"E UNO PLURIA"

...In addition wc ar* increasing the bread ration of heavy worker...

...They will return with all the prestige of veterans...

...The sentences pronounced were carried out by gangsters...

...Tbis institution of "autonomy" is s means—snd a very clever one —of extending the influence and power of the USriR...

...These causes long antedated the present Russisn regime The lethargic and industrially only slightly developed Czarist nation could better endure isolation than the Russia of our day...

...The CIO, however, decided to go along With the British and Russian unions...

...There, some weeks sgo, two anti-Nazi Germsn military prisoners were murdered in cold Mood by their Nasi "comrades...

...What they see is completely strange to them...

...In addition to regular governmental function*, we have also the nice little tasks of running export and import business, controlling all shipping, operating railroads, post office* and telephones, manufacturing and selling tobacco, the control of sulphur mining, asphalt mining, rehabilitation of bombed fertilizer plants, operation of flour mills, etc., etc...

...The first item comes from the Associated Press and concerns Camp Concordia...

...It is new because it designates a new thing—at least a thing that is new in America, Germans have known a lot about it since 1919...

...It is unnecessary to look for dark and sinister rrwttves...

...Said this man: "The Neue VoUu-zeitung is the paper of traitors, and we German soldiers warlt nothing to do with traitors...

...Those who have been doubtful during the last year about the workers' spirit in occupied Europe, will be convinced by this picture from Italy that the trad* unions will rise again and that neither ruthless persecution nor spiritual enslavement has been able to destroy the progressive principles and the trade union spirit of the working class in Europe...

...Allow me in this connection to quote a reactionary —for in this case be happened to be right In 1910 and 1912 Sven Hedin wrote two little books on "the Russian danger...

...The War Depsrt-ment has ordered that the Neue Volktzeitung shall h» made available to any German war prisoner who desires to see it But these Nazi gangsters set themselves above the War Department...

...The AFL has taken the position that the Soviet unions are not free associations of workers, but part of the government apparatus, and therefore the AFL has refused to participate in international conferences with them and the British trade onions...

...This, too, is something which, happily, does not exist in America...

...In Germany a system of re-education will be depended upon to produce a new and better generation of Germans...

...The second aew amsanusenon is the enormous power of a onesided, •BMBaHths*" propaganda...

...As this process goes on, its problems become more and more parallel to those of western capitalist countries...

...Thi* i* not a case like that of Mus- , -mini aad Ciano destroying, each other...

...It offers much satisfaction...

...This is one reason why our psychological warfare against the totalitarian powers is so ineffective...

...Since there are, according to official figures, 125,000 German military prisoners confined in these camps, this matter is of grave importance...

...In peace as well as in war it is disadvantageous for a great power to be shut in on all fronts...

...This is the third strike wave in Northern Italy since November...

...The word is vehme or, in another form, vthmic court If you look it up in an encyclopedia you will find a long essay about something that existed in the Middle Ages...

...In another case, an opponent of the Nazis was hanged, but fortunately the American guards discovered him snd were able to cut him down just in time to save his life At present this men is assigned to special duty outside the prison with the Americans...

...ITALIAN WORKERS REBUILD TRADE UNIONS By Omer Becu International Re pr (tentative, Inter national Traneptt Worker* Federation TTHE situation in Itsly is most encouraging...

...What he resllf meant was this: "If any one among the 2,000 prisoners in this camp has the courage to read this paper, that man will be properly taken care of...

...We have here right now, where we can expo** them to any desired influence, a section of the German population which is sure to be influential •Ming the reconstruction period...

...But it seems beyond doubt thst the vision of such s final result inspires the present Russisn foreign policy...

...Its value lies in the fact that it makes it possible to surround Russia with a circle of semi-autonomous states which, Inter on when they have overcome their fears, may be taken in as full-fledged members of the Soviet Union...

...But this 1* a dangerou* attitsdo, and it ia surely net that of the American mili-1^ .uikerities...

...We Americans have the intention of re-educating the whole of Germany...

...Last Sunday there was one that wa* attended by ten thousand person...

...But, if we let things continue as they are going on now, these prisoners of war will remain frozen in their Nazism...

...Witness Russia's concern with regard to the relations between Poland and Czechoslovakia...

...According to reports, there have occurred recently in this camp two other so-called "suicides...

...centralized and militarised states in the world announces the "autonomy" of its constituent parts, it must have very special reasons...

...In those days it actually looked as if the first move In the readjustment of relations between Russia and the western powers would be in the direction of the Dardanelles...

...It is easy to Imagine how traditions of fear and hatred clustered around them...

...According to this report, some three weeks previously a German prisoner, Franz Kettner, took' refuge from some of his German fellow prisoners in the guardhouse of the- American military detail...

...We who came from Germany recall all too well the vehme trials in the Weimar Republic, and the crimes of the Black Army...

...They would simply be wiped out Second: It may be possible to coax out of the people a Communist or half-communist or communist-Quisling government...

...These would, of course, not include such nice reactionaries as those lined up in the Moscow Free Germsn Committee, persons with whom experience proves thst it is possible to work in the most beautiful harmony...

...Russia's band, among others, was constantly perceptible in what was going on...

...Dear Luigi: I have been continuing the enjoyment of the job of governing Sicily...

...On January 29, bona fide trade unionists met also in Bari to discuss the possibility of reconstituting the Italian Confederazione Generate del Lavoro, which ceased its functions after Mussolini came to power...

...Consequently, there would be ae way eat for a Polish government bat to join the combination...

...He doe* not think Russia will ever raturn to capitalism, but that "condition* have changed in Russia and we must not hold rigidly to <¦* past opinion* if we find it necesaary'Ho change ttem...

...There are, therefore, definite and real causes which push the Soviet Union on to find a way to the Atlantic...

...It is ***l«lj gaped at and not understood...

...The Soviet authorities have their eyes on the much more deairable passage through the Baltic Sea...

...By means of cleverness and threat, through censjueet and pressure, the aniflcatiee af Europe under Moscow's guardianship might he •escially carried] a*, la sack a situation, Poland weald be wedged ia between cooperating Russia and Prussia...

...The Congress also called for the immediate removal of all Fascists from railway administration and from all state undertakings and simultaneously, the reinstatement of all anti-Fascists who were dismissed...

...But the drive toward the Atlantic was definitely there...

...Just like the meetings of your union...

...We had one or two strike* two month* ago before we increased wages...

...And if, at some future time, the Soviet Union should fall heir to Manchuria, it would be possible to give Korea similsr treatment...

...The new guarantees of respect for the various nationalities will serve to reduce the suspi-- cions of those border states which are invited into relations of future cooperation...

...If wc just let matters slide, then these prisoners constitute—and will in the future continue to constitute —a terrible danger...

...This can be administered administratively by camp commandants or, in the most serious cases, by prosecution before appropriate courts...

...Former political prisoner* are particularly cautioned not to participate in political activities which may- provoke or lead to public disorder...

...Why not make a ¦tart now...

...It is supposed to go back to the time of Charlemagne The German Emperor had exclusive power to pronounce the desth sentence...

...This was necessary because of the great rise in prices that took place, in large part as a result of the rate of exchange of 100 lire to the dollar...

...It renders impossible any regional feders-tions in central or eastern Europe...

...In both of these books he advocated Swedish armament and a mutual defense treaty with Germany...

...It is only now snd then that reports of such matters leak out to the public...

...Foarth: This Prussia, thus set up snd supported by the fall power *f Russia, would play a great role in Europe...

...After such ah escspe, it does not occur to anyone to send him back among the Germans...

...Her drive will be first toward the Dardanelles and second toward the Scandinavian peninsula, he said...

...But there would be no doubt about the measures to be spplied to fundamentally anti-totalitarian democrats insofsr as they stubbornly refused to be converted...

...Bnt life haa moved on...

...These measures are cer-taii.ly taken with an eye to the Baltic countries, to a future friendly Poland, and to Bessarabia which, despite its Rumanian majority, is expected to become Russian...

...It envisions, further, a step-by-step envelopment of the continent within the Soviet system...

...set to maintain its control under any new set of conditions which might arise...

...Tobin goes on to declare that Communists have continuously done "everything in their power to destroy the legitimate labor movement by creating trouble within it" But he consider* that the war ¦*» changed Ruaaia somewhat He ha* talked with Churchill, General Pat Hurley,' Hull, and others who have been in Russia recently, aad he believes collaboration between the Big Three can be achieved...

...His motivation for this policy wss: Russia must press forward toward the Atlantic...

...If the suspicions of a border country or of the great powers make direct annexation inadvisable for the moment, a little neighbor nation can be indirectly tied up to Moscow through s treaty with a nearby "autonomous" republic Toward the east a suitable candidate for this treatment would be Mongolia...

...But to accomplish anything of this sort, it is necesssry to make up our minds about this business aad, also, to get a proper understanding of it...

...They condemn men to death and execute their sentences...

...Also under discussion was the immediate republication of the old Railwaymen's paper, 7Yt6u«a del Ferrovilare, once the militant voice of all railroads workers in Italy and published at irregular intervals by the underground organization during the days of Mussolini's Fascism...

...European labor is determined not to lose the peace...

...Japan will be liquidated as a great power in the Pacific and will, henceforth, furnish no check upon the influence of the western powers...

...But this combination policy of "autonomy plua respect for the nationalities" has wider objectives...

...Imagine, now, what will happen when these prisoners of wsr stream back into Germany...

...They were called Warning and further Warning...

...They are after me...

...This missies is nothing lees than to make over the whole worM in ita own image...

...We have made a 79 per cent increase on the first 1,000 lire monthly wage or salary, and 60 per cent on the second thousand and then the increase drops down progressively...

...Breaking away from all Fascist, or state control, the Congress called for trade unions entirely independent of the state or of any political party, for voluntary membership and for the trsnsfer of all funds confiscated from the dissolved Fascist Railwaymen's organisation to the new free union...

...Lota of new labor organizations have been created along free democratic lines...

...The successive Balkan erises flowed from the pan-Slavic movement inspired by Russia, The position of Turkey on the European continent waa progressively weakened...

...Her* in th* prison camps we have the opportunity to attack thia enormous task piecemeal, to do a part of it in advance...

...The problems are much mora diversified than those of State Governor...

...So far as the Baltic region is concerned, Stalin's plsns doubtless include the eastern section of Prussia, the parts lying to the east of the river Elbe...

...A Baltic federation of "autonomous" Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Old Prussia—which actually belong in part to Russia territorially and are in part militarily dependent on Russis—would furnish s first class guarantee of Soviet control over the Baltic area...

...When the German Nazis were underground—that is, from 1919 on—they held secret "trials" of men who stood in their way, often the most distinguished and trusted men of the Weimar Republic...

...But the British unions did not accept the offer for fear that th* AFL would sever its relations with them...

...The old slogan still holds: "The Vehme gets the traitors...

...We can meet these outbreaks of terror in the camps by the use of force...

...Sincerely yours, CHARLES POLETTI...

...It is quite possible that at Teheran he provided for the exclusive occupation of this East Prussian region by the Russisn forces...

...Under these circumstances she must in the course of time break away from the isolation in which geography placed her...

...Under these rirenmstsnces it is Inevitable thst the Soviet leaders should use to the foil the present unique opportunity to consolidate and dominate the European continent...

...How this terror outfit works, readers can guess frost the story which was published in the New York Nt* Volktzeitung on January 8. This issue contained the text of a report by a Nazi gang-leader on the w*y things were going...

...Third) During good behavior, that is, If It made up its mind to link its fate with that of Russia, Prussis would find no obstacles placed in the way of its rearmament...

...The fact is important for trade union history, since it is the first time in more than twenty years that trade union men have met freely to discuss their problems...

...Turkey was "the sick man of Europe...

...The thing to keep in mind is thst the Soviet Union is constantly making progress in the direction of indus-trialization...

...It is possible, also, to do something te improve the social and intellectual attitudes of these men who have been perverted and misled for more than tea year...

...This would mesn to Stalin —as it does to'**iitler—not merely the control of the Mediterranean, but all the advantages of a wide front on the Atlantic...

...By the end of the war there may be 2,000,000 of them...

...But enough is known to make it clear that the Nazi organization within the German Army had its plans carefully laid for the continuation of its activities inside enemy prison camps...

...He urges Roosevelt to send a labor (delegation to investigate present condition* in the Soviet Union...

...The upshot of the struggle was that Rsusia failed...

...Tobin Looks at Russia Daniel J. Tobin, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and Chauffeurs, contributes an article to The International Teamtter, in which he outlines the history of relations between thi American Federation of Labor and the Soviet "trade unions...

...This is practically an announcement to all neighboring countriij* that they have nothing to fear from Russia, thst a tie-up with Moscow involves no dsnger for them...

...They are working very well...

...We have established new labor offices in each of the nine provinces, and have also set up a Regional Labor Office...

...Poletti Tells of Re-awakening Italian Labor Sicily, January 29, 1944...

...MUCH more horrible incident has been reported to us by very reliable persons from Camp Hunts-ville, Texas...

...Just because America, at the time when it was possible to get hold of these Germans and influence them in the direction of democracy, let slip her chance...

...It is a measure which Stalin designs to utilise in the interest of an expansion policy along all of his borders...

...Here net em>-m b«t snti fascists ar* being destroyed...

...We are now in the position to give some "pasta" to the 4,300,000 Sicilians...

...The control of the Baltic, a tiny inland sea, is only a first step...

...Unfortunately the AMG gave them only a de facto recognition, while in Sicily the unions are formally recognized and functioning as bargaining agents...

...Nowhere excepting in Switzerland have these problems been dealt with so justly and effectively as in the Soviet Union...

...It is improbable that plans for the accomplishment of these vast purposes are worked out, down to the last detail...

...There are several methods of dealing with this situation which we could apply without violating the terms of th* Geneva convention...

...he shouted to the American soldiers...

...Strong unions can give the best support to the war effort and will contribute effectively to the reorganizaaion and reconstruction of Italy...

...It is probsble thst Moscow is thinking along the following line: First: It would be possible to root out certain reactionary groups completely...

...Among the immediate economic requests the Congress made was a cost of living bonus for all wage earners and pensioners...

...Farrinacci complains in his Regime Faecitta of January 15 about the workers' "incomprehensible indiscipline and mania for strikes...

...IN Southern Italy, bona fide trade unions of railmen, dockers, utilities workers and postmen have been constituted...

...So judges were sent out from the capital, and their places for the administration of justice were known ss vehmic courts...

...During this troubled time Russia and the western powers were struggling for control of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus...

...These courts came to be called vthmic courts, and the terror which they spread over the lend wss called the vehmic terror...

...On the contrary, it would suit Russia down to the ground to have the Germsn genersl staff occupying an outpost well toward the center of western Europe...

...Corriere delta Serra of January 6 reports that strikes in Milsn had been broken by German troops...

...Their proceedings may have been more or less star-chamber in character, and because of their power over life and death they were known as blood courts...

...In a coaatry with no experience of terror as sn element i„ puaBs affairs, thia sort of thing just isn't taken in...

...She wss kept away from the straits and effectively nailed down in her isoiaion...

...These reasons are to be found in Russia's foreign policy...

...The Vehmic Court A LITTLE NAZI REICH IN THE U. S. A. By Rudolph Katz TPHE citizens of this country must lesrn a new word...

...The Nazi terror machine, careful as it always is, was all...

...r[> it natural enough that a good many American*, . fine honest democrats, should stand innocently on the sideline*, like so many noble Parsifals, and with the lest will In the world not be able to make out what is going on...

...They will use their influence and strength to free the world from all kinds of reaction...

...This need will be even greater after the war...

...Since the wage readjustment and since we have been able to give bread, steadily day by day, we have had no discontent among the labor groups...

...It is clear that the Nazi gangsters, as soon as the new routine in the camps was set up, had things well in hand according to instructions previously given and plans well laid...

...A* a matter of feet, thi* thing that we are discussing is only **e '«*tore of the whole problem of how Americans sh*U deal with the Nasi* both during the war and after th* war...

...The Sicilians, in the last analysis, do appreciate what we are doing for them...

...Now the big news is that German Nazi vehmic courts are being held right here in our states...

...It is a country with a world mission...

...The first thing to which they are completely unac-caawaaed ia the effect of force on public life, the terrific impact ee* Nasi terror on the German community...

...e A LL in all, the Rusaian policy has a very clear ob-jective...

...The sppeal may be directed especially to the Balkan states, but it probably does not lesve out of account Czechoslovakia...

...Along with the announcement of "autonomy" goes a new and solemn proclamation on the nationalities problem...

...It is indeed remarkable that already in January two trade union conferences could meet in Bari...

...The Sicilians have been very appreciative of this order and several political meetings have been held throughout the Island...

...The logical conclusion of this course of action would be the Inclusion of the European continent in the web of Soviet control—the eastern nations held tightly, the western ones more loosely...

...The goings-on within our prison csmps sre, naturally, military secrets...

...They carry proof that Nazi terror, one of the keystones of the Nazi system, is going on in our American prison camps...

...It has also been reported that on the morning of the landing at Nettuno the dockers in Genoa went on strike and demonstrated openly...

...Now we have it right here—in Missouri, in Texas, in other states...

...The first Congress of the free Italian Railmen's Union met on January 9. Among the speakers wove the General Secretary of the Bsri Railmen's Union, Botti, and a representative of the International Transport Workers' Federation, sent from headquarters in London to help re-establish the union...

...After all, they provide entrance only to the Mediterranean which has, for outlet to the Atlantic, only the strongly fortified Strait of Gibraltar...

...Only direct access to the Atlsntic will satisfy the inner needs of the Russis situation...

...What they are saying" ¦ that if anyone avails himself of the privilege which has been granted he will have the vein* of hia wrists cut or Jjjlaae***—*a wee* the poor fellow* whose case* have ^^TT-nerkans may think: All right, let the *o-¦ ^ murder each other off...

...European trade unions will do their utmost to overcome the chaos, both political and economic, as soon as they are given the opportunity to work...

...The educational work of the pre-Fascist national labor movement and the clever and daring propaganda of the international trade unions from the outside have borne useful results...

...And it M kapeeniaf ** American toil, under the eye* of American...

...These incidents are, of course, only a few among many...

...In their old environment they may well form the core of a new counter-revolution...

...The Associated Press and various daily papers carry stories which prove that this beastly thing is going on...

...The "traitors," naturally, are all the honest men who oppose the Nszis...

...The present Baesiaa regime ia radically dig.treat from any other European government Kassia under ita present government is not just a country...

...In the popular imagination they were the symbols of a sinister power, striking in the dark...

...The policy of the European powers was based on "the open door...

...And if such a regime might not be ready for a straight-out connection with Moscow, It might happily tie itself to Kovno, Riga or Tallinn...

...About two week* ago, I put out an order reading a* follows: , The Italian people of Sicily are henceforth authorised to participate In political activities provided these activities are not of a Fascist nature and - provided they are not conducive te street disorders snd other breeches of the public peace...

...To make the need clear one need not even picture a future war...

...There are still a considerable number of sulphur miners that are unemployed but I have made progress in re-opening the mines and have alio placed some of ' the unemployed on public works projects, principally the rebuilding of bridges that were blown up during the battles, and public buildings that were bombarded...

...For the present Soviet Union the Dardanelles have a lessened importance...

...The thing we have had in this country that comes nearest to it is the terror method of the Molly Maguires—or, perhaps, that of the Ku Xlux Klan...

...Two weeks later he was discovered at four o'clock one morning in the guardhouse with his wrist veins cut The newspapers quote a letter to his wife, who lives in Boxen, South Tyrol, in which he says: "I am afraid the Nazis will kill me...

...Something of what we experienced over there, Americans will now see at close quarters over here...

...J"IIE announcement of the "autonomy" of the Soviet republics is naturally not exclusively tied up with Baltic policy...

...Now they number 126,000...

...It is to be hoped that the efforts made by the trade unionists in Southern Italy to gain formal recognition will be successful in the very near future...

...The plain purpose is to prevent the development of any continental feeling of security...

...The same methods might be applied, also, to Iran, Afghanistan and—conceivably —to Turkey...

...The German troops used tear gas and gun-fire on the dockers...

...And why will this have come about...