Advice to the Liberal Party
Davenport, Russell W.
Advice to the Liberal Party By Russell W. Davenport I H0PE that have at last, in the Liberal Party, wo hare the beginning of a political organisation that will not ho content with self adulation...
...But the major party organisations have refused to follow tho leadership of these men snd women...
...It is tko fault of the parties...
...Let us cell it whst it really is - a shirking Of political responsibility...
...orderly and peaceful achievement of racial equality -political and economic—in the United States...
...Bat after the war, it can be spent for constructive purposes to increase th* standard of living for all...
...mate power...
...For there exists in America a strange—perhaps cancerous—political aituation...
...that men and women who live in hunger and Ignorance and poverty, anywhere on earth, cannot hs free...
...it wss srrsnged...
...He hooted at the Democrats...
...Yet in its 1944 platform her party has utterly failed to give meaning to the indispensible principle of racial equality, for which she has ao gallantly fought...
...Nor could he see the gang in the cloakroom herd her back into the Senate ehamber to be recorded In a quavering voice in the negative...
...At th* moment, th* money ks being *pent for destructive purpose...
...It was good new* that came out of Little Rock last week...
...They have abandoned political principle in favor of political expediency...
...And the result is that, for away of us,* membership ia a major party has become mesniagleso...
...Tho cause of America ia the cause of all mankind...
...Kveii Huey could not look down the years and see Rob LaFollette, standing on the floor of the Senate, suddenly calling for a rollcall vote on extension of the life of the Civil Liberties Committee...
...The organisations have chiseled on principles for the sake— •r so they believe—of catching votes...
...And I insist, therefore, that one of our big tasks— •no of our big domettie tasks—i* to r*i»e the stsndsrd of living of other peoples...
...It was the head of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union...
...The candidate it jutt at am-bigitemi a* the platform...
...Said Hattie: "There is no need to hear this man...
...He said there vas no difference between them...
...They are holding hack and lagging behind...
...Demand it of yout candidates I.et the Liberal Party derive its every policy from the only doctrine that ran lead us out of the wilderness of our time: Freedom belong* to those men and women who dare to advocate freedom for other man and women...
...I do not know of any more poignant example of political dereliction than the platform of Ike Republican JVrfg Ao* offered the voter* of thi$ country...
...With the increase* in national Income, stimulated by government j ¦pending, which in turn la taken from loans, tho government ha* increased the wealth of th* country enough to carry the interest...
...But if yon ar* big enough to take it, and le> publish It, then the Liberal Party will awaken one of the** daye to tad Itself ha possession of the only practical labor program, and the only realistic domestic program ia tho United Stales...
...He hooted at the Republicans...
...At the name time, however, Me**r* Byrd and Pettlnglll, a* patriotic citizen*, ar* urging everybody to buy war bonds...
...Economic Lesson I A NUMRR of lory Congressmen snd lobbyists, sre screaming thst the notional debt Is too high...
...And it i* derelict in foreign policy...
...Freedom is not even the property of America...
...that the freedom of •Be implies, where it does not actually denote, the freedom of all...
...This chiseling of principles is called "political realism...
...1 see no hope of establishing a sound and fruitful labor policy, or an effective social security policy, or *v*n « productive policy for American industry and •Mines*, unlesa the American people understand that the political rights that we...
...rooca to politics, that used exist t i* America today...
...As blithely as any housewife, sh* assumed I understood...
...Make it th* basis of your liberalism Make it tho beginning of your labor program...
...He had invaded the state only six days before...
...Hattie wodld be free—and then nothing would happen...
...the monsters of intolerance, hate, and Ulegtt...
...But the "political realists" tell me that I shouldn't pay any attention to the platform of a party...
...Good News from Arkansas By Hugh Russell Fraser The best news in a long time^came last week...
...No liberal cause can be created, and no enlightened labor program can be sustsined, until the American People decide the very issue that the Republican Party, »nd its candidate, are trying to dodge...
...My mind went back to the little square in Marion, Arkansas...
...Nor, likewise, coul' Huey have been in Memphis th* day she tried to prevent the head of the Sharecroppers Union from testifying before th* Senate Committee on Agriculture...
...Good news for the lowly, the humble, the dispossessed and disinherited of the earth...
...It was one of those items that clear the air, lift up the spirit...
...Huey was not there, but I was...
...R. Butler) would take the stand...
...It was a good speech Huey made...
...The hearings were due to start in less than an hour...
...And he did...
...The issue at stake is the issue of freedom...
...The east** of America," wrote Tom Paine, "it rn a great meaeure the eaute of all mankind...
...possess here in America •*e not the rights of Americans but the rights of man...
...I live in a glass house...
...Advice to the Liberal Party By Russell W. Davenport I H0PE that have at last, in the Liberal Party, wo hare the beginning of a political organisation that will not ho content with self adulation and cautious aempromise, but will insist up the public examination ,1 principles and programs, to determine, not what is politically expedient, but what is politically rgbt...
...These loans, i.e., the j bonds, became the government'* debt to the people...
...But if wo can learn that tho preaervation of freedom horo require* th* participation of other* in our rights and standards, our projects sad opportunities, our hopos and rewards: if we can learn thi* Indispensibl* Issson, then we shall acquiie allies all over tiw *arth who will help us fight the** monsters, hero, or anywhere else This is nothing new...
...He tore off his collar and necktie...
...Hattie, he explained, would represent the Little Fellows...
...With the cooperation of the acting chairman, Senator Elmer Thomas (Dem., Okls...
...He told stories...
...Thia may not mean that everybody'* incom* i* four time* higher...
...To one name on my list, however, Hattie Would not consent...
...The item jumped at you from the page, and the words seemed to shout in exultation...
...This is not th* fault of those Americans...
...If you are not big enough to accept thia ideal, then you will lad that all year plans for labor will be impractical, and all your hope* for liberalism will be in vein...
...Eleanor Roosevelt has not been afraid to stand up for the rights of the Negro...
...Who the Little Fellows were, Huey didn't explain...
...Because we had dreams for our party...
...As Butler took the stand, Hattie turned and glared at me angrily...
...It was my duty to round up witnesses who had a legitimate right to be heard...
...Nor could he in that momen...
...I believe in the universality of the economic l»ws...
...Huey, with his sound truck, and his egotism, and his jokes...
...Of course, there have been courageous men and women in both the major parties who have had the guts to stand on their principles at sny political cost...
...That ia the path to freedom in America...
...Th* national in com* today i* nearly four time* a* much as it waa a little more than ten year* ago...
...More concretely, it is thi* particular principle of freedom: »»*t freedom cannot be exclutive...
...In thst hour I wss determined thst, come whst may, this psrticulsr witness (J...
...Rui presumably hs meant the overalls and shirt-sleeved men in front of him...
...They ate up his words...
...We are discovering that certain priaeipleo, certain iasuea, transcend ordinary party loyalty: that, confronted v/itk the choice of voting for principle or for party, we shall have to veto for principle...
...In effect, the government U taking Idle money and patting it to work so that there will not be Idle men...
...Write that on your banners...
...I should look at the candidate...
...But alas...
...And I believe that the victory of any party that compromises with theae great truths will not be a victory, but a disaster, for the American people...
...He said he would...
...Rut th* wsr bond* increase the national debt...
...These bonds psy interest...
...It U derelict in domestic Policy...
...Do not bo afraid to believe that...
...And this is that so bojit mlllons of Americans fail to find a clear and courageous statement of their beliefs contained in the platforms of the major political parties...
...It is not the property of tabor...
...Hattie Caraway was defeated in Arkansas...
...The fate of liberalism in the postwar world, and the fate of labor in the poatwar world, depend upon th* ability of Americans to participate—politically, economically, and morally—in the postwar world...
...Let me mention one instance of this in the Democratic Party...
...Such men as Senator Byrd and Samuel Pettlnglll of the Committee for Conaltutienal Government say 1 that a mounting national debt will cripple the country...
...Should we atop buying war bonder Ridiculous.' The Government of the United Stale (which means the people's pocket*) I* asking that the people individually loan their money to the government for war purpose...
...The money is owed to ourselves ss citixens...
...Huey Long was there...
...And 1 believe that if men and women, anywhere on •arth, are deprived of freedom, by poverty or oppres-•k»n, then nationalism will generate among them and *»is* new threat* to freedom her* in America...
...It was formulated in a single sentence by one of the founders of our country...
...For as soon as we try to rut America off in any way, then the nationalistic forcea of modern society will breed, right here in the United States, the same terrible monsters that we are now fighting on foreign •oil...
...But he did not know at that moment the extent of his lie...
...And these dreams were part and parcel of our dreams for America...
...Once more I could hear Huey lying...
...Ad special aide to the committee...
...It means more people are working...
...This issue has been described in recent debates as the "international'' iasue...
...see Hattie nervously grab her big, black handbag and run for the cloakroom...
...It is a long time now—nearly ter years—since first saw her on the platform of the square in Marion, Arkansas...
...Do not shrink from that ideal...
...And for me, and I believe for millions of liberal and progressive Republicans, this fact is a poignant fact...
...That fhtfarm it a derelict platform...
...It is not the fault of the principles in which thesy believe...
...It is the responsibility of the Democratic Party to discover, and then to advocate, a program that will provide for t hi...
...He could not foresee that soon he would be dead, and Hattie would be free...
...It is not the property of the farmer...
...And I believe not only in the universality of the Ti0kti...
...Freedom i* not your property, or mine...
...Well, I have looked at the Republican candidate...
...He is an agitator, you know...
...I am a Republican...
...Ami clamored for more...
...I believe that the cause of American labor, equally with the cause of American agriculture, i* bound up with agriculture and labor in the rest of the world...
...The major parties—Democratic and Republican alike—are not forgiag ahead...
...But at th* same time, the government is apending thi* money borrowed in bonds, and with thia apending stimulating purchase* snd the rise In national income...
...If ever there was • need fer m new and broader op...
...That description is in my •pinion inadequate and misleading...
...He said he would put Hattie in the Se.nate in ten days...
...It was a lovely, delicious, invigorating glare...
...Huey lied...
...He said Hattie would be neither...
...I have looked at him with wonder and admiration: because I do not see how the psrty could hsve chosen a better candidate to carry out the kind of platform that tho party wrote...
Vol. 27 • August 1944 • No. 34
