PAC FAILS TO FIGHT LABOR DRAFT
Goodman, Morton
PAC Fails to Fight Labor Draft ClO-Politkal Action Commit tee is Silent on May-Bailey BUI—Why? PAC faced iu poet-election tait last week end retreated withest trir.*; • ehet. The Usee* of...
...Murray waa actttlad even by the CK> Nowt of Jan...
...No one takes the notions of Diego Rivera seriously, and it ia noteworthy that Oumansky was too prudent to receive him...
...Hut—and this is important—the movement was broadened at the expense of the basic labor peisa>etti»e of the CIO itself...
...The American r eaerauon of labor, the R.B, Brotherhoods, and the United Mine Workers have voiced unequivocal opposition to the May Conscription Bill...
...On the one hand it srrsauraes to speak for liberal-labor legillation, while on the ether it permits the unopposed passage at a bill which is as open threat to the trade union movement...
...This lady has formed here a committee of about fifteen persons of Polish Communists snd sympathizers which lsbors to secure official recognition of the Labi in Committee as the government of Poland...
...labor ami liberal mi rami at hitherto beyond reach...
...It has attracted new forces...
...At the age of 11, m.cording to the account of Rivera, Oumansky was distinguished by receiving the Winter Palace prise and in consequence of this he was adsanad by Lenin "as his personal disciple, as his son...
...At the moment their urogiani eomcideo with that of th* Politicians and Smell Businessmen...
...r prepared Position...
...vrhirh buried the atory mt thai ofKeal CIO poaition hi flaw eshama inchi* toward th* anUae* af rts hfth page...
...Seme seek public oAce...
...It will not be esmy f<" Stalin to replace this man...
...Kicoltior reports that "Onmansky had a premonition of a tragic death...
...The real career of Constantin Oumansky began prerieety at the time of the persecution of the generation of revolutionist* when high diplomatic posts wars made vacant bjr bhe execution of weU-*tn*wn and shla sistant, and later as head, of the Foreign Press Service, the young oaVial retained the complete confidence of the prosecuting authorities while a long line of Lenin's oertesgaea were nket or disssmeasad in the shadows...
...They are bark in* WsBaoe far th*) oontrol ever h an wh irh they bepe to exert in 1948...
...to convince th* boy* on Capitol HiM that th* CIO ta irrudtarrahly avprntt to a labo, shift, la thia he waa aaatatrana...
...The Politicians do net tight en principle, hat only when it pays...
...It haa shown rtseif to be dynamic sad energetic...
...The Stalinists utilize PAC to influence sections of tin...
...By its refusal to take issue with the May-Bailer Bill, the pac has opened itaelf to some vital criticisms...
...Few persons in Mexico realise that the regime which we call Soviet ia actually totalitarian...
...It is ^self-evident that each cirousnstsuices pet a definite stamp on the character of the successful careerist...
...Sidney Hillman made this clear when he ciiit d last mont* "thai the PAC would mupport ftepubl«ot* with an mterwataenat point of view naVt do net inert labor'* full requirement*, ahead of an i*olationi»t inherits...
...The Politiciana seek political advancement with the help of what seems to he the strongest farce arousal at the moment...
...PAC haa not retreeaed to a previses...
...The two dined together at the heme of Columbian Ambassador...
...His astonish* ing popularity waa partly due to his personal qualities, partly to the spreading influence of Russian power and the effect of a continuous propaganda against which there waa ao adequate opposition...
...The Death of Oumanski Notes on the Career 0/ a Soviet Diplomat and GPU Agent By Victor Serge MEXICO CITY — The Mexican press devoted much space to the airplaine accident which led to the deaths of the Mexican Ambassador of the USSR, his wife and.his chief assistants...
...The Usee* of K*oreecnUtiTM passed the May-BaiWy Labor Draft Bill with th* rapport af almoat all PAOendor»ed congressmen...
...PAC's Smell- Businessmen are not concerned bat mere worried about the Voorhies Amendment which would have drafted Imsrnese aa well as labor...
...He knew how to carry on in Washington the devious practical required during the period of the P.rubevrtiX)»-Mett>tov Pact...
...These are practical citiaens and they are led by a practical man, Sidney Hillman...
...This tendency toward mrlap anient political actian waa carefully headed ah...
...resources far in eareas af what eauM be raised by the voluntary one-dollar contributions of CIO members...
...The Small-Businessmen are for interaatianal cooperation as opposed to isolationism...
...Note that the vote oa the May-Bailey Bill showed the Republicans opposed by "2 to 1, while the Democrats supported the bill by better than 3 to 1. The combined KepublicanDeatocnatic majority contained almost every PAC-eupported coarressmM—deaawte the •ppeottton of Phil Murray sad ft* CIO, a* weU e* of KM Green...
...Seme days before his death Oumaasky had at last succeeded in meeting and conferring with Diego Martines Barrio, the last President of the Spanish Cortes and of the Committee of - Liberation, who baa since resigned from this junta...
...NCPAC waa designed to ssal.iliae liberal opinion behind the campaign as wail as to .apply Armaria...
...PAC always acted as thong* the NCPAC was a re*, sages...
...PAC should adopt a clearcut policy en domestic prr*W*aM and not subordinate them to international isauea at the behest of careerists within, and forces outside, the American liberal-labor movement...
...The Stalinists polish the armor and coin the slogans for the Romantics...
...This legend'was widely spread over Mexico...
...Kataa sive plans for PAC participation in Near York City's mayoralty elections are at tins moment being carried out...
...uary f...
...It goes without saying that it contain* not a syllable of troth *r even of resemblance so the truth—ea anyone can easily aeaaB by looking over the documents adaptability, his intelligence, and with regard to th* October Revolution and the life of J/en i n. • • • We knew Conatantin Oumnnaky in Moscow during the years 1927-32 when he waa a subordinate official in the Commissariat of Foreign Affairs...
...In a world thus denuded of leaders, advancement btcsme rapid...
...PAC is still very much alive despite the predictions of many utmvi tess that it was to be terminated after the November iloctiasu...
...Just before his depsrture Oumsnsky dined at the Ssns Souci restaurant with others to celebrate the "liberation of Warsaw...
...The Dotty Worker came out for the bin as it does for say legislation which may be to the advantage of the Russian war effort...
...But the young "communist" official, master of lararuages, remarkably t ksrnnt and alway* faithful to the party line, wai destined to survive numerous purfes ana go on from one honored position to another...
...What is vary clear is that the Ambassador of the USSR was the only genuinely popular foreign diplomat, the only one who had wide influence...
...When it gets there, will w* want to be there...
...diplomats of the earlier revolutionary...
...actaaTly they are Siamese twin...
...The President's international policy was the main issue, and the CM mobilized its force, against the TV* mpMN of rank and file CIO nassaitrs to PAC was e»taat>vaat*c, toaatsjUaar the wiilraarneea of the aaaaa of onion i neat an to part il spats to aesettcal activity iihleseadeat of the aaajor parties...
...TrlE CIO Political Action wa» formed in 1943 pri maruy to advance th* foarth term candidacy of Frank tin Delano Roosevelt, and to advocate liberal-labor legis lotion in Washington...
...Nevertheless this rather clownish publicity stout warrants a moment's attention...
...This newspaper speaks also of "an accident resulting from s csuse which most remain a mystery...
...The Stalinists reacted immediately...
...This man Oumansky, then, had acquired the qualities necessary for survival...
...But energy is net enough...
...I ions, It mobilized decisive section* of the labor movement which have never »*fr.r« displayed any desire for independent political expression...
...Some aspire to leadership in the labor movement...
...Ecfitor and faUow-tiai ai*e Lara Do Can x thought it more important to f eater* at roc he* on the third page in an «rtMe "How the Soviet Trade Union* am Workers...
...The painter, Diego Rivera, who was the "friend" and the host of Trotsky, who belonged to the Fourth International and to the' editorial committee of the Trctskyits organ, Ciave, became in these latter days a peritonei friend ef oae of the assassins of Trotsky and published an altogether singular panegyric of Owmasisky proclaiming that this man was destined "to play a gigantic role ia the history of the world...
...The re-election of Roosevelt achieved, they support Wallace's post-war domestic program (upon the doubtful assumption that Wallace is backed by the President...
...The word "isolationist' does not mitigate the dangerous implications of this policy...
...Oumansky was at that time beginning his career aa head of the censorship of the press, and our Pilniak waa entering upon hi* period of persecution...
...There is no excuse...
...The White House is i epi esented...
...PAC rota* to a i ***rr***m*ii) waa really for the May Barley BB...
...It mult bo iwctajrniaed that Phil Murrey Ui beea valiantly attemptin...
...The CIO has KHfs or nothrny to say in the mossmeat which ft erwmttd...
...So has the Congress of IsstssUsal Organizations...
...The truth of the matter ia that PAC . did not have a position in th* first place...
...And, later ia Mexico, he was able to shift easily and quickly l< exactly the opposite policies...
...Among the others present was Madame .ladwiga Kaminska, representative of the Lublin Committee in Mexico and former secretary of M. Gabski (the elder...
...Everything waa Mibordmated to the job of re ejecting Reoaevelt ami a pre-jRoeeevast Cessgreee...
...But the ttrongttt potential fore* at las command of the CIO—a creature of, end e part of th* CIO—vbom not ptrmMUd to so asoo...
...De Caent filed the whet* of th*) second peg* with laadatory report* of Tilaaauio and the CTAL, and devoted two fell pecea to a earn fer aplitting the American Faeeratiea e«Teactaaa' U**oa (AFLK • * * PaC did a magaaJBant jo* ia th* last de...
...Personally I had occasion to meet ham intimately only once, at the home of our mutual friends, th* remarkable Russian writer, Boris Pilniak...
...The author of The Votpa fie** /«4e th* Ceayess waa to disappear only a few years laser —either locked behind the walla of ansae pail or executed...
...by Kidney HUlnian and the CIO Stalioiata...
...the Romantics are the lihuels nallege protosaora, writers, progressive unionists — who are genuinely searching for a new political force...
...Since Small Buaimsseien were not interested, and the Stalinists were for the May Bill, why get involved T The Romantics would have gone eat to da battle hut nobody asked them to...
...They are roughly, Small-Businessmen, Politicians, Romantics, Stalinists...
...They are still on tap, however, until they are called...
...The position of this man seems to me to have been unique...
...PAC's Sidney Hillman evidently conaiders that be owes no allagisnc* to CIO's Sidney Hfflman...
...They are the crusadera against reaction...
...Thereafter, we are told, he was called the infant tvodipae of the revolution...
...To brsadaa the base of the mavsmaet, the CIO art up a r ungual in atgaaiiiatiaa the Kataeaal Citisen's Political Action Ceases**** (NCPAC...
...It meat jfyhf **wmftaaee*ujlg on bath front...
...ThURG are four leading tendencies withia^he PAC...
...by the Wailiiiat clo>,« who visited Washington tiwgiiliaiw to aror* that the CIO (which mean...
...Diego Rivers, whose imagination is well known, alludes to "secret forces which have achieved a victory against the revolution...
...Sidney Hilhnan has stated that the PAC wall direct its fstore energies in the direct km of intneacing, as well as electing, state and national leerislators...
...Where is PAC going...
...Add all this together and ft becomes evident why the PAC did nothing about the May-Bailey Oenecripthm Bill...
...They are always in the forefront of the rem guard where they can shift position retriesry when iet|uiied to do eo, and where they cast concentrate their control in key places...
...And among those who are conscious of this fact there are many who admire the regime precisely Because of its dictatorial character...
...PAC proposed to mobilize the labor vote in support of the candidacy of liberal-labor legislators...
...ta Of - ofturponey for nhich it «7SS nttentibly created...
Vol. 28 • February 1945 • No. 6
