Capital Comment
STOUT, JONATHAN
Capital Comment By JONATHAN STOUT General Motors Prepares for Slowdown WASHINGTON, D. C—The direct of a strike W against Genet al Motors ha* Hied Washington f *' wife fleesn. A Strike of that...
...The governments of Teheran and Chungking are accused by Moscow of too great friendliness toward the democratic powers...
...In Iran, Russia is fighting againii Britain, in Asia against America...
...What they ire afraid of is that audi a strike, possibly spreading to include the whole of the giant automobile industry, might grease the skids on which the whole country My plunge into a postwar depression...
...The Soviet Government pledged itself in 1942 not to interfere in the internal all airs of Iran and to evacuate the Red Army not later llian six months alter the war's end...
...According to this report, the automobile manufacturers would be much less averse to granting increases if they were able to deal with the AFL...
...The results of all these efforts are evident in the fact that during the past 25 years there has been a diminution of mob violence, lynching*, raids on aliens and denial of minority rights...
...The sympathy of AFL workers with CIO automobile workers remains steadfast...
...According to Henry C. Turner of the State Commission Against Discrimination the commission is asking for strengthening amendments...
...Labor journalists in Washington are convinced that it will be imperative for the labor unions to do a better public relations job in connection with the automobile strike than has ever been done before in labor history if an anti-strike hysteria is to be prevented from sweeping the country and Congress into drastic anti-labor legislation...
...One of the major questioiwjnvolved i* ihe finan-•W tbility of the automobile workers' union to cany *» S hnsg protracted strike with the profit-swollen |*n*ral Motors Corporation...
...How, it is asked, can 560,000 Magyars in Slovakia settle in the places vacated by only 76,000 people In Hungary...
...Thus Russian armies should be withdrawn from Manchuria by...
...A Strike of that size is the very thing that every honest and sober minded oScial in Washington has feared for many months...
...It was taken therefore as a fatefiil and foregone conclusion, when Price Administrator Bowles:issued the price lists for 1946 cars, lhat the action of the government meant a strike...
...7'Aere is no doubt in anyone's mind We' suoh an examination would more than sub-contention that (General Motors is *o iwollen with war profits and is so jar ahead fa*toially because of increased worker efficiency and **rktr productivity that the corporation can well •fore1 to grant a 30 percent wage increase to its "Hfdoyets without increasing the price of its cars to jp puhlio tingle penny...
...That conclusion Mas not long in being verified...
...It has, in fact, been criticized for Its defense of the rights of such fascistic persons as Gerald L. K. Smith, as well as those of Communists, Socialists, trade unionists and the persecuted minority groups...
...The most immediate danger threatening labor is the renewal of the demands by the reactionaries on Capitol Hill for sharper restrictive legislation against labor unions and against strikes...
...And that is lhat General Motors can not afford lor the sake of public •pinion to agree to the union proposal for a three-**n board of arbitration which would have the right 1* examine the corporalion's books, as well as those •I Ae^ union...
...For weeks well-informed circles in Washington have been busting with reports that a strike in autos is inevitable . .. that the automobile manufacturers were ready for a showdown with ehher the goverM-mmt, the union, or maybe even both...
...But • Japanese - arsenals are opened to Chinese Communists, whose forces are taking possession as the Russians move out...
...And in Manchuria the officials and troops of the Chungking Government are not allowed to take possession of territory being evacuated by the Red Army, and this violates the Soviet-Chinese agreement...
...The agreement with Iran is being violated in that Soviet forces do not permit troops of the Iranian Government to enter the Soviet-occupied area to restore order...
...Soviet Russia Pursues Imperialist Policy of Tsars IN the civil wars raging in Iran and China, there is a difference: in Iran, the "revolution," contrived hv Soviet agents and armed and...
...CZECHOSLOVAKIA PERSECUTING HUNGARIANS MAGYAR NEPSZAVA, a Hungarian paper published in New York, reports that the 550,000 Hungarians in territory which was assigned to the Czechs after the first World War are being robbed of their property and subjected to serious abuses...
...After the Russian revolution in 1917, the Soviets proclaimed that' the imperialist policy of spheres of influence had been abandoned...
...it took a leading part in getting pardons for Mooney and Billings...
...Apparently the automobile manufacturers are not as much concerned about this as they are about the sympathy of many well financed AFL unions for the auto workers...
...Participation of Negroes in primaries and elections in the South has been advanced...
...On the more constructive side this organization has been active in securing Supreme Court decisions and legislative action which have widened and made secure the rights of citizens...
...Thus the Moscow dictators are returning, in almost every detail, to the pre revolutionary policy of Tsarist Russia...
...much opposed to granting wage increases as they are to "dealing with the 010...
...Another question ¦ Hlber the ability or the willingness of other CIO ***** to come to the financial assistance of the suto workers...
...What was meant, by that was that the automobile manufacturers had set a price on their agreement not to precipitate a major industrial struggle in the country—one which threatened (o spread far and wide...
...In the view of some observers the continued existence of the CIO as it is today **Y well he involved...
...Under the leadership of Roger Baldwin, the organization has taken a very broad view of its function...
...Likewise, the Soviets promised, in the SoongSlalin treaty, not to intervene in China's affairs and to withdraw the Red Army from Manchuria within three months after the surrender of Japan...
...The right to distribute leaflets on the streets has been widened and assured...
...the integrity and sovereignty of Iran and China, as well as of Finland, the Baltic states, Poland, etc., were "guaranteed...
...Not more titan 21 boms, in fact...
...The price demanded was complete submission sy *(n A.swnui>nent on the price issue...
...This well-known splitting tactic is not getting anywhere...
...I In' real intentions of the automobile manufacturers Mas made evident in the Labor-Management Conference, and was responsible in lact for the dilllory Way in which the management represcnla-lives stalled on the job of setting np voluntary mediation and arbitration methods...
...But these events have one thing in common as international strategy—they mean lhat the Soviet Government is continuing the expansion of its sphere deep into the heart of other countries, by means of unilateral aggression and with the use of the Comintern...
...These* events in Iran and China prove lhat Soviet Russia docs not expect to cooperate in the UNO with the other big powers, but to proceed lo sellle all problems of foreign policy by ailing alone...
...No organization in America is more deserving of applause than the ACLU...
...It is recognized that *• corporation is in a better position financially tt»e union for a long struggle...
...In the meantime, informed opinion in Washington believes that any hopefulness the Labor-Management Conference may have had is reaching the vanishing point...
...December 2, 1915, and from Iran by March 2. 1910 In xirder to maintain'Soviet gains in these two couiitrie4...
...it organized the defense of Scopes in the famous Tennessee "monky trial...
...AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES ADVANCED BY ACLU On November 24 the American Civil Liberties Union celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary by holding an all-day conference on the question of the future* of American liberties...
...And, finally, during World War II the ALCU has defended the conscientious objectors...
...parts of Manchuria and Mongolia were included in the Far Kaslcrn Russian sphere...
...Due to its" activity the post office censorship over literature sent through the malls has had new limits set...
...Since the abortive London Conference the relations of Russia with her allies have deteriorated...
...the German threat must be forever ended...
...In Asia the imperialist drive is directed against nations not supported by Germany or Japan, but by the USA and Britain...
...or the CIO this is likely to prove the most serious *rik« in its existence...
...In view of Walter Reuther's proposal to General Motors for voluntary arbitration of the 'Mi percent wage increase issue, management representatives at llie conference delayed agreeing to any arbitration machinery, with the obvious result lhat it has left the automobile manufacturers with a freer band...
...FEPC at Work New YORK (LPA) —Since the state law against discrimination became effective on July 1, several influential concerns here have voluntarily hired Negroes for the first time...
...This will inevitably lend to serious complications...
...Both are agreed apparently that if, as and when labor unity js achieved, it will come as the free expression of the desire of the workers, and will not be mid-wifed by automobile manufacturers...
...The defense of persecuted citizens of Japanese ancestry has been largely in its hands...
...But since 19.19 the aggressive imperialism of the Tsarist era has been resumed, and intensified, and Stalin has a weapon the Tsars never possessed—the Comintern...
...However, it should be noted that one school of thought is trying to persuade President Truman to put the heat on the conference to act as a mediating agent in the auto strike...
...On one thing government officials ill touch with the afcustion' agree with Walter Reuther...
...The excuse is thst Hungary refuses to enter into arrangements for the mutual transfer of nationals...
...One indication of this concern is the activity of industry spokesmen in spreading the report that the manufacturers are not so...
...In the quarter-century battle for human rights, the ACLU took the lead in the fight against Mayor Frank Hague's blackout on free speech in Jersey City...
...and to safeguard them after withdrawal of Russian troops, the Soviet Government is organizing and supporting separatist movements and rebellions which aim at a partition of both Iran and China...
...The "necessities of national security" dictated Soviet policy in Central and Eastern Europe, according to the Kremlin...
...The Commission expected to be "flooded with complaints," he said, yet not one has been received from employers...
...Imam ed by Hussia, has little popular support, while in Chins the Chinese.Communists have gained genuine aupport among the peasants, although they remain in a minority...
...Founded in 1W20, during the worst spasms of the Pulmer raids, the ACLU has not only served as a vigilant protector of civil rights but has labored constructively for their expansion...
...The President has declared that he will not intervene in the strike...
...But the Hungarians explain that there are only 75,000 Czechs involved while the number of irredentist Hungarians is 650,000...
...In one aspect the driver in Iran and Manchuria differ from the acquisition of spheres and territory in Europe, where the danger of some future aggression by Germany served as an excuse .for annexation and expansion...
...Northern Iran was recognized by Britain as a Russian sphere of influence in 1907...
Vol. 28 • November 1945 • No. 47
