Labor Scores FDR Edict on WLB and Unions
Labor Scores FDR Edict on WLB and Unions New Powers Can 'Bust' Trade Unionism, Labor Circles Say frm the New Leader Washtnfton gnreatl WASHINGTON, D. C. August lfi, Ranrhtag the high-water...
...the "war effort or the national health, tafotj or interest," the board shall iiawitifJrty ,j|rminata aia deilftaimt The President's order vests these new pownri in Stabilization Director Fred VnUMn Mil with oaaaa of refusal to obey orders of the War Labor Board...
...No sach explanation, of teases...
...The 1942 return was SVs times that of 1939 for the smaller wholesalers and twice that of 1939 for the larger concerns...
...On absenteeism, he said: "20 minutes late for work is the limit...
...For about three out of ten, the increase over 19S9 was at least 300%, aad for half of these profits rose 500% or more...
...Concern with chaos and anarchy arises only when the King of Italy is threatened by revolution...
...This is war, to be sure...
...Notice that in each instance the President tried to conceal the knife...
...But since this is war, why be so squeamish about the, destruction which might result from n revolution in Italy ? Concern about chaos and anarchy is absent when women, children and old people...
...They have been moving conI,' ¦ ¦ m * » •*;« tW...
...No problem of absenteeism there," Rickenbacker snapped...
...The article cited three eases of "knifing" of liberal or progressive causes...
...Whst exactly those "political considerations" were, in this and other Instances of the 39-day campaign in Sicily, is s fundamental source of trouble in the political conduct of the war...
...I aw against anybody who acts against them, no wetter ehat words he utters...
...After letting his lieutenants in Congress speak up for the anti-strike bill, ha vetoed K behind their backs and made not the slightest effort to have his veto upheld—which ha esnfca have accomplished by snapping his finger...
...In 1941 the percentage increase from the preceding year was almost tea times aa great for profits as for sales...
...and they derft want 'us to * beat them to Berlin...
...That will be the time to attempt the most difficult and cosily operation of them all—the invasion of Franee...
...The larger companies showed the greater increase in sales, but the smaller concerns reported the greater increase in profits...
...Naples, Leghorn, Milan, Turin and Rome] more completely than the American and British air forces...
...But a young anti-fascist exile in New York, aching for an opportanity to get abroad, confessed—"I aw with the people W Italy who sre now fighting the Fascists, storming the prisons, striking on rsilrosds...
...the Action Party is rather socialist in program and propaganda...
...Sforza is generally considered a "conservative-liberal...
...putt, by empowering the government to withhold union dues collected under checfc-oaT aysterns, and denies to the union all rights undat collective bargaining contracts and under the National Labor Relations Act These asniHIei would be invoked in addition to criminal prosecution under term sof the Sraith-ConanBy Ad in the cases of strikes...
...E. Modigliani...
...7) forbade "say political activity whatsoever" (Amgot rule...
...IB» ultimate post-war political relations of lit-the question of immediate military t_S|4f^$t1t hardly a military secret that the ffN telmpejgn cults for encircling Germany mmm&jfe Nazis on five fronts, i.e...
...Wholesale food grocers realized twice as much on every dollar of sales fat IMS at la 1939...
...Said the OPA study: "Between 1939 and 1942...
...therefore his continued inspired demands for a "Second Front" take on the hue of hypocrisy...
...And it doesn't seem like nonsense when account is taken o f Russian de - sires to establish a hegemony over the Balkans in the post-war world...
...The friction which was evidenced a year ago when Soviet propagandists were <; ;Ha0ag aa to establish a "Second Front" shew* no sign of having lessened how that t Bsc sad Front has been triumphantly in aUttoaee for over six months...
...He can't get a Job any where teas, and automatically goes oa the breadline " He expressed the hope- that James Byrnes' Office of War Mobilization would "be "moving in that direction...
...Last week The New Uader revealed that Apt Dally Worker had ¦tartly Jeopardised »at political freedom •f Ifn alio Si lone and <J...
...The > Daily Worker story ahw revealed the ***•» of personnel in s confidential miliJfry agency and made allegations concern"*f their work...
...The gsme of pmfflril sleight-of-hand which went on whsa apologists said for Stalin that he was *ta» busy" to attend the Casablanca Conference still goes on, with the apologists tad propagandists again saying for him aft be is'too busy" to attend the Quebec , Ajl Wads of phony excuses are being peddled fir the simple and self-evident truth that when ffsnfi tafutes to sit down at a joint conference ttah), it is because he doesn't want to be tied h b decisions...
...Of these 94 companies, the TO smaller companies showed a profit increase on the average of 249.5%, and the 24 large companies showed an average profit increase of 198.1...
...And then there was the Wallace-Jones episode—with the presidential letter so carefully worded to sound superficially impartial, hat with the actual effect, just as carefully planned, to strip Wallace of all authority and Jonas of practically none...
...When it comes to denouncing labor for asking a wage rise to meet the increased costs of living, denunciations flew freely...
...In the meantime, the anthracite coal dispute was this week also referred to the War Labor Board...
...Messina, Catania...
...true...
...Corporations with sales under $2.5 million reported a four-fold rise in profits on only 26% higher sales...
...That there whs very small likelihood for this was made quite clear from Salvemini's writings themselves...
...And the sooner the better...
...A statistical table showed that the average profit increase between 1939 and 1942 for all 94 companies was 211...
...The Shame Stands...
...The element of timing In this plan of strategy indicates that with the landing Of an AngloAmerican invasion army in the Balkans, the Nazis will have to pul...
...With that facing them, the Nazi army of occupation in Greece must withdraw or remain to surrender or be wiped 'out, with the probabilities strong that net even withdrawal will permit them to escape unscathed...
...What do the Russians want...
...i».t:--"---i .i---1 l . stantly to the right," Rickenbacker confided, "in the direction of capitalism" aad ahw of what he called "democracy," which seemed to he the iron-discipline of workers snd their Isbor conditions...
...year, the Italian-American Labor j...
...Of the three major fronts, the swiftest 111 to Berlin is by way of the Balkan ¦Nat...
...liberal and labor circles hart noted that the President's order followed hard on the heels of public announcement of a political break between him and the LaFoUettc Progressive* of Wisconsin...
...The National Farmers Union was the first of the farm organizations to declare its intentions of working with AFL and CIO unions to this end...
...The order provides for the drafting of strikers into the Amy by directing the Selective Service Board to invoke the ana...
...The study disclosed by The New Leader last week was Volume 6 of the OPA's series el War Profit* Studies aad was a detailed aaadyata ot^war psnfitt nf, wholesale food grocers based on confidential OPA financial reports...
...Count Carlo Sforza, former Foreign Minister in the Italian Senate, admitted this week that he is planning to "go to Italy or near Italy as soon as possible...
...They have to make the omelette without breaking the eggs...
...The Russians, however, keep frowning at every new step we take in the direction ef the Balkans...
...leadfcf anti-fascist exiles ¦tw hi Switzerland, % revesting their ¦taies as leaders of •dergreond work from Switzerland...
...And the phony Russian chatter about "Second" Fronts ia kidding nobody, either in our State Department or the British Foreign Qffina...
...The proportions reporting increases of 200% to 400% were somewhat greater for the larger companies, but the smaller concerns had the higher percentage of more exceptional gains...
...Basically, there appears to be no improvement in the situ; unto...
...IT shouldn't (to coin s phraset happen to a dog...
...If the, WLB holds to the "Little 'Steel' formula, as both the Beard and the PtszI|ii> have made clear fat several public anno On He meats recently, demands for wage increase* would have to wipe set she voluntary no-strike agreement, in which ease labor would find Itself faced with the penalties of the Bmueh ConanHy Act and the President's new executive order.' Comment By JONATHAN STOUT I WASHINGTON, D. C—That the Quebec conference between Roosevelt and Churchill and 0* Allied chiefs of staff will deal with political ai well as military problems was underlined to the summoning of Secretary of State Hull tad Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden to this jajaorUnt meeting...
...When an employer lafuaoa to eomptj with Labor Board rulings, his plant may ha seised and operated by the gnvvnirasnt iff place of that, the President's new inttMtrW order recommends the "less drastic'' sanctiatti of withholding war contracts and priorities, la labor ejrdce here the hitter costaiaat was heard that what started oet as a wolenUry no-strike agreement, with the WIS as impartial empire, has new baa* laiatd inte a strait jacket for labor with the issuance of the new executive-border, the President appeared to serve notice that he has come to an open break with the New Deal, of which he was the architect and captain for almost ten years...
...Obviously...
...Eddie Rickenbacker, labor-baiting spokesman for American reaction, snd the most discredited public figure in liberal aad trade-union circlet to join the chorus of voices singing paeans to the Stalin dictatorship...
...If the sole and sincere desire is to crush Nasi miltiary power, then why this Russian sulking because we appear on the brink of beating them to the job of establshing a Balkan front t The only answer that makes sense fat that the Russians don't want us hi the Balkans either , how or after the war...
...The United States," he said Utterly, "has been moving to the left...
...Every hard headed realist knows this...
...Sforza described it ss "the most powerful political party in Italy, devoted to democratic principles and individual liberty," and its aims include "a generous agrarian reform, a policy of social progress and most severe punishment of all Fascist leaders and their accomplices...
...This if ever in effect would be a virtual busting of unions...
...The presidential order strikes at the fiiiaasaal jugular of unions, in the cases of plants satatd by the government aa the result of a labor ale...
...Te gain a factional advantage for their ytllUrian group, I he Daily Worker defy**!* proceeded now to "expose" these -JWJ-faurists again...
...This is the historic "Invasion route" •f Bui spa, sad H points a pistol at the ¦ »- heart of Germany itself, as a glance at the map qsickly shows...
...Is embodied in the executive order, and ss It stands it is equal...
...Labor Scores FDR Edict on WLB and Unions New Powers Can 'Bust' Trade Unionism, Labor Circles Say frm the New Leader Washtnfton gnreatl WASHINGTON, D. C. August lfi, Ranrhtag the high-water mark of reaction established ,by the viciously anf&abor Smith-Connolly Act, President Roosevelt this week issued an execu: tire order providing for government blacx' listing of workers and the drafting of striken into the Army as a penalty...
...He is leaving as one of the designated leaders of the Action Party, the new radical-democratic party, which has been gaining mass political strength in post-Mussolini Italy...
...With reference to the new presidential executive order, an official spokesman intimated that it was directed at John L Lewis and the United Mine Workers...
...Hanson W. Baldwin, N. Y. Timet military writer, in summing up "Sicily, a Job Well Done," wrote this week: "The strategy was sound, though cautious, the planning excellent...
...This double deal footed no one either...
...Among the smaller wholesalers, over twothirds more than doubled their 19-39 profits in 1942...
...Jaly 27...
...The greatest increase in profits was shown by the smallest companies...
...Taking the lead in organising labor backing for the Congressional investigation is the OPA Labor Policy Committee on which are represented the unions of the AFL, CIO aad the Railroad Brotherhoods...
...revealed, Silone was denounced by «t Moscow radio for "political activity," •j »t was jailed by the Swiss police for Rations of the rules of political asylum...
...The resolution limped along while Rep...
...When la The New Leader « November 21, 1942, we carried a story j» Lulgi Antonini on the work of the •whan underground, the history of the 'WUn Socialist Party was detailed, bat to information on its present lesdership • activities...
...As though to say, it is wicked to steal a million dollars, but it is perfectly proper to compromise by stealing only $750,000...
...The picture has already changed...
...Perhaps the prime political problem before jta Quebec conference is the state of AngloSpican and Soviet relations...
...C) pledged "freedom and democracy" to Italians...
...but did add: "The fact that we have not before this landed on the toe of Italy and cut the Axis retreat to the north is probably as much due to political consider ations as to military caution...
...And a French front would be much farther from Berlin than the Russian front...
...Dorothy Thompson holds forth for the "spirit of Matxini and Garibaldi...
...And the plain fact is that Malta it having none of our fish because he I ||y problem pf Anglo-American and Soviet imffsons revolves about two poled: 1. Immeflsja military strategy of the United Nations...
...Notice that in each of these instances the progressives took the knifing...
...But other papers have remained strangely unlet on this important matter...
...They keep harping on demands for a "Second'' Front, completely ignoring the destruction of the German armies in North Africa...
...Repeating demands for a "Second Front," the Red Star said the Allies had failed te take advantage of the opportunity afforded by the Soviet summer offensive te strike Germany from the west...
...Only matter-of-fact in his reporting of the heroism and Determination of the Russian common people, Rickenbacker bubbled over happily in telling of the new rules aad regulation* which Stalin hat been instituting...
...There are points beyond, ~3\ere is Draja Mihailovieh and a Chetnik .Army' keeping an area' cleared and waiting to help us hop the Adriatic for a landing on the plains of Yugo. slavia, well up the Balkan invasion route...
...8) "commended" the House of Savoy...
...Now, when they show that 20 years of suffocation have not destroyed their souls, they are told that they must avoid chaos and anarchy...
...American columnists and editors have been taking their sides...
...Wendell Willkie had reported that "the way labor is treated ia Russia would satisfy the most ruthless industrialurt in America " Eddie Rickenbacker, president of Eastern Air Unas, and a celebrated spokesman for the National Association of Manufacturers sad the Chamber of Commerce, was confirmation eaaagh...
...Would a revolution of even the most extreme violence shatter the citiw of Palermo...
...operative tgtwafi sfl its warning te the P r e e U s s n^SH^^^A rolling back prices, 'the' anions will have to aesaaad ansae INCRSAASS end tsm -aenegatien ef the "Little Steel" formeia limit ing increases tO IS per cent above the Bfap war level...
...And Salvemini remarked curtly that he did not want to be "embroiled in the terrible blunders which are being engineered ¦ in Italy today...
...But he.had no Hesitation ia speaking his mind on the Commander-in-Chief...
...2) hinted peace dealings with say element "that was not out-and-out Fascist" (FDR, July 10...
...Bat what the * Kremlin Set has been going through these days is worse than any canine helL Back from, Rossis this week csme (apt...
...Nevertheless, in the ban grip of these five fronts, Anglo-American strategists envisage Germany being cracked like a nut...
...In other words, more then one out of every ten companies reported profits in 1942 at least six times those of 1939...
...Under the heading, "The New Deal Is Dead," The Progressive, official organ of the LaFeilettes, featured a front-page article by Prof...
...A resolution calling for such an investigation was introduced during the past session of Congress by Rep...
...Profits of all 94 companies (included in the OPA study) were equivalent to 3.1% of sales in 1942, compared with 1.4% in 1939...
...Win * French front ease tie pressure on the Russian front aay mere or any lees fain a Balkan front Obviously, the Russian complaint is either nonsense or hypocrisy...
...Hampton P. . Fulmer (D., S. C.), chairman of the House Agriculture Corrupittee...
...Labor circles here were stunned by the development which not only implements the Smith-Connally Act hat ahw appears to anticipate some of the worst features of the Anstin-Wadawerth labor draft Ml' now awaiting the return of Congress next month far action...
...What impressed Rickenbacker on his mission to Moscow wss Stslin's "swing to the right, away from Bolshevism...
...refusing by obey orders gi vea thaw by lead - era they did not eheeee, taking lor neeee snd freedom.' I am with them, whatever names they are given...
...o«t of all these professions, he had better shew up st Quebec this week, i Remarked Salvemini recently: "When they were silent and inert, the Italians were scorned because they did not revolt, and thus they showed that they were unfit for liberty...
...Parenthetically it may be ffaami that it points to the increasing rather HE the decreasing influence of Hull against lb* background of the well-known fact that to President fancies himself as his own foreign Slttar...
...Fulmer awaited __....l__i---1.:— t— u;„ M.nl..f;nn tn Aa^olAm —•-1 popular oac-King lor nis rewniuun i*> ucreiuji With this week's developments in labor and farn circles as a result of The New Leader's revela tions, it is now considered certain that hearing...
...Some leaders, including men withgtamished reputations, were found wanting, at least in the eyes of their fellows...
...Stalin, of course, is well aware of this...
...Do the Russians prefer to be the ones to establish a Balkan front...
...It was recalled that in the brtaannoos work stoppages, Lewis refused to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the WLB so long as it held arbitrarily to the "Little Steel" formula...
...The order establishes a blacklist for striken by specifically directing the War Maapawaa Commission to invoke its power of rttiiylng ta such workers certificates of availability, without which it is now legally impossible to obtain a job in practically all industrial areas...
...ff that were so, why in the sfansient resist en a front te Prance instead of the Bsfkans...
...Said he, at a press conference in New York the other dsy, "Russia is not what we hsve been led to believe .by communistic enthusiasts in this country...
...Fimm 1941 to 1842, the rate of increase in psafite was still about twice that in sales...
...Then came denials — Sforza was in New York, Salvemini in Boston...
...Italy's Crisis — Sforza Leaving U. S., Salvemini Hits 'Political Blunsders' By MATTHEW LOW The news came in three parts...
...The military victories have been exhilarating, but more .than ever is clarity needed to explain what the shooting is all about...
...Baldwin went on to mention no names...
...The Anglo-American effort takes Sicily and knocks oat Mussolini and the corporate state in Italy, certainly NO contemptible trifle, and still the Russians ignore these accomplishments...
...Nations strategy and the military probhns involved...
...A frequent Russian complaint is that the unci aliens of the Allies have net caused the Nazis s« far te withdraw their pr tenure ear the Russian Front It is given eat tint this hi the sole concern of Russian com phfhtta...
...Lewis has said the mlnsm will not work beyond October SI, under the tanas of the present trace in the coal folds, and Will ¦top work sooner than that if the mines an returned by the government to the operators...
...on the Fulmer resolution will begin as soon a; Congress goes into session again next month...
...The confusion which Gaetano Salvemini (now Professor of History at Harvard) has been hitting—"utter intellectual and moral chaos and anarchy somewhere in London and in Washington," was the way he put it—has also been raking up considerable controversy in the American press...
...5) promised minimum loss of Allied soldiers...
...If the Rossi am keep going on as they are you'll find Russia coming oat of that war the greatest democracy ia the world, while if we keep oa going on the way we are well be where they ware 25 years agar He specifically named "the Administration" ss one of the "salshermtag" forces in the country...
...From 1939 to 1940, sales rote but profits declined...
...seven out of every ten wholesalers more than doubled their profits before taxes, and four of these seven reported st least a 209% rise...
...It isn't a "Second" Front he really wants, and everybody in the hard-bitten world of realpolitik is aware of it...
...The Labor movement has a blunt snd ••trial word for that kind of thing— faking...
...If any one could make consistent policy, not to mention arui.. fascist intention...
...AH liberal and labor publications de*ri>u»f the work of underground groups ¦*ta been extremely careful to shield the **tity and whereabouts of leaders of ™*ta rronpB...
...3) warned against "anarchy sad chaos" in Italy (Churchill...
...It is useless to attempt to disguise the '* fact that all is not smooth and that crosspurposes art at work...
...His hypocrisy fooled no one—least of all labor...
...Walter Lippmann is campaigning for the House of Savoy...
...thereafter, the trend was up tar both...
...The new regulation provides that whan the national draft director informs a local boatc that a deferred registrant Is not supports...
...Salvemini has boon uncompromising in his criticism of Allied political policy toward Italy, and has severely blasted the attitudes of both President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Chuchill...
...Fred Rodell of Yale in last week's issue ha which President Roosevelt was bluntly accused of "knifing" liberals and was told, oajmltT bluntly, that if he ran for a fourth term, "the progressive forces of America cannot singlehandedly elect s President, hot they can da* defeat one...
...4) called for Italians to "revolt" (daily short-wsve broadcasts...
...The new order, said the spokesman, gives the WLB "teeth is both upper and lower jaws...
...in their forces now 1n Franee and perhaps from the Russian Front, ton, to meet the threat...
...Riekenhscker's mission was sn official inspection of fighting fronts for the Wsr Department...
...Next his food allowance is cut...
...A front must be established in the Balkans in order property and swiftly to crush the German armies...
...There Is a revolution in Italy, and the revolution allows no other choice a** We thought that the disclosure of a secret OPA study that revealed the vast food profiteering going oa would be news for the papers of the country, pome labor papers did pick up the story- Ami on Wednesday of last week PM's WiiHualta bureau wired ia a story revsroW *J*r-6tM revelrrkms...
...tkms of the draft tew...
...It was aiaialtaai oasly revealed that Selective Service regulations recently were quietly aautaded to provide for withdrawal of deferasaat of registrants "not supporting" or "adversary affecting" the war effort...
...Politics Make Strange Bad-Fellows...
...What he really wants becomes evident in a further delineation of the •mm...
...If it occurs several times, the offender's pay as reduced...
...And they will be able to if and when they can push the Germans back to a point where the Russians can suing into Rumania...
...By way of contrast, the new order IhtifcM penalties against employer* who float WEI edicts...
...It fe perfectly evident by now that the AngloAmerican invasion of North Africa and that of Sicily were not aimed solely at blocking out Italy...
...the lsamta "front, the Balkan Front, the ItalianJjtatajhik *>• French Front, and the NorThrse of these are apparently due to be major fnmts—the French, Balkan and Russian Fronts -tad two will' be minor fronts—tne {talian AiabM and Norwegian fronts...
...And that is no longer a problem in military strategy It is a problem in postwar polities...
...Sales were up 43%, but profits before income taxes rose over 20Q...
...etc., etc...
...Salvemini, whose name is an everyday source of strength for the Italian underground, later explained his original denial: "I would leave the United States only if I might go to Italy as an American citizen to help those unfortunate people in the way I think they should be - helped, to end the whole military and political system from which Mussolini arose...
...former Liberal Prime Minister, writing > in a Milan paper, has come out for tits Badoglio government "as our only hope...
...From 1939 to 1942, profits before taxes of companies with sales under $5 million rose 250%, compared with less than 200% for companies with sales of (5 million and over...
...The two slowest rentes te the German borders are via the Russian and French fronts...
...First, there was the electrifying report from London that Sforza and Salvemini, worldfamous anti-fascist exiles, had arrived to begin the reconstitution of free Italian government...
...The labor unions are practically unanimous in their demands for an investigation...
...r .......' T 'New Leader' Profits Expose Spurs Drive for Congressional Probe By JONATHAN STOUT WASHINGTON, D. C.—Spurred by disclosure in The New Leader last week -of an official OPA study revealing war profiteering of wholesale food middlemen ranging up to 600% over 1999, labor unions and farm organizations this week were mustering their forces to get behind a Congressional investigation of thfff criminal profiteering responsible for runaway food prices...
...The Allies, thus far, have: 1) pledged "no truck with Fascism" (FDR, July 28...
...Then he is fired...
...are mowed down...
...After blasting the original Rami Plan to refund, taxes to the rich," the .article stated, "he OK'd what has accurately bean called taw Ruml Plan set to three-quarter time...
...Certainly there U none more knotty...
...t I*** week the Communist organ tried <* braien its way out of the shame of If"* hy claiming that the story was, after...
...Coincidentally...
...Mark Sullivan is out "just to win the war...
...It was unlikely that Sforza would be sent officially, for Amgot had specifically ruled that new civil authority "will be established without any communication between the anti-fascist exiles and the people of Italy...
...They want us they state specifically, to undertake the costly operation of breaching the bristling French coast...
...The Russian Array newspaper, R$d Star, commenting on the Roosevelt-Churchill conference at Quebec, was caustically critical and plain-spoken...
...From Cairo comes word that Francesco Nkti...
Vol. 26 • August 1943 • No. 34
