The New Leader Book Page
Lewis, Marx
The New Leader Book Page Leaves from a Socialist Life By MARX LEWIS LABOR LAWYER. By lAui» Waldman. g. p. Dutton. $3.&0. In Labor lawyer," Louis Waldman has written a highly dramatic account of...
...But proving that individual* were Communist* wa* something else again...
...That the ALP was afflicted, almcst from it* inception, with sn incursbl* disease from which no orgsnization lis* ever been known to recover, is true...
...But, a* Waldman knows, they would have com* anyway...
...They have the sdditionsl advantage of throwing some light in cornera too long obscured...
...The choice was the same as an individual afflicted with an incurable disease might have to make: because he is doomed to die, he might as well commit suicide...
...Aggressive, resourceful, •elf-confident, he proceeded to arouse Public opinion, and the Bar itself...
...Again, in tha Beal caae in North Carolina, to which Waldman devotes a chapter, he found among persons whom the Communists helped make more sntsgonistic than they would have been normally, outstanding citizens and leading newspapermen whose sense of justice was more pronounced than the prejudices which the Communists had succeeded in provoking against radicals...
...But it took that position when it became necessary...
...Labor in years gone by looked askance at all of these thing...
...Wsldmsn is s good lswyer, but the case he makes out for his position in this respect is exceedingly weak...
...He tells how leaders of the old parties boasted of the way they "stole" these planks from Socialist platforms...
...There i* no doubt that much of tha fear he expresses is well founded...
...That it happened long after Waldman raised th* Communist issue in the press merely proved that the timing could not be made by an individual or group...
...But it I* not, as Waldman implies, due to th* New Deal, or to liberals who ar* willing to sail the nation's liberties for • mess of pottage, and perhaps lose th* pottage in th* bargain, or even to th* way th* Communist* hsv* bean abl* to infiltrate Government sgencie* and indue* political leader* — Including the Democratic leader* with whom Waldman is associated—to trad* with them...
...But as a rule individuals do not...
...By strengthening the Executive, at least in normal time*—in war tint* Waldman will concede it it inevitable—w* ar* likewise strengthening that arm of government which throughout history ha* been th* source of arbitrary and dictatorial power...
...la this connection Wsldman reveals •* interesting condition too frequently overlooked by the critics of our institutions and nation...
...Likewise, giving administrative agencea powers which are not subject to review places a dangerous procedure...
...While radicals frequently lost sight of fundamentals, their so-called enemies did not...
...His gifts ss a platform speaker and as an organizer laid the basis for the success he achieved in carrying his Assembly District several limes, and in becoming one of the best Socialist campaigners, heading the Socialist State ticket on several occasions...
...In Labor lawyer," Louis Waldman has written a highly dramatic account of an eventful, crowded and colorful life...
...Most of the fight he waged during the past quarter of a century was either with the Communists, or because of the Communists...
...They continue to suffer...
...He became what revolutionary Socialists derisively called a "practical Socialist...
...His comments on this struggle, snd on Norman Thomas, his chief antagonist, sre interesting, i; Wsldman end the Social Democrats were expelled from the Socialist Psrty because they did not went an all-inclusive party...
...Ho waa secretery to the Socialist Congressman Meyer Leadoa and fat now Executive Vice-President of th* United Hat, Cap and Millinery Workers...
...He became identified with the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, some of whose candidates are now flirting with the Communist...
...Organisations don't function that way...
...It would do well to reexamine the support it ha* lent to this procedure In recent year* and reflect on the dangers which inhere in them...
...W* have never been ahl* to furnish a solution to th* problem...
...At almost every turn, j* found a spirit of fair play...
...Whatever the answer to this and other questions raised by Waldman'* story and obae- '-n* and warning* may be, h* has written • book which all who sre interested in these questions ought to read and from which they will be ' ;nd to proflt (Marx Lewis ia a veteran Social Democrat...
...Socialist organizations multiplied by division...
...The same was true in the Os-nian rase, another interesting legal battle, which Waldman conducted in Panama, and won...
...Certainly, the Socialists made their*, and the political success achieved by the Socialist party in thirty or more year* wa* not so impressive a* to tempt the ALP leaders to want to pursue a similar course...
...There is much more Waldman ha* to »ay about th* ALP that deserve* comment and criticism...
...Injunctions against strikers in those years were issued upon request...
...The disease could not have been avoided...
...There were times when Socialist leaders, as much opposed to Communists and all their works as Waldman, favored appeasement for tactical reasons...
...Time, energy, and attention were constantly diverted from the constructive work which he and others were attempting to do to battle subversive elements seeking a short cut to the millenium...
...There were certain weaknesses in ita structure and in the psychology of some of its leader...
...Lawyers *he dared to resist incurred the enmity Of the judges.' Waldman did, and was "ned for contempt But in this, ss in ether Utiles he was called upon to fight, ?oHtieal and legal, he did not take it lying doWn...
...He opposed efforts of Norman Thorns* in the thirties to form an all-inclusive party with the dissident Communists...
...The notable legal battles in which Waldman participated are presented because they illustrate some significant struggles for civil liberties er labor's rights, and, at the same time they create the kind of suspense found mainly in detective thrillers...
...Since his life has been so closely Intertwined with the Socialist and labor movement during the put three decades, it is inevitable that the book should be, in a considerable degree, a history of those movements during the period when both ran along parallel lines...
...One of them, at least, had invited them to ccme in, against the opposition of most of the others...
...It did not truckle to the Communists nor permit them to influence ita course...
...Waldman knew it...
...As tite spokesman for the Socialist Party, he succeeded in popularizing many of these reforms to tho point where they worn taken over by the major parties »nd enacted into law...
...In the party they assumed a protective coloring by accepting the program of the ALP...
...Beth participants and non-participants will find the book exceedingly well written, entertaining, informative, and taeoght-provoking...
...Yet, in a rather short period the party succeeded in becoming sn important political factor ia the city and State...
...Some of ita decisions were perhaps wrong...
...The contribution thus made to social progress by Socialists was substantial...
...But control how...
...We feared an extension of governmental power, yet consistently proposed meas-urea by which soma such extension wa* more nr less inevitable...
...But what happened wa* a miniature edition of the Sedition Trial in Washington...
...He equipped himself for leadership in the Socialist movement by becoming sn expert en highly technical questions...
...A year later he reaigned from the Social Democratic Federation because it refused to follow him out of the party, which he charged was dominated by Communists...
...Many of it* leader* knew it...
...He felt that they were separated from th* re*t of democratic society by a gulf which never could be bridged...
...Instead of indulging in revolutionary jargon, which might temporarily turn the heads of enthusiasts, he proposed carefully thought out measures on the development of wster resources, old sge security, and other reforms...
...If, as stated, the party was afflicted with an incurable disease, and doomed to die anyway, the question arises, why delay the end...
...In making this contribution Waldman played an important part...
...AFL...
...When he chose to identify himself with the Socialist movement, he entered upon a more difficult and a more prolonged struggle...
...Waldman, it will be recalled, was the staunchost supporter and advocate of these deals...
...But who in the leadership of organisation failed to make mistake* on policial of a controversial nature...
...So far as Wsldman is personally concerned, the story he tells is one of almost perpetual struggle...
...In a large measuie, it ia th* result of indus-trial and economic trends which have had a tendency to run rampant, and which Socialist* have sought to control...
...At that time, it should have been much easier to prove it, because the party line had changed and these Communist* were following it...
...In his final chapter, which he consider* th* moat important in his book, because it sets down his hopes and fears based on life-long political experience, Waldman is very critical of the New Deal, or of what has come to pass for the New Deal: the growth of the Executive power, the persistent attempt by liberals to denounce Congress, the steady encroachment of administrative agenciea, and the readiness with which even strong defenders of democratic theories are willing to discard their theorie* in return for what are in fact temporary expedient* leading away instead of toward* democracy . All of this, he claim*, add* up to a Popular Front, which he citie* some evidence to prove is already here, and which he point* out can bo a* dangaroua for us as it ha* proven to be for other...
...When »nd his four ousted Socialist colleagues were tried in the State Assem-•b% the Bar Association and many distinguished citisens in all walks of life, came to their help...
...When, finally, the Communists showed their colors at the time of the Pact, and they came into conflict with the ALP position, it was the party that stood by ita principle...
...By persistently heaping abuse upon Congress, sven though the temptation to do so these days is great, we are helping to weaken the one institution which in th* final analysis is the guardian and custodian of the nation's liberties...
...In 1940 he reaigned from the ALP...
...A gcod deal of the criticism directed against the party leadership wa* baaed on the deals it made...
...Is becoming a labor lawyer, Waldman •gam selected a field in which much «»ede work had to be done and in which he did his share, and more, of pioneer-h...
...Still, MUM solution will have to be found if th* evils against which we fight abroad should not com* to plague us her...
...The impression this phase of his story somehow leaves is that Waldman, and Waldman alone, was willing to tske an adsmsnt position against the Communists, that the leadership of the ALP, which he admits was non-Ccmmunist, was willing to go slong with them, snd that even the SDF, whose opposition to Communism has been as vigorous snd as consistent ss his own, Iscked the courage to meet the issue...
...Those who were not participants, and whose knowledge of what took place in the Socialist movement has been based on the limited and highly colored aceounta which crept into tha pufiut press, will also profit from this boag They will be impressed by a movement which not only developed great idealism, self-sacrifice, and devotion to human betterment, but which contributed appreciably, more than some sre willing to admit, to the advancea towards a more shandsnt life...
...He fought the proposal to affiliate with the Third International...
...The next year ha found himself a founder and a leader of the American Labor Party into which the Communists had infiltrated...
...wa I.OMAN writes about the internecine warfare within the Socialist movement...
...Those who participated with Waldman in the effort to build a Socialist movement, will relive the thrilling moments which came to all of them...
...Waldman not only opposed the Communists but also any attempt to appease them...
...The writer was a member of a committee created at the time of the split to try a few of them as being Communists...
Vol. 27 • August 1944 • No. 34
