A Labor Leader Goes to Italy
RICH, J. C.
A Labor Leader Goes to Italy By J. C. Rich FOR aliefc conniving and good old-fash toned stiletto work take the coot of to* Italian trade union* aa Jtafar and thoao her. to these United States....
...For the benefit of I'M we might as well say that Antonini had fought the fascists when it was expensive to fight them...
...Why didn't they come fuiw.rd with an offer to bring relief to the ancient bu»-and...
...This is hew the impulse to spring to the sid of the long dormsnt snd sap-pressed labor movement of Italy was circumvented...
...There ajpo* any nuiajber of strong trade unions ef Italian aHmucrship in this country, yet they seemed strangely hsctiv* and unresponsive to the dramatic events in (he eftf country...
...Why tie Americans of Italian extraction the only ones who are not permitted to trsnsmit relief to the tuff ring in the land of their origin...
...That was strictly from the order-made pi-no more than a couple of months to get him transportation, after his departure for the homeland was finally approved, and that's all right, for the delay in transportation may have been legitimate, geon hole...
...It took whst with the second invasion of Frsnce and all...
...He fought Mussolini and hia mob in this country even when that outstanding disciple of unity and democracy, the Honorable Vito Marcantonio, was flirting with the fascists here...
...Similarly it was in the interests of "unity" that the American Committee for Italian Relief couldn't get to first base in Washington...
...Antonini snowed them und'r...
...It was done with Communist connivance, with tbe aid of Vito Marcantonio, with the assistance of stumble fooled ..tibials in Washington snd the approval of fsixy-brsined fellow-travelers elsewhere...
...factionalism...
...In the meanwhile, there was a denunciatory little screed in that paragon of left-wing virtue, I'M, which said that it was one hell of a note to send Antonini to Italy, and where was unity in the struggle against fascism, and isn't it a damn shame...
...It showed which line the Communists had sold I'M at the moment of publication...
...It was Indicated, however, that the CIO would be satiaAed if neither organisation were granted a visa, which is a hell of a way to demonstrate concern for the welfare of Italy's working masses...
...It took the uynamite of intercession by the AFL to blast it out of the pigeon hole...
...But the delay in accepting his proffers of assistance immediately on the invasion of Sicily and Italy was not legitimate...
...He fought them when Mussolini was still a balcony attraction and he fought them among the Italians in this country who not infrequently confused love of the homeland with acceptance of its ruling clique...
...And they met wuti the strangest reasons* Instead of recognition for th* warmth of their impulse and the generosity of their tenders ef assistance, they were rewsrded with the well-known run-around and the not too subtle brush-off...
...You heard of no prominent labor men toM'ing to the ahips and storming the transport planes lei passage to Italy, although the natural thing for them would have boon to want to land together with Mat first invasion ferees...
...Antonini, by latest accounts, Is now in Italy...
...And still for the benefit of I'M, let us also say that innocent as it is, it ought to be careful, f'eople may talk even if it is only slightly enceinte...
...They shy away from a windblown scrap of paper and even a whispered boo will make them freeze stiff...
...This is by way of an aside to our main theme, and you can forget about the elections...
...would niton that faetionalitm was bring reeognized, and the Vammwn'mti, at you know, are again...
...Well, they d«d and still do...
...Post-postscript: A CIO man is also going to Italy...
...Not a Communiat, to be sure...
...This bit of bellyaching was confusing to those who knew Antonini as the outstanding Italian anti-fascist in the labor ranks, but it was a tipoff...
...What an embarasaing question to ask of the timid souls in the National War Relief Control Board '1 Washington...
...Merely a Hillman man...
...And this is how the natural impulse of American Italians to come to the aid of their coeatrymaa was short-circuited...
...This is the buresucrst's way of saying, let's forget about the whole thing, and for a year the thing stayed forgotten, except for the annoying prodding of labor men and liberate and other pernickety pests...
...It was only after the American Federation of Labor announced that it was appointing Antonini as its delegate to the labor movement of Italy that there was any stirring whatever in the pigeon cotes of Washington, and even then expensive time went by while the pigeon fanciers tried to rastch up s flight to offset Antonini's journey...
...You wondered why these men lato't volunteer their services...
...When the State Department got a request for a visa from Antonini, it was warned that this would upset everything in Italy...
...In the meanwhile, however, the Communists moved in on Italy and were taking over in a big way among the newly risen Italian unions...
...Thar, were a» unions to Italy, of course, in the reign af the ****** Oaeaar, and it was only after the Allies Jtod tlcared a eubctontial portion of the peninsula that say sort ef labor organization came to life there...
...And just a postscript: When the AFL mad* representations to the Stste Department snd demanded a visa for Antonini, the CIO made counter representations...
...And so when the Communists whispered boo about Antonini and about the Italian Relict Committee, the State Department first, and the Relief Control Board next, decided to look into the matter...
...The CIO, of course—not the Communists...
...They not only offered iktu services bat they even begged and pleaded to have thsin accepted...
...There you were, or there at least waa laligi Antonini with other well-known Italian labor sten and liberals...
...Those with a say to the matter didn't say yes and didn't say no, sot you couldn't get on a ship or a plane to Italy without an okay from the State Department, and you sewMa't send so much as a bag of flour to the old country without a permit from Washington's War Relief Control Board...
...Thia will only show how little you know about the mysteries of unity snd humanitarian endeavor...
...They are always for unity...
...Ain't unity wonderful...
...The .fudge should understsnd that inasmuch as he is s libersl, and inasmuch ss Antonini Is associated with him in the relief committee, and inss-much as Marcantonio is not, but is sssociated with the Communists, it would be disastrous to unity If the Italians ate bread sent by his committee...
...Neither was okaying or per-ssitting at the time, and there you were exercising year bunions running from one bureau to the other or eating your heart out waiting in one lobby and ante-reeat after another...
...Why didn't they come i» the aid of the Allied administration and their own eomiades in their native land...
...Probably no one scsres easier than Washington officials...
...You will thereby confess the same ignorance at that displayed by the Chairman of the Italian Relief Committee, Justice Ferdinand Pecora of the N. Y. State Supreme1 Court, who plaintively asked: "Why this discrimination...
...Antonini wss expendable and so wss relief to the war-stricken populace ef Italy while the Communists were digging in...
...That's why the Communists united in the recent election there...
...Now, you may ask what is fsetionsl about a shipment of bread for the hungry or s pair of shoes or a coat or dress for the ragged...
...till-: Honorable Vito Marcantonio is a busy man, what with caucuses with Communists and dinners with fascists and politicking with Tammany sachems, but he's never too busy for a little fancy conniving where it will do the most g. id...
...The significant thing only that the Communists combined with the fascists even after Mussolini fell off the balcony...
Vol. 27 • September 1944 • No. 37
