Reuther Rallies Forces for Showdown at U.A.W. Convention
Reuther Rallies Forces for Showdown at U.A.W. Convention Buffalo Meeting to Test Progressive, Anti-CP Bloc By BOYD GRAHAM ???? Buffalo October convention of the largest and most democrstic...
...to wrffe this weak...
...A NOTHER highly controversial issue will be labor's no-strike pledge...
...to their dmrnjcrsSB >deas everything is allowed: lies, slander, dsauBeleihe« The Communists have repeatedly insisted upon they, desire to form a united front with the Socialists...
...He has begun to mistake bis own personal anger for the wrath of Godv , Hosi Nismelsa Ma Freedom to the already existing Four freedoms...
...This is a complete and utter falsehood, and the voting at the convention will ptjve.it There is a slight difference in approach between the Addes forces and the CP forces, lead by John Anderson and Nat Gandley, of local 166...
...bnow the actual conditions they put for entering into SB» a front...
...Pearson, about whom I know nothing, .may be a consummate liar and hie may not be a consummate Bar...
...The second President was also plagued by liars and .of a much mere aggravating variety than Drew Pearson, who, after all, represents nobody but himself...
...The more the conflict between tbs Russian dictatorship and the adversaries of the Germ* Fascism sharpaas and the ?? ort...
...If His Holiness had taken hb> tram after the hideous extermination of Lidice by the Ua...
...TO speculate now on the role 4 of President R. J. Thomas, would be the sheerest guesswofk...
...up and go back home asm would never again wans to even hear the nana of the hellhole in which that Jap bad gat me.' A fine and...
...That story is discussed here by Boyd Graham, a veteran tabor organiser...
...Jan Valtin has told us in his book bow, when on orders of the Comintern he was representing himself toUhe Gestapo as one of their agents, the Comintern instructed bim to furnish the Gestapo with misleading informations about Communists but to tell the truth about Socialists...
...Reuther has been the policy maker, the program maker, the general idea man...
...Walter Reuther, Dick Leonard and Emil Masy do not want to revoke labor's no-strike pledge...
...But r we care a lot about a certain amount of dignity within . the immediate realm of the person who symbolizes the Ideal of our nation...
...It ? that essential kindness of haart of which once more aba is giving concrete evidence which makes...
...the ISK (International Socialist Fighting Groups...
...Or again (as I have suggested before) Ibis unfortunate verbal explosion may have been due to that lack of good food which is so sadly typical of the national capital...
...Here in the East, Edward Gray, regional Director, Region 9, UAW and George Cranmore assistant rational director, are progressive militant Reutheritea...
...Today Stalin sees m tat English imperialism his chief enemy, in Hitler sa uaesrtain ally, in the internal opposition in Germany s deafer for his foreign policy...
...We do' not want Olympian aloofness in our Executive Mansion...
...This logic is unshakable but Still that recent rtat has a profound meaning: it crossed the boundaries that had yet been separating an organization of the labor movement, if even a degenerated one, from a pure Flieh» Division of the GPU...
...However, of late he haa been making appearances before Reuther meetings, and has indicated that he favors Dick Leonard, chief Reuther lieutenant, as successor to George Addes for secretarytreasurer of the international union...
...laaay at the Oiisemauls ls-Baito iwssrnWr tkeea oM smsss wheals one so often finds in the more remote parta ef our New England forests...
...AFTER the Sulin-HiUer pact, the Communists no longer made secret their attitude toward Socialists...
...He has always supported snd protected his lieutenants, although some of them were purely Addes machine hacks, with very little or no ability...
...The - leaders of the KPD are drawing from their coarse ef conduct the final, logical consequence: after having broken every bond of political community with the adversaries of Hitler's war policy, they are also breaking openly and in every form the beads of solidarity...
...Some of these groups had been proponents of a united front...
...But Ulrkh's instructions were well known to many German underground Socialist groups, most of them distinctly leftist, and these groups quickly denounced the statements of the German Communist leader...
...From the above, the authors of the letter draw a ea> clusion about the ^general character of the prasset ear Communist movement of Stalinist kind: "However dreadful the roassqtisnnis of this aew esena of the KPD may be, on* must realise that it only represent* a logically inevitable development of the ssmg it has followed up to day...
...But never did me j great Virginian Philosopher forget the respect he him- . self owed to bis High Office...
...Gentleman at the bead of our...
...Vsltin's revelations opened the eyes of many participants of the anti-fascist underground movement...
...The Comintern was thus killing two birds with one stone: while eliminating political adversaries, it found a way of strengthening the confidence of the Gestapo in its agent...
...The head of the German Communists snd one of the leaders of the clandestine work of the Comintern...
...la the light of the aforesaid, the conduct of W Daul*/ Worker toward the Italian Socialists becomes vg dear...
...Charles Kerrigan, regional director...
...The Communists do not make -any secret of that After betraying Mnii|lisni seal flaswdjilasg trll us in the same article that there are two currents among the Italian Socialists in Switzerland: one for a united front with the Communists, the other eg ausist such a united action...
...as branches of the "Foreign Division of the GPU...
...Pearson a liar...
...executive board member, all-out stooge for the n, and unofficial spokesman for the Chrysler Corporation), the UAW, Mazey haa been the leading exponent of the more militant wing within the Reuther group, and although there has never been an open clash, between these two strong personalities, there is every likelihood to believe that the Maxey program, which is also the Reuther program, plus independent political action, now, will become part of the Reuther program for 'the UAW at the Buffalo convention...
...Stalin aad Hitler dra* near each other, the deeper must become the abyss between the Comintern and the independent Socialist kdar movement of any tendency...
...La, wM attack them publicly and at the aasae time criticise tkt Gestapo for »et havtag lsmg age strack them as...
...The Socialists tried to explain this occurence in various manners: that the Communists were watched more closely by the Gestapo, that being put to '¦ 1 —----more cruel tortures when arrested, they gave up more easily, etc But Valtin's book showed them that the reality was much more appalling: they had been betrayed not by individual Communists who could not endure torture, they were betrayed by the Comintern gin the persona of its representatives in the underground movement...
...Communists and the Anti-Fascist Underground The Technique of Betrayal By BURTON NICHOLS...
...One of the promising developments within the UAW has been the rise in popularity of young Emil Mazey, president of local 212, and candidate for executive board member to replace Leo LaMotte...
...apeakable Ones and had said bis prayers for toe souts of toe departed on the grave* of the victims of Nasi, dorn's vilest crime, toe stock of the Church would have gone up 100...
...One of the most encouraging signs, however, is the fact that the large potent rang and file are beginning to think in terms of'issues and program*, snd less of personalities...
...Frankfurters, on the other hand, could easily produce such a semantic catastrophe, but why eat Frankfurters...
...The United Auto and Alrtrsf t Workers, with over one million members, is the largest trsde-snion in the United States...
...I have not always beau sa admirer of all the works 1 of Mrs...
...It has opaasd a Wash in g ton office to ffgat reactionary legislation...
...Re other's appeal and program has captured the imagination of the rank-and-file to en extent never before realised by the liberal forces...
...1- wonder what those unfortunate natives ' are thinking about the little events that are taking place around them at the present moment...
...When the Russian dictatorskts had definitely chosen to collaborate in matters of fstoigs policy with the German Fascism, the Comintern uaeeS went its "August 4th": it openly and clearly pat tot interests of toe Russian dictatorship above toe toterast et tat international labor movement which is concerned wtm tb) downfall of Hitler...
...Roosevelt) and she would take a few inconveniences and even bodily perils in her stride and never give them a thought...
...election in which Richard Frankens teen participated were won by either the Machinists, the company union, or no union...
...But I have the greatest respect far what ska is doing just now...
...Wendell Willkie absent), it reminds me oi ? description I once read about a Conclave of Palace Eunuchs in Old Byxantium...
...At least not to that kind ef Christianity...
...They mat to plan for the future of the Dynasty they had served...
...front, when they are within the reach of the eestt» organization 0f the GPU (the Ehrlich and Alter ? shows dearly that they do not intend to...
...You see, "it will antagonize management" and, therefore, "impede the war effort...
...In order to deserve it, the Socialises have ? acknowledge two kinds of right to the Communists: · 1—tiss right to execute Socialists, even partisaas...
...and because of that handicap haa never been able to be as popular, for instance, as'one of his chief lieutenants, Dick Leonard, leader of the Ford Department ? fthe UAW...
...But polite and beautifully balanced political speeches won't do the trick of making us come back to Christianity...
...The bare walls remain and a fem» odds and ends of machinery...
...the Austrian Revolutionary Socialists...
...The leader of this **·#' Paul Hagen was recently (August 12) praised by ?? Oasis/ Werker for the position its group had m*mt# regard to the "Committee of Freedom in GermaarT ated ia Moscow...
...the past two years, the UAW has proved to be one ef the most aggressive unions in flmtaanUy...
...However his one handicap has been, and is the fact that he has never been able to become "a regular guy...
...The Communists knowing all' this revealed the names of Modigliani and Silone as leaders of the underground anti-Fascist activity...
...the adversaries of the IT assise poet...
...which officially bears the name of Communist PartJ, ¦ compliance with orders received from Moscow, mmd»* nounced Italian Socialists who are carrying aa a P*mf erhieh is not to Moscow's liking...
...t* This progressive interpretation of labor's no-strike pledge, and Ulis life-saver for American trade unionism will never be Sjjasjsjatsjd by the CP...
...The proposals of a Reuther progressive group to the convention at Buffalo on labor's no-strike pledge will simply be this: "Where management is sincerely living up to real collective bargaining, we re-affirm our no-strike pledge...
...Bot neither have I been in any way impreosed by anything the Vatican has said Or done since {he bV ginning of the war...
...Practically it means this: the KPD execativea will not "form s bloc" with the Gestapo, Le„ oil] not eater in direct relations with it...
...His outstanding advocacy of a guaranteed working week, of nation-wide trade agreements, against any system of incentive pay and speed-up, his aggressive attitude and program in regard to governmental agencies has gained the support for his group of the overwhelming mass of the rank and file of the UAW...
...This sounds so monstrous that it may seem to be a gross invention of the opponents of the united front...
...I am ????, very sorry...
...Under the leadership of Walter Reuther ? fought for the famous "Reuther Pisa" to convert the auto industry to war production...
...Even a simple ft* ?? pay* would be much better than the stuff Grandpappy used to distal in the light of toe shining moon...
...Hence even those Socialists who were partisans of a united front, preferred, when within the reach of the Gestapo, to avoid any contact with Communists...
...That the Communists practice such denunciations has been no secret to those who work in the anti-fascist underground...
...deed, my dear Lady, and I will forgive you the next time you use "like" for "us ?.* ? * * · - *T"ee Papa's speech struck me as exceedingly weak...
...Perhaps I had better semi tin President a copy of my...
...Moscow let -leasees « its own foreign policy, strives to destroy all labs* ergem«atieas that are outside its control...
...At Its current convention the UAW is split into two feetions: the Reather group and the Addes group, which has Wlorked with Communists...
...Roosevelt and certain linguistic tricks of hers (especially the wrong use of the word "gentleman" for "men" and her aversion to the perfectly good "female" for certain kinds of women) give me the literary heebe jeebees...
...The KPD, being an instrument sf this foreign policy, must then direct its mam assssluv no more against Hitler, but against the German sawfseist...
...page 137) to denounce to the Gestapo, as agents ef the English imperialism, all Socialists sad other participants of the underground movement » ho were carrying on a propaganda against the Hitler-Stalin pact...
...However, our domestic product is so excellent today that that should offer no difficulties...
...THE documents we have quoted were issue* by fear ultra-leftist Socialist organizations Repress*t*#ms *" on* of them, the group "Neu Beginnen" are new hr ?·* York, *nd have organised and inspired the "Asset** Friends of German Freedom...
...That i mskes Ave.: J would suggest a, sixth one ; Freedom from speeches by the President of Columbia, .The President has called Mr...
...The Gestae* will not wait bang for the mvkatess...
...And this they did deliberately...
...The letter was signed by the SAP (Socialist Workers Party...
...it does not seem to be abnormal or auesswl ? American branch of the Foreign Division ef the...
...Being in continuous danger of occupation, Switzerland grants the right of asylum on condition that the refugees will abstain from any political activity...
...The Daily Worker knows this very well for it has announced arrests of Communists in Switzerland...
...They mat just the sense and had a grand time...
...On the other hand, George Addes has always been very popular with the group following him...
...and director of the General Motors department, and young politically-minded, active George Addes...
...Addes forces...
...The Hon...
...evoked by Governor Dewey's speech about *-* the world after the war...
...They know that their everyday grievances will take many months (if not s yesr) when it goes to the War Labor Board, and their morale has been taking a terrific beating...
...German socialists engaged in this work had long been aware of the danger they were incurring in dealing with Communists: arrests followed very quickly...
...Region 9A, is a fighting, mill tant, anti-communist Addes supporter...
...The overwhelming majority of all progressive anti-communists are rallying around the Reuther program, and all indications point to an overwhelming Reuther victory at this Eight Annual Convention of the UAW-CIO...
...GPU...
...Incieentally, the Reuther progressive group has minor differences too...
...New Leader has already exposed the denunciation by the Daily Worker of the Italian Socialist loaders Giuseppe Modigliani and Ignaxio Silone...
...He doesn't rryx well with "the boys...
...As for the meeting of the Republican leaders (Hon...
...of cearss...
...Too tttle wajrfU** fats...
...I would have my doubts I about the stuff Laval would be tempted to put into the bottles...
...My own guess is that as soon as the white man shall have * stopped his murderous activities, these happy '¦—tmw will us* the scraps of bombs and tanks that lie spread all over the countryside and will convert them into a highly efficient new Und of knives with which the* will return to the ancient and honorable sport of headhunting...
...Where management is taking advantage of the no-strike pledge by refusing to bargain collectively in order to impair and then ¦Swtray trade unionism, we will strike the plant and demand that the government take over sad deal with the anion...
...right),and ' ????' riecht*to denounce to the Gestapo and Ojf"g organisations Socialists that are opposed to s uaftsd...
...Buffalo October convention of the largest and most democrstic union in the world, the UAW-CIO, will either build the union on a militant constructive foundation—or will once again straddle the vital issues and keep alive the factional problems that have kept the largest international union in America in a state of turmoil...
...One would not be likely to indulge in such gross, verbiage after a first rate Vol su Vent a la Toulouse...
...The Doily Worker does not reveal the leaders of the first, it only cites the names of the) Socialists opposed to a united front...
...Its bold sad imaginative advertising campaign an the Smith-Connally bill was a striking example of what progressive onion action means...
...The ancient waterwheehj, however, go on rolling and rolling and rolling nUimaea there is nobody who takes the trouble to stop...
...Frankenstein has been proCoughlin and anti-Cough]in.procommunist, and anti-communist, and is at present an important lieutenant in Ute Addes-Communist group...
...In May 1940 representatives of these groups met'and published a letter addressed to all Socialist organizations...
...Notes from Van Loon's Diary By HENDRIK WILLEM VAM LOON »?adorn eoves for erriete* I won't li«ve...
...The reason...
...State Department baa faBen into an error common to so many old persons...
...1 Too much heralded Roy Hudson story in the Dauy Worker on the UAW has been used extensively by the Addes forces to prove that their alignment with the CP has been broken...
...The latter sold the Socialist who trusted their companions in their common fight against Hitlerism...
...The deed, is monstrous, but at the same time so typical of the Communists' conduct toward the Socialists that it deserves a special consideration—one must understand its meaning...
...Referring to some of the outstanding parts of Ulrichte article, the authors of the letter state: "I lrich's statement signifies but this: that all the officials of the KPD (German Communist Party) are ordered by the highest authority of Moscow to 'reveal' every Social Democrat or Catholic, every outlawed anti-Fascist who opposes the German-Russian pact and thus to denounce him to the Gestapo...
...But, then, he had the best cook in the United States, and he used his diplomatic friends abroad to send him toe most soothing snd consoling of French wines to be found in the Kingdom of good King Louis...
...Anyway, why not try ? And s couple of bottles to the Venerable Bede of the State Department would do na harm, either...
...Its conventions therefore are all-Important snd are watched by all labor and political observers la the country...
...President Thomas ia slated for re-election by both caucases...
...Afterthought...
...wben they are without its jurisdiction...
...the New Beginning Group...
...Maybe it was the heat...
...Jeferton...
...bf a*f a Socialist ia quotation marks) will stand such a - _23*»??** ** r*so»nl*ed aa ready for the use of soars eeSMmuf united front and...
...There have also been arrests among Socialists, and last year Silone spent some time in jail...
...6. February, 1940...
...and they will continue to revolve around their ashless axes until they collapse from sheer old age...
...Modigliani arrived there only recently, having succeeded, by combined efforts of friends, in escaping from France...
...Aa a newer union, it is one ef the most democratic, end rank-and-file sentiment is freely expressed...
...But they had apparently forgotten that the Emperor, whose benehmen they had been, had been dead for more than a dosen years and that the Palace in which they had worked had bean rased to the grounds for an equal nuntibar of years...
...Along the waterfronts of almost every Pacific Ocean village I ever visited, there was s row of churches ' and ehe pels, and therein for these last hundred years eager Missionaries of the Christian Faith had bass telling the benighted natives about the white man's God who had come to bring Love unto all the children of this world...
...bow to bar - ? as one of our great women...
...Management has been using the no-strike pledge to sabotage collective bargaining on a plant level Their representatives refuse to talk about and act upon grievances and important issues and usually say "take it to the War Labor Board," The workers are now aroused...
...Although he has built quite a reputation for himself as a crack-jack organiser in charge of aircraft, the statistics prove that the International Association of Machinists, formerly affiliated with the A.F.ofL., has organised the balk of the aircraft workers in the United States of America, On the West Coast, under Frankensteen's general direction and the CP leadership, the UAW haa less than 100,000 members...
...The now independent International Association of Machinists has more than 600,000 members...
...secretarytreasurer oi the International...
...f · Dap to the highly factional policies and strong personal ties there are no sharp lines of demarcation...
...In the end," they will argue, "it is much more harmless pasfime than that indulged in by-our Christian brethren...
...The saw-mills which they provided with the necessary moving power are gone...
...they will eaty...
...But even if he Wen the most consummate liar in the world, I am very, very sorry the President said what he Saht...
...Unfortunately the question of a program of approach is not the only factor that will enter into the picture at Buffalo, A very important factor will be the personal loyalties and the individual personalities...
...Modigliani and Silone have been living to Switzerland as political exiles...
...Of unknown quantity and quality ia Richard Frankenstoen...
...Passages of this letter deserve quotation...
...Nat on account of the risks she takes, for she happens to be a Lady (loudly notice my use of the word, Mrs...
...They want to aafegaard labor's gains...
...Walter Ulrich, openly instructed the Comments ts in the German-lang sage organ of the Comintern, "Die Welt" (Stockholm...
...Those who violate this rule are arrested...
...for enhancing the oeaWj** 2?* ef the communist organizations as breaches et...
...Bat everything U overgrown with tinea and shrubs...
...Addee has been the political builder of the machine, the very articulate powerpolitics man, Walter Reuther and the progressive group that supports his policies are fighting now for militant, virile and industrial unionism and within the Roosevelt Administration...
...Almost all the important N.L.R.B...
...He undoubtedly win acknetrlsdaa Mf aeearacy of our quotations as well as the fact that tkf* years ago his own group considered the Communist...
...If I were a poor fellow, in a hospital five thousand miles away from home, and the wife of the President (for after all to us, he always is THE PRESIDENT, though he occasionally forgets the position he holds), yes, she in person, the wife of my President, came to fhe with her most agreeable' smile (and nobody in this world can smile as kindly and as pleasantly as the wife of our Chief Executive) and she put her hand on my far from comfortable forehead and told me that I had been a fine fellow and that the folks at home had not forgotten me and were deeply grateful for what I had done, I am sure that I would begin to feel so much better then and there that I would be sure of my recovery and would knew that some day I would...
...The leading figures in the fight for power and control are: Welter Heather, young energetic snd progressive vice-president of the UAW-CIO...
...But that slight difference will not up-set the working cooperation that haa been achieved by Addes and the CP...
...In the faybt fa**"* Socialists who have remained faithful...
...i Oeiy when * "Socialist" (such one can...
Vol. 26 • September 1943 • No. 37
