Labor Faces a Crisis

...There is no proper appreciation of "where do we go from here?," no histories] perspective, little of the spiritual and intellectual elan without which no movement, however great in numbers, can survive, let alone advance...

...or more members as a consequence of the dismantling si war industries and the rise of a vast reserve army of unemployed, with all the implications involved for the maintenance of wage and work Standards, the two major labor federations appear to show little real concern for what may follow...

...The CIO, more cognizant than it will admit of the grave crisis confronting it, is no more inclined than it has been heretofore to seek seriously s lapproachment with the older and more solid body...

...Neither from the American Federation of Labor, nor from the Congress of Industrial Organisations, nor from the Railroad Brotherhoods, nor from the camp of John L. Lewis, ass come real evidence of appreciation of the imperative need for unity—the kind of unity without which labor cannot hope to make itself heard effectively and to exercise the influence Which it must wield for its own sake and for the sake of the nation and of the world...

...Will the CIO, floundering in an organizational and ideological crisis, seek escape in vain by means other than those demanded by the gravity of the situation...

...The question is: will it move forward to greater achievement...

...We do not mean to suggest that labor is on the eve of a debacle...

...Stronger in numbers and in experience than k 1918, it confronts a teat upon the outcome ot which may depend the future of this country tad, in a larger sense, of the world...

...In the CIO, where the Communist cancer remains deep and malignant, the responsible leaders seem to believe that the situation can be saved by incantation and by playing power-politics with Moscow in Stalin's efforts to capture control of the world labor movement...

...Of course, much is being said by labor leaders about these dangers but little is being done to avert tse threats to labor and to progress...

...American labor's unpreparedness for the coming crisis is in striking contrast to the unity and victory, achieved by British labor...

...While the AFL and the CIO are eyeing each Other to see which will suffer most from the ravages of industrial demobilization, each with • view to taking advantage for itself in the ensuing dislocations, John L. Lewis is girding for a big effort to build a third labor movement which he wit) rule...

...As for Lewis, he remains the lone wolt", entrenched behind the barricade of a swollen treasury and eager to try once more to seize the central position in the world of labor...

...Much was taid on Labor Day by labor apokes-¦ub concerning the problems confronting thin lutfcn in the transition from war to peace and k the task of national and world reconstructive...

...But if labor is to contribute effectively to that task it will have to show the wisdom and statesmanship required to achieve unity and prcfr»wivism within its own ranks, '•©rfortunately, labor remains divided more than ever Into warring factions, prepared to resume their civil strife, abated temporarily U some degree by the grim necessities of war...

...Will Lewis continue to make bis contribution to the disorder in the house of labor ? Or will they all, in the face of their common peril and their common duty, gather the spiritual strength, the intellectual and social vision so desperater/ needed for preservation of the labor movement and the role it is called upon to play in the healing of the wounds of war and m the building of an enduring world peace...

...Will the AFL, retaining most of what it has, be content to pursue a line of complacency with its accumulated "capital...

...To prevent American reactionaries from sabotaging that program, as well as to protect the interests of American labor and the achievements of the New Deal, and to advance toward a new New Deal, American labor forces need to end fractricsl strife, to purge the trade unions of the cancer of Communism snd cure the paralysis of racketeering...

...Despite unfavorable circumstances as they are shaping themselves at this moment and even of the more critical aspect they may assume in the near future, the labor movement will remain a strong force in American life...

...The AFL believes that the CIO, which will suffer most from the situation, will eventually disintegrate, with its sound elements compelled to seek refuge under the AFL roof...

...Facing a Voss of possibly 6...

...Factional enmity and distrust are, if anything, more virulent than ever...

...Upon the ability of our liberal labor leaders to display statesmanship in tackling the tough postwar problems they face, will depend the future progress of our labor movement and America's future as a mighty, positive, and progressive force in mankind's continuing race between civilization and catastrophe...

...Across the Atlantic the labor forces are in {Miwer on a progressive program which offers Europe an alternative to either totalitarian Communism or reactionary Toryism...

...Instead, there is s spirit of guerrilla warfare directed against each other among the various factions...

...There is little seriouM planning about how to preserve and consolidate what has been won...

...All factions seem to minimize the mi pert of the anti-labor wave that Ms mani resting itself in the country, to be almost •Sflvbus to the grave danger confronting the labor movement not only from heavy leases in numbers but also in prestige and inlaence in the nation...

...Such, it must be admitted in ail honesty, is the sad picture...

...In the AFL the inclination is to regard the prospect with equanimity: "we shall hold most of what we have and take what we can of the ground lost by the others...

...Upon the conduct of its leaders and of labor's rank-and-file will depend the turn of the road labor, and perhaps America, will now take...