The Man With a Skimpy Record
SPIVACK, ROBERT G.
The Man With a Skimpy Record By Robert G. Spivack ii JhlOTHING annoys Gov. Dewey so much a* to be compared with hie immediate predecessors, Herbert Lehman, Franklin Roosevelt and Al Smith....
...In 1936 we were assured that the ALP would not be merely an organizational expression of the traditional American Federation of Labor police, "Reward your friends and punish our enemies.** We were assured that the ALP was to beccme s liberal-labor party independent of the two major parties, endorsing only Roosevelt and Lehman...
...This catastrophe resulted from the "original sin" committed by ALP leaders in permitting the infiltration of Communists—despite the vigorous objection ot the Social Democrats who had learned from bitter experience that the Communist Party always pursues the tactic of rule or ruin, in the servics of the Kremlin...
...We must of course endorse and work for the reelection of Roosevelt and Wagner...
...By Louis P. Goldberg Former Councilman...
...Ths Republican Party is obviously a conservative anti-labor party...
...We shall not make that mistake again...
...This is s condensation of a speech he made at aa 8DF membership meeting...
...Dewey changed the feral year sad took credit for it...
...Its proponents should be welcomed and ••••red j n a truly progressive party...
...But careful examination of his record has failed to uncover a single outstanding piece of legislation or one major reform that could be termed lasting...
...Bat the basic questions are these: should the new party seek to be (he balance of power between the two major parties, to influence or capture them, to use its influence to get liberal, pro-labor candidates nominated, and endorse such candidate...
...The remainder of the surplus has come from huge state income increases such ss pari mutoel betting taxes...
...There is little evidence to support this...
...This tended to cause confusion among ths workers as to their proper political course...
...Similarly in 1944 Sidney Hillman embraced the Communists in a coalition which captured, and ruined, the American Labor Party...
...The influence af the Socialist movement and its constant propaganda were responsible for many of the reforms written into the statute books by the old political parties in the past twenty-five years...
...Governor Smith, Roosevelt and Lehman had successful •regressive administrations before the advent of ths ALP, and in 1986 President Roosevelt would have been elected without our help...
...Ths question is, I suppose: Who is being done...
...The British Labor Party is pointed to most frequently as sn exI ample of what we should hare here...
...Yet Dewey himself recently invited comparisons in his annual report on uie legislative session...
...For sixteen months as governor this record is skimpy...
...I*HE only accomplishment of which Dewey can boast * with any real conviction is the $163,000,000 surplus...
...Our loaders claim that under their guidance the ALP influenced good government...
...The success of the new liberal-labor party will deP*1*' upon the devotion of its members, impelled to * * » and sacrifice for idealistic motives, not by hope •v" Personal reward...
...It is true that we have endorsed Democrats who have been forced to vote for New Deal measures, but there is no proof that they could not have been ejected in the absence of a labor party...
...Had Dewey botfly attacked the bias issue, Hanky's work might have beat undone...
...We want a party which will Bght for power itself, which can only be done by the election of its own candidates, especially to legislative bodies, where they can present snd receive publicity for our platform, program and •Hides...
...Dewey did not consider us a vital force in eseaiiiig the destinies of the State...
...However, long before the party was organised we had liberal administrations...
...Roosevelt and the New Deal came into power in 1912, four years before the birth .-f the ALP...
...America, thanks to a sympathetic national administration, has become labor-minded...
...It is true that we have aided in the election of some liberal administrations...
...Within the new party Social Democrats must strongly urge the building of an independent labor-liberal party running -its own candidates...
...Vet had Dewey been more imaginative he could still have emerged as a champion of the soldiers' rights...
...This j question is receiving widespread disI cession...
...In fact, many of the immediate demands of the Socialist Party, previously scoffed at, have already been adopted not only by the labor movement but also by the national government and by many Of the state administrations...
...Restriction of immigration and the Americanization of immigrant workers have made it easier to weld labor into a working force...
...And we must insist cn our democratic right to present our views without being penalized...
...Our principles and our prestige were sacrificed on the altar of expediency...
...We want a party which will at all times, and en all occasions, emphasize the differences between ear party, platform, political philosophy aad poli...
...Such proposals, if carried into effect, would have given Dewey the chance to emerge as a national figure, willing to carry the ball against the poll-lasers who at that very moment were hammering away at the FEPC...
...WHAT have the ALP leaders to show for eight years of political action ? They claim to have assured the election of progressives to public office...
...Bet when they refer back te the record they find that it was in Lehman's administration that the state unemployment insurance act was passed (long before the Federal act...
...Even on the basis of our numerical popular vote, ** eannot rightfully boast of^any success...
...We have not elected another one since...
...Where are the visible evidence of successes which could be recognized by the public...
...Half the surplus, more than f8l,0«0,00e, was left by Gov...
...On two fundamental questions Dewey's actions would scarcely fit in with what progressives regard as the modern-day "progressive" government...
...The American Labor Party, now raptured by the Hillman Communist coalition, is s third form of political action...
...There are some, he said, who profess tolerance but are actually engaged in stirring up strife, * * * af"hN the soldier-vote issue Dewey took the accepted Tory position...
...Joe Hanley was down in North Carolina trying to muster convention votes for Dewey...
...Now ws have only one...
...In the past decade, conditions have changed...
...Not only was his attitude uncompromising, his office staff prepared what are undoubtedly among the most complicated state voting requirements in the country...
...We are striving, in other words," he continued, "to establish and maintain a genuine progressive government—in sharp contrast with that type of person government which talks fine phrases of liberalism while seeking to impose its will and its whims upon the people, through centralised bureaucracies issuing directives at a distance...
...That is at least debatable...
...Our vote has been consistently about 400,000, but it cannot be attributed to the policy pursued by the party...
...One of these was the hostility of the unions towards Socialists...
...Another was the heterogeneity of the working class, the difference in psychology and traditions of working class groups, which made it difficult to weld them into one politically labor-conscious party...
...And should its platform call for the socialization of basic industries, public utilities, which have a monopolistic character T Whet is the role of Social Democrats within such s broad, liberal-labor party...
...He could easily havs token the play"1 away from the Democrats...
...Or should it hsre its own program, running its own candidates an its own platform, with endorsement af such liberals as Roosevelt sad Wsgner aa the rare exceptions to the rnle...
...Since his appeal is strictly to the money-minded, this self-portrait as a sound business-like executive has won wide acclaim...
...of Labor and a state fai^employmed> practices act, to help overcome these developments...
...We started off in '937 with the election of five assemblymen...
...We want a party whose program shall not be drawa aa as t e reconcile It with the program of •"e or the other of the dominant parties, whose vaadidatea we happen te endorse at that particular time...
...Yet when eight members of his discrimination earn, m it tee resigned because Dewey recommended a new committee to further "study" tine issue, he blasted them bitterly...
...Thst's the story of the surplus...
...The explanation is not hard to find...
...That was before Willkie wee out of the picture and Dewey needed every vote he could get...
...on the tank of cleaning out from the departments and agencies the accumulated cobwebs of 20 years...
...The administration, as his advisors knew, would not push the issue too far because It could ill afford another battle with Southern Democrats...
...But he is administering laws for which his predecessors did the pioneering...
...There will probably arise other occasions when we will find it necessary to endorse liberal candidates of ether parties —but such exception to our basic policy of independent action^should be rare...
...All over the labor has worked hand-in-hand with Social "Snjoerate...
...public housing and slum clearance became state policies, minimum wage laws were astonished for women end children, and social security aid was given the impoverished, the blind and the crippled —to mention only the bettor known social advances...
...But only after a stiff battle...
...But this is about alt Add the fact that the Legislature under his guidance passed a bill virtually outlawing minority stockholder suits, defeated an investigation of the dairy trust, killed bills to freeze commercial rents and refused to investigate insurance company rates and profits—and the picture is more appalling...
...On the other hand, our instance on the Dewey administration has been practically ail...
...The CIO Political Action Committee is a fourth, sad there are still other possibilities...
...The Socialist Party in 1932 received about 250,000 votes ia New York City, at a time when the labor movement was comparatively small, weak and barely tolerated, and ths conditions were not nearly aa ripe for a third party as at present...
...Even ante license fees have gone up, while needed building and read repairs have been delayed because of manpower and material shortages...
...In the paat four decades, through the media of propaganda and education, it has remolded the economic end political philosophy of thousands of Americans...
...We can be of inestimable value in the building of the new political organisation...
...Today, as in 1936, the projected new party is in part the sesult of the machinations- of Ihe Communists and their fellowtravelers and those who are deceived into believing that it is possible to work with Communists, In 1936 Norman Thomas flirted with a united front with them, and a split in the Socialist Party resulted...
...The Democratic Party, despite its present progressive national leadership which is tottering, has within its ranks powerful anti-labor elements...
...Dewey is a good administrator...
...member of Sational Eteeutivt Committee, Social Democratic Federation EIGHT YEARS ago the liberal-labor forces' of New York launched a political organization, the American Labor Party...
...Where are our spokesmen in public office...
...However, the ALP made deals with the Republican and Democratic machines and gave indiscriminate endorsements to candidates who were not deserving of support as liberal friends^of labor and advocates of social reform...
...There will be other srticles en the subject in future issues...
...What Sort of a New Party Do We Need...
...His close friends call him Dewey the Do-er...
...1 The Canadiin Cooperative Commen: wealth Federation Brnvidaa another pattern much admired...
...Whenever reporters wanted to needle the Little Napoleon from Elba—ny, as they are found of calling him, they insert a reference to the achievements of this famous Democratic triumvirate...
...He is acutely conscious of the fact that at 4^ he has no military record—has not volunteered for any service as did Harold Stassen...
...The new party must not abandon its ethical political concepts for the sake of winning the balance of power and a few political plums...
...He seemed a little hit afraid of them...
...Social democratic ideala are be***»ng increasingly important to our country and to the world...
...Relief rolls, with which Lehman struggled, sre virtually non-existent...
...ERTAIN leaders of the ALP justified their deals with the political machines of the two dominant parties by the argument that the Socialist Party failed to build an effective third party, because it maintained ideological purity and remained sectarian and thus failed to attract the American working class...
...Here Louis P. Goldberg carries the discussion further...
...At the time this issue was under consideration Lt...
...A wll organised progressive opposition party, completely independent ef any influence of the old parties or their leaders, would have had a more lasting effect on good governassssj than a party manipulated by major party politicians...
...When political reporters in Albany chat among themselves they frequently refer to Lehman as the most cspable governor New York State has had in this century.' His shyness and lark of glamor militated against him...
...The reporters never found him a very good source of news...
...Labor itself is no longer hostile to the economic theories of social democrats...
...Dewey muffed the chance—for reasons of "real-politik...
...He chose not to...
...Where are our assemblymen, state senators, congressmen and council men...
...Morton Goodman and Harry Lopatht have already contributed to a series of discussion articles on the form and the program ef the new psrty...
...But even here the facto sre so aye»hat different...
...Socialist leaders have been respected and revered...
...Another factor was the occasional rise of trade union leaders to positions of influence in one or the other two old parties...
...The committee recommended creation of a state civil rights bureau in the Dept...
...He undertook some minor reforms, for example in the state's mental institutions...
...The kind of influence the ALP has wielded in the past eight yeera ia no different than that exerciaed by the labor movement for decades upon the principle e? "reward your friends and punish your enemies...
...When I reported to you last April," he said, "we had just made a fair begin inns...
...Dewey backed down on his proposal to cut stale aid for education...
...and theae ef the Democratic aad Republican narties, instead of emphasizing the similarities...
...It is true that Dewey has made some good appointments (particularly as publicity men, it might be added...
...What sort of party should it be...
...New York State, beset by increasing anti-Semitism and racial discord, might well have been the proving ground for the sort of legislation recommended by Dewey's own State Committee on Discrimination in Employment...
...We want a party which will sim t e be more then the balance of power...
...Our purpose should not be to liberalise or capture either of the two old parties...
...He favored a strict Interpretation of the state constitution as against federal ballots...
...Pear that soldiers would not vote the GOP One, undoubtedly caused the Republicans to oppose federal ballots and it is safe to assume that Dewey shared this fear...
...However, there are other mistakes which the ALP has made, ether problems which must be solved if our new perty is to be an effective instrument of reform and progress...
...Liberal Action, TTHK need for a new liberal-labor * party is widely felt—not only in !¦ New York State, bat nationally...
...Actually, other and more potent factors prevented the Socialist movement frcm obtaining political power...
...Both arged the building of an independent liberal-labor party...
...We want a party which will aot permit i t s policies to be dominated by the personal interest, of •ny individual or group within the old parties...
...I" that same year, we elected five councilmen...
Vol. 27 • May 1944 • No. 20
