Soviet Demand for Use of Germans As "Slave Labor" Arouses Protests
OAK, LISTON M.
Soviet Demand for Use of Germans As "Slave Labor" Arouses Protests Russian Proposals Aim at Wiping Out Free German Unions By LISTON M. OAK Satisfaction over the achievement of natty in waging...
...Ha considers the constitution of 1931 as the minimum basis of the entente, "la the course of time," he has said, "the people af Spain will make the decisions...
...In a Sevewefk article at the time, Rajrmaad Moley labeled Varga'• position a "bargaining" proposal, or, as official sources here new construe it, a trial balloon...
...Varga says it will take 10 million German workers ten years to repair the damage done by Germany in Russia...
...x j In its two-column attack on the New Leader aid 'its Washington correspondent, the Daily Worker fulminates that: ^"tbe fact that all this involves a body of chitons- in Chicago, before whom Congressman tlph Sabath and other luminaries spoke does interest the New Leader...
...Well, if that* all they want, supaatua* give the Daily Worker what it wants right now...
...eaaeafanasn •eaaaasT/^^^AaaJsl Vhinuiuniiwi...
...who was Minister of National Defense during the greater part of the civil war and who is now the leader of the majority (moderate) wing of the Socialist Party, said to me that the Committee of Liberation puts an end to the contention, formulated by certain foreign statesmen, that republican Spain no longer has an official spokesman, "We represent," he continued, "the majority of the body of voters, the fighting' republic, a constitution democratically adopted, the active Spanish underground movement If any governments wish to communicate with anti-fascist Spain, here we are...
...aJLof the pertMreTrt paragrapns in tne uauy worser story ta which the blander occurred (which, I notice, ti...
...Ivan Ribar" does not refer to Tito's anaeamee-tiettt two weeks ago but to something that happened a year ago...
...Free Spanish Gov't Gains Wide Support, Represents Majority By VICTOR SERGE Special to TP* Nrw LsADB MEXICO CITY.—Most of the Spanish refugees are of the opinion that Spain, the scene of Hitler's first victory, will be greatly affected by the outcome of the war...
...Unable to make headway, Plyaney enlisted Jt^jMMJgObm D . lamfaann...
...of just what had transpired...
...A Grotesque Footnote to the Erlich-Alfer Cas< ALTHOUGH Henryk Erlieh snd Victor Alter, leaders of the Jewish Workers Party of Poland, were executed by the Russian government aa Soviet citizens, the Soviet government later asked the Folisk Government for payment of an Intoarlst Hotel Bill of Erlieh and Alter...
...It's something to speculate about And there is a possible explanation that makes a good deal more sense than any other I've heard...
...On this latter point we have at hand most encouraging proofs which it is not yet wise to make public Both here and over yonder ta the homeland, new political mentalities have developed...
...I find h) difficult to set up a privileged group aJsamsl Germany, such as the working people, who aha...
...In uf> unionised German labor the three groups eea a bulwark against the return of fascism or cosj-quest of the Reich by communism, and a notattt ally in whatever international labor orgaaisa-tion emerges with the peace...
...The boys on the Dally Worker b o w this...
...Varga estimates the Russian claim far damage at nearly 400 billion goM rubies, ay 1,600 billion gold Reichsmark—twelve times as much as the liability of Germany fixed after the last war...
...prosperon...
...These parties, which represent a majartty of the last regularly etaetad_lgmiiah Parliament...
...In s vain effort to alibi themselves and cover qp this blunder, the Daily Worker last Saturday devoted a full two columns on page one in an editorial attack on the New Leader and its Washington correspondent The Daily Worker wept and wailed" and called ut dirty names...
...j...
...Soviet Demand for Use of Germans As "Slave Labor" Arouses Protests Russian Proposals Aim at Wiping Out Free German Unions By LISTON M. OAK Satisfaction over the achievement of natty in waging coalition warfare by the Biff Tl«»r fa offset, in Washington and London, by fears aroused by Russian insistence on territorial and other demands far greater than any nation dared demand after World War I. It is an open aucret that the conference at Moscow and Teheran, despite certain accomplishments, failed to remove worry lest hopes for international cooperation be wrecked by Russian determination to dominate Europe...
...We refugees have been accosed of disunity...
...on the Daily Worker have good reason {p know how the cynics in the Kremlin regard slanderers...
...While the victors of World War I insisted on money payments .Jeom Germany, they refused to accept money's counterpart, goods, which would grft) reality to money payments...
...t——a_a...
...The POCM...
...The congressional committee which "dug up the dirt" referred the matter to the Department of Justice, with a demand for prosecution...
...That it will amount to penal servitude, there can be little doubt...
...Of course, somebody made that blunder...
...Vkt what the Daily Worker does.not say is tafa this so-called "body of citizens" in Chicago ¦ ¦the communist-organized and communist-gjanced...
...The Germans had to pay with foreign loans made to them, on which there came a moratorium and finally repudiation...
...This week a Federal grand jury was impaneled at Washington, and Herring, Comfort and others involved were called to give their version...
...The management of the Intoorist (travel bureau controlled by the Soviet government—edit...
...v. biberals have hoped that the post-war settlement would not resurrect the reparations pmb-lem, which was such a stinking mam after World War I. The imposition of indemnities is a bad way of punishing the guilty...
...William Green, AFL President, issued a statement on December 3, reading: ". . . It seems inconceivable to me that Russia could propose, or that the United Nations couM support, a plan which hy its very natata fa completely inconsistent with the post-war objective...
...The New Leader's space is much too valuable...
...he explained, "on returning to their country, have no idea of imposing on the Spanish people solutions which they them selves would have worked out with us had they remained free...
...A- free, democratic, w'uajekoas Germany t a A free, aemocretic...
...True, not every individual German is responsible for Hitler but, as in an air raid, the Inn ureal must suffer with the guilty...
...Indaleefa Prieto brutally refuted their strongest argument, the notion that after the war the U.S.S.R will have the hegemony of the continent of Europe...
...The astonishing fact is that this plan has been defended by certain liberals who have never been able to understand the nature of totalitarian Communism...
...she CammanSMn of having broken every promise and betrayed every responsibility and of having proceeded to criminal lengths ta their Straggle for the political domiaattaa af Santa...
...They don't need law books, but acquaintance with the "right people" fa essential The telephone directory list* three solid pages of "associations"—there are about 800 of them—and many are camouflaged lobbying or propaganda outfits...
...J":*Tkat' it the reason why Mr...
...Daily Worker it cartful not to do in its two-cohfmn attack...
...I belong to a moderate party, but we emphatically recognise that the Spanish people have the right to accomplish any changes which they desire, and I expect to see our political and social structure profoundly modified...
...This is NOT aa answer to the Daily Worker's editorial...
...power any attempt to enslave *^?|MMPk of Germar.y or any other country Was* Wfcfr is won...
...Are we going to be brutal, or try to rebuild s free Germany...
...Whom were they realty addressing...
...Among them fa one that has caused • considerable consternation —a plan for a forced labor army of mUhnjsWfrf Germans...
...They also read the New Leader- very carefully...
...WoaViag-clasj unity is, therefore, practically ia sight...
...Germany cannot make plowshares without the eOOissftent now used to make swords...
...The working-class emigrants, whom I know very well, are openly favorable to the Committee of Liberation...
...So Varga insists that 11 aaratlsmi must consist of payments in kind—machinery, livestock, minerals, and other material gsajg...
...Our final purpose is the establishment of an Iberian federation including Castilie, Catalonia, Eucadi Basque, Galieia and Portugal...
...to adopt the measure in .perfunctory fashion when Senator Joseph C. 0*Mahohey (Dem., Wyoming) succeeded in having it sent back to committee for reconsideration...
...Expose New Lobbying Scandal,Taxpayers Robbed of Millions By CHARLES M. KELLEYs "Labor's" Washtnfftfn Correspondent WASHINGTON...
...The Republican and Socialist refugees...
...Ia that campaign more than $1,000.»00 was spent— including considerable sums for fske telegrams sent to members of Congress...
...Untted Committee of .South Slavic jwricans" whose head is the fellow-traveling Propagandist Louis Adamic and whose office is tt 1010 Park Avenue, New York City...
...Stalin's demands include, not only vaat tectorial acquisitions, but the machine-tool industry of Germany, and several milium German, technician* and skilled worker*, as The' New Leader revealed on Sept 25...
...The facts were dag up by the Securities and Exchange Commission and were communicated to President Roosevelt, but the public wss kept in the dark until the committee made its exposure...
...For him, too, the constitution of 1931 is rather a point of departure than a final achievement...
...stfassta* These Russian dentaada are not the invention of "anti-Soviet propagandists...
...As to the Communists, we do not want to listen to them...
...Fotitch...
...5." The Daily Worker seems particularly wroth at the New Leader because we did' not go into a detailed exposition on that Chieafa meeting...
...Indaleeio Prieto...
...This grotesque note was- revealed this week by the American delegation of the Jewiah Workers Party...
...Has there ever been sny question of that...
...While we're.at it, it may be worth another paragraph or two to speculate On why the Dairy Worker should consider ft worth two columns on their front page to splash Its alibi...
...Reseat news from Spain indicates I that the Franco regime is rapidly disintevratta*- The fall of Mussolini was a severe blow...
...The Stalin-Varga reparations plan Is ia total violation of what wa are assured we are ftp*ting for, American and British labor leaders agree, aad a betrayal of the friends of snOniii.l sj j within Germany who are fighting uassJfgluund against Hitler...
...We tried to get Senator "Bob" Wagner (Dam., N. Y.) to sponsor the desired legislation, hint Wagner refused...
...the Catholic Basques, the Communist Party, and dissident splinter group* from the Sodalut and RcsaMeaa parties...
...Then, whom were they sderesstng...
...The importance of this now mow——t eaa he seen from the personalities at its head...
...tsyrmsj^Damo-eratie Congressman front IoWa...
...I have the impression that the events in Africa and Italy have brought about a veritable awakening of republican Spain both among the emigrants and among the population in their homes on the peninsula...
...Don Diego Martines Barrio admits that the Spain of tomorrow may adopt a provision for a federation of autonomous states...
...Nor would there be any notice taken in this ease but for the fact that in their ill-conceived baste to alibi themselves out of the original blunder, the Dally Worker has piled blunder po Blunder...
...The chairman of the Committee is Den Diego Mar-tines Barrio, President of the Cor tea and hy virtue of this office juridical head at the Republic...
...but now a Washington lawyer...
...It will maka all of the difference in the world whether we are going to follow the Russian with of conscripting German labor ai a form of hmatn reparations, or protect the German wwkaka while they build up new unions and democratic institutions...
...Washington has more lawyers than any community in the world...
...Varga says the immensity of Raaahr* 4sy vastation entitles her to u>e buia s*t u>e *o-demnity...
...no longer have a pretender (at least no one wishes to recognise as such a prince of the house of Habs-burg) and that the son of Alphonse XIII has few partisans...
...However, he claims he was unable to deliver, so he went out to Iowa and recruited Frank J. Comfort, Democratic national committeeman for the Hawkeye state...
...Our Committee now declares our unity before all the world...
...And the boy...
...Indakwte Pitatm aamlaadsd hy a large aodience...
...Wore they trying to convince the American people...
...Jamieson insists he paid Comfort $30,000, of which he was to keep $10,000 as his fee...
...Spain is a country which can have nothing imposed upon it from without...
...What the Daily Worker does not explain is ta» the phony Adamic committee and the JJtfly Worker knew on the previous Thursday w»t "the Yugoslav people do not want to take fa?k their king" as announced for the first time «e following Saturday hy Tito and his communists in faraway Yugoslavia...
...Heading the insurance lobby is Edward L. Williams, a New York lawyer, who is said to be in line to collect a fee of $135,000...
...The Daily Worker'* alibi is that its pre-date story about the announcement that "the Yugoslav people have formed their own democratic national assembly under the presidency of Dr...
...The Yugoslav people do not want 'to take back' their stag, as Prime Minister Winston Churchill said In a recent speech that he hoped they would...
...He also writes a column for weekly newspapers throughout the country and fills it with pious platitudes...
...The number of democratic refugees, he said, is about 30,000...
...its own "association" or "society" or "institute" locking after interests that are rarely if ever synonymous with the welfare of the public...
...WM/or cm...
...It was merely, says the Daily fWorker, "a routine press release sent out by af committee of Yugoslav Americans to advse Bsc a meeting in Chicago on Sunday, Dee...
...Almost every industry has...
...1 repel this Communist bid for the domination of the world...
...What the Daily...
...Defeating German factories to reinstall them in Russia is not as bad, for iai»llait| does not •uffer from enslavement But it means impoverishing Germany, and a soman atte fa2*awsa«s« depend on economic revival...
...In the correspondence between ex-Ambassador Litvinoff and William Green, the Soviet representative insisted that the two Polish-Jewish leaders were Soviet citizens, beeaase U1C UVm,limu —mm * m — —----.--------- - 1939 And because Erlieh and Alter were "Soviet" citizens, the Russian government coald not head protests...
...5, at 2:30 p. m. in Pilsen Park Pavilion.' ; "In the past," the publicity committee for the affair explains in its release, "it has been the custom to invite the Royal Yugoslav Ambassador at Washington, D. C, as the principal speaker on that day to represent His Majesty, ft* King of Yugoslavia V "However," the release continues, "political conditions in Yugoslavia have changed...
...And, then, we've all seen a certain type scribble dirty words on fences and subway platforms before without feeling it necessary to reply to them...
...It is too late," he concluded, "for a monarchy...
...I ind it impossible to excuse a whole people for what Germany has done twice in a quarter of a century...
...But do the American people read the Daily Worker...
...Surely, in two columna the Daily Worker had •Pice enough to answer these questions, to ••Print its original story so its readers would •now what they were talking about, to take that •tory apart analytically and prove their innocence...
...tile idea that these German workers will be trade unionists paid trade unhro wages under UNRRA supervision, is aa-reahstK They will be labor battalions similar to Russian penal labor camps...
...United Status of Europe it the owe and only way to avoid the evfls Of some new brs*td o t fascism, tefadRarian sf^ j^ssaSMs...
...Underground activities are constantly on the increase...
...Senator Clyde L. Herring, Iawa Democrat, who was beaten in last year's election, was induced ta offer the amendment desired by the airplane concerns and it went through without a hitch...
...D. C. — Washington has broken oat with a rash over lobbying, one of the capital's most permanent and prosperous industries...
...octanes...
...We as* hifnTmsii that the two national labor organisations, the General Union of Workers iUGT-3ociaii*t and the National Federation of Labor (CNT-Syndicalist), have in principle agreed to an entente whieh carries them well along on the road to fusion...
...not be required to make some restitution for the damage done...
...What is necessary is an agreement about basic principles, about the sources of authority...
...Especially .if the mud can also ?tatter the DaHy Worker...
...Prieto said to them: "We expect from the victory of the United Nations the possibility of reconquering our independence, and we shall net accept the tutelage of any foreign power...
...We Catalans," he explained, "may be said to represent the interests of the Basques...
...Aad it's thia: * The Daily Worker is received lit Moscow, where it is scrutinized with treat care It's watched for deviations from "the line," it's watched for blunders, etc But the Russian masters do not nomplotoiy trust the Daily Worker...
...Ivan Ribar...
...A contract by a future German government with Russia or other reparations claimants ta supply technicians at a going wage paid from German revenues would probably encounter aw objection by our government and should draw none from the AFL...
...jht_.tfte contrary, the Yugoslav people have formed their own democratic national assembly aider the presidency of Dr...
...PR leave it to the unbiased reader: Do you ggk the Daily Worker is innocent...
...But when I questioned him about, the possibility of a restoration of the monarchy, he replied that the true Spanish royalists, the Carlists...
...The communist daily complicates its alibi by 'tearfully disclaiming any responsibility for the story it printed...
...What we want is a united Spain with the nationalities free and a new democracy such as the Spanish people themselves Will create...
...A minority party bat a very militant on* and the asm moat bitterly persecuted by the Communists, has paMiahed adaefaratioa af sahisimv • The only groups which are outside the movement are the aasuhtam, who are sympathetic bwt tradrtionaMy sap mud to political action...
...The setting ay ta Metaca afi aha Bsmniah Committee of Liberation by Ike five meet influential parties of the Republic has created a ssaaatisit, A pact of collaboration is based ob the tcmitifUim af 1931...
...The reparations plan which means slave labor, was first advanced by the Soviet economist Varga...
...The essential argument for...
...The story in this column revealed how the ¦ Bally Worker scooped the world by two days, going to press here on Thursday with advance information of what waa announced from Yugoslavia the following Saturday—that the communist Partisan* under Tito had betrayed the afieial United Nations-recognized government 'af King Peter and had set up a puppet com-Bnriist regime owing its allegiance to Moscow...
...The harm that they have done to the working-class movement and to the Republic of Spain is too great to permit dealings nrlth them.'** Indaleeio Prieto has given approval to the idea of a federation }f the Latin countries of Europe, including France and Italy along with Spain...
...Spain will be whatever it wants to be...
...Antoni Maria Sbert, former Counsellor of the Interior of Catalonia, a comrade of Companys end Catalan delegate to the Committee, said to me that the Basques had approved of the sntry of tne Cataionians as being in line with their own policies...
...The Communists were deliberately excluded...
...In proportion-to population...
...Ernest Lindley, in the WasMnffton ^#J.^*- The "labor chief thus manifests tbsTJ» concern lest its own post-war program be jMJf* Union Council and some of the refugee Ffedeh labor leaders, the AFL ;s working to restart the once powerful German trade unions...
...About half of these are hi Mexico, at least 10.000 in Africa (including the crews of the fleet), several thousands in Uruguay, and the . Argentine, aoaaa hisuslnnlii in Britain and the United States...
...tin Fotitch has been declared persona non grata this year at the Yugoslav celebration Sunday, Dec...
...and the Soctattat Pen...
...The story rdfadosed a betraying blunder by the communist popsraniiff machine in this country which reroute the Comintern to be very much alive and fgnctioning...
...Upon checking the mentioned amount, wa seat the liamay to the Intourist emphasizing the fact that the embassy agreed to Bag this 10 %tataNi the request pertained to Polish citizens...
...really...
...Another grand jury inquiry was seen in the making before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is trying to learn more about the $750,000 "kitty" rawed by insurance companies to put through legislation exempting them from the anti-trust laws...
...this plan fa thai since the Nazis enslaved workers from m I aSBj countries—about 10 million of them—it is okay for Russia to enslave German workers...
...Ill leave it to any unbiased person whether the original Daily Worker story not Only commits the blunder I pointed out, but bears even more internal evidence than I cited that the communist propaganda machine in America knew what was going to happen in Yugoslavia before it happened, and went to press with it more than two days before it was announced to the world...
...These quotations will give American readers a correct view of the meaning and purpose of our Committee...
...They have appeared in print in the Kremlin mouthpiece, War and the Working Clam...
...The Dally Worker story said, with all its own emphasis: 1 "Chicago, Dec 4—Yugoslav Ambassador Constat...
...4k few weeks ago a Congressional committee reported that four airplane manufacturers had raised a "jackpot" of $65,000 to secure an amadment to the 1940 war tax bill that saves them millions yearly in taxation...
...Slave labor is never efficient and it is particularly difficult to requisition skilled workers and angineais on s basis of virtual slavery...
...The American Federation of Labor serves notice here and now that it win onpaga .with all it...
...Anything to throw » mod at i the Yugoslav people and the Tptviet Union...
...There have been many congressional investigations, running back to the Wilson administration, when it was revealed how the National Association of Manufacturers sought to corrupt the lawmaker This week the scandal again came to a head, as it does periodically with some extremely interesting disclosures...
...Does its convince you...
...They are imbued with the finest idealism and, at the same time, with a practical and"concrete spirit...
...The fire insurance lobby is believed to be the biggest thing seen in Washington since the Hopson utility crowd high-pressured Congress in an effort to defeat the Wheeler • Raybura Holding Company Act...
...Many have elaborate offices, but if they contain law books, they are seldom touched...
...That is because there, principal occupation is fixing things for wealthy clients before- government departments .'and w4tb^ Congress...
...Following is a copy ef the cable received hy the Polish government-in-exile from Ha embassy ia Koaiayehev: K0UIBYCH8Y, April IT, 1943...
...and service...
...of the freedom-loving nations of the world...
...Congressman Sam M. Russell iDem., Texas), in a speech in the House, declared the lobby "is the largest I have ever witnessed," and he accused it of following the identical methods employed by Hopson and.his fellow free-booters., The Senate was all set...
...In April, IMS, nearly a year and a half after the execution, the Soviet government dunned the Polish government for their hotel bill...
...Soviet shackles mast not be substituted for Nasi shackles...
...recently asked as to nay a bill to the hotel Metropole ia Moscow amounting to 2.57T rabies mcarred hy Erliffc and Alter for their stay at the hotel from the 13tii of September until **» lath of October, 1941...
...This time they need to be punished...
...Since the Comintern fa supposed to be officially dissolved, this constituted a grave diplomatic liunder since it revealed the Comintern to be Still functioning...
...Kelly of Chicago and Governor Dwight H. Green of Illinois were scheduled to speak at the Chicago meeting, but with-Ptaw a few hours before the meeting and did speak because of the Daily Worker's an-¦"oneement and its confirmation later that day •f the communist stab-in-the-back of our Yugo-wtian allies...
...W hat 11 you bet somebody on the Daily Worker gets fired for this...
...I'll nW Mint herewith...
...Were they trying to convince American communists that the New Leader is anti-communist...
...And they also knew that even if their blunder went unnoticed in the Daily Worker, the story in the New Leader would highlight it And somebody is going to catch helL So they're rushing in with an alibi—addressed to the master minds in Moscow, and net to their own followers here or to the American people...
...Jamieson's "cut" was said to be $10,000...
...V^ In criticism of Green, PM"$^KQmi Mrttch worker* tc repair the damage wrought by Nasi armies, in Russia...
...Capital Comment That Daily Worker 'Scoop' on Tito Again By JONATHAN STOUT %' WASHINGTON, D. C.—The communist Daily Worker is in a sweat and stew as the by-product id a story in una column fast week...
...For all of these," he added, "the Committee stands for the continuation of the Republic The Basques, Catholic and conservative, hold themselves aloof, not having voted for the constitution, but they are not hostile...
...The way to ensarm Germany and prevent rearmament is through International supervision of imported key laalOi Isli without which Germany cannot nlaatifatiUiia armaments Or if this is insufficient oontrol over heavy industry on the spot, though this is Inadvisable...
...This is a fair statement of the spirit and purpose of the Committee...
...Raymond Clapper wrote in the New Tot* World-Telegram: "At any time almost we may have ta begin dealing with * defeated Germany...
...So they also watch the anti-communist press...
...name wis stricken from the list of speakers," the release said...
...Worker does not say is that ¦fayor Edward ll...
...Last l«k th-General Uafaa^ WetaWrs <UGT) joined in the pact...
...The airplane companies retained a New York law firm' headed by Judge George W. Olvaney, one-time "big chief" of Tammany HalL and aaisi him $8,760 to grease the congressional ways...
...While I see the force of what the labor people say, on the other hand, since Germany has given us two wqrld wars, it seems to am that for a period, at least, we might let them pay for some of it by rebuilding the damage...
Vol. 26 • December 1943 • No. 51
