us says them, he is recklessly playing into Coughlin's hand...
...In the political campaign of 1936, Hutchinson supported Hoover, and Lewis—deserting the Republican fold—went over to Roosevelt in the belief that he was buying control of the White House...
...Think of the vast portions of the country already laid waste...
...elements- when they sifenn to extend their contra .to * Illinois organisation...
...It is reported, also, that the revival of their old alliance may have something to do with plans for A. F. of L-C.I.O...
...Where Lewis' Communist allies would fit in is not difficult to see...
...Life has tar than no greater sweetness than the thrill of obedienea, UNTIL June, 1941, this new type of hnjnj| being—the totalitarian soldier of Tlilkoji breed—had a wonderful time...
...We cannot vouch for the truth of the report, which comes from informed circles, but it sounds wholly natural...
...Little more has sines has* heard of the American Sororitf Union...
...They too were raised in the totalitarian way...
...I am no pacifist, God-knows...
...He helped Hitler in every possible way, including the staging of defense strikes in this country By Moscow's hired agents, the leaders and rank *nd file of the American Communist Party...
...Their sufferiat...
...But Stalin laughed and his henchmen throughout the world, including the Communists in this country, echoed the laughter as they derived pleasure and satisfaction from the grave difficulties under which the democracies were defending themselves against the victorious advances of Nazi Germany...
...where the Communists dominate...
...The only secret weapon the Nazis were able to develop was the Nazi soldier—the totalitarian soldier...
...Hopkins also expressed to Stalin "the President's great satisfaction with the fight the Soviets are putting up in their country and his admiration for that fight...
...For a quarter of a century, Hague rilled Jersey City as if it were his own...
...Hopkins convey the feelings and sentiments of the American people on < this issue to Mr...
...Early in 1989 when a »pl» * curred and the Worker* Secant...
...but I am wiping to go to war against hit Mar, if necessary, precisely because he made it na> possible for me to be one...
...The Democratic primaries in the fall, however, will offer Hague's opponents an opportunity to give him the coup de grace...
...Stalin...
...Both statements are true in form and false in spirit and intent When Coughlin says such things, he is shrewdly playing bis own dirty game...
...In vain had the British, the Turks and others warned Stalin of Hitler's contemplated blow...
...On the contrary, the draconic means of government and administration have been intensified all along the line...
...But Mr...
...We ask this not because we are so foolish as to believe that Stalin would have been impressed...
...And they tell plenty...
...ia revuhf tin* who broke away...
...The next two years brought news confirming his report...
...Federation was aet np...
...The political and social consciousness-by-.which the nation has been transformed in recent years has made its imprint also upon our cities...
...But" for the first time in his blood-stained career Stalin finds himself in a situation which makes' it possible for this countryMe...
...Hitler, for the first time on land fin aerial war he encountered just as big a surprise over England), has run into a foe who pulls no punches hitting back...
...The Bolshevik army is fighting magnificently...
...Because of Stalin's cooperation with Hitler until June 22, 1941, when the Nazi dictator moved his armies into Russia, the Russian people were completely isolated and were compelled to face the invader under circumstances much more difficult than would have been the case had Stalin not acted,as Hitler's ally for a period of nearly two years...
...perhaps, ssnfased reasoning certainly does not bother the feasant soldiers...
...They just dort get any kid out of death...
...affiliates into play to accomplish the combination...
...The Nazis not only succeeded in...
...peace on conditions which would give them domination over a re-united labor movement...
...But I doubt your correspondenfi report that this was a C. P.-inspired trick...
...Sweeping indictment of the Polish people is not only exaggerated...
...We have no doubt that the combination of Governor Edison and the New Jersey Labor's Non-Partisan League will before long complete the job begun by the Governor of driving Hague from power and giving Jersey City a new deal.' Hague's power, centered in Hudson County, depended upon its ramifications in the state...
...Think of famine and disease to which scores of millions must succumb as a consequence...
...That ia what Mr...
...He gave none...
...Has Moscow uttered a single word or performed a single act denoting Stalin's willingness to grant liberty to the Russian people, to release the iron hand of the Tcheka from their throate...
...T*HE truth of the matter, as it seems to me, is * the momentous fact that Hitler, for the first time, is fighting hit oien kind...
...s We challenge this assertion, especially as it applies to Stalin...
...Hopkins should have told Stalin...
...In 1987-38 some atn (I was a national and mt board member) earnestly wap Leaser's help to counte-srt * CP...
...whim tmi** tion was over he got that wra job...
...its exact image...
...believe that this war's issue is the recapturing of mankind's right to love violets tad hate commands...
...It was inevitable that Jersey City could not long resist the advance of progressive forces which have done so much to change the political face and character of its neighbor across the Hudson...
...I call it democracy's virtue...
...When the Commu-nazist invaders poured into their land, Gentile Poles and Polish Jews fought side by side and their mingled blood washed out many a bitter memory...
...But now Boss Hague and his machine are on the . way to join their prototypes in other states and cities who have demonstrated that they were not as corrupt and contented as they were believed to be...
...He denied that charges of CP...
...For the moment he has been driven into his own bailiwick to nurse the wounds inflicted upon him by loss of income and9 patronage inflicted by the Governor...
...some who will say that this is not the time to say this, that . there is but one immediate issue confronting the democracies: the destruction of Hitler, and that in the effort to achieve this objective the democracies must utilize every possible means without questioning their source and character...
...their aims those of a civilized indtvienat...
...Lewis' repudiation of the President in 1940, when he discovered that the government of the United States was not, after all, his private property, opened the door to reconciliation with his old pal, Hutchinson...
...elements, of oppesHJ* to forces fighting them within"* Alliance and of concealwg * denying plain facts until *"**^ 1940 is not so consistent w*a * sincere effort to block the Cf- ** with a delicate sense of * pediency...
...I cah.'t ran* the urge to repeat the basic principle of my faith: although French democracy collapsed tors use liberty was too reluctant to accept and beat the motorized caveman's challenge—I, far one...
...Like Hutchinson, he clings to Know-Nothingism in foreign affairs, finding it a good expedient for demagogy...
...lam* joined the CP...
...When our brave Ehrlich was last with us (in 1937, was it not...
...that we halt' once more to pray for "the victory of our trnir^i that we actually enjoy news the essence of whick is horror and pain and death for thousands at...
...They live to order, eat to order, sleep to order hate to order, love to order, die to order...
...Smith must go...
...Lasser had mainly hjn-self to blame for the red label that was hitched to hfen...
...They don't ask questions...
...demand that Moscow's professions of noble purpose find at least some reflection in Russia...
...Yes, what he caHs racial hatred is "as old as the Polish nation"— or the Russian nation, or the French, or the English...
...Hopkins call Stalin's attention to these facts...
...The Communists are masters in adjusting their strategy to the requirements of a given moment...
...It is not the peculiar sin of any one nation or sect...
...but I doot forget for a single moment that no totalitarian crime is equal to the saodstt plight the totalitarians have forced upon at: that we must sink onto their level...
...poor creatures...
...Herbert Benjamin *a> sohdated" the organisation is it meantime...
...Hundreds of thousands of brave Russians were slaughtered by the Nazis in their first onrush into Russia at a moment when the all-wise, all-seeing, omniscient and omnipotent Stalin had least expected it...
...It becomes the more striking because it was written in 1886—which casts a sort of oblique light on England's educability, but doesnt make it less art It summarizes the situation today perfectly...
...I suspect that some of his best friends are Poles...
...Protests 'Martyrdom' of Lasser In Congressional Job Ouster From FRANK W. MeCULLOCH To the Editor: It was a spiteful action for Congress to dismiss Dwid Lasser from WPA...
...Hopkins told Stalin on behalf of the President that the United States' con-aiders Hitler its enemy and that "whoever fights Hitler anywhere is on the right side of this conflict...
...Hopkins' mission, and gave him a personal message to Mr...
...Or are we going to permit ourselves, in our eagerness to destroy Hitler, to be maneuvered into a position in which, while helping to destroy Hitler, we shall be helping to save Stalin...
...His slogan "I am the law," uttered when he was seeking to deprive workingmen of the right of free speech and assembly, epitomized the character of his rule...
...he gave uB a cheering account of improved relations between the Polish Socialist Party and the Jewish Socialist Bund, 'between Polish-speaking and Yiddish-speaking workers in the cities, between peasants and Jews in rural Poland...
...making guns out of butter, they managed also to transform beys into ants...
...His disappearance will help stress the end of an era in American municipal life...
...They stay where they are ordered to stay...
...Communism, in other words, though it may have failed to teach the Russians how to enjoy life, has taught them well how to die...
...Stalin'and his regime are not Russia...
...Hopkins did not go far enough with respect to the interests of both world democracy and the Russian people...
...and their bravery, this time invested for til' right cause, might help to decide the war agate* the beast...
...out fighting, just as much as H itler'a spasafeom youth...
...to help Hitler isolate Russia while the Nazi hordes went marching triumphantly over the rest of Europe, enslaving all the peoples who came under their yoke...
...Smith will go...
...To put it bluntly, if the Communists here are permitted to demand the release of Earl Browder, duly convicted, for a crime against the laws of the United States, American democracy is certainly justified in demanding that Stalin release the millions of innocent political prisoners —workers, peasants and intellectuals—rotting in his jails and concentration camps for no other crime than their defense of that for which Stalin now professes to be fighting, the defense of democracy...
...Why, then, -did not Mr...
...This youth is courageous, disciplined, ready to make sacrifices—somewhat in the manner of ants...
...American Union, deceptively like that « the Workers Security Fs*** tion...
...Be would n-'t have cared to meet him alone on a dark corner ia peace-time Vienna, «but for the same reasons my brother felt mighty good having him around whenever a wave of Italian infantry started to attack the Austrian trenches along the Piave...
...Though inveterate, it is curable...
...Let us not deceive ourselves about what is happening on the battlefields of Russia...
...The American people view with admiration the heroic resistance of the Russian people against the Nazi invader...
...Hutchinson would swing the powerful A. F. of L building trades and Lewis would bring his miners and other C.I.O...
...There is something in this theory...
...Nor is it only one pepole that has suffered by it...
...New York, under LaGuardia, hails the new day that is dawning for Jersey City...
...Such a record of coop****" with CP...
...How come the Russians are that good" It's no accidence, say Stalin's non-commissioried officers in this country...
...The Frer.ch army, however, was also s huge organization and, in addition to that, far better equipped than the bulk of the Red Army can possibly be...
...He can never be expected to think and act in accordance with the requirements of sound, constructive labor policy...
...Then he pig*.****1 to set up a new . -garisai >cn *»* a name...
...their hearts longing for privacy, their nriaah used to reach decisions under one's own i*eeaeaV - sibility...
...The response is so easy—"Not all Jews are greedy and cunning and disloyal...
...Any labor peace achieved by the joint maneuvers of Hutchinson, Lewis and the Communists would have about as much Letters To the Editor Lee Hits Sweeping Indictments of Polish People From ALGERNON LEE To the Editor: It is comforting to be assured by Leon Dennen that "not all Poles are anti-Semites...
...Despite all this, Congrem «*r-tainly should not have <,>«B*' inated against him as it the same time, should TB« * Leader build up a reps*atw» ** a martyred "anti - Csn»«^g progressive" for one whss* has been as questionable a*** Lasser'il...
...SIC TRANSIT HAGUE *J*HE eclipse of Boss Frank Hague serves to emphasize the inevitable fate that befalls political condottieri in American municipal government, however high and long they may ride...
...To them, thajf individual hobby or the violets in their backyenf are far more important than the glory of V nebulous collective...
...Smith, a vicious fellow-traveler and political adventurer, did much to bring the NLRB into contempt in the labor movement and generally...
...At the 1937 Alliance convention, the Communists took tin key positions without protest from Lasser...
...This intricate, difficult and...
...carpenters and the political chameleon who is dictator of C.I.O.—or that portion of it which has not yet taken his real measure...
...Stalin had not the slightest intention to fight Hitler...
...There may be...
...When the totalitarian soldier is so ordered, he can even behave in a friendly and human anaanaa For even their sentiments eaa be coinmasmaaW they hate obediently whom the Fuaheer ha* ordered them to hate, and also they lean enfat reliably, according to command They eaa he employed as apostles of peace, and with aqenl efficiency as parachutists...
...All of which was very good—as far as it went...
...They too are precision itf--assents of...
...Stalin was reported as highly pleased with Mr...
...HOPKINS IN MOSCOW PJARRY L. HOPKINS, lease-lend coordinator and President Roosevelt's most intimate adviser, flew to Moscow this week from London to offer America's aid to Soviet Russia in her struggle against the Nazi invasion, and to discuss with Stalin the best means of making our aid effective...
...The mere bigness of the Red Army, combined with a wasteful but never-ceasing re-armament in more than twenty years is, of course, one factor explaining the undeniable fact that the Russians are fighting the Nazis better and more resolutely than any other continental nation has so far...
...They die when they are ordered to die...
...They would function beautifully in any amalgamation whose base would rest upon the reactionary elements of the labor movement represented by the die-hard Republican Hutchinson and Lewis, who changes his politics with the ease with which he changes his shirt—or combs his leonine mane...
...Last fall Lasser supported «• Democratic ticket...
...RESTORED ALLEGIANCE Dark is thy trespass, deep be thy remorse, O England...
...Their hearts are now said to be beating as one in enmity against the New Deal...
...They stand ready to do all in their power to help the Russian people...
...The only difficulty at the moment is the new super-patriotic, pro-democracy Communist Party line, which Lewis has refused to accept...
...His vote-and weight have always been thrown to the side of the Communist conspirators whose aim it is to make the trade unions a rubber stamp of Stalinism...
...Fittingly thine own feet bleed, Submissive to the purblind guides that lead Thy weary steps slong this rugged course...
...After the *«**» Berlin pact he gave no osWalt" sign of a change of heart *' late as in June 1940 Dave mas" to me and to othera that the CJ controlled the Alliance...
...No, I most certainly do not want to deny raj respect to the Russian sohdiera...
...According to Moscow cables, Mr...
...Because of Stalin's treacherous policy, Russia lost, within a few weeks, huge territories, while a large portion of her armies were smashed or rendered useless...
...You may call it democracy's vice...
...So-called racial hatred (which is really not racial) is an inveterate evil...
...Think of the methods Stalin is using now in his desperate, hysterical efforts to save himself and his clique...
...What socialistic purpose, what democratic purpose, what humane purpose can be served by reiteration of the insulting formula that "not* all Poles" are brutes and bigots...
...No, bigness and preparedness alone can not fully explain the astonishing performances of the Red Army...
...In possession of all the modern apparatus and institutions which are used for the production of human ideologies, the Hitler regime molded its youth in...
...There can be no doubt that the Red Army is fighting with guts, courageously and with a fanaticism equal to that of Hitler's dervishes...
...His re-appointment by the President would be a slap in the face of true liberalism and genuine trade unionism...
...But seeing Stalin's army puceaat where French democracy failed...
...TWO KNIGHTS OF LABOR ^yiLLIAM ("BIG BILL") HUTCHINSON and John L. Lewis have buried the hatchet, according to reports, and have become once more political bedfellows, reunited by their common hatred of Franklin D. Roosevelt...
...Be that as it may, the days of Hague's political rule are numbered...
...They do not ask questions...
...ED SMITH MUST GO WITH the expiration on August 27 of Edwin S. Smith's term as member of the National Labor Relations Board, President Roosevelt will have an opportunity to appoint to the vacancy a competent and well-informed trade unionist and thus strengthen the board's shaken prestige and effectiveness...
...Like every reasonable perm I do realize that, in order to secure our right to be individuals, we have to abandon this right far a while...
Vol. 24 • August 1941 • No. 31
