Byrnes Set to Abandon Price Roll-Back, Freeze Wages
Byrnes Set to Abandon Price Roll-Back, Freeze Wages Administration Follows Appeasirmnt Policy, Labor Says (From The New Leader HaasmpfoH Bweau) WASHINGTON, D. C—Two development* here this week...
...One was the fight of snti-Administration force* to prohibit the use of government subsidies to hold down food price...
...But even with Poll taxes still in effect-if they still are at that I time—1944 will see thousands of Southern whites flock to the polls who never voted before . . . because swelling payrolls will enable them to pay poll taxes with relatively little trouble...
...The British, of course, are first class diplomats, because there is a catch to this formula...
...It is also understood here that the Administration food subsidy plan contemplates an and to any plan* for rolling back prices...
...Czechoslovakia and other Aof'-no»s...
...vested .r the narrow trade-union elements would deprive the liberals, who form a large bulk of the vote and membership of the party, of any voice and influence ;n party circles...
...The British, as represented by that soft-spoken and suave diplomat, Col...
...Indeed, if the "agreements in principle" reached behind closed doors at Atlantic City were as principled as the agreement* reached in Moscow there is little cause for rejoicing One thing ought to be made clear from the very outset: the United States which will contribute about forty per cent to UNRRA's budget—about $1,500,000,000—acted at least in this instance not only as the genial host but also as the patron and protector of the small "have-not" nations...
...now face* them with the ironic situation of having obtained an increase of 11.50 a day in a government contract given him by the very Administrstion he scorned...
...It's the Southern "White Primary.' The best proof o this is offered by Uaisiaaa and to smghboring South •» states, l.ouisi-• *aa several years aga wiped oat the poll tax...
...Which made it all...
...oo Motes ee the Copifai Scene Raub Snyder, chief of the cooperative division of the Farm Security Administration, has joined the National Farmers Union as director of its coopertsive division...
...Three points of view have emerged from the discussion...
...James J. Llewellin, were once again fighting for control of world trade...
...Hillmsn supported Tammany's Bennett m 1942...
...Tbe_inside story is: James F. Brownies, OPA Deputy Administrator to charge of prices, gave the vitamin manufacturers their choice...
...But there is really little that is paradoxical in that...
...Asst...
...withoat any explanation, denied a petition to review tkt decision of the Circuit Ceart...
...British Foreign Secretary, sought to nullify the effect of Churchill's speech in Boston where he called for sn Anglo-American alliance...
...Britain, en the other hand, through the Combined Boards, receives for a long time the right to fix prices monopolistically and control as much of the world economic market as she is able to supply...
...But the United States can be only a competitor' State Leaders Hold Three Views on Future of ALP The future of the American Labor Party will be decided in coming weeks as the State Executive Committee of the party debates the proposal recently submitted by Sidney Hillman...
...11 taxes were originally intended to keep the •orking classes from voting...
...The stand taken by the American delegation, particularly by former Governor Herbert H. Lehman, was clearly expressed to me by several delegates of the smaller European nations who said: "As between Britain and Russia we find ourselves here in a dog-house...
...6. An American Labor Party, under the Hillman proposal, would include elements that slandered President Roosevelt as a "warmonger and imperialist" in 1940 and viciously caluminiated the present party leadership for its anti-Nazi stand in 1940...
...There is even good reason to believe that in his two private conferences with Stalin in Moscow Anthony Eden...
...And it made very little difference to them whether the credit was •bussed by (he American Labor Party, which Marcantonio I nominally represents, or by the Communists,'whom he really represents...
...Bowles was told pretty plainly that unless their spsial was uphold, OPA wools' eoar from their Congressman...
...The truth is that while on the surface the Lehman-Llewellin controversy concerned primarily the control of relief, it went much deeper and beyond the limits of the Atlantic City Conference...
...Here is why: Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans would let the other one get the credit for introducing the winning bill...
...it) the Southern bourbon* realize thst rising Southern income stakes the poll tax an kssffsrlesl barrier to general suffrage and they are afraid that Ighting the anti-poll tax kill ssay tare the new Southern voters against them...
...Current issue of the West Coast Sailor, organ of the Sailors Union of the Pacific, carries one of the most heroic of recent stories of the torpedoing of an American merchant ship...
...Whatever criticism one may level at Congress there is no doubt tftft in this case its influence was strictly alo.nJL, democratic and Wrnnaritttriairitnes...
...Since the aasae document was iatrodaced ia sviaoaeo try the Government against the Trotakyitea, it la doabty strange that the Bosjtssm Court refaeed to hear the ease...
...Then they went around to see Bowles...
...On the other hand, the Russians, who throughout the numerous UNRRA committee sessions have not opened their mouths even once—except when the Soviet Ambassador sought to bar the world press from the Atlantic City Conference—were primarily interested in getting the most while contributing the least...
...If only it will succeed in bring impartially relief and succor to the staived and tortured people oi Nasi Europe—to feed the hungry and heal the wounds of the injured, in the ward, of forme: Governor Herbert fl...
...Soviet Russia, bidding for the role of the MOST favored nation, will even sit on the Supplies Committee although she seeks to be primarily a beneficiary of UNRRA and not a contributor...
...Lewis told the Northern and Illinois operators that their terms were acceptable hat that he wanted the whole industry included before discussing details...
...It is understood here in top labor circles that food subsidies in large part represent a bribe to the racketeering war profiteers to behave like patriotic Americans, millions of whom are offering up their lives without needing to be bribed...
...The election of the Negro Communist...
...They claimed that Brown-lee was exceeding las powers, that he wasn't trying to roll back prices to the consumer or reduce the cost of living They charged that Brown lee was trying to reduce profits...
...Lehman insisted throughout that UNRRA cannot be operated on an efficient and equitable basis unless H has the power to see that the poorer nations of Eastern Europe and other sections get their fair share of relief...
...If clothes trtHnriing here wore set at 50 yards per person, It weald relieve the pressure of the clothing shortage snd would be felt little except by Park A venae clothes horses...
...And the Southern Bern bun* would not support a bill by a New Basltr which might be carried by the nominal Democratic majority...
...point of view not a narrow trade union basis standing in oppostion to all totalitarianism...
...The popular notion that wiping oat poll tax laws will enfranchise the Negroes in the Sooth is completely baseless...
...It includes representatives of all the political groups which participated in the Loyalist Government of Spain except the Communists and the Anarchists...
...The appointment of Leo Perils, who came from the WTB Labor Division to replace Sweetland in the CIO job...
...The chief howlers in the coal mine situation now are the Southern coal operators and the steel corporation owners of the "captive mines...
...This may yet turn out to be an expensive auetsliulation for the two old parties...
...They say the seven years effort of building the party shall not be wasted...
...Lewis shrewdly turned that proposition down temporarily, pointing out to the operators thst he has a contract for the entire cos...
...The Hillman pioposal...
...On' the other hand, one must note with apprehension that the UNRRA conference —which was in more than one sense a rehearsal for the coming peace conference— was strictly a Big Power show...
...Lewi...
...Thus even on the Committee on Europe the voice of the Big Three—Soviet Russia, Great Britain, and* the United States — will be predominant...
...3. Because they are an organised group, there would be a tendency for various persons within the Labor Party to make Tflb" with the Communists, thus turni-.e fjfie perry into a permanent battieground...
...But that is not keeping the Communists in the Northern cities from grabbing credit and sucker votes in Negro communities on the phony claim that "their man" Marcantonio is going to give Negroes in the South the right to vote...
...Among those who oppose accepting the Hillman proposals, there are various shades of opinion...
...So watch for Bowies' reply • • » No Relief for fhe CommaaUrs When Monroe Sweetland resigned ss director of the CIO Allied Wsr Relief Committee to take sn important overseas job with the Bed Cross, the Communists sighed with relief...
...Bet Negroes ¦till do net vote ia Louisiana, any more than they do in Mississippi...
...Secondly, the Communists, acting as a tightly organized and disciplined caucus would be able to wield influence far out of proportion to their real strength...
...Liberal organirat ion* protested against this piece of •tepidity to no avail...
...to a carbon coy...
...One view favors accepting the Hillman proposals: another view that the Hillman proposals be rejected and that the State Committee enter the primary battle in the spring for control of the party...
...In return for the latter, the Administration'* spokesmen hay* promised Big Business they wUl hold wages within the present Little Steel formula, j The smacking smackdew* given feed sen- • Md.es by the House by a vote ef J7» to IV was the answer given this week fcy the W»t Profiteer*1 Lobby to the Administration's humble effort* at appeasement ever the paet year...
...Thus our job is simple...
...Vito Marcantonio, the voice of the Daily Worker...
...While FEPC Chairman Malcolm Boas goes to the Pacific Coast to inquire bite alleged employment discrimination against Negroes in shipyards in the Los Angeles area, Negroes in the nation's capital are stffl w slums to gat the jobs on streetcars and bosses which the FEPC ordered Capital Transit Company to give them a year ago...
...The pofnt at issue was whether veto power over the allocation of food and other relief supplies shonld be given to UNRRA, or whether ' the wartime control now held by the Anglo-American Combined Boards for food, shipping and raw materials should be retained without qualification in the relief period...
...5. Hillman is interested only in 1944 and not in national or independent labor action beyond 1944 and thus would kill the party after this election...
...Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Trotskyite Cases In en astoendtag decision, the I...
...the applicability of the 'clear sad present danger doctrine to this Act sad other novel oa eerie— raised in the petition to the Supreme Court, would ordi-narilj aesare the granting of s review by the Court.*- Strangely enoagh the Ceart hss refaeed to disease these oeestioaa Goldsasa points out farther that la the case of the Cessainaiat WilHasi Schneider-ssan...
...The Communist problem, they feel, can be handled by giving them minority status...
...The Communist party has fend-Tersme powers' far beyond the resources of the trade unions in the ALP...
...The Communists are reliably reported using the prestige of the Marcantonio bill in a concentrated drive to build disciplined cadres in the South...
...the odder ¦baa the Administration leaders in the House gave the green light to the bill introduced by Rap...
...Among those who made ssrsaal protest, pointing out that there were plenty ef anti-poll tax bills by other Congress-Ma worthy of support, was the Workers Defense League...
...The reason for the United States' position may be attributed first of all to the character and personality of Herbert H. Lehman who has been choeen as the Director General of the UNRRA...
...Ruined and devastated Russia presents a rich and lucrative market and no competition...
...Fortunately there is the United States and Herbert Lehman...
...that the most the Administration hopes to achieve is to hold price* to the present level...
...Under the compromise there is no super-governmental decree forbidding any country from buying what it has money to buy, or any country from telling goods, for which it can be paid...
...paradoxically though it may seem, favor an alliance with "Communist" Russia rather than with "Capitalist" America...
...Lehtmth—the UNRRA will have achieved in a large measure the task it set out to do...
...Those opposed to accepting the Hillman proposal, and they seem to be in the largeimajority, say this: on principled and on practical grounds the Hillman proposal cannot be accepted...
...Russia and the rich countries) u^ill not provoke inflation: and so that the feeds of another >ri// not hi *nun...
...It isat the Ml tax that keeps Negroes from rottag in the Sooth...
...T^jOr^SSi "Congress would not appropriate the necessary $1,500.-000,0000 once it leaked sut that some nations seek to exploit the UNRRA for the* own gain served as a potent and wholesome deterrent even for those of the Americans who would have liked to have played the Anglo-Russian game...
...Yugoslavia...
...Not too much of a diplomat but a genuine democrat and humanitarian...
...2. Who would grab the credit for it...
...They admit that only a fraction of enrolled members vote in the primaries and that the Communists have sent every single person in to register ALP...
...It's ia the form of s letter from one ef the men who were saved...
...Some persons favor a vigorous primary campaign in the spring...
...Both measures have a curious identity of objective, in that the final answer to both struggle* will indicate to American worker* whether their relief from the criminal mm profiteering is to come by way of lower prt||r or higher wages...
...Since the legal control is vested in a state committee elected in the primaries, there would be prior agreement on slates to be elected, based on this proportional representation of per capita dues...
...The fact Is that wiping out poll taxes does *°* yet guarantee the South universal suffrage...
...The Director General, however, while not given any written guarantee of a formal "veto" power was assured that, subject to military requirements, food and other relief and rehabilitation supplies win not be allocated without his approval...
...American consumption ¦isiages about 70 yards per person...
...Some administration persons are pressing for unity, under the stimulus and influence of Hillman...
...merely replaces Gibraltar with Fort McHenry...
...Secondly—and even more important—there was the American delegates' fear of Congress...
...Wiping them out win now permit the Southern white worker to ••to And that's all to the good...
...The right-wing socialists and liberals predominate They were all deputies in the Spanish Cortes, or Parliament, which was dissolved by Franco when he won the civil war and abolished the legitimate government elected by the people in 1936...
...The British argued that the Combined Boards should remain independent of UNRRA and thus be able to allocate relief goods to France, Belgium...
...No decision has Is yet been reached and it is likely that nore will r>e reac-.ed for some httle time Prieto Forms 'Free Spanish' Government In Mexico City *1*HE first step toward formation of a * Spanish republican govemment-in-exile was announced in Mexico City by Indalecio Prieto and Martinez Barrios...
...Russia and other countries that have money to pay for them, the Director General of UNRRA would then be notified by sending him "a carbon copy, so to speak.** But Herbert H. Lehman preferred an origin...
...But afl the forty-four participating nations in the UNRRA agree that they will forego such ngiits for the common good, so that itarration disease and consequent anarchy wUI not develop in the "poor" countriet, and wildly competitive buying and selling {on the part of Britain...
...British atvts rationing permits each person shout 20 linear yards of cloth...
...They maintain though, that a real educational job among the membership could keep control in the hands of the present leadership and that the prestige and strategic position acquired would be worth the fight...
...The demonstrated force of such disciplined cadres, particularly in balance-of-power PsMties in New York and Detroit recently, Bastrstes the danger of underestimating Communist Tammany Hallism...
...Alabama or Arkansas...
...President Byrnes, however, feel* that the war profiteers are needed to obtain productive of the things America needs to win the war, and has been submitting to the blackmsi...
...Ekes has backed up this play by Lewis by tolling the operators he will not return fhe coal nines to private management until they have negotiated a contract with the minora...
...Pinning their faith in the War Labor Beard's antipathy towards Lewis, the steal companies and Southern operators sre fighting bitterly against the wage rates agreed to by Fuel Administrator Harold I ekes hi the government contract with the United Mine Workers Behind this fight is the fear of the steel magnates and Southern coal barons that the end of the war wifl leave them with a high-wage industry on their hands...
...The struggle between Herbert H. Lehman and Colonel Llewellin—if it can be reduced to personalities—developed early in the UNRRA conference...
...It was assumed from the beginning by everybody, including the Southern bourbons, that the poll tax was on it* way ont" There were only two real ques-¦assj Mvatflgk !¦ HoW^eoglfr it go...
...in essence, is this: A number of CIO unions would be admitted to the Labor Party, including several Communist-dominated unions, i.e., transport, seamen, municipal, office workers, etc...
...As the votes ia the prevtoes session of Csagfsha htdsttUd...
...I have been in business and ia public life tor a goad many rears,** replied the former banker and former governor of New York to the Englishmen's magnanimous offer, "and I've never yet seen a carbon copy that was worth anything to the man who received it...
...After a bit of behind-the-scenes dickering a face-saving formula was reached...
...Its achievements as they will be finally crystalized in the various committees will undoubtedly be great...
...In the first place, it is addressed to somebody else and in the second place action has already been taken...
...The Northern and Illinois coal operators this week offered to sign a contract with Lewis incorporating the terms of the Ideas agreement with the miners, plus s retroactive payment of Me effective in wwd-December...
...Byrnes Set to Abandon Price Roll-Back, Freeze Wages Administration Follows Appeasirmnt Policy, Labor Says (From The New Leader HaasmpfoH Bweau) WASHINGTON, D. C—Two development* here this week held the nation-wide piiwHltW of trade union leaden and member* as vitaEy affecting «their interest...
...Control of the party would be vested in the trade unions on the basis of per capita payments...
...The campaign would be hard and costly and may settle nothing...
...British banking interests as represented by Eden and Lord Beaverbrook...
...That Is because: (a) the New Dealers want more rotes in the South: (b) the Republicans think it »ill help them break through the ¦sshsa* tosrtiol in the Southern states...
...Present Southern hostility to the anti-poll tax bill is more a manifestation of anti-New Deal sentiment than of pro-poll tax sentiment) A large number of anti-poll tax bills were Introduced at the start of the present session ef Cilaglass Both Republicans and Democrats were represented...
...8. Sepresse Ceart this week refaeed to bear the eaaes of the IS leaders ef the Trets-kyite Socialist Workers Party convicted in Minneapolis ef violating the Smith watisse a adit toe act...
...According to this formula the Combined Boards will retain the final decision on the allocation of food as long as any military supply problem exists either in Europe or in the Far East...
...Prieto indicated that he thinks drastic chsnges sre impending in Spain, and this action is taken in expectation of the need of an organized framework of government which can take over authority in the transition period between the fall of Franco and the election of a new democratic government...
...John L. Lewis chose to fight for wage increases for his coal miners...
...the liberals on the Supreme Ceart held that the distribution of the Comma-¦tst Manifesto of Marx and Br gels eeerid net be interpreted to mesa that the party d is tribe ting H advocates the violent eeer-throw of the geverameat...
...Other opinions declare that it may be necessary to organise a new liberal party in the state, branding the remains of the ALP for what it would be—a camouflaged Communist front—and use the money and effort that would go into a primary battle to organize this new democratic party...
...Although organised labor has long since despaired «f retting an honest Administration effort to Xk>!-jack price* to the level of May, 1942...
...All we have to do is to vote for all American proposals in order to protect our interests...
...This development ia held up by the fact that the "captive mines," owned by the steel corporations, have stayed away from sll contract discussion so far...
...Norway, the Netherlands and South American countries, which have gold and foreign exchange resources to pay for supplies...
...Those who favor accepting the Hillman proposals argue along this line: the party membership is tired of expending its energies in primary' fights, eking out each time narrow victories...
...The eeavictiaae had been sppsalsi ha the Sapreme Ceart by the American Ovfl Liberties Union...
...The Sam-erne Ceart...
...when wages were frozen under the Little Steel formula, that door cannot be regarded as absolutely shut' until the fight on food subsidies is over...
...Trotskyite attorney and one of the 18 convicted, pointed esrt is a state as ent to the proas thst qaeatloaa sech as the coastitatioaality of the Bsaith Act...
...After all one cannot be too hard with the Americans who are expected to foot a major part of the UNRRA bill...
...Ben Davie, to' represent Harlem in the New York City Council is one of the effects at the miscalculation of the Democrats and Republicans in Congress who passed the tell to Marcantonio to carry for s touchdown...
...They could either have prices sat at four-and-a-half times the .cost of production, or they could have them set at 15% below present prices...
...fa - Trade onion leaders, therefore, are keeping * sharp watch on both developments...
...A deiegatios representing the 15 leading manufacturers m the field lodged s formal protest with Bowles...
...and bribery rather than take over plants in cases of criminal war profiteering...
...the third view that ALP be jettisoned if the Communist* gain control and create a new liberal party in the state that would appeal basically from a libera...
...But none of them were afraid of Marcantonio...
...With neither House nor Senate keek-u*g-lhi Pisetosat, the beet Am Admlneatrs-tiea can hope for by the ase ef the Press* dential *ete is a stalemate ea this sssa|sjps?> ' While other trade union leaders followed what they felt was the patriotic Una of sap porting the President and restraining labor'' complaints against unconscionable war nr«(-iteering...
...4 The cor.tro...
...The British member, in a fit of generosity, also indicated that after the Combined Boards had___ allocated supplies to France...
...British banking interests have looked askance at America's participation in post-war European settlements...
...Many thousands of dollars sre wasted in these fights which could be used for better purposes...
...In other words, the relief and rehabilitation fate of the poor countries will henceforth depend entirely upon the goodunll of the rich which is small comfort indeed for Poland, Greece...
...It's dedicated by the merchant ssaasea to West-brook Pegier, who "sits safely at warns and stabs them in the back...
...One was that it pointedly rejected payment for portal-to-portal tone...
...The vitamin manufacturers, who were well-advised on how to And their way around Washington, yessed Srownlee...
...Tee other catch was that everybody knew that the offer of a lump sum increase for after than portal-to-portal time is sure to be rejected by the War Labor Board as in violation of the Little Steel formula...
...As long as the admission of the Communist elements is the backbone of the Hillman proposal, they feel, there can be no unity within the labor movement as a whole or fci the American Labor Party...
...The Southern operators, represented by the reactionary labor-baiting former Senator Edward R Burke, offered this week to settle with hat miners on the payment ¦of total weekly wages equal to those now earned by the miners under government contract...
...It was the age-old struggle for world economic domination...
...There were, however, two catches in the offer...
...It would mean, first, the admittance of totalitarian elements into the party...
...U.S.-Britain Clash at UNRRA Sessions Over World Trade By LEON DENNCN Special Sew Leader Ccrretpondent ATLANTIC CITY, N. J—Whatever the cut-come of the Roosevelt-Churchill-Stalin talks which are now taking place, there is no doubt that next to the recent meeting of foreign minister* in Moscow the UNRRA conference is one of the most important war-time international gatherings...
...But the Commies' sigh of relief was premature...
...Sweetland had consistently been a Bock of Gibraltar in their path...
...A Teat ef O *A i Sincerity TIPOFF: Watch what OPA Administrator Chester Bewles dees about ceding prices on vitamins for a revelation of bow far OPA is willing to -go to appease the Wsr Profiteers...
...These are the various viewpoints expressed within the state executive committee of the party...
...Two was the last-ditch fight of sou that ti coal operators and the steel corporation* to keep coal mining a low-wage industry...
...While other trade union leader* have gotten nothing but perilled personal positions as a result of their faith in Administration promises of price roll-backs...
...Albert Goldman...
...there are plenty of tallies svsilsble far killing the poll tax...
...Capital Comment Sf range Maneuverings On the Poll-Tax Bill By JONATHAN STOUT WASHINGTON, D. C—There's an interjecting inside story on the political maneuverings sthind the poll tax bill...
...It would seem that Lewi* ha* taught more trusting trade anion leader* that "toughness pays...
...There's a phony angle to the Marcantonio Ml • . . which, incidentally, is being exploited •o the fullest by the Communists...
...mining industry now—with the government...
Vol. 26 • November 1943 • No. 48
