The ALP Future:Hillman Expedient for '44 or Permanent Political Party
Rogoff, Harry
The ALP Future: Hillman Expedient for '44 or Permanent Political Party By Harry Rogoff SIDNEY HII.LMAN know* now that his plan to create a "united front" within the ALP will not materialize....
...The policy Sidney Hillman is pursuing today is a giave mistake...
...In 1942, he decided to support Tammany's candidate for the New York governorship, Mr...
...The attitude of the right-wing groups has its origin neither in a capricioua disposition nor in sheer stubbornness...
...This H type of dealing is not worthy of Mr...
...The organization which participated in the united front always was the loser and came out from the experiment weakened, physically maimed and intellectually confused...
...It facilitates matters I for them for they have long cherished the ambiItion of taking over the American Labor Party...
...Their assertions, which Hillman apparently accepts at face value, that they are striving for "unity" in the ALP, for a united front, are not true...
...The other union leaders who laid the foundation of the ALP six to seven years ago, were guided by the idea of creating a political organization of workers for workers' sake...
...This is why he refuses a united, front with the Communists within his own union...
...on "free enterprise...
...It was this situation that prevailed during all the 25 yea is of the Communist movement...
...Hillman knows how^Ccmimuniots have all hut mined many traile unions and other liberal or| gamzations...
...Heads of unions may not assume political activity for their members...
...Yet can they be reTiecl oh saff ly...
...He needed it as a means to aid in ?he elections of President Roosevelt, Uovernor Lehman, Mayor LaGuardia etc...
...If the Communists are opposed to a "third party" and to the reforms which the ALP demands, why then are they meddling with the ALP and straining every effort to seize it...
...The Communists are supporting this plan...
...g Hillman's sphere of influence and also from withH out, have expressed their resentment at this arbiH trary action...
...It la not the ALP he is interested in bat the next elections sad certain candidates wkom be wants to support Ha is not concerned with the ALP itself...
...This was the first time the ALP had a chance to prove that it pursued an iiidejien^dent policy...
...Aral they hoped that should the experiment of a Labor Party in New York prove successful, the Labor Party idea would spread to other states...
...He admitted this unequivocally by his attitude during the latest two electoral campaigns...
...In this latest move, Mr...
...Sidney Hillman knows this as well as the right-wingers...
...Some of them even were bold enough to envision that the modest start in New York might lead to the formation of a Labor Party in this country patterned upon that in England...
...The new Communist political line is not only in opposition to labor parties, but also to the principles which are the bedrock of all the labor parties the world over...
...U/HAT are the Communists after in their struggle to capture the ALP...
...In his opinion, the AI.P hi'd to pursue definite momentary aims...
...Or else, once within, the Communists will destroy it...
...Sidney Hillman ought to realize this...
...The very issue in which Hillman is now interested so much that he is willing to join hands with the Communists is a case in point...
...Who could predict the policy they will pursue six or eight months hence...
...he then proceeds to carry over the union's numerical strength into the American Labor Party where he proposes, by virtue of such strength, to take over the party, again ignoring the will of the individuals who have created that party...
...PV1DENTLY, Sidney Hillman never shared these ambitions, hopes anil visions...
...The state ALP leadership opposes a united front with the Communists in the ALP lor the same reasons whieh underlie Hillman's opposition to a coalition with "the Communists in his union...
...Hillman, the s great labor leader, nor does it respect the intelli% gence of the individuals who comprise his enlight5 ened membership...
...cere liberals and progressive representatives of labor, And he will lose in the top ranking circles of the Boos*, velt administration who will never forgive him the demoralisation which his present maneuver will bring Into the ranks of the progressive and labor voters...
...Their struggle is one for the ousting of the right-wingers from the party...
...Some parties and movements at certain times yielded to the enticing persuasions of the Communists and joined common fronts with them...
...Can anybody, can Hillman he absolutely sure that the Communists will support Roosevelt on Klection Day'.' The Communists changed their attitude toward Roosevelt .'ach time he was tunning for election...
...Modern totalitarianism often resorts ' to 'liberal and radical verbiage as a aubs.tUute for .. democratic practices...
...Even If he wins now, he will be 'he loser in the end...
...This has been proved a hundredfold by facts and events during the 25 years of existence of the Communist movement...
...The present campaign of the Communists in the ALP is part and parcel of their general struggle against the right-wing leadership in the lalior movement...
...According to their new line, they have discarded specific labor policies They hold now that the workers should join the Democratic or Republican parties and attain their political ends within the ranks of these parties...
...They are against a united front with the Communists because they have learned from bitter experience that such a step always brings disaster to the organization which joins the common front...
...Hillman's late .k political-labor adventure is a most unfortunate development in American labor history...
...If Sidney Hillmaa Ihoaght of the AI.P's fate and had ita future in mind, he weald act ia aniaoa with the right-wingers...
...Hillman, therefore, faces now a definite choice...
...Hillman takes his own union for granted...
...It was also its first opportunity to ascertain whether its followers, those who voted for the ALP ticket, were ready to support an independent labor policy and whether they agreed with the ALP's nomination of its own candidates when it deemed this to he necessary...
...There canjie no hope for wholesome H political activity of trade unionists and liberals = in organizations undemocratically conceived, and H with the blessing of the Communists...
...The impression prevailed at that time that he decided to part company with the ALP...
...There is no possibility of a coalition with an organization that is bare of any principles and ready to change its policies and Mograms overnight...
...It is the same struggle they have been waging in all the labor unions, social and progressive organizations and institutions...
...We must ass sume, since we do not believe that he is one of § them, that he hopes to use them...
...Here lie* the difference between him and the right-wingers who decline his proposal of joining hands with the ('•¦¦snltu...
...And his followers and admirers within the ACV/U always pointed to this fact with great pride...
...Its candidate for the governorship polled the same number of votes' as in the former elections when the party only endorsed candidates of the other two big parties...
...Today, just as before, the ALP is to him only a ¦earn for a detaite, momentary aim...
...Unless political activity regain* free, the trade umon loses its every reason i. r existence...
...S Already many trade unionists from within Mr...
...The outcome of that election proved that the ALP's right-wing leadership had judged the situation correctly...
...He does not regard the ALP as emerging from definite principles but rather as an expedient, as a temporary tool for the achievement of a momentary aim...
...They always believed that the labor movement ought to develop independent political activities of their own...
...It may very well be that members of a trade union may decide that political action is desirable and even necessary, but such a program of political action should be sanctioned by the membership and not imposed upon it by any individual or organized minority...
...This year, Hillman has come back to the ALP and is again meddling in its affairs...
...It is the issue of President Roosevelt's reelection for a fourth term...
...Either he will remain in the right-wing camp to which he belonged during all the years of the ALP's existence or abandon that camp and join hands with the Communists...
...But he chooses to unite with them, 1 in order to promote his objectives...
...It creates a new type of hossisw...
...At that time, Sidney Hillman did not want the ALP to pursue an independent labor policy...
...The answer to this question is that it is not actually the ALP the Communists are after...
...Most of them formerly were connected with the Socialist movement...
...And it is well hi the cards that the new power he provides*!hem with will lie made use of in the future against him and his right-wing leadership * * * THERE run he no unity between right-wingers and Communists...
...The ALP then nominated its own candidate because neither of the two candidates of the GOP and of the Democratic Party satisfied labor and the liberals...
...Bennett...
...They do-not w:mt or need it...
...Their aim is rather to deprive the rightwingers of the ALP...
...By giving aid to the Communists in the ALP at present, he strengthens their position in the field of their general fight in the labor movement...
...Unfortunately, Hillman's attitude toward the ALP differs from that of the right-wingers who decline to agree with his plan...
...The arguments which cloak this new domination do not in any way blind us to the undemocratic tendencies...
...He will lose* ia the estimation aft tha liberal and progressive citizens ah* during the la»t aetea fears have considered tha ?Lf as their political home just because it was led by sin...
...1 Experience has proven the futility of tins...
...He will lose in his own union because the overwhelming majority of its members have always been and at present continue ta be in the ranks of tha right wtng...
...He will lose not only in New York but all over America because he will become identified with his Communist co-partners...
...The labor unions and the liberals who founded and built up the ALP have always fought against a union with the Communists and they will continue th>s struggle...
...Yet he is doing lhi« not because he has changed his attitude toward the basic problem of the party's tasks and aims...
...Now again they are for Roosevelt...
...This is their unalterable decision...
...It is, in fact, right within their pattern of activity, so we are not surprised...
...He does not rare about ita fate after the election ia over...
...Earl Browder, the leader of the Communist Party, stated in his recent "programmatic" address that the Communists no longer demanded any of the reforms which aim at a change of the economic order from a capitalistic into a Socialistic one, that they wanted a state of unity and harmony between capital, and labor and, furthermore, did not want any infringement on the basis of the capitalistic order, viz...
...They know that the Oinruiunisby, interest in any organisation is determined solely by tha capital they can make out of it for themtehes* Any organization that admits Communists to its leadership must be ready to follow the Communist line...
...However, the party per se Was never a worthwhile ideal in itself to Hillman...
...One year later, during the 1943 elections, Hillman kept aloof from the campaign completely...
...They were against him in 19112, supported him in 19.'16 and opposed him in 1940...
...Yet in each of these cases the experiment ended in a terrible failure...
...Hillman Abuses His Power By MRS.REDECCA C.SIMONSON I'rmdenl, Na> York Teacher* Guild CIDNEY HILLMAN abuses his position as head ^ of • large and important union, when he uses the political strength of his fellow-members to promote his political purposes in the American Labor Party...
...Such a party, a party that does not stand on a firm ground of principles, that has wriggled and wabbled all over the political map giving the lie today to its alleged beliefs of yesterday cannot claim to inspire confidence in reasonable, responsible people...
...The Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union has never tolerated Communist leadership or association with Communists in any of its locals...
...This has been Hillman's political line...
...He took up the cudgels Hgainst the ALP and endorsed Tammany's candidate...
Vol. 27 • February 1944 • No. 8
